Court reinstates Ndipo as Blantyre City mayor

The High Court in Blantyre has lifted an injunction which former Blantyre City deputy mayor Joseph Makwinja obtained, disputing Wild Ndipo’s third term election as Blantyre City Mayor.

In an interview yesterday, Blantyre City Council (BCC) spokesperson Deborah Luka said High Court Judge Dingiswayo Madise vacated the injunction on March 2 2022.

She said Ndipo, who was declared winner in the disputed January 19 2022 mayoral elections, has resumed his role as Blantyre City Mayor and reported for work on Monday this week.

Luka said: “On Sunday, we had an extraordinary full council meeting. This was the first meeting the mayor participated in since his re-election in January.”

The Blantyre City mayoral election was nearly called off due to legal concerns, which led Makwinja to obtain the injunction. 

Section 7 (4) of the Local Government Act stipulates that both the mayor and deputy mayor, who are referred to as chairman and vice-chairman of the council, must only serve a two-and-a-half-year term.

Reads part of the Act: “The chairman and vice-chairman shall each serve in their respective capacities for a period of one year unless sooner replaced, and shall be eligible to be re-elected for one additional term.

“But so, however, that in the case of a city council or a municipal council, the chairman and vice-chairman shall serve for a period of two and a half years unless sooner replaced and shall be eligible to be re-elected for one additional term.”

The injunction led to chaos in the chamber after chief executive officer Alfred Chanza announced that the election had been postponed.

However, the court injunction, which bore Makwinja’s name, was not served physically, but through WhatsApp. Makwinja later disowned the document, saying the signature on the purported injunction document was not his.

This angered members, who threatened to shut down Civic Centre offices if the elections were to be postponed.

But BCC lawyer Mphatso Matandika and Chanza settled on proceeding with the election where Ndipo was voted winner. There were 31 members who voted (23 councillors and eight members of Parliament) for the 10 candidates who were contesting for the positions of mayor and deputy.

In an interview yesterday, Ndipo confirmed that the court cleared him to continue serving as Blantyre City Mayor.

He, however, refused to share his vision for the city during his third term. Ndipo said there is still enough time to share that since “this is just my first week to be in the office.”

Makwinja asked for more time before commenting on the matter, saying he was attending a funeral.

Ndipo, who is Chigumula Ward councilor, becomes the first person since the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1993 to be elected the council’s mayor for three consecutive terms.  He will be deputised by Funny Baraba Kanonjerera of Nyambadwe Ward.

He became mayor in January 2017 after beating former mayor Noel Chalamanda. He was re-elected for the second term on July 19 2019.