Ex-minister Mchacha attacked
Unidentified assailants on Wednesday evening attacked opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) regional governor (South) and former Cabinet minister Charles Mchacha at Bvumbwe in Thyolo.
In an interview yesterday, South West Police Region spokesperson Ramsey Mushani said the incident occurred around 8:30pm
near a filling station located a stone’s throw from Chigumula Trading Centre as he headed towards Bvumbwe on the Limbe-Thyolo Road.
He said Mchacha, who sustained cuts in the head, reported the matter to Bvumbwe Police Unit where he was given a medical report before being taken to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre for treatment.
Mushani said: “We issued a medical report the same night and he went to the hospital where he was treated as an outpatient. And today, he went again to the hospital for checkup.
“As police, we went to Mchacha’s house today [yesterday] to check on him, but also to ask him to direct us to the scene. So, we went to the scene and also took his statement in details.”
He said police have opened an investigation into the matter and that no arrests have so far been made.
In a separate interview, DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba, who visited Mchacha yesterday morning, said the former minister was in a stable condition.
He said: “He [Mchacha] told us that as he approached his house about 200 metres away, he saw two vehicles tail him, then one went in front and stopped him abruptly. The attackers disembarked from the vehicles with pangas and started attacking him.
“The y broke the windows of his vehicle, dragged him out and took K600 000 and his two cellphones.”
Efforts to speak to Mchacha and his wife yesterday proved futile as both their phones went unanswered.
