The Mangochi First Grade Magistrate’s Court yesterday dismissed a claim of K85 000 as compensation filed by trader Paulo Msangwa after irate people confiscated and buried the pork he was selling in the district.
Court records show that Msangwa on October 24 this year slaughtered a pig and went to sell it at Maldeco Market in the district.
“The plaintiff [Msangwa] was ordered to stop selling the meat by Bulugama Makunganya and his friends who told him that Muslims are not allowed to be exposed to pork as it was Haram [forbidden] to their religion. But Msangwa continued selling the pork and this annoyed the defendants who seized the meat and buried it,” said a source familiar with the case.
In his ruling, first grade magistrate Jack Njikho said the plaintiff was wrong because he continued selling the pork despite being told that the area prohibits people from selling pork.
Further to this, the magistrate also found the defendants in the wrong for burying the meat as that was taking the law into their own hands.
Msangwa, 32, comes from Chipoka Village in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Mponda in the district whereas Makunganya is from Michesi Village in the same area.
