Ministry issued 3 deeds in Kaphwiti-Kadzamira farm ownership wrangle
Details have emerged that the Ministry of Lands issued title deeds to three people, including former president Kamuzu Banda for a farm that former official government hostess Cecelia Tamanda Kadzamira is tussling with the late Elias Kaphwiti Banda’s family.
The documents have become the axis of contention over Tichitenji Estate located in Mchinji District. The first title deed for the 583.771-acre estate, according to court records, was granted in 1967 to Kaphwiti.
He was a Malawi Congress Party official who fell out of favour with the one-party regime. The lease number 347 22, which Nation on Sunday has seen, is for 99 years, meaning it is set to expire in 2066.
On November 1 1972, soon after Kaphwiti fled to exile in Zambia, Kamuzu took over the estate, obtaining a deed number 40411, valid for 99 years as well, the court records show.
The third title deed number 61705, dated 20 November 1989, shows that the farm belongs to Kamuzu’s then close ally Kadzamira, as part of a larger entity Chalimbana Estate.
Kaphwiti’s wife Falesi, in her court submissions is challenging Kadzamira that the first title deed handed to her is the genuine one; hence the estate belongs to her family.
“The said Tichitenji Estate is registered in the name of my late husband Elias Zakeyu Kaphwiti Banda who was granted a lease for 99 years on 1 April 1967.
“Since the lease to my late husband and the claimant (Kadzamira) was granted by the Ministry of Lands. I would like to seek indemnity from the Attorney General…
“…As well as an order for the Registrar of Lands to rectify the register by cancelling the lease which was granted to the claimant on the land belonging to my late husband,” she submits through Kalekeni Kaphale lawyers.
However, Kadzamira has insisted she owns the estate. In a letter she wrote the Kaphwitis through her lawyer Mvalo and Company, she said Kamuzu surrendered the farm to her in 1982.
The letter we have seen is dated June 16 2016. It was in response to the Kaphwitis letter, asking her to surrender the estate before the matter had gone to court.
“The land known as Tichitenji Estate comprising 583.771 acres or thereabout which abounds Chalimbana Estate was also held by His Excellency Dr H. Kamuzu Banda under a lease made on 7th November 1972.
“Then by a Deed of Surrender made in 1982, Dr H. Kamuzu Banda surrendered both pieces of land comprising Chalimbana Estate and Tichitenji Estate to the Minister to enable the Minister to grant a fresh lease of both pieces of land to our client,” reads the letter in part.
The letter also confirms that Kadzamira obtained her own title deed for the estate.
“From your letter, the subject matter is not Chalimbana Estate which is the larger of the two pieces of land. The subject matter is Tichitenji Estate, and, therefore, we will confine ourselves to this,” the letter adds.
A few years ago, the Kaphwiti family went to settle on the Estate but the police forced them out after Kadzamira obtained a court injunction against their stay there.
