Sunday, December 15 2024. A sunny afternoon in Ndirande, Blantyre City’s most populous township. Democratic Progressive Party, (DPP) heavyweight Victor Musowa is in a bullish mood.
The Mulanje Bale member of Parliament (MP) takes to the podium to condemn panga-brandishing thugs’ serial attacks on unarmed protesters in Lilongwe, the governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) stronghold.
However, the supposed rebuke instantly stirs a backlash as he orders DPP supporters to deal with anyone chanting kwacha—the MCP slogan.
Barely a month later, the unimaginable happened: Some men undressed MCP women in what activists denounced as a brazen attack on women’s dignity and bodily autonomy.
Bizarrely, Musowa would soon cry foul when a truckload of masked heavies, brandishing machetes, hack wheels of opposition lawmakers’ vehicles in Parliament’s precincts.
“Parliament should investigate the incident,” he says in the House. “I was a victim of another attack by people with machetes at Area 18 crossroads.”
Parliamentarians are not safe even in the house guarded 24/7 by cameras and armed police, concurs United Democratic Front leader in the House Ned Poya.
“Security must be beefed up,” he says, calling for military intervention.
On his part, DPP director of political affairs Ben Phiri faults police inaction: “We expect arrests, but we know they won’t happen.”
Ignored alarm bells
Malawians could be sleepwalking into bloodshed unless authorities keep hate speech in check, warns Southern Africa Litigation Centre executive director Aneke Meerkotter.
“Hate speech is like a slippery slope,” she says. “If not urgently tackled, you can quickly slide into violence.”
Meerkotter was speaking in a webinar nearly 100 days to the September 16 General Election.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warns: “Hate speech is like an alarm bell—the louder it rings, the greater the threat of genocide. It precedes and promotes violence.
According to the UN, the discriminatory language and behaviour often target the real or perceived identities of individuals or groups, including age, gender, nationality, political creed, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Section 20 of the Constitution prohibits “discrimination of persons in any form”, deeming all persons equal under any law”.
The Electronic Transaction and Cybersecurity Act of 2016 outlaws online communication that incites racial hatred, violence and xenophobia. Similarly, the Penal Code prohibits incitement of religious hate and violence.
Some critics fear the laws could be abused to muzzle free speech and press freedom.
However, Meerkotter says harsher court sentences could help “deter potential offenders and send a message that such will not be tolerated”.
“Tolerate no intolerance because tolerance of the intolerance is an endorsement of intolerance,” she warns in an allusion to the maxim of neuroscientist Abhijit Naskar, the author of The Centurion Sermon: Por El Mundo.
She adds: “Crimes motivated by hate speech often cause increased emotional and physical harm to victims and the wider community.
“They are a threat to social cohesion and can create fear and distrust among different groups—escalating into crimes against humanity.”
Peter Chisi, from the Malawi Human Rights Commission, says hateful rhetoric has no place in democracy, which hinges on tolerance and equality.
“MHRC condemns hate speech when detected, as we did when a prominent politician encouraged people to kill gay persons—and that was at a time when the commission had no stand on LGBTQ issues,” he narrates.
Mind your tongue
Chisi says the fight against hate speech should be part of the national agenda and programming instead of the reactive statements and advocacy.
He reckons relevant authorities, including the police, lawmakers and Peace Commission, cannot ignore the threat to social cohesion, which disproportionately targets women, refugees, the elderly, persons with disability, sexual minorities and other vulnerable groups.
The director of civil and political rights warns against selective justice, urging authorities to mind their tongues and actions.
He says what authorities tolerate sets the tone as exemplified by the ripple effect of a proclamation for all refugees to return to Dzaleka Camp in Dowa District.
Chisi says: “The order came as a government policy, but soon we started hearing that refugees steal our land, jobs amd businesses.
“MHRC swiftly intervened and held talks with some small-scale business associations who were agitating to attack refugees trading in their areas. It’s pleasing that the situation did not get out of hand.”
