Fresh from getting justice after waiting for 15 years, former Chess Association of Malawi president Susan Musa Namangale has dared the Judiciary to act with integrity and embrace efficiency.
In an interview yesterday after the High Court of Malawi on Wednesday ruled in her favour in a case relating to a 2009 fatal road accident in Salima that killed her sister and severely injured her and others, she said that while justice has been served and given her closure, the 15-year wait was both traumatising and costly.
Namangale said her persistent demands for delivery of judgement in her case were not motivated by the pursuit for damages, but strong intentions to hold the Judiciary more accountable and efficient.
costly to wait. | Nation
She said: “Well, after delay, justice has been served, but the wait was traumatising. I spent a significant amount of resources, trying to pursue justice. It was costly to wait and hopefully the Malawi Judiciary will start acting differently to expedite straightforward cases.
“And for me, it is beyond damages but I pursued the case to make the Judiciary accountable. I have always respected the Judiciary as an arm of government with integrity and they needed to carry their duties with that level of trust and uphold the values of the institution.”
Namangale and four other claimants sought damages from Likanga Transport and Charter Insurance Company Limited after the former’s Scania truck registration NU 4176 collided with her Mercedes Benz registration KK 3809.
In a 31-page judgement delivered in Blantyre, High Court Judge Mike Tembo, who prepared it from the notes provided by Justice of Appeal Healey Potani who heard the matter as High Court judge in 2010, said the claimants proved that there was sufficient negligence by showing that the truck was driven without due care.
Tembo ordered Likanga Transport and the insurance company to pay Namangale as well as Gladys Kakota and dependents of the late Patricia Kakota Ngagwe and Potiphar Bonjesi damages to be agreed upon within seven days.
The damages sought by the claimants, who were represented by lawyer Ralph Mhone, included compensation for personal injuries, pain and suffering and loss of amenities of life and loss of life expectancy and dependence.
Ruled Tembo: “In consequence, this court finds that the truck partly drove into the lane of the first claimant’s oncoming vehicle herein, as claimed, particularly given that the said truck had no headlamp on its right hand side, which created a very dangerous situation in terms of judging the median of the road and the lanes.
“Judgement is accordingly entered for the claimants on all their claims herein with costs as against the first defendant as owner of the truck and the second defendant as insurer of the truck herein respectively. The liability of the insurer shall be limited by its policy of insurance herein as a matter of law.”
Namangale, who was aged 33 at the time of the accident, suffered intense pain and was treated as an outpatient at Mua Mission Hospital in Dedza and Nkhotakota District Hospital.
She suffered a sprained hip and left knee and 21 percent permanent incapacity, which according to the medical report, the injuries resulted in chronic osteoarthritis.
On the other hand, Kakota, the second claimant, who was 42 years old, suffered loss of one upper incisor, cut to the upper lip and multiple cuts to the face which resulted in disfigurement of the upper lip.
She also suffered inflammation of the left upper arm and tendons of the left thigh, resulting in 21 percent permanent incapacity.
In a separate interview yesterday, Mhone said they will file an estimate of damages.
“It is a good judgement though a delay of 16 years is like justice denied and buried. But now, justice has been reawakened from the dead due to incessant cries from the living,” he said.
Hearing of the case ended in 2010.
In a letter dated February 19 2026 addressed to Deputy Chief Justice Lovemore Chikopa, Namangale queried the Judiciary on why judgement in her accident claim case is yet to be delivered, years after conclusion of hearing.
She said that in 2024 and 2025 the matter was further referred to Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Dingiswayo Madise who was then the head of the Judicial Complaints Committee.
Records showed that the claimants sent 17 reminders between 2017 and 2024 to Chikopa, the Registrar of the High Court and the Chief Justice.
A June 2026 Afrobarometer perception survey found that only 48 percent of Malawians say court cases are somewhat likely or very likely to be resolved within a reasonable amount of time, meaning that a majority of 52 percent find this unlikely.
Commenting on the survey, Human Rights Defenders Coalition chairperson Michael Kaiyatsa described the findings as extremely worrisome, saying they reveal a justice system that many Malawians perceive as slow, inaccessible and increasingly unable to meet expectations of citizens seeking redress through the courts.
Malawi Human Rights Commission executive secretary Habiba Osman called for immediate enforcement of the existing 90-day timeline for delivery of judgements in concluded cases, saying this should be made known publicly.
She said: “Courts should introduce regular, published performance appraisals of judicial officers and expedite operationalisation of the Independent Complaints Commission of the Judiciary, which currently exists but does not have a work schedule.”
A 2021 report titled ‘State of the Judiciary in Malawi, Namibia and South Africa: Court users’ and judges’ perspectives’ published by the University of Cape Town said more than 80 percent of judges claimed their workload was either consistently high or increasing, while a minority described it as manageable or decreasing.
