Zomba City mayor dead, burial today

Burial of Zomba City Council (ZCC) mayor the late Joan Ntaja will be held today at her home village, Mtenje, in Traditional Authority (T/A) Machinjiri in Blantyre.

Ntaja died around 10am yesterday at Mwaiwathu Private Hospital in Blantyre, after a month-long battle with undue vomiting, a family member told The Nation in an interview.

Sanislas Chimgoga, an uncle to the deceased, said Ntaja has been in and out of hospital for about a month struggling with vomiting.

“She has been feeling unwell for about a month now. Her main problem has been vomiting. She has been in and out of hospital and we took her to Mwaiwathu Hospital yesterday after her situation worsened. Unfortunately, doctors’ efforts to save her life proved unsuccessful, she died this morning [yesterday],” said the uncle.

The body of Ntaja was taken to her residence in Zomba yesterday for people to pay their last respects before being taken to her home village later in the day.

In an interview, Minister of Local Government Tarsizio Gowelo mourned the death of the youthful mayor, who had just celebrated her 30th birthday two weeks ago, saying government was saddened by her demise.

“We are greatly saddened by her death. It is a great loss not only to the family but also to government and the party [Democratic Progressive Party]. I am yet to get details about the funeral programme, but I will be attending burial on behalf of President Peter Mutharika,” said Gowelo.

The late Ntaja was the sixth mayor for Zomba City and the only female mayor in all the country’s cities and municipalities.

She was elected on the ruling DPP ticket on July 15, 2014 after defeating Christopher Jana of People’s Party by six votes to three.