THE LATE BELVIN MANDA STORY (EXCLUSIVE) Part 1

PREAMBLE
This is the sad story detailing the sudden demise of Belvin Manda.

The late Manda was brutally murdered on the 1st of May, 2013 when the world was commemorating events marking the International Labour Day in other countries also known as ‘May Day.’ Today as we post this marks one month after late Belvin Manda’s death.

This story is attempting to put together pieces of information gathered through close family members, relatives, friends, fellow religious believers, office colleagues, some investigators to the case, some legal practitioners and other sources among many others.

As we read this story, we must all remember that we are talking of a youthful productive life that was cut short by some dirty, wicked minded people whose agenda, we are yet to discover.

As we react to the contents in the story, we must all bear in mind that the late Belvin Manda left a family, wife and children and that whatever we say, must be driven at giving them hope and comfort that one day those responsible for Mr Manda’s death will be trapped by the long arm of the law.
These descendants and messengers of Satan must understand that no matter how deep they hide they will be smoked out of their caves they cannot be holed up forever. No matter how long and fast they may run; one day they will reach the finishing line.
This day shall surely come when the Manda family and Malawians in general will demand answers from these evil people, why they had to be so cruel to end the life of the late Belvin Manda in such a gruesome way.

In the course of reading this story, you will come across names. Please remember that these have been mentioned in here for clarity purposes only. We have tried as much as possible to avoid finger pointing at anybody for we are not the courts, the home of the jury and judges where the wheels of justice spin.
Please let’s avoid coming into conclusions on this case as our findings may not be 100 percent conclusive. However, be assured that we have done our utmost investigations into the case and that our findings may not be far away from the gospel truth.

We pray that killers of late Belvin Manda shall know no peace in their entire lives and that whoever had a hand in this, their businesses and operations shall come to a complete halt. They shall not prosper in anyway.

We must warn readers that some of you may find some graphic explanations in this story very distressful, we therefore do apologise in advance. For the sake of the late Belvin Manda, we had to do it for the truth to be known.
May the good Almighty Lord comfort the family of the departed Belvin Manda.

May the Soul of late Belvin Manda, Rest in Eternal Peace. Amen.

PROFILE OF LATE BELVIN MANDA
The late Belvin Manda was born on 30th November, 1977. He hailed from the northern region district of Mzimba; his Mzalangwe Village is situated about 45 kilometres from the district headquarters. He was the only son in the family of Mr and Mrs Manda.

The late Manda had a University of Malawi degree in Animal Science from the Bunda College of Agriculture obtained in 2006.

He also attained other post graduate qualifications from a South African university where he went after his first graduation from the Bunda College.

Between June 2003 and January, 2009 he worked as an Animal Health and Livestock Development Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in the Malawi Government.

He quit the civil service after 5 years and 8 months to join Land O’ Lakes Inc, a non-profit Organisation Management industry. At Land O’ Lakes, he worked as Herds Technical Coordinator.

Exactly after 3 years and 10 months, Manda left his job at Land O’ Lakes and joined Heifer International as the organisation’s Programme Manager.

He joined Heifer International in October, 2012 a job he held until his brutal murder on 1st May, 2013.
FAMILY

The late Belvin Manda was married to his lovely wife Cynthia and between them they had 3 children, all boys.

Cynthia Manda is a teacher by training and profession. She currently works at a government primary school in Lilongwe.

WORK AT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL
The late Belvin Manda started his work at Heifer International in October, 2012. He was employed as Programme Manager for this international non-profit making organisation.

As Programme Manager, the late Manda’s work included establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships with government agencies, donors and other non-governmental organisations in Malawi.
He also worked with other staff in designing high quality & large scale projects. Late Manda also coordinated project planning, monitoring, evaluations, lesson learning and reporting.

HEIFER INTERNATIONAL
Heifer International is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through sustainable agriculture development. Heifer works in 50 countries and has empowered millions of smallholder farmers to go from poverty to self-reliance through gifts of livestock, seeds, trees and training, providing a multiplying source of food and income.

Heifer helps people feed themselves. Heifer International does so much more than put food in the mouths of hungry people.

Heifer International does so much more than put food in the mouths of hungry people. Heifer helps people feed themselves.
The goal of every Heifer project is sustainability – project partners achieving self-reliance
And year after year, as partner families pass on the gift of knowledge and one or more of their animals’ offspring to others in need, they become links in a network of hope, dignity and self-reliance that helps hundreds of others care for themselves
Heifer’s strategy is…
To Pass on the Gift. As people share their animals’ offspring with others – along with their knowledge, resources and skills – an expanding network of hope, dignity and self-reliance is created that reaches around the globe

LATE BELVIN MANDA’S CHURCH RESPONSIBILITIES
The late Belvin Manda was a Christian and belonged to the Catholic Church.
As a young Christian worker, Manda belonged to the Catholic Church’s youth organisation for workers called, the Young Christian Workers also known as YCW.

The YCW believes in the methodology of See, Judge and Act.

Because of his dedication and commitment to YCW activities, the late Belvin Manda was elected President for the Lilongwe Diocese’s chapter of YCW a position he held up until his death on 1st May, 2013.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY ACTIVITIES
Malawi like many other countries around the world observed the international day for workers on 1st May, 2013. As a result, the day was declared a public holiday.
Plenty of activities were organised to celebrate the day.
Workers belonging to Lilongwe Diocese YCW Catholic Church did not want to be left out in the global commemorations, they therefore organised their own events for the day.

On the menu;
09:00am: Eucharist Mass at Mtima Oyera Parish led by Youth Chaplain Fr. Modilamu.
Mass was celebrated under the theme, The Year of Faith since it was Labour Day as well as remembrance of the Patron Saint.

12:00pm: Luncheon and speeches. Thereafter, a fundraising braai at Lilongwe Technical College. All went according to plan.

FUNDRAISING BRAAI AT LILONGWE TECHNICAL
We now introduce persons A, B, C and D.
All these are officials in the YCW organisation and on this day, they interacted with the deceased various ways. Coincidentally three of the four persons, A, B and C came from the Likuni area where late Belvin Manda was resident.

At about 04:30 pm, person A excuses himself and takes leave of YCW President Belvin Manda. Before his departure, A sees late Manda purchasing some slices of the braai for his take away. According to person A, he never knew that what he was seeing was the last of Belvin Manda alive.
Now late Manda is left with persons B, C and D enjoying the braai. Two of these Likuni residents.

At around 05:00pm, person B asks late President Manda to leave since it is getting late but the late Manda refuses saying he wants to see through the day’s events.

At about 05:20pm guy B tries again to convince Manda to leave but he gets the same response.

However, they all finally leave at around 06:00pm after everything was done and dusted.
Person D is not a Lilongwe resident. However he came to attend the function. He offers a lift to Manda, person B and C in his car. He drops the trio at Labour Offices in Lilongwe for the team to board a bus to their base, Likuni.
Meanwhile, person D is gone and disappears from the picture.

ON THE BUS TO LIKUNI
There are 3 people on the bus to Likuni; late Manda, person B and C.
Person B drops off at Chinsapo 1. On board the bus, remains person C and the deceased.

The duo drops off at Chinsapo 2 and start walking deep into the Chinsapo location towards Likuni not very far away from Former Vice President Dr Justine Malewezi’s residence.

Not far from here, the two part ways. Late Manda has about 5 minutes to do to get to his house whilst person C has got 15 minutes to cover.

Soon after the two gentlemen part ways at about 06:35pm, the deceased makes a telephone call through his mobile telephone (0999… deliberate incomplete) to person E.

The E person called is a fellow Catholic to the deceased and stays in the same area of Likuni but did not attend the earlier events.

According to person E, late Manda tells him about the function, how it went and does not detect anything danger in the voice of the deceased. Our investigations show that the deceased and person E speak for 7minutes 24seconds before the phone gets cut without finishing the conversation.

Person E, thinks may be late Manda’s phone has run out of airtime or that his battery is dead. He therefore decides to wait.

However, as a regular person who interacted with late Manda on telephone, E doubts the thought of running out of airtime but still decides to wait.

In the course of waiting, the next message person E receives is that Belvin Manda is dead.

With the estimation that it’s a 5 minutes walk to his house from the near Malewezi residence point where the deceased parted ways with person C and that he spoke with E for 7 minutes and 24 seconds, it follows that if the deceased was walking, he must have been killed almost right outside his residence.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE BODY
Background, 30th April, 2013: The Belvin Manda’s landlord, a Mr Kiokwa has just sacked his guard. (The landlord hires guards himself but transfers them to work and get paid by the tenants in this case, late Belvin Manda.)… Funny, not so?
The guard was dismissed by the landlord because late Belvin Manda’s family complained that the guard kept on missing at times when on duty during the night.

1st May, 2013: At about 04:00pm, Mr Kiokwa the landlord brings yet another guard to the Mandas, remembered the other one was fired the previous day. The guard is introduced by Mr Kiokwa to Mrs Cynthia Manda because by this time, late Belvin Manda is at Lilongwe Technical College attending the 1st May celebrations.

Landlord Kiokwa asks Mrs Manda to negotiate with the new guard on salary but wife refuses saying that has to be done by her husband when he returns from the church function.
Mrs Manda asks the new guard to sit on the veranda to wait for her husband there. However, the guard decides to go against Mrs Manda’s advice. He tells her, I will go and come back later instead.
There is an ESCOM power black-out in the area soon after 6:00pm.

The guard returns after 6pm and it’s getting dark. Instead of sitting on the veranda where he was advised by late Manda’s wife for easy spotting when late Manda enters the gate, guard decides to take position elsewhere. The wife is aware the guard is back but does not exactly know where he has positioned himself all this because of the power failure.

At some minutes to 07:00pm, Mrs Manda is in the house trying to light a candle. As she is doing this, she hears some shouts outside their gate. She tries to peep through the window to check if the new guard is rushing to attend to the noise. She sees nothing of that and she decides to go out herself and check.

As she opens the gate, from nowhere the guard joins her. She asks him if he heard any shouts, the guard says he heard nothing.
The two, Mrs Manda and guard not far from the gate see someone down. Going nearer, they find late Belvin Manda lying down, dead.

There is no blood, the white YCW t-shirt which he had worn that day was not stained, no blood no dust as a sign of some struggle or sharp object used.

It clearly showed, the murder must have been done by a professional killer.

Belvin Manda is now dead, May His Soul Rest In Peace.

When we return we will explain to you the following;
– How the landlord continues to play good citizen role promising the Police I will bring you the killers and takes two YCW members to Police.