Writing on his Facebook page, Chisa Mbele said this time around the demonstrations will focus on people who are allegedly stealing from Malawians.

“More Demonstrations. We are planning Mass Demonstration for Mzuzu & Salima. In Salima we will be delivering Petitions ku manyumba a mabwana omwe akuba ku Lilongwe kudzamanga ku Salima,” said Chisa Mbele.

He is yet to announce the dates and days for the said demonstrations.

Last week Chisa Mbele was arrested after he led violence demonstrations in the capital Lilongwe.

Today, authorities at the institution announced that they have closed the school with immediate effect following a three day vigil held by the students over school calendar disagreements.

In a statement signed by the university’s acting registrar Mary Wasiri, all students residing in the campus have been ordered to leave the campus premises by midday today.

At the moment the students are protesting against the closure of the school and are mounting roadblocks on roads heading to the school.

Meanwhile, the president is asking students to remove the blocks in order to allow the lawyers to pass through and assess the current situation at the campus

Many students who are gathered at the arch are eager to escort the SRC members to the high court but SRC has opted to use a vehicle for quick travel.

Yesterday, Students Representative Council Vice President Catherine Mwangonde called on chancellor for the university, President Lazarus Chakwera, to intervene in the academic calendar battle.

There were disagreements on route of the demonstrations as the Dc is not in support of heading to State House.

However, the police are still providing their support to the demonstrators as they proceed to State House.

Chakwera is not at State House, he is in Mzuzu where he is performing government engagements.

President Chakwera is currently in Mzuzu where he is expected to perform a number of government engagements in the northern region.

However, Chisa Mbele, said they will camp outside Kamuzu Palace till the president comes back and is served with concerns.

As the demonstrations have started, officers from Malawi Police service have also gathered in high numbers to ensure that the protests are peaceful.

Chisa Mbele confirmed this on his official Facebook page after having a successful and peaceful protests in Blantyre and Zomba yesterday.

“Today Lilongwe. Let’s Match to President Chakwera. Tikamuyendere. Lilongwe, Let’s Do it today,” said Chisa Mbele.

Chisa Mbele has been accusing the President Lazarus Chakwera’s led government of massive corruption.

Adding to that Chisa Mbele is bemoaning high cost of living amid economic woes that are rocking the country.

In his previous remarks, Chisa Mbele said Malawi has a clueless and visionless leader summarising that the country is on autopilot.

However, government has been insisting that the Chakwera led administration is on the right path in recovering the country from the previous regime’s mess.

On the other hand, Chakwera has been admitting that the country’s economy is harsh but it will be well very soon.

Democratic Progressive Party councillor for Soche East Ward Leonard Chimbanga and Mulhako wa Alhomwe Chairperson for the Southern Region Blessings Makwinja are also taking part in the Blantyre demonstrations.

The demonstrations are aiming at forcing government to address socio economic challenges that are rocking the country and rampant corruption.

FaceofMalawi will take show you the status of the police dominated protests in pictures.

Police van spotted at the demos

Police officers leading peaceful protesters

A car carrying PA system of the protestors

Organizers leading protesters

In a statement posted on by one of the organizers social commentator Joshua Chisa Mbele, the destination of the protest is State House, where Chakwera stays.

In the statement Chisa Mbele clarified that the demonstrations are taken to presidential residents because he believes that that is where corruption is planned and supervised.

“Malawians as Victims of State-Sponsored Corruption, Fraud, Money-laundering, Racketeering & Impunity to take their grievances to the People’s Palace where this Corruption is planned and supervised,” Mbele said.

According to Chisa Mbele, it is time to tell Chakwera that Malawians have had enough.

“It’s not about Politics but Maladministration which affects everyone. Nobody is spared when government is corrupt. It spreads everywhere,” he said.

Government is yet to react on the matter.

According to Kalindo, the protests dubbed Kamuzu Barracks and Area 30 Shutdown are on tomorrow, Saturday, January 22, 2022 in the capital Lilongwe.

Kalindo is seeking clarification on why the security agencies in the country gave investigations from United Kingdom access to the country’s military weapons.

According to Kalindo the move is keeping the country’s security at risk.

Initially, Kalindo had given the Malawi Army’s commander Vincent Nundwe, Police Inspector General George Kainja, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Eisenhower Mkaka and Richard Chimwendo Banda respectively 7 days to give an explanation.

However, the reason behind the change of plans is not yet known.

Since he fallout from the Tonse Alliance, Kalindo has been mobilizing Malawians to the street demonstrating against government, accusing it of failing to fulfill campaign promises.

Kalindo is also accusing the Tonse Alliance of practicing massive corruption. And he has also been demanding President Lazarus Chakwera’s resignation.

Speaking to the masses after delivering the petition, Kalindo challenged the protesters not to get tired in pushing for a relief from the high cost of living Malawians are currently experiencing citing examples of cooking oil and sugar among other basic needs whose prices have gone up.

“Let me remind them that if they are to kill Kalindo, more Kalindos will rise to fight for the welfare of Malawians,” he said.

He commended the police for peacefully controlling the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Kalindo has urged Gwdemula to deliver the petition to President Lazarus Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance administration on time.

AFP journalists saw the body of a man lying on his back on the sidewalk covered with a silver-coloured safety sheet, just a street away from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).

Clashes erupted when police used rubber bullets to break up a group of students who were blocking roads with rubble and disrupting traffic in downtown Johannesburg around the Wits campus precinct.

Students began sporadic protests in early January over the alleged exclusion of some students by a government-sponsored tuition aid scheme.

They are demanding that Wits allows all students with outstanding debt to register for the 2021 academic year.

Many students have fallen into arrears because of economic hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local broadcasters showed live the clashes between police and students.

Wits spokeswoman Shirona Patel said the victim was not their student.

“My understanding so far is that the protestors blocked a public road, the police tried to disperse them, and the passerby was shot in the crossfire,” she told AFP.

Enraged students gathered near the body, with some shouting at police officers to leave the area.

“Kill all of us,” one student was heard shouting. -AFP

The two women were detained in November while filming one of the anti-government rallies that swept Belarus after strongman Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in an August election that the opposition said was rigged.

The women, who denied their guilt on the first day of their trial earlier this month, were accused of “attracting people to participate in a mass event” via their broadcast and convicted of leading “group actions that grossly violate public order”.

Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya praised the two journalists for their defiance following the verdict.

“I know that we will not live in a cage. We will achieve truth and freedom — thanks to Ekaterina Andreyeva, Daria Chultsova, all honest journalists,” she wrote on her Telegram channel, using Bakhvalova’s pen name.

The case has sparked widespread condemnation from Western countries and advocacy groups.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged Belarusian authorities to “stop treating journalists as their enemies”, while the president of neighbouring Poland called for “an amnesty”.

“At the same time, Poland calls on all partners in the European Union to respond in solidarity, consistently and resolutely to the latest manifestation of suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms,” Krzysztof Szczerski, an advisor to Polish President Andrzej Duda, wrote on Twitter.

EU foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano called the case a continuation of a “shameful crackdown on media” and said the bloc “strongly condemns” the prison sentences.

Teachers across the country, yesterday announced that they will go to the streets arguing that government is playing hide and seek in addressing their grievances.

Teachers have been asking government to provide them with Personal Protective Equipment and risk allowances as schools reopen after five weeks of closure.

According to Julius Mtambo, chairperson for concerned teachers said they are disappointed with government decision to proceed with reopening of schools yet their concerns are not addressed.

Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) has said if its members will not report for work on Monday.

According to TUM president Willy Malimba, the decision to boycott from work has been made since government is not clear on risk allowances that teachers are demanding.

Malimba further said that government has also failed to fulfill some of the requirements for the opening of schools, citing drilling boreholes and erecting temporary classes to decongest classrooms.

Chairperson for the Concerned Teachers, Julius Mtambo said they are concerned that government has directed that schools reopen on Monday, despite not responding to some of their concerns.

Secretary General for the grouping Azizi Losa said that they also want government to recruit additional secondary school teachers in order to decongest classrooms.

Minister of Education Agnes NyaLonje disclosed on Wednesday that the Ministry will put in place a number of preventive measures to ensure that both students and teachers are protected.

On Wednesday this week government through the Presidential Taskforce announced that all schools should reopen after five weeks of closure as the country is experiencing the second wave of the global virus.

Minister of Health Khumbize Chiponda Kandodo, has since said that government is working hard to ensure that the spread of the virus is contained in schools.

Meanwhile, Malawi has more Covid-19 recoveries than active cases which is giving hope that the country might be winning the fight against the virus of which some are saying that it is because there is a drop in covid-19 tests.

A violent mob in the Netherlands caused chaos as rioters protested lockdown measures.

The Independent reported that the rioters have been accused of setting fire to a COVID testing site in the Dutch fishing village of Urk. In addition to this, they have reportedly destroyed police cars and attacked police officers by hurling bricks and fireworks at them. These events transpired after the government imposed a nationwide curfew that runs from 9:00 pm to 4:30 am – the first curfew introduced in the Netherlands since World War II. According to local media, the mob “went to the village’s harbour area just after the 9pm deadline and set the drive-in coronavirus test centre on fire.”

Local authorities commented on the protests, TIME reported.

This is not only unacceptable, but also a slap in the face, especially for the local health authority staff who do all they can at the test center to help people from Urk.

Health Minister Hugo de Jonge condemned the riots:

The fire in a screening centre in Urk goes beyond all limits.

Urk Mayor Cees van den Bos also commented:

I am so ashamed of what has happened.

We want peace in Urk.

The curfew will remain in force until February 9. According to the Independent, it was approved last week after politicians feared that the variant discovered in the UK will cause a new surge in cases.

In a press statement seen by this publication, the S_x Workers have said they want to raise their concerns on the challenges they are facing due to Coronavirus preventive measure that government has put in place.

“The peaceful demonstrations have been organized to raise our concern to authorities on hardships that female s_x workers are facing due to Coronavirus Preventive measures that government has put in place,” reads part of the statement.

The Covid-19 Presidential Taskforce weeks ago announced that it has revised some of the guidelines put in place as a way of halting the spread of Coronavirus which is on rampage in the country.

Among others, the Taskforce announced that bars should be closed by 8 pm and that people are not allowed to drink in bars instead they should be taking home.

Following the government’s decision on this, the s_x workers bemoaned saying that their business has been negatively affected as the said time to close bars is the time they commerce activities of their business.

According to statement, the protest will start from Lilongwe Community Ground to the District Commission’s office.

Last week s_x works from Zomba also took to the street on the same.

In a press statement available to Face of Malawi news desk, CDEDI said the confirmation comes after a successful meeting with authorities form Lilongwe City Council (LCC) and the Malawi Police Service (MPS).

“The council has granted CDEDI and The Lilongwe Small Scale Business Operators permission to hold the peaceful demonstrations starting from Lilongwe Community ground passing through Mchesi to Kamuzu Central Hospital Roundabout then present a petition to the Lilongwe City Council Chief Executive Officer at Lilongwe Civic Office,” read part of the statement.

According to CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa the demonstrations were shifted from Wednesday, December 13, 2020 the date they initially set before being informed that the day will carry other activities.

“We could not hold demonstrations on Wednesday, 16 December, 2020 as earlier announced because the city council informed us that the date was already set for the Concerned Local Fuel Transporters as per Section 96(3) of the Police Act being the first organization whose notification was received earlier before ours,” said Namiwa.

The development follows the expiry of a 14 day ultimatum which the Initiative gave government to address concerns raised regarding the issue to do with illegal immigrants’ dong businesses in the country taking over spots belonging to indigenous Malawians.

Namiwa further said CDEDI and the Lilongwe Small Scale Operators will lead all well-meaning Malawians in exercising their right to conduct peaceful demonstrations to demand answers and explanation form President Lazarus Chakwera.

The protest will be the first since Chakwera was elected the President of the country on June 23, 2020 in fresh presidential elections.

One of the demonstrators Steve Uriah from Chipwato village in Traditional Authority Malengachanzi said some of them have spent over four nights without purchasing the inputs.

Meanwhile, the district’s Chief Agriculture Development Natural Resources Officer Precious Chautsi advised the people to be calm as the problem has affected the entire nation and that top authorities have already been notified.

Missing of names in the database and network glitches are some of the problem the AIP is facing recently.

“Soldiers have already spoken about this, they are denying their involvement and government is aware that they have not given any soldiers instructions to go into this crisis, not at all,” Mr Dingyadi told the Newsday programme in an interview.

His remarks come after Amnesty International said at least 12 people were killed by soldiers and police in Lagos on Tuesday. Nigeria’s army has dismissed the reports as “fake news”.

The minister said the ongoing anti-police brutality protests in the country had been hijacked by rogue elements. He said the government was working on all the demands for reforms demanded by protesters.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration inherited a bad system which it is currently reforming