M’belwa ‘poisoning’ claims: Malawi Ngoni chief formally died of diabetes

There are fears that the fallen Malawi’s late Paramount Chief M’mbelwa might have been poisoned by a senior government official.

M’mbelwa IV died on Tuesday at Mwaiwathu Private Hospital in Blantyre where he was treated for a diabetes attack after being referred from Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe last Saturday.

However, information gathered by Nyasa Times indicates that the late Inkosi was poisoned after having breakfast with the senior government official in August last year.

A top government doctor privy to the matter confided in Nyasa Times that Mbelwa was invited to the house of a top government official where they had breakfast but started vomiting blood soon after.

The chief is said to have been taken to South Africa for medical attention and travelled by road where they discovered that he had been poisoned and his intestines were affected.

“The South African hospital gave him an appointment after six months and he was supposed to go there this month of February. He knew that he had been poisoned because he told me so but did not tell me the name of the person who poisoned him,” said the doctor who pleaded for anonymity.

“The doctors in South Africa advised him not to eat hard food, he was only taking liquids and Likuni Phala because the intestines were badly damaged because of the poison,” added the doctor.

The story was colloborated by a family member who said the late M’mbelwa confided in one of his children what had befallen him.

“There is foul play in the way the late chief started his sickness, he was all well until that breakfast. He knew what had befallen him and those close to him are aware why he has died,” said one of the family members.

The ‘poisoning’ claim will trigger interest from the family that Inkosi M’mbelwa’s body should undergo further tests to find out whether his death was caused by poisoning and “to reveal the truth”.

M’mbelwa IV was born Zwangedaba Jele on August 15 1954. He was installed chief in 1984 after the death of his father. He did his primary school at Edingeni and was selected to Mzuzu Government Secondary School in 1976.

He later worked for Press Holdings and Shire Valley Cattle Ranch before being installed as chief. He served in a number of boards while he was chief.

He is survived by a wife, three sons and a daughter.

Meanwhile, Mkhosi Jele, late M’mbelwa’s IV eldest son, will be crowned M’mbelwa V after burial and mourning period at Edingeni in Mzimba.

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