MINING PAYOUT SCANDAL ROCK BALAKA

MINING PAYOUT SCANDAL ROCK BALAKA

·       Villagers decry unfair treatment, ghost beneficiaries

·       As ACB launches

BY KONDWANI NYONDO 

When bulldozers rolled into Ng’onga Hill in Balaka, the villagers thought it was the sound of progress. Months later, the only sound that remains is that of blasting rocks and wailing families who say the development has stolen their land, homes, and dignity. What was supposed to be fair compensation from Portland Cement Malawi Limited has turned into a scandal.

While those who genuinely deserved compensation got peanuts, others, even without land, including public officers are alleged to have received hefty sums.  

Interviews, petitions, and documents reviewed during a months-long investigation in the mining projects in Balaka reveal a compensation process riddled with corruption, ghost beneficiaries, and broken promises.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau has since opened an investigation into allegations of fraud acting ACB director Hilary Chilomba confirmed in an interview.

Said Chilomba: “Public officers were conniving with villagers to be compensated for land they did not own. We are investigating the whole compensation process”.

According to information we obtained from Balaka district council at least 249 villagers have been displaced and compensated in group village head Ng’onga, traditional authority Nsamala to paveway for mining of limestone.

In traditional authority Chanthunya where Lindian Resources has also set camp 267 households have been affected.

In a written Balaka district council spokesperson Mary Makhiringa said the cost of compensation for households in Ng’onga area is K2 billion kwacha and K1.6 billion in Chanthunya.

But corroborated interviews with villagers and their leaders show that the compensation process in Ng’onga has more questions without answers.

“They told us that whether we liked it or not, the land belonged to government and we would be removed,” reads part of a community petition submitted to Balaka District Council earlier this year.

Residents say their initial compensation receipts, issued in March 2023, were later confiscated and replaced with new ones three months later, showing reduced amounts.

For 45-year-old Sumani Chiwaya, the change was devastating. He was supposed to receive K28 million for nearly three hectares of land but was given only K20 million. His brother Goodson also lost almost K5 million.

“This is not just a mistake. It is theft,” one villager during a compensation exercised we witnessed at Ng’onga primary school in July this year.  Others told similar stories, insisting that officials from the council’s lands office used their power to manipulate records and enrich themselves – allegations we could not independently verify.

The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), which has followed the case since 2023, documented over 100 similar instances.

In January this year, the organisation wrote to the Ministry of Lands demanding disciplinary action against Balaka District Council officials accused of manipulating valuations. CDEDI later escalated the matter to the ACB, arguing that public officers had engaged in criminal conduct.

Reads the CDEDI letter: “In the first phase, compensation was cut by 30 percent purportedly, due to an error, claiming that they used Blantyre city rates, and not those of Balaka. We present to you compensation closure receipts issued on March 30, 2023 that were three and half months later confiscated and replaced with new ones on July 19, 2023”.

The ACB acting director general confirmed that part of their investigation is to establish how Blantyre rates were confused for Balaka and if indeed this was an error or a case of corruption.

There is mounting suspicion that Balaka District Council’s officers responsible for compensation, allegedly bought land in the mining area to benefit from compensation.

Traditional leaders have also been implicated in manipulating land records, selling logs and crops from seized farmland, and adding fictitious names to the beneficiary list.

In an interview with traditional leaders named as suspects – it was apparent clear that the compensation process has got gaps. A K52 million payout has deepened mistrust among chiefs in the area.

In an interview, Group Village Head (GVH) Mchenga accuses her subordinate, GVH Ng’onga, of pocketing millions meant to be shared among community leaders.

According to Mchenga a deal was agreed with Ng’onga that he would receive K36 million for compensation and give her 30 percent of the figure. She said a Village Development Committee member, Martin Zimbota, who did not own land, was also registered to get K16 million that would be split between him and TA Nsamala.

She said after the cheques were released in May 2025, with K36 million going to GVH Ng’onga and K16 million Zimbota, the arrangement collapsed.

“I called N’gonga all day. He blocked me. When I went to his house, his sister said he had gone to Liwonde to buy a motorcycle,” Mchenga recalled.

The fallout led to arrests. Police detained Mchenga, Zimbota, and T/A Nsamala after Ng’onga accused them of corruption. They were charged with “corruptly receiving money” and later released on bail. On the day of the arrest police confiscated K10 million which has been handed over to ACB as evidence of corruption.

 “It was Ng’onga who called Martin and registered him on my behalf,” said T/A Nsamala. “But he’s the same person who reported Mchenga for corruption. I think he just wanted to punish her so she wouldn’t demand her share.”

When contacted Ng’onga said he could not share the money because Mchenga allegedly already benefitted from other compensations.

“Mchenga, in fact, wanted to share my money with me, yet she already had two cheques, one worth K15 million and another K25 million. I told them that if they wanted to sue me, they could go ahead. I was not going to share my compensation with anyone because I had only agreed to help her in the first place, thinking she hadn’t received anything” said Ng’onga who also claimed that he noticed that the compensation process had names of people who did not deserved compensation – a claim the ACB is investigating.

Even when chiefs confirmed registering Zimbota who owned no land, Makhiringa insisted there was no wrong doing as independent team had gone to the area to investigate these allegations but got nothing.

Said Makhiringa: “The chief in mention was compensated on land which is under the custody of chiefs and no any other party would claim ownership to that land”.

In a written Principal Secretary for Lands, David Chilonga, also defended the process, saying it followed all legal procedures. “From the onset, sensitisation meetings were held. People were informed of their rights, compensation benefits, and financial literacy training was provided,” he said in a written response.

The Ministry also maintains that there were no ghost beneficiaries after a verification exercise found all names legitimate.

However, minutes from sensitisation meetings and stakeholder reports obtained by this paper paint a different picture. They show that villagers were ‘pushed’ to sign documents without understanding them, while some government officers and individuals with links to Portland cement benefited from double listings and inflated claims.

Portland Cement Malawi Limited has not responded to our questionnaire submitted in July this year.