The Malawi Incident

Below is a Watchtower article that appeared in 1968 about the Jehovah's Witnesses in Malawi and the persecution inflicted upon them. What is of interest, the Jehovah's Witnesses refused to buy a political membership cards in Malawi's Congress Party, which was required by law. This was against the Watchtower Society's rules and as a result, many innocent people were tortured and murdered. The Government that caused these atrocities are definitely guilty, but the Society also is accountable before God for not allowing their people to exercise their conscience in these matters. The Society now says that Voting is up your conscience.   Why was this not allowed with the innocent victims in Malawi? Also, why has the Society turned a blind eye to the Witnesses in Mexico and allowed them to obtain a "Cartilla" by bribing officials. To legally obtain the"Cartilla" one would have to serve a period of one year in military service.

Watchtower 2/1/1968 pages 71-79

Shocking Religious Persecution in Malawi

SUDDENLY persecution of a zealous religious minority has again broken out. It has flared up with a violence and brutality that one associates more with the Dark Ages than with the last third of this twentieth century. During the year just ended thousands of dedicated Christians have had their homes, stores and places of worship burned to the ground or otherwise destroyed because they endeavored to live in harmony with the Bible. They have been robbed, over a thousand women have been raped, men have been beaten unconscious and a number of them have been killed. Where? In Malawi, a narrow, landlocked country in Central Africa, somewhat to the southeast.

Yes, it is in this new nation of some four million inhabitants, formerly known as Nyasaland, that this shocking religious persecution is taking place. At Lilongwe in central Malawi, 170 homes of these Christians were burned down in three nights. In the Fort Johnston district, slightly to the south, 34 homes and 18 food storage places were burned down toward the end of October. At Mbalame on October 27 the Christians of two congregations all had their homes burned down while they, including the women, were stripped of their clothes and brutally beaten. In some of these places persecutors used trucks to haul away the confiscated household furnishings of these Christians before destroying their homes.

A traveling minister in the country wrote: “On October 27 I was robbed of all my possessions. . . . My wife and I were badly beaten up. Hundreds of our Christian brothers have had their homes destroyed. Many places of worship have been demolished.”

In one place a number of these Christians were beaten unconscious and one of them placed on top of a pile of wood, which was then set afire, all at the instigation of a member of Malawi’sparliament. But then this politician began to have second thoughts about the matter and so had the unconscious Christian hurriedly pulled off the pile.

In another place one night a group of these Christians was awakened by Congress Party officials. The men were beaten and slashed with sticks and pangas [machetes] and then were forced to look on while ten of their women were raped. Two of the women were pregnant, one of whom later had a miscarriage as a result.

Late in October a large number of Christian women from the Mlanje area were assaulted and raped, and on October 25, 1967, a fifteen-year-old girl at Mkuwila Village, because of refusing to compromise her religious convictions, was tied to a tree and raped six times. How sadistic these persecutors were can be seen from the fact that they even forced a wooden plug into one Christian woman.

This shocking persecution has sent many of these Christians to hospitals, and at least five of them were killed up to the end of November 1967. Hundreds have fled to the bush wilderness for safety while literally thousands of others have taken refuge in the neighboring Portuguese province of Mozambique, where they have been provided with food and shelter.

The Times, of Blantyre, Malawi’s chief industrial city, situated in the southern part of the country, in its issue of November 9 told of 3,000 of these Christians appearing in court at Lilongwe, charged with being members of an unlawful society. Checking this report, two missionaries visited Lilongwe. There they found 2,400 of them in prison and learned that five babies had been born there and that 800 Christians were being held at the police station. Although most of these had spent the night sleeping under an open sky and it had rained, they were in good spirits, determined to stand firm. Truly, such faith is commendable, but is not a government that treats them so harshly making itself an object of shame before the world?

Who Are the Victims?
These persecuted victims belong to a religious minority group known as the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, who are noted world wide for their strong Bible-based faith. No doubt you know some of Jehovah’s witnesses in your community and have observed that they put their religion first in their lives, even as Jesus commanded his followers to do when he said: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.” (Matt. 6:33) The same is true of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi.

These Christians have been found in Malawi ever since World War I and have been organized for the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” since 1933 by the Watch Tower Society. (Matt. 24:14) By August 1967 there were 18,519 Christian witnesses of Jehovah in Malawi actively carrying on their educational work with comparatively little interference. When they held their “Disciple-making” District Assemblies in the summer of 1967, a total of 25,830 persons, or upward of 7,000 more than there were Witnesses in the country, attended and listened with interest. Among those present were government observers who could not help but be impressed by the love, unity and peacefulness manifested by the Witnesses, as many thousands of persons from differing tribes mingled together just like one big family.

Why the Persecution?
Since this is the way the witnesses of Jehovah conduct themselves, why, then, all this violent persecution of them in Malawi? One of the main reasons is that the Witnesses refuse to buy membership cards in Malawi’s Congress Party as well as refuse to buy and wear badges with the picture of the President of Malawi, Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. Other religious organizations, Catholic, Protestant and Moslem, have all yielded to pressure in these respects, but Jehovah’s witnesses have not. Why? Because of their strictly adhering to the Word of God.

As Christian witnesses of Jehovah they follow the example of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who kept free from the politics of his day. He said that his followers were “no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:16) And before the Roman political ruler of Judea, Pontius Pilate, he testified: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source.” (John 18:36) Previously, when the Jews wanted to seize him to make him king, he eluded them and retreated alone into a mountain.—John 6:15.

Yes, Jesus preached and gave his allegiance to “the kingdom of the heavens,” “the kingdom of God.” Following Jesus’ footsteps as sincerely dedicated Christians, Jehovah’s witnesses have no alternative but to keep separate, “without spot from the world.” Since they can give their allegiance only to Jehovah God and his kingdom, they feel obligated to refrain from participating in any action that gives such devotion to political leaders. So they remain neutral as to the political affairs of
Malawi, even as they do regarding the political affairs of every other land in which they happen to live. It is because of this Christian neutrality that they are being persecuted in Malawi.—Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15; Jas. 1:27.

Who Are the Persecutors?
The people of Malawi are known for being a peace-loving people, and they know that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are also lovers of peace. Then why the persecution? It is due to the spirit of nationalism that has inflamed so many of the people of this country, especially the youth who are members of the Youth League. They bear a resemblance to the Nazi youths who committed so many depredations against the Jews when Hitler was in power in Germany, and to the Red Guards who have terrorized so many in Communist China who, they felt, were not sufficiently nationalistic. To be good citizens, in the eyes of these groups, it is not enough to pay taxes and obey all the laws of the land, which Jehovah’s witnesses have been faithfully doing, but everyone must now become a member of the Malawi Congress Party and prove it by buying a membership card and wearing a badge with President H. Kamuzu Banda’s picture on it.

Even months before Malawi gained its independence on July 6, 1964, the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, from January to March 1964, experienced a wave of brutal violence and ruthless persecution because of their stand in this matter. At that time 1,081 of their homes and more than 100 of their Kingdom Halls were burned down or otherwise demolished. Also, 588 fields of maize (corn), millet, beans, casava and cotton were destroyed. Many Witnesses were hospitalized, women were raped, and eight Witnesses died from beatings or were killed outright. For weeks many of these persecuted Christians had to sleep out in the open wilderness bush with hardly anything to eat, while enduring the rigors of the rainy season and the threat of snakes and other wild animals.

At that time Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi through their representatives did their best to try to reason with the responsible ones in government positions so they would call a halt to this violent persecution of innocent men, women and children. On one occasion they had a meeting with the then Minister of Home Affairs, Yatuta Chisiza (who later rebelled against Dr. Banda, the president, and recently was shot by Malawi’s security forces). He made it clear that he was highly displeased that the Witnesses were the only ones that refused to buy Malawi Congress Party membership cards and he told the spokesman for the Witnesses that unless he changed his mind he would “experience a very sad accident.” Here again it was to be seen that the Witnesses were being persecuted because of their neutral stand regarding national politics.

However, in spite of the unsatisfactory manner in which this meeting with Minister Chisiza, as well as a previous one with President Banda, ended, the situation in Malawi for the Witnesses improved. For the most part they were able to return to their villages and rebuild their homes and Kingdom Halls. Many of those who had once mistreated Jehovah’s witnesses now came and asked forgiveness, and a number of them are now Witnesses themselves. During this time the Witnesses in Malawi might be said to have “entered into a period of peace, being built up,” much as did the early Christians under similar circumstances.—Acts 9:31.

“A Bolt Out of the Blue”
In view of the reasonably favorable conditions under which the Christian witnesses of Jehovah were able to carry on their ministerial activities in Malawi during 1965 and 1966, it was indeed like “a bolt out of the blue” when the Witnesses tuned in their radios on April 23, 1967, and heardPresident H. Kamuzu Banda make an attack upon them. In a message of about a half hour in length, in which he discussed various problems facing his nation, he spent one-third of the time making an extended attack upon the Witnesses. Among other things he stated:

“I have been alarmed by the reports reaching me from almost every district, of deliberate provocation of my supporters, members of the Malawi Congress Party, particularly members of the Youth League and Young Pioneers by Jehovah’s Witness. This deliberate provocation of the members of my party . . . takes various forms. One form is for Jehovah’s Witness themselves to refuse to pay tax. But instead of just stopping at refusal to pay tax themselves, the Jehovah’s Witness stop or try to stop others from paying tax. And when Party officials tell them not to tell people not to pay tax, they become deliberately abusive to Party Leaders. . . . Another form is for
the Jehovah’s Witness to stop members of the Malawi Congress Party from renewing their membership cards or buying new Malawi Congress Party membership cards. Again, when the leaders of the Malawi Congress Party.... tell them not to stop the people from renewing theirMalawi Congress Party membership cards or buying new cards, Jehovah’s Witness say, ‘Yes,I want you to beat me, you cannot stop me from stopping them. I am doing this deliberately so that you can beat me, so that I can take you to the police.’....  The government will protect every law- abiding citizen from molestation by anyone and everyone . . . but it will not give licence to Jehovah’s Witness to provoke anyone.... I want to make this quite clear. Jehovah’s Witness must stop provoking others, provoking people. And if they do not stop and they continue doing that, then they must not complain if and when they are beaten up.”

In fact, so well known is the reputation of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi as taxpayers that when Dr. Banda accused them of not paying taxes many persons openly disagreed with him. More than that, if any Christian witness deliberately refused to pay taxes or interfered with others’ paying their taxes, he would be disfellowshiped or excommunicated from his congregation. In this regard it is indeed of interest that one of the false charges brought against Jesus Christ, the Son of God, at the time of his arrest was, “This man we found subverting our nation and forbidding the paying of taxes to Caesar.” (Luke 23:2) Now the government of Malawi has chosen to pursue the same course as those men who brought about the death of Jesus Christ.

Those familiar with Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi report that the Witnesses not only conscientiously pay their taxes but also shoulder their share of the burdens of the so-called self-help projects of the government by helping to build schools, hospitals, and so forth. In fact, Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi have been so exemplary in supporting these projects that many
village headmen and chiefs have publicly praised the Witnesses for their conscientious efforts in these matters. They have even been praised by many government officials and native authorities for being the best taxpayers in the country. And when a Portuguese official checked on a large group of those who had been forced to flee to Mozambique he found that every last one of them was able to produce his Tax Receipt, thus exposing as a deliberate lie the charge that they “refuse to pay tax.”

No Evidence of Provocation
The charge that the Witnesses deliberately provoke others to attack them is equally without foundation in fact. Remember, these nationalistic youths and others did not stop with merely beating up the witnesses of Jehovah, but carted away the possessions of the Witnesses by the truckload. They burned down the homes and Kingdom Halls of the Witnesses, raped women and even killed men. Surely it strains credulity to charge that the Witnesses deliberately invited these
depredations against themselves. The very fact that thousands of the Witnesses took refuge in Mozambique of itself stamps the charge of provocation as false.

Furthermore, there is legal evidence to the contrary, for this was not the first time the charge was made. Thus acting judge Mr. L. M. E. Emejulu, in the judgment of the Criminal Case No. 46 of 1964, when Dafter Biziweck and seven others were convicted of the murder of Elton Mwachande, one of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi, said:

“I see no evidence of provocation. It is true that Jehovah’s Witnesses determinedly propagated their faith and sought to win converts, but they were alive to their civic duties and they did all they were asked to do, including community development. They only refused to join any political party. . . . There is no evidence that they ever forced or tried to force anyone to accept their religion. The evidence is to the contrary. The Constitution guarantees them the right to belong or not to belong to any political party. I find no evidence of provocation.”

“Eight Sentenced to Death. Murder of Jehovah’s Witness. Blantyre, Malawi. Wednesday.—Eight men, including three officials of the Malawi Congress Party, were sentenced to death by the High Court this week for the murder of a Jehovah’s Witness who refused to register for the General Elections. Mr. Elton Barnett Mwachande was ‘cut down and killed,’ the evidence showed, at Mlanje last February when Jehovah’s Witnesses fled from men who were burning houses of people who refused to register.—Reuter.”

The Times also reported Dr. Banda’s comments on this Resolution, which were broadcast to the entire nation:

“They are causing trouble everywhere . . . The Government may pass a law in such a way that every area or district can decide for itself whether it wants Jehovah’s Witnesses or not. If the people in any area say ‘No,’ then there would be no Jehovah’s Witness there. Any area would have the right to decide for itself and if the Jehovah’s Witness did not pack up they would go to prison.”

“Causing trouble everywhere”—how that calls to mind a similar charge in apostolic times! That Christian missionary and apostle to the nations, Paul, was likewise falsely accused of stirring up trouble everywhere.—Acts 24:2-9.

The Resolution that the Malawi Congress Party had adopted at its political convention recommending that Jehovah’s witnesses be banned was not discussed nor debated in Malawi’s fifty-member Parliament, 90 percent of whom profess to be Christians. Moreover, instead of leaving it to each district, the government decided to ban Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the land, even as reported by The Times, October 23, 1967, under large bold-faced headlines: “MALAWI BANS ‘DANGER SECT.’” It went on to say:

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization has been declared ‘dangerous to the good government of Malawi’ and is therefore now an unlawful society. This announcement is made in a special Government Gazette Supplement published at the weekend. The notice No. 235, is signed personally by the President Dr. Banda, and declares that the action is taken under Section 70 (2) (ii) of the Malawi Penal Code. The effect of the announcement is that the Jehovah’s Witnesses may no longer hold meetings, sell or distribute literature or collect money . . . The law affecting unlawful societies states that anyone who manages or assists in the management of an unlawful society is guilty of an offense and is liable to imprisonment for 14 years. Other sections of the law state that no member may allow a meeting of the society or of members of the society to be held in ‘any house, building or place’ belonging to him or occupied by him. The penalty here is a jail term for seven years. The Penal Code also provides for the search by police of any premises belonging or occupied by the society or its members. No member may display signs or ‘shout or utter any slogan or make any sign’ associated with the society. The law also provides for the appontment of an officer to wind up the affairs of an unlawful society.”

However, the missionaries, knowing that they had done nothing wrong, made no move to leave the country voluntarily. The following day the police came and arrested all eight of them. Four were at once put on planes under police escort. The remaining four were held in Chichiri Prison from whence, two days later, they were deported to Mauritius.

The Times, November 9, carried a large front-page headline, “3,000 IN COURT AS LEADERS LEAVE,” in which also were published pictures and the details of the deportation. It further reported that a member of the Malawi Parliament, J. D. Gunda, “over the weekend warned former members of the banned Jehovah’s Witnesses religious sect of the heavy penalties which would be imposed on those who deliberately violated the Law by continuing to be members of the proscribed organization.”

The Charges Change
Although Jehovah’s witnesses had been charged with being a dangerous organization that is lawless and provokes others to lawless deeds, they are now being accused as simply being “foolish and stupid”—surely no great crime! Thus The Malawi News, the mouthpiece for the government, devoted the entire upper third of the front page of its issue of November 24, 1967, to headlines about Jehovah’s witnesses, such as “JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES ARE FOOLISH AND STUPID.” “THEY ARE NOT WORTH THE BOTHER OF ANYBODY.”

Among other things it reported: “The President Ngwazi [the Conquerer] said that these people were foolish and stupid because if they did not believe in the government but belonged to heaven why did they send their children to school, come to hospitals when sick, and sought protection from the police after ‘one small scratch.’” But ridicule is no substitute for logic, nor can it nullify the facts. As taxpayers Jehovah’s witnesses have the perfect right to send their children to public schools, they have the right to come to government hospitals when they are sick and to appeal to the police for protection when attacked. But it may well be asked, Is it just “one small scratch” when houses are robbed and burned down, when women are raped and men are beaten unconscious and even killed?

Why should Jehovah’s witnesses be banned one month because of being a dangerous sect, and then the very next month be described simply as “foolish and stupid”? Further, if the Witnesses are truly “not worth the bother of anybody,” why has the government taken such drastic action against them?

It is evident that the government’s position is not a consistent one. Why? Because the charges are not true. The fact is that a campaign of public vilification is now being carried on in a desperate endeavor to justify the actions of the government before the public.

The President of Malawi
Since such shocking persecutions are going on in Malawi, some readers might think that President Banda is merely a provincial chieftain who knows little of democratic principles. But such an opinion would be mistaken. Not only has Dr. Banda had the full benefits of a Western education—having attended three institutions of higher learning in the United States and practiced
medicine in London for seven years—but he has also had much contact with Christendom’s religions. It was the Methodists, we are told, that helped him get to the United States in the first place and that put him through high school. He has also been an elder of the Church of Scotland, one of the stricter Protestant denominations. He has said, “I am a man of God.”

At a private luncheon with U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, June 8, 1967, he stated that his sentiments were those of the man who once said: “I know not what course others may take, as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” He further told President Johnson: “I would like you to know, Mr. President, that whatever it may cost me, I always do what I think is the right thing according to my conscience.”—United States Department of State Bulletin, July 10, 1967.

Dr. Banda has been highly praised by Europeans. At the time of Malawi’s gaining her independence a prominent British official stated: “Thank heaven for Dr. Banda; he is a man of unblemished integrity, perhaps the most remarkable living African.” (The Christian Century, June 17, 1964) European officials employed in Malawi, who are the backbone of trading and
government administration, have been highly pleased with Dr. Banda. They have said: “You can be anything you like here except a Communist. We dread to think of anything happening to Banda.” (Newsweek, July 8, 1966) But now a person cannot legally be one of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi!

It was to the well-educated president of Malawi, Dr. Banda, that a letter was sent on November 4, 1967, by the presiding minister of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi. The letter called the President’s attention to the shocking persecution of the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, and respectfully requested him to use his power to stop this violence. It reminded him that he had said that “this government will protect every law-abiding citizen from molestation by anyone and everyone.” In closing, it urged him to use all his “powers to stop such acts of violence against innocent people.” But he turned a deaf ear to this plea.

Public’s Reaction to Ban
How have the common people of Malawi felt about this ban? Here again we can find a Biblical comparison. Just as in the days of Jesus’ apostles the ruling powers among the Jews banned their preaching whereas the common people heard them gladly, so in Malawi. For one thing, the radical nationalistic youth groups, far from being popular with the people, are feared by them.
Some of these common people, when they heard of the ban of Jehovah’s witnesses, exclaimed: “Now we know that we must be coming to the end of the world, when God’s people are forbidden in our country!” And when a senior police officer heard of the deportation order for the foreign missionaries of Jehovah’s witnesses, he asked with excitement in his voice, “Where is all this going to end?”—Acts 5:28; 6:7.

After the first warning of a ban on Jehovah’s witnesses, a prominent member of the Malawi Congress Party went during the middle of the night, even as Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of night, and asked: “What must I do to become one of Jehovah’s witnesses? I would rather be dying in prison with you than on the outside with no Jehovah’s witnesses around.” (John 3:1, 2) On the last day that the missionaries were still in Malawi, a young man came to their headquarters’ office in Blantyre to ask forgiveness for the way he had mistreated the Witnesses. He said that from now on he was going to change his ways and expressed a heartfelt desire to study the Bible with one of the Witnesses.

Fighting Against God
Jehovah’s witnesses are not going to quit serving God just because their Christian course is not approved by President Banda. They are like the first-century Christians who put obedience to God ahead of obedience to men. When they were haled before the rulers who said to them: “We positively ordered you not to keep teaching on the basis of this name, and yet, look! you have
filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring the blood of this man [Jesus Christ] upon us,” the apostles fearlessly replied: “WE MUST OBEY GOD AS RULER RATHER THAN MEN.”—Acts 5:28, 29.

On the other hand, neither will they rise up in revolt against the government and repay evil for evil. The weapons that these Christians use are not fleshly but spiritual, primarily the Word of God. They recognize the obligation to imitate the model their Leader, Jesus Christ, set for them, concerning whom it is written: “When he was being reviled, he did not go reviling in return. When he was suffering, he did not go threatening.” They do not seek to avenge themselves but “yield place to the wrath,” knowing it is written: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.”—1 Pet. 2:21, 23; Rom. 12:19.

No, it is not from Jehovah’s witnesses that President Banda and his supporters have anything to fear, but from Almighty God himself. They have set themselves in opposition to Jehovah God and made themselves fighters against God. (Acts 5:38, 39) But they do not need to continue in that course. They can change. Will they? That is a question that must be faced, not only by Dr. Banda, but by every member of his cabinet, by every member of Malawi’s Parliament as well as by every official in Malawi. Yes, that question must be faced by everyone who supports him as a member of his political party.

Others Care What Happens
The President of Malawi may believe that what he does as president of Malawi is his business, and not that of the rest of the world. But ought he not be helped to realize that the rest of the world takes note when justice is trampled underfoot and innocent Christians are cruelly abused? Ought he not to have forcefully driven home to him the fact that he has not made himself more popular either with his own people or with right-minded persons in any other part of the world by the action he has taken?

If you are a person who prizes freedom, truth and righteousness, it is your privilege to speak out on behalf of those who are so cruelly mistreated because of their faith in God. Letters of protest may be directed to:

His Excellency
Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda
President of Malawi
P.O. Box 53
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. J. D. Msonthi, M.P.
Minister of Transportation and Communication
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. G. W. Kumtumanji, M.P.
Minister of Local Government
 and Minister of Health
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. M. Q. Y. Chibambe, M.P.
Regional Minister for the Northern Region
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. A. M. Nyasulu, M.P.
Minister of State
 in the Ministry of External Affairs

P.O. Box 943,
Blantyre, Malawi, Central Africa
The Hon. G. Chakuamba, M.P.
Minister of Education
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. Aleke Banda
Minister of Economic Affairs and of Works
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. J. T. Kumbeweza, M.P.
Regional Minister for Central Region
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. J. Z. U. Tembo, M.P.
Minister of Finance
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. A. A. Muwalo
Minister of State in the President’s Office
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. A. B. J. Chiwanda
Minister of Labor
Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

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