Malawi national football team attacker, Chawanangwa Kawonga, hopes his career will blossom further after completing a two-year deal to South Africa National First Division side, TS Sporting.
“Finally, I can confirm that I am a TS Sporting player and I would like to thank Ernest Mtawali for facilitating the deal. I am here to play football and as I will make sure to give my all the club. I think I have signed for a club that will also help reach great heights,” Kawonga said on Tuesday.
Chawanangwa Kawonga
The midfielder-cum-striker said he wants to help the club gain promotion to the Premier Soccer League.
The former Silver Strikers forward has switched from Mozambique side, Costa do Sol.
Kawonga went to South Africa last week for discussions with Sporting following the expiry of his two year-contract at Costa.
Last week, former Flames coach, Mtawali, who facilitated the deal, said he recommended Kawonga to Sporting after he was approached by the club.
Mtawali said he did not hesitate to recommend Kawonga to the South African club having worked with the player when he was coaching the Malawi under-20 national football team.
“This is a good move because he has reached a point where he needs to get good exposure,” he said.
Mtawali said he has been following Kawonga for some time having been outstanding in Mozambique for the past five years.
“The last club that he played, Costa do Sol, won the championship and he scored 10 goals. TS Sporting are competing in the National First Division but they have an ambition to play in the PSL next season,” he said.
Currently, Sporting are third from bottom on the 16-member team log table with just 15 points from 16 matches.
Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against the High Court’s December 20 2019 ruling ordering a re-run in Mangochi West Constituency Parliamentary elections.
Mec spokesperson, Sangwani Mwafulirwa, Wednesday confirmed the development.
“The opinion of the commission is that the High Court had not considered some [pieces] of the evidence and material facts which were presented by Mec. And our opinion is that had the High Court considered all evidence and material facts, definitely it could have maintained the decision of the commission,” he said.
Mec spokesperson, Sangwani Mwafulirwa
Mwafulirwa said Mec is waiting for the Supreme Court to set a date for hearing of the matter.
On May 23 2019, Mec declared Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Parliamentary candidate for Mangochi West, Geoffrey Chiwondo, the winner after amassing 4,527 votes against 4,518 votes for his main challenger Simeon Harrison (independent candidate) obtained.
However, Harrison successfully moved the High Court to order fresh elections citing massive irregularities that marred the vote counting and tallying; hence, the nullification of the results.
However, Wester Kosamu, lawyer representing Harrison believes the grounds for appeal by Mec do not hold water.
Kosamu said during the trial of the matter, the petitioner asked Mec Chief Elections Officer, Sam Alfandika, to present documents which they used to determine the winner of the elections.
“However, Mec did not produce the documents as requested. So, I wonder why they say the court did not consider their evidence. But all in all, we will continue contesting the matter knowing that they have a right to appeal the case. But in my opinion, I don’t think they have valid grounds for appeal,” he said.
In a related development, Mwafulira said Mec commissioners would meet to discuss how to conduct by-elections in Lilongwe South and Liwaradzi Ward in Balaka North Constituency.
Liwaradzi Ward fellow vacant following the death of its councillor in September 2019.
Mwafulirwa said there has been a number of meetings with stakeholders regarding the Lilongwe South by-elections and indications were that all stakeholders are interested in holding the elections.
“So, at the moment what we are waiting is for the commission to meet and discuss on holding the two by-elections together. We are exploring the possibility of holding the two by-elections together because by doing that it becomes cost effective,” he said.
Human Rights Defenders coalition HRDC on Thursday staged a peaceful demonstration in Lilongwe .Malawians came out in their large numbers to demonstrate against Police’s sexual violence towards women of Msundwe, Mbwatalika and Mpingu.
Human Rights
activist Timothy Mtambo who is the chairperson of HRDC said
the group demand justice on the Msundwe sexual violence perpetuated by
the police “We need justice in Msundwe
,arrest the suspects”.
The protests march started from Lilongwe community ground and ended at
Police headquarters in Area 30. The activists presented a petition to the
Police
Msundwe Victims demos
At the protests, Malawi Defence
Force officers managed to protect the Deputy Inspector General of Police John
Nyondo, giving him maximum security as an angry mob started pelting stones at
him.
MDF erected human shield to
block demonstrators from coming around any area near area 30 which is the hub
of the Malawi Police.
Receiving the petition, Nyondo
said Police has already deployed its team of officers to investigate about
these issues.
UTM Party president Saulos Chilima has refused to meet a European Union (EU) Election Observer Mission (EOM) and asked the team to delay presentation of its final report on the disputed May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections.
The team is expected to issue a statement upon arrival in the country, according to officials from the EU Mission in Lilongwe. But the embassy was tongue-tied on details of the mission.
The team is scheduled to meet the main protagonists in the disputed presidential elections, notably declared winner President Peter Mutharika of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as well as Chilima and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) counterpart Lazarus Chakwera who are challenging the results in court over alleged irregularities.
But Chilima, in a letter to the EU Malawi office dated January 7 2020, said the report is sub judicial as the presential elections dispute is awaiting judgement.
He said: “We are waiting for judgement [in the Constitutional Court]. The EU should respect the courts and wait for the judgement. We have informed the EU in writing that we will not be attending the meeting.”
In a separate interview, MCP secretary general Eisenhower Mkaka said his party has received an invitation to attend the meeting and will honour it. However, he said MCP has reservations with the timing of the meeting.
“They have indicated they would like to meet Dr Chakwera. They say they would like to present the findings. On the timing, they might be working according to their calendar, but if we were asked on what could be the right time to present the report, we would have said before the elections case,” he said.
In a telephone interview yesterday, EU Deputy Head of Mission Aurelie Valtat, who is also head of the political and media office, while confirming the arrival of the team deferred questions on the report and other activities.
She was further quick to say the arrival of the mission was normal and routine.
UTM leader Saulos Chilima
“That’s a standard return mission and we will not make a statement until they are here. This is not unique to Malawi,,” said Valtat.
The EU, Commonwealth, Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) and other foreign observer missions largely stated in the aftermath of the disputed elections that the country’s sixth post-independence general elections were free, fair and credible.
However, the international observers’ preliminary vote of onfidence has received subsequent strong criticism from the opposition parties and civil society who described it as a rushed and rehearsed conclusion.
“The process was largely well organised by the Malawi Electoral Commission [MEC] and voting on election day was well-managed. But despite a generally peaceful campaign, the pre-election period was marked also by tensions and an unlevel playing field,” said Miroslav Poche, chief observer of the EU EOM said in a preliminary statement issued on May 23 2019.
The EU EOM had 83 observers at 342 polling stations across 120 of the country’s 193 parliamentary constituencies in 27 of the 28 districts during the elections. Mutharika has repeatedly quoted observers as having declared the electoral process credible, but Chilima and Chakwera are challenging the presidential election results in court over alleged irregularities, especially in the results management system.
Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Callisto Pasuwa says he is keen to extend his stay at the club, but said it will depend on the outcome of their negotiations.
The Zimbabwean mentor’s contract expired last month after guiding the People’s Team to back-to-back TNM Super League titles.
Pasuwa, who is currently on holiday in his native Zimbabwe, says he is eager to continue with his rebuilding drive with Bullets.
Callisto Pasuwa
He said it will be ideal to continue working with the team he has been building, especially the youngsters, until they settle down.
“I am eager to stay on because there is a need to continue with this project,” said Pasuwa.
“I have formed a very strong bond with the youngsters and it will be important for their development if I remain with the club. I wouldn’t want to quit the club at such a crucial stage.”
However, his manager Gibson Mahachi was quoted by The Herald of Zimbabwe last week as having said that they are yet to engage Bullets on the prospects of extending his client’s contract.
Mahachi said Pasuwa needs some rest after a tough and gruelling season that saw the People’s Team defend the league title after pipping their age-old rivals Be Forward Wanderers by a point.
“There is nothing that we have discussed with Bullets yet. We should be able to engage them in the coming days.
“The coach needs a bit of rest after a long season. He has done well in the last two seasons and I believe they are still interested to keep him. But I will work with what the coach wants.
“Generally speaking, Bullets have been very good to him. The players, the executive and the supporters as well, were all behind his efforts and what more can you ask for from a coach if he delivers two titles in a row?” he was quoted as saying. Two weeks ago, Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said in an interview that they are eager to extend Pasuwa’s contract because they are happy with the team-building project.
