President Peter Mutharika has appointed Jabbar Alide, Chimwemwe Kamowa and Texious Masoamphambe as High Court judges.
Registrar of the High Court and Supreme Court, Agnes Patemba, confirmed last evening the appointment of the judges. She was unable to take more questions.
Alide refused to comment when asked for his reaction to the appointment.
Apart from working in the private sector, Alide is well known in football circles as Football Association of Malawi first vice-president.
His profile on LinkedIn indicates that he has been working as a legal director at Malawi Millennium Development Trust.
New Judge Jabber Alide
He is described as an “experienced legal director with a demonstrated history of working in the legal services industry.”
Recent media reports suggested that Kamowa works as Industrial Relations Court chairperson whereas Masoamphambe has been promoted from his post as Zomba Chief Resident Magistrate.
Section 108 of the Constitution says the High Court has unlimited original jurisdiction to hear and determine any civil or criminal proceedings under any law.
High Court judges are appointed by the President on recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission.
Upon appointment, judges are posted to various divisions of the High Court, which are Civil and Commercial.
Of late, Mutharika has been busy making appointments, including in the Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Police Service, Cabinet and his Democratic Progressive Party.
Local arts players have confessed being hit hard by the coronavirus (Covid-19)pandemic which has affected various countries around the world. In random interviews, artists in the country say the pandemic has stopped them from doing things that bring food on their tables as well as connect them with their fans.
Events manager and poet Qabaniso Malewezi in an interview yesterday said the situation has affected the local creatives as they have had to cancel shows.He said: “It has affected us heavily. We had about five cancellations for our artist Nyago. She was scheduled to perform at two festivals and also was booked for some corporate performances. This has resulted in a heavy loss in revenue.”
Malewezi said the virus has presented a huge challenge to the performing arts sector.“However, there are alternatives, but they are not accessible to every artist. An example is to hold live streaming events. This can only work if the artist has a good online presence and social media following,” he said. Malewezi said another challenge is on remuneration via access to live stream.
Faith Mussa’s manager Sam Chiwaka said it is about time artists have different ideas to make money such as live streaming.“But they need to find ways to monetise streaming by doing product placement if they have to go that route,” he said.
In a separate interview artist Phyzix said the pandemic has forced him to cancel all his planned shows. “I have lost income from the shows I have cancelled especially the countrywide Kugawa Makofi Tour and other bookings made by different organisations and promoters,” he said.
Phyzix said in this situation, artists’ only hope is to maximise digital reach. “With more people staying at home for an indefinite period, they will have time to listen to songs and watch videos,” he said. The hip-hop artist said this is possible so long as artists get innovative. “My hope is that we think ahead as we don’t know what will happen and when,” he added.
One of the platforms that artists use to showcase their talent is Jacaranda Cultural Centre, which has also temporarily closed shop.
Coordinator of Sounds of Malawi artist Code Sangala said much as the situation presents complications to artists in terms of live shows, it is also an opportunity to think outside the box. “For Sounds of Malawi, we will be rebroadcasting all our acoustic sessions through our social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,” he said.
Sangala said this provides an opportunity for followers to enjoy all the sessions that they missed. “At this point, artists need to really strike a deal with the cellular network providers so they can benefit from digital marketing distribution,” he said.
Code said his album Mizu, which was scheduled to be officially released on May 28 at Jacaranda Cultural Centre, is already available on global digital platforms such as Spotify, Amazon and Deezer, among others.
In a separate interview Jesus Can Multimedia director Innocent Nkhwazi said Covid-19 is threatening the survival of the photography industry.
“Just imagine I had a contract with the African Development Bank, but after one week of shooting their activities, we have stopped as officials have gone back home. They say they will advise us when we can resume work. I am worried,” he said. Nkhwazi added that many are also cancelling their wedding photography bookings.
Other forms of art equally affected by the coronavirus are drama, dance and emceeing.
Malawian airline has announced that they are suspending travel on the airline on its Lilongwe-Blantyre-Johannesburg route. This follows announcement by South African Airways (SAA) that said they were to suspend all international operations until May 31 2020 in response to the South African government’s travel ban aimed at cushioning transmission of the novel coronavirus.
Making the statement available, airline public relations officer Joseph Josia said the temporary suspension will run up until April 16th. Earlier on , SAA acting chief executive officer Zuks Ramasia indicated that the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and attendant travel restrictions resulted in substantial decline in demand for air travel.
Said Ramasia: “The situation has caused many airlines across the world to ground aircraft, release their employees and cancel flights. In the case of SAA, this decision means that SAA will only render services on its regional and domestic routes.
“It is all our responsibility, not just government, to curb further transmission of the virus. In addition, the increasing risks to our crew of contracting the virus, including the possibility of being trapped in foreign destinations as a consequence of increasing travel bans, cannot be ignored.”
Malawi airline last journey is due to be on Thursday March 26th
Patience Namadingo or popularly known just as Namadingo continues his rise in the music circles after the release of the 6th chapter on his Reggae Mash up Series. The new release sees the artist team up with Malawi Reggae masters The Black Missionaries.
The new release has already received great reviews with many believing that this
is the best mash up so far.
”We Know mash ups are not about competition but honouring the legends,
but we can appreciate that this one with Black Missionaries has taken us to another
level” commented one fan .
In the new Mash up , Namadingo sweet melodious voice takes
turns with super vocalist Anjiru Fumulani . Using a fast paced reggae riddim ,
the duo goes through a string of hits by
Black Missionaries such as Salimo ,
Ndamusowa , Ndilibe naye Chifukwa before Chizondi Fumulani chips in to deliver
songs like Reggae Music high. They also took time to honour the late Evison
Matafale with renditions of Nkhoswe, Olenga dzuwa and Mkango wa Yuda
Namadingo and Black Missionaries in Reggae Mash Up 6
Namadingo was due to have Mash Up live performances, however,
these have been cancelled due to the corona virus pandemic. President Mutharika
recently announced measures to contain the spread of the virus that includes
ban on public gatherings.
The concerts featuring among
others, reggae group Black Missionaries and Lucius Banda, were scheduled to
take place on March 27 2020 at Comesa Hall in Blantyre and March 28 at Bingu
International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.
Despite the country not having
registered any coronavirus case, Namadingo said it was important for them to
postpone the concerts.
“The health of the fans is very important, and we thought we should take that decision,” he said. Some countries in Europe have postponed different events including football matches due to coronavirus.
Nyasa Big Bullets battle-hardened winger Fischer ‘Jahman’ Kondowe has hung up his boots after a distinguished playing career spanning 22 years.
Kondowe and the People’s Team chief administration officer Albert Chigoga confirmed the development on Friday
Said Chigoga: “Fischer first approached the head coach [Kalisto Pasuwa] on his decision to retire then he approached us management on the same.
“He actually said he had no plans to extend his contract and we respect his decision.”
kondowe
On whether there are plans to maintain him within the People’s Team set-up, Chigoga said: “He is our legend. We will sit down to see how best we can accommodate him.
“It could be in the technical setup, but as I said, that is something that we have to look into.”
On his part, Kondowe said: “It is true that I am retiring on the basis that they [club management] promised to offer me a job.
“So, until that offer is made, there isn’t much that I can say, suffice to say I am ready to serve the club in a different role.”
Kondowe, 43, joined Bullets in 1998 and save for the time he had stints with South African Premier Soccer League sides—Bushbucks, Black Leopards and Bloemfontein Celtic, he had been a key member of the club.
Over the years, Kondowe became an icon at the People’s Team where he is idolised by the team’s followers.
