By IOMMIE CHIWALO
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Dust is refusing to settle in Chikwawa district as a standoff over ancestral land escalates, with communities accusing the Katunga-Maseya (KAMA) Cane Growers Association of seizing 1,069 hectares for a mega-farm without consent, proper agreements, or fair compensation.
Tensions boiled over again today, June 29, as villagers staged protests to halt land preparation at the scheme, demanding full consultation before a single hectare is touched.
At the centre of the dispute is a letter now circulating that claims Chief Katunga’s Task Force cleared the MAKA team to resume fieldwork.
However Community leaders say the document is fraudulent and does not reflect any engagement with the actual landowners.
“We are totally against forcing villagers to use their ancestral land for this purpose,” said Lovemore Jambo, one of the community leaders leading the protest.
Jambo added that land ownership is not a privilege but a right.
He cited Section 28 of the Malawi Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of property.
He questioned why villagers are being pressured to convert food land to sugarcane if they are not willing.
“If the people are not interested in sugarcane farming, why force them,” Jambo asked, warning that communities in Chisanja and Kasinthula who gave up land are now regretting it because dividends for the same are as low as K30 per year compared to food crops they previously grew.
Landowners in TA Maseya say KAMA has been operating without a concrete Memorandum of Understanding with original proprietors.
They describe the letter in circulation as fake arguing that no sane person can authorise use of land without proper agreement.”
The letter, stamped by Katunga Maseya Cane Growers Cooperative and Chief Katunga and dated 15 June 2026, claims a Task Force and pressure group approved MAKA Resources to continue.
But in an interview with this Reporter, communities deny any such meeting took place.
“No one should take the villagers for a ride. They are entitled to their customary land, but if need be that they give up the land for any common good, then the matter must be handled fairly, not short-changing them,” Jambo said.
Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives, (CDEDI) Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa has weighed in, reiterating past warnings against what he described as massive land grabbing in Chikwawa.
He says that taking away land ownership from villagers is a serious human rights violation, arguing that customary land is the foundation of livelihoods, food security, and dignity.
“Any attempt to remove it without Free, Prior and Informed Consent is not development, it is dispossession,” he says.
Many headmen and farmers are actively resisting.
They argue that subsistence and cash crops like millet, sesame, and pigeon peas deliver higher and faster income than sugarcane.
Villagers have previously issued ultimatums threatening to force the cooperative and its contractors, including Maka Resources, to vacate and remove equipment from disputed land.
Tensions spike each time machinery moves onto contested fields.
The resistance comes against a backdrop of wider mistrust of the sugar industry in the area.
Communities have also protested neighboring ethanol distilleries, citing effluent spills that destroy crops, corrosive gases that damage homes, and airborne diseases.
For now, the message from Chikwawa is clear: no work, no machinery, no deals — until proper consultation, fair terms, and lawful consent are on the table.
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