The Legend of MatewereOne of the most notorious criminals in the history of Malawi.

The Legend of Matewere

One of the most notorious criminals in the history of  Malawi. Matewere's criminal life became one of the most fascinating stories in Malawi when it was covered by the Police Magazine in 1982-83. Four pages of the  Police Magazine covered the escapades of Matewere when he was captured by the Police. Matewere became one of the first criminals to give a full interview published by the Police - on how he conducted his criminal operations. The Police Magazine showed a picture of 6 broken hand cuffs. The handcuffs were broken by a captured suspect. 

Those who were very close to the Police then revealed that it was Matewere who broke the 6 different handcuffs when the Police captured him. They said he failed to break the 7th pair of handcuffs.  Matewere was very famous in escaping from jail cells. Matewere would always escape before they Police took him to Court. This time around when he was captured the Police decided to take him to Chichiri Prison on remand. 

Matewere's chances to escape at Chichiri were minimal, to be precise outright zero..Most of the inmates at Chichiri mocked Matewere that there was no chance of him escaping at Chichiri. Matewere got settled at Chichiri Prison waiting for his trial. Everyone was convinced that Matewere would not escape. Meanwhile, Matewere had other ideas.

Matewere had been planning to escape since the day he was locked at Chichiri. The security was tight. The walls were high. On top of the walls were very sharp barbed wires. A few days before he was to attend his hearing, Matewere pretended he had a fever. He borrowed a few blankets from other inmates.

The inmates unknowingly gave him their blankets. Matewere used the blankets to escape. They say, he threw the blankets on top of the Prison wall which had the barbed wire. Nobody knows how he climbed the wall. It was quite a mystery how he escaped. The Prison was dismayed how Matewere escaped. The inmates themselves could not believe what Matewere had achieved. 

When Matewere escaped,  he knew - to escape from prison was difficult but to be captured back was easy. So he had planned his escape route. From Chichiri Prison he ran down the Naperi river  which was covered with thick river line bushes. Naperi river was just behind the Chichiri Prison. The massive man hunt that followed involved Prison Warders, the Police with their rifles  and Police dogs. It was futile as Matewere was running down the river. The fugitive ran down the Naperi river towards the area beyond Stella Maris where he disappeared into thin air.

In 1970s and 80s, there were two famous Mateweres in Malawi. The first one was a noble army General, Graciano Matewere who served the Malawi Army for 33 years. Graciano Matewere became the first Malawian army General. Graciano Matewere achieved brief international fame in 1972 when his troops had a prolonged standoff with Lebanese hijackers of a South African Airways Boeing 727.

After the South African Airways hijacking in Blantyre in 1972, Banda promoted Matewere to Major General. Banda retired Matewere in 1980.Now there was another Matewere who was also very famous in Malawi at that time but for different reasons. This Matewere, was a villain, one of the pioneers of organised crime in Malawi. His name was in all the urban folklores of most crimes committed in different places in Malawi. 

This Matewere was very famous of smart stealing. He would smartly open a house at night and steal valuable items he wanted while people were sleeping and left. The owners would only realise in the morning that their house had been robbed. History has it that Matewere became a criminal as early as 1970s. Those who knew him said he was educated,,,, finished his secondary school. They also said Matewere did not come from a poor background.

At the height of his fame, the notorious Matewere boasted that he never stole from poor people. Matewere once remarked, 

"Ine ndimabera azungu."

One foreign expatriate who lived in Malawi for a long time challenged that Matewere could not break into his house in Namiwawa using his smart robbery techniques. Matewere accepted the challenge. Legend has it that, Matewere managed to open the house and stole the expatriate's very expensive wrist watch. Matewere didn't  take any other things  He just left a note. 'Matewere was here!'

The expatriate was sound asleep when Matewere broke into the house. The expatriate called the Police in the morning. Nothing was broken. The police found  no motive of the robbery. Nothing was missing apart from the wrist watch. The Police found the wrist watch at Mount Soche. Matewere deliberately dropped the wrist watch at Mount Soche. He was just sending a message to the expatriate that he could break into his house while he was asleep and take everything he wanted. Matewere continued to target the rich in his outlaw activities. He became the Robin Hood of Malawi.

Matewere's second escape at Chichiri Prison. After Matewere's first escape at Chichiri Prison he  vanished just  like that, into the thin air. 

Nobody heard about him again. The police were ashamed and were  reluctant to inform the public about how Matewere escaped at Chichiri.

It was an enigma both to the Police and the public. Matewere himself became quiet after the escape. Some people speculated that he became a born again and was seen at some church praying. Others said, he was living quietly at his sister's house at Nkolokosa. Rumours were rife that the Police knew Matewere was living at his sister's at Nkolokosa. Others revealed that the Police actually came every week to check Matewere at his sister's place in Nkolokosa.

His sister had assured the Police that Matewere had stopped his criminal activities. The Police agreed with the sister not to arrest him as this will connect him with his criminal friends at the prison. The best option was to separate Matewere from other criminals. In essence, Matewere was informally under house arrest. This explains why rumours were spreading that he had become a born again. A pastor used to come to see Matewere at his sister's place. The sister had informed the Police of all the arrangements she had put in place to change Matewere for the better.

The Police were very happy with the plan and their target was to get Matewere out of the criminal system in Malawi using his sister he respected. 

And the Police visited Matewere every week.

While the authorities were happy with the status quo, the organised criminal system in Malawi at time was not happy that Matewere, the Don was no longer involved in criminal activities. Without Matewere, the criminal gangs in Malawi were vulnerable. They tried several times to convince him to make a come back. But Matewere was reluctant and sent messages back that he was a changed man.

It was going very well until one day when Matewere just disappeared from his sister's place at Nkolokosa. His sister alerted the Police that Matewere had disappeared. The Police could not understand why he disappeared when everything was going on well. 

Matewere was up to something. The problem was Matewere was reading newspapers everyday at home. He read about so many opportunities that he could not ignore.  So many were too appetising to ignore. Matewere was back leading the criminal mafia in Malawi. They had missed him. He came back with the biggest criminal plan that left his lieutenants in awe. Meanwhile the Police were alert, trying to figure out Matewere's next move.

To be continued.....

In the picture the Chichiri Prison.