George Chaponda’s Regional Card: From Maizegate to Ngoni’s.

LILONGWE — In Malawian politics, some controversies fade away. Others return years later wearing a different face.

Nearly a decade ago, George Chaponda found himself at the centre of one of the country’s biggest political scandals the infamous Maizegate affair.

At the time, Malawi was grappling with a severe food shortage. Questions were being asked about a controversial maize import deal from Zambia, and Chaponda, then Minister of Agriculture, came under intense scrutiny from a presidential commission of inquiry, Parliament, civil society groups and the public.

As pressure mounted, Chaponda offered a defence that many critics felt shifted the debate away from the facts and into dangerous territory.

Appearing on Capital Radio’s Daybreak Malawi programme in 2017, he suggested that he was being singled out because he was “a minister from the South.”

Chaponda questioned why then Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe, a northerner whose ministry had authorised key financial arrangements linked to the deal, was not attracting similar attention.

He argued that the issue had evolved into what he described as a “North-South antagonism.”

The reaction was swift.

The Malawi Law Society, civil society organisations, opposition politicians and even members of his own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) condemned the remarks. DPP spokesperson Francis Kasaila publicly distanced the party from Chaponda’s comments, insisting that the maize scandal was not a regional matter.

Opposition figures accused him of attempting to inject tribal and regional divisions into a national issue.

Chaponda would later be dismissed from Cabinet, arrested and charged in connection with the scandal before eventually being acquitted by the courts.

Fast forward to June 2026.

Chaponda, now serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, has once again found himself at the centre of a national controversy, this time over comments touching on identity, citizenship and migration.

During an interview on South African broadcaster eNCA’s programme Checkpoint: Abahambe, Chaponda was discussing migration challenges facing South Africa and the wider region.

In attempting to illustrate how migration has shaped communities across Southern Africa, he remarked:

“In Malawi we have Zulus who moved from here (south Africa) and settled in Mzimba. We have other Ngonis who have been there. They don’t have any papers.”

The comments immediately sparked outrage, particularly among members of the Ngoni community in northern Malawi.

Many interpreted the remarks as suggesting that Ngonis living in Mzimba are undocumented foreigners rather than full Malawian citizens.

Critics accused Chaponda of making an insensitive and historically careless statement. Others argued that he was merely highlighting long-standing documentation challenges affecting some communities and discussing migration as a regional phenomenon rather than questioning anyone’s citizenship.

To understand the anger, one must understand the history.

The Ngoni people of Mzimba trace their origins to Nguni groups that migrated northwards from southern Africa during the upheavals of the 19th century known as the Mfecane.

Led by figures such as Zwangendaba, they eventually settled in what is now northern Malawi.

Over generations, they intermarried with local communities, established permanent settlements, contributed to nation-building and became an integral part of Malawi’s social, cultural and political fabric

The controversy has reignited debate about Malawi’s long-standing regional sensitivities.

Supporters of Chaponda argue that his comments have been taken out of context and that he was simply discussing migration patterns across Southern Africa.

His critics see something different.

To them, the remarks echo an old and familiar pattern one in which regional and ethnic identities are drawn into political discourse at moments when greater care and precision are required.

Social media has reflected that divide.

Some users have defended Chaponda’s historical observations. Others have accused him of disrespecting a community whose place in Malawi has never been in question

The Democratic Progressive Party, a political Party Chaponda belongs has yet to issue an official position on the matter.

Meanwhile, Ngoni leaders and northern stakeholders have responded by reaffirming their community’s deep roots in Malawi and calling on politicians to promote national unity rather than reopen old divisions.

Whether Chaponda intended to discuss migration, history or regional realities, his remarks have once again exposed the sensitivities that continue to shape Malawian politics.

And as the country grapples with economic hardship, unemployment and rising public frustration, many citizens may wonder why questions of region and identity continue to dominate the national conversation.

Because if the lesson from Maizegate was that regional politics can inflame rather than solve problems, the reaction from Mzimba suggests that lesson may not yet have been fully learned.