The high Court in Blantyre has ruled in favour of the petitioners ‘Gandhi-must-fall-movement’ in which the movement restrained Blantyre City Council (BCC) from erecting a statue of Indian hero Mahtma Ghandhi.
BCC started erecting the Mahatma Ghandhi statue next to Queen Elizabeth Central hospital in 2018.
On 24 October 2018, Pemphero Mphande as first claimant and Mkotama Katenga Kaunda as the second claimant obtained a court injunction restraining BCC and government from erecting the statue.
They argued that Ghandhi was not a Malawian to be honored with a statue in Malawi and that he was a racist who is on record having called black people ‘Kaffirs’ which is a derogatory term of the equivalence of “negro”.
In his judgment Justice Mike Tembo says the movement has proved beyond reasonable doubts about the racist remarks that Ghandhi made about Africans therefore it is improper to erect his statue.
The judgment also stipulates that the first defendant ‘Blantyre City Council’ will have to pay costs.
This means that there will never be a statue of Mahtma Ghandhi in the country.