Chewa Heritage Foundation distances its Gulewamkulu tradition from violence

* Strongly suspects murder case in Mangochi was perpetrated by individuals masquerading as Gulewamkulu to disguise themselves from being recognised

* Gulewamkulu is not allowed to come out of its dambwe without authorisation and do not move around public spaces alone

* But as a group after being authorised by traditional leaders as the dance’s custodians

Maravi Express

Chewa Heritage Foundation (CHEFO) has assured Malawians that Gulewamkulu dance is a special tradition only allowed into the public domain for specific purposes and that its practitioners are trained to be peaceful to co-exist with members of the community.

At a press briefing in Lilongwe, in response to reports of a murder incident that took place at Madzedze, Senior Chief Nankumba in Monkey Bay, Mangochi, deputy director of chiefs & culture, Lyson Banda said they investigated the matter but could not identify the perpetrator of the murder.

He said after hearing of the murder report, CHEFO linked up with Senior Chief Nankumba and Village Head Madzedze if any Gulewamkulu was authorised to come out of its sacred area (dambwe) to perform tasks in the public space.

He added that Gulewamkulu — being a peaceful cult — is not allowed to come out of its dambwe without authorisation and do not move around public spaces alone but as a group after being authorised by traditional leaders as the dance’s custodians.

According to reports from Monkey Bay, a lone Gulewamkulu member beat up a community member to death but, according to Lyson Banda, both Senior Chief  Nankumba and Village Head Madzedze denied that they had authorised any Gulewamkulu to come out in public space.

Banda explained that they saw it necessary to investigate the matter because it involves the gulewamkulu culture associated with the Chewa heritage, whose leader is the revered Kalonga Gawa Undi — King of the Chewa people in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique.

He emphasised that in Chewa heritage, gulewamkulu is only authorised to come into public space on special occasions such as ordination of traditional chiefs, funerals of prominent members of the community, tombstone unveiling of such prominent people, public gathering celebrations, among other prominent occasions.

Present at the press briefing were senior chiefs Masumbankhunda and M’bwatalika who said there have been several occasions where non-Chewa people dressed up to masquerade as Gulewamkulu as a disguise to hide their identity with evil intentions of vengeance against certain members of the community just like the case in Monkey Bay.

Meanwhile, after reports of the incident, a video clip was circulated on social media of a gruesome murder of a man by some people dressed as gulewamkulu — attributing it to the Monkey Bay case but Maravi Express has established that the incident took place some four to five years ago and happened in Mozambique.

The video clip captures some unidentified individuals mercilessly murdering a man by decapitating him in full view of onlookers including the individual that took the video clip.

The people involved are dressed in Gulewamkulu regalia associated with the tradition of the Chewa people and the people circulating the video clip claim the individuals are Malawians because they are speaking in Chichewa.

However, Maravi Express has been reliably informed and also confirmed the same thatvthe particular video clip was circulated some four to five years ago in Mozambique where there are some Chewa speaking people who also practise gulewamkulu traditional dance.

It has also been established that the incident happened because of a personal vendetta of a love triangle that went bad between the individual who carried out the act against the murdered victim.