The High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe has stopped the eviction of former official hostess Cecilia Tamanda Kadzamira from Tichitenji Farm pending determination of her appeal. In an order dated January 6 2026, Judge Simeon Mdeza suspended enforcement of a December 30 2025 judgement that cleared the way for her eviction and restrained the defendants from removing her from the disputed land. The defendants, the Kaphwiti Banda family, secured a judgement declaring them lawful owners of the farm, with eviction imminent before Kadzamira filed an urgent application seeking a stay of execution.
After considering the application, a supporting sworn statement and submissions from Kadzamira’s lawyers, the court granted the stay. The order reads in part: “The enforcement of the judgment of this Court dated 30 December 2025 should and is hereby suspended and the defendants are restrained from evicting the claimant from land known as Tichitenji Farm pending disposal of the appeal lodged herein.” One of the defendants’ lawyers, Wapona Kita said yesterday the order was obtained ex parte, meaning the court heard only one side. “We do not know the basis upon which it was obtained.
We will study the court file to appreciate the contents of the application and, if need be, make the necessary applications on behalf of our client,” he said. In the earlier ruling, the court found that the Kaphwiti Banda family was the lawful owner of Tichitenji Estate in Mchinji, dismissing Kadzamira’s ownership claim. Judge Mdeza held that the lease held by the Kaphwiti Banda estate was registered earlier and had never been lawfully cancelled, surrendered or forfeited, giving it priority under Section 8 of the Deeds Registration Act.
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The court also ruled that Kadzamira’s claim of trespass against the Kaphwiti family and Traditional Authority Kawere could not be sustained. The decision brought to a close a long-running land dispute dating back to the one-party era under former president Kamuzu Banda and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Court records show that Kaphwiti Banda secured ownership of the land in 1968 at Kadzamira Village in Traditional Authority Kawere, Mchinji.
After falling out with the one-party regime and going into exile, Kamuzu Banda later took over the farm. In her affidavit, Kadzamira said the late president subsequently gifted the land to her.
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