Air Malawi: My FOOT!!!!!!!

Having to attend a meeting at Goedgedacht Farm near Malmesbury, a small town in the Western Cape located 90km from Cape Town, I couldn’t leave Monday for the meeting because I would have travelled till mid night from Lilongwe, JHB, Cape Town then Malmesbury. We then decided to depart Sunday but due to the World Cup craze, Sunday’s SAA was fully booked so I had to depart Saturday and being Lilongwe had to go Air Malawi that day as SAA departs from Blantyre. Had reservations about but wasn’t worried as we were not in a hurry. There was drama at the Airport in Lilongwe as they had overbooked so the Air Malawi ground staff were running around checking if there would be anyone interested to travel the following day and they would give them a free return ticket at a later date, I refused and all the people close by refused too. I don’t know what they did with the debacle.

The whole trip was ok but had an understated delay in Lilongwe as the Blantyre – Lilongwe Flight had been delayed, but we still managed to get to JHB within the 30min of the planned arrival and connected well to Cape Town. We proceeded to Malmesbury on Monday after a lazy Sunday where we had to roam around the Mowbray area, had a slight shock though Monday morning during breakfast when I met my former colleague Robertson Khataza staying at the same Medindi Lodge and was attending some Training with UCT, he now works for IITA at Chitedze. We left early just after Breakfast and were greeted by the ghastly winds at Goedgedacht, it was soo called and rained during the week, I mean ice cold I can’t remember being exposed to such cold. Had been warned that the area had no internet access but alas there was some signal and unfortunately had to occasionally out of the room to cure tis interne addition where the access was better and once you boot you go back to the room and access is there.

The reasons we were there went very well, and besides the cold, Goedgedacht is a beautiful, place I could say picture perfect indeed, with water (beautiful adam, pine and olive trees and the Mountain) I guess during summer the place is indeed lovely. I was shocked on Wednesday when I was informed that Air Malawi had been rescheduled meaning instead of flying directly back to Lilongwe we would have to fly via Blantyre, I immediately sensed danger. I just knew that once this starts it just gets worse. I requested to move my flight from Air Malawi to SAA, and once the travel agent checked she mentioned two complications, one being the fact that the two airlines where not in a relationship, thus I had to purchase a new one way ticket costing 6,500 Rands and the Air Malawi ticket was none refundable and the second being that since I would be departing from Cape Town I would have to Board the very early light 6am s as to connect in JHB with the10.30am SAA, LLW flight. The first complication was enough to quieten me and the second was just the icing. We drove back to Medindi as we needed to be at the Airport by 7am on Friday 16th July.

Very early in the morning we were up and ready for the pick up at 6.30am, we began to panic after 6.45 when there was no sign of the driver and we realised that he had been lost and had spent almost an hour driving up and down Campground road in Mowbray. We were lucky as he finally picked us up at 7am and travelled to JHB with no scene at all except I couldn’t visit the VAT office to claim my paltry VAT due to the delay. We arrived at O.R. Tambo and checked at the Air Malawi booth even though there was a long queue and there was confusion on the destination of the flight as Air Malawi had forgotten to inform the Airport Company that it had changed its destination from Lilongwe to Blantyre. We all proceeded to Gate 11, where the flight promised to be full and we started wondering at around 12 noon, as Boarding had still not been called for the 12.30pm flight. We were then informed that the flight had been delayed to 13.30pm and well we weren’t that worried event though the overzealous attended called us back saying the flight is ready. Within a minute she realised her mistake and apologised, and we all went to the small café close buy to buy tea to ward off called for some of us who had exhausted all our Rands were lucky to have some people we knew who accepted to change our Kwachas for Rands. At 13.30pm there was still no sign of Boarding and our worst fears were confirmed when we saw the cabin crew coming out of the plane and off to where only they knew. We were told that the plane was being towed to the Hanger where mechanics were to fix it, and well we were then informed that the flight will be ready after two hours. There was no proper relay of information, so we all mobbed this unfortunate lady everyone firing questions and instead of calling everyone together and providing information for everyone it was all disorganised and some people were left uninformed. The drama ensued again when the Lady informed the people that even if the plane comes after 2 hours the flight would be for Lilongwe instead of Blantyre because the plane could not land at Chileka (Blantyre), the reason being that Chileka Airport sill does not have runway lights and thus forbidden to land after 6pm. We were then given a complementary lunch at the NewsCafe which was way better than the other place (Ekhaya). As I write, the time of boarding has been changed on the scroll from 4pm, to 4.30pm, to 5.45pm to indefinite and the gate changed from Gate 11, to Gate 6 to Gate 29.

As I post we are still stuck at O.R.

Update 2 We were informed during flight by the Captain that the Plane had developed fault with 2 of its 3 generators failing. We were glad to fly and arrive safely though.

As I post this final update for the day, we have not gone home to LILONGWE but we are sleeping over in Blantyre, as some where somehow the staff managed to convince the Chileka people to switch on the lights. You can imagine the confusion with people in Lilongwe being sent back and forth to the airport for pick up and being recalled as the schedule kept changing. When at first the Blantyre people had been informed of their stay in Lilongwe the overzealous staff in JHB ‘promised them’ that they will sleep at Crossroads (Lilongwe’s premier hotel as we await the Chinese constructed 5 star) so when the plans re-changed that the flight goes to Blantyre and LLW the following day, the people went berserk after being told that they are staying at DORVIC hotel. So we are staying in Mbayani if you might stay where the famous Amakhala ku Blantyre song was coined from. We still experienced the problem of Information in Lilongwe, instead of informing people before disembarking that those going to Lilongwe the following day these are the procedures we were left to be fed by word of mouth and unfortunately this was easy for us Malawians as we had each other to confer to but for the other foreign visitors they were totally lost. As people were fighting for their rights to be accommodated at Mt Soche (Blantyre’s premier hotel) the Air Malawi staff member could not manage so he went to check with his ‘Boss’ when the boss finally came he told the passengers that whether they liked it or not they would sleep over at DORVIC and there were scuffles as the people felt that their concerns had not been taken into account. He managed to pull the final ace off his sleeve, and he said ‘we cannot send you to any other hotel in Blantyre because no one accepts Air Malawi business anymore except DORVIC’ with those words we all filed into the Limbe – Zomba coaster (minibus) that was waiting outside. As I post we finally arrived at the DORVIC at 11 pm and for someone who woke up at 5.30am it has been a very long day.


I would say that because there is no competition at all, Air Malawi is able to treat people like this and had we a case where other players were allowed into the market customers would be getting a very fair deal and because of this SAA has just trebled their fares. There is indeed a high demand for air travel now that the economy has finally started coming out of its slumber people will be travelling and more and more people are able to afford to fly. I don’t know really why other players are not allowed into these air spaces. I do hope though that tomorrow morning we travel home as planned with no more drama and some effort towards better customer service by Air Malawi. I would say the major problem was that we were not informed and there was no due care to the passengers it was as if Air Malawi was doing us a favour.

The Ugly of the Road Construction in Lilongwe's urban communities

There has been a drive over the past five years to improve roads in Malawi, the Main Highways and Low Density area roads have been targeted. Over the past two years though, this focus has also been towards community roads, not only in the usual Area 10, 43, 9, 11 etc but poorer communities such as Area 25, Kawale, Mchesi. In these areas roads are currently undergoing a long overdue face-lift. This is not just the patching of the pot holes of the past road maintenance schemes but the actual overhaul and resurfacing of the roads. Shoulders for the pedestrians and cyclists have been added and the drainage system (using either bricks or stone facing) is being constructed.

One might ask about where the ugly is coming from, am not referring to the inconveniences road users face when roads are closed or when there are dust storms as they pile mounds of soil for road construction. I am referring to the apparent lack of contact and dialogue between the Roads Authority (through its contractors) and the Lilongwe Water Board. As the graders zip through the old tarmac and try to find a base not only do they pull out dirt but they rip through water pipes. These pipes are usually connecting plots from both sides of the road. For days on end water uses from these communities are inconvenienced as water oozes from pipes with such velocity not only creating a nuisance for the road users but also causing a shortage for the affected households. These households are thus cut off from the water service and have to rely on a 'public water point' that is in the middle of a road. As there is no communication with the Water Board this goes on for days, women and children are left to fight for road space with cars and cars always win.

Very early in the morning as the well to do motorists drive by, poorer residents of these communities have to tend to the mud sprays and also tend to their children whilst trying to secure the water. As this goes on for months on end, the biggest loser is the Lilongwe Water Board as it increases its already unaccounted for water from the estimated 16%. The Secondary losers are the other community members living downstream, faced with very low water pressure (reported over the weekend newspapers) as the water is totally cut off at times. The households that have been cut off are the most affected (facing immediate effects) as they have no water on end and have to spend time on the roads fighting for water. Residents of Lilongwe will have to pay in the long run for these losses.

The beneficiaries (if any): It is not all bad though as some of the households whose plots might not be affected start benefiting from the free water. These are the households near these burst water points that are getting free water. They have an immediate benefit as they dont have to pay for water until this problem is solved, not all those crowding the middle of the roads have been directly affected by the cut off. One wonders where such savings are channeled towards, hopefully home improvement ventures.

All in all, the ugly is not that ugly for some.