Henry Masauko Blasius Chipembere (5 August 1930 – 24 September 1975) was a Malawian nationalist politician who played a significant role in bringing independence from colonial rule to his native country, formerly known as Nyasaland.
From an early age Chipembere was a strong believer in natural justice and, on his return in 1954 from university in South Africa, he joined his country's independence struggle as a nationalist strategist and spokesman.
From 1958, Chipembere orchestrated a campaign of civil disobedience against the colonial authorities that Banda insisted should be non-violent, but which the younger leaders allowed to become more violent, and which eventually led the governor of Nyasaland to declare a State of emergency over the whole protectorate in March 1959.
Chipembere was not initially involved in this dispute and, although he did resign in sympathy with his colleagues, he attempted reconciliation during September 1964, until he and other ex-ministers were forced to leave the capital, Zomba, because of the hostility of Banda's supporters.
[15] Chipembere later said that his behaviour here was inspired by Hastings Kamuzu Banda, whose speeches in London five years earlier against the Federation of Nyasaland with Southern and Northern Rhodesia had been similarly daring and inflammatory.
Banda, who had always regarded participation in the Federal Assembly as a betrayal, temporized and counselled patience,[18] but Chipembere and Chiume nevertheless, on December 31, 1956, put a motion before Congress proposing that Chirwa and Kumbikano should be ordered to step down.
It was probably this that determined the younger element to ask Banda, an older and highly respected man who had spent his entire adult life away from his native Nyasaland, to return and lead the campaign for secession (and ultimately independence).
[25] Banda also appointed Chiume as Publicity Secretary, Dunduzu Chisiza as Secretary-general and four other young radicals to the party's executive committee, ignoring older moderates.
[26] Chipembere, Chiume and the two Chisiza brothers (Dunduzu and Yatuta) played a critical role in organizing Congress as a mass political party and creating support for Banda.
This letter was published as an appendix to the report of the Devlin Commission investigating disturbances in Nyasaland,[31] and it clearly suggested action to defy the colonial authorities.
The Governor also received reports from police informers, only one of which attended the meeting, which claimed that Congress planned the indiscriminate killing of Europeans, Asians and its African opponents, the so-called "murder plot".
Chipembere later admitted he had misled the Devlin Commission as to the level of violence he was prepared to sanction, and it is possible that he, Chisiza and a few extremists had discussed killing the governor and leading civil servants.
[34] Armitage decided to suspend negotiations without making any concessions and prepared for mass arrests, and on 20 February, troops from Rhodesia were flown to Nyasaland to assist in the planned detentions without trial.
[35] Finally, on 3 March 1959, Armitage declared a State of Emergency over the whole of the protectorate and arrested Banda, other members of the Congress executive committee and over a hundred local party officials.
In a directive to Provincial Commissioners of September 1960, Jones urged government officials to work with Congress and ignore minor infractions of the law, while not tolerating major breaches of the peace, a proviso interpreted as allowing the prosecution of those openly promoting violence.
[40] Later in December, Chipembere delivered a speech in Rumphi in which he said (according to the Nyasaland Times of 3 February 1961), with reference to a European member of the Legislative Council, "Give me the living body of Blackwood to tear to pieces.
[43] Although several elected Congress members had agitated for Chipembere's early release, and the Governor, Glyn Jones, was willing to discuss this, according to some reports had Banda deliberately avoided acting on an alleged undertaking to do so, despite Dunduzu Chisiza urging him to, because he feared the young activist would disrupt progress towards full independence.
The first policy issue that divided Banda from Chipembere and his ministerial colleagues was Banda's insistence on continuing diplomatic relations with South Africa and Portugal, contrasted with a refusal to recognise the People's Republic of China or East Germany, despite most ministers' ideological opposition to his pragmatism, and his contemptuously rejection of attempts by Chiume and Yatuta Chisiza to form closer ties with Zambia and Tanganyika.
Meanwhile, back in Malawi, cabinet members including Orton Chirwa, Chiume, Yatuta Chisiza and others (with some limited support from John Tembo, Minister of Finance), were growing restive under Banda's autocratic leadership style.
[55][56] On 7 September, Banda dismissed three of the protesting cabinet members (Orton Chirwa, Kanyama Chiume, and Augustine Bwanausi) and also Rose Chibambo, a Parliamentary Secretary, who was the only female minister.
As soon as he reached Zomba, he contacted Glyn Jones to assist him in persuading Banda to delay the second stage of the parliamentary debate and to meet the ministers who had been sacked or resigned to discuss a reconciliation.
[58][59] After failing to persuade Banda to postpone the start of the debate's second day, Chipembere resigned his cabinet position in sympathy with his colleagues on the morning of 9 September, and retired to the back benches.
His speech on the second day of the debate was delivered with restraint and expressed regret that the dispute could not be settled by discussion in cabinet, adding that it was absurd of certain MPs to describe the ex-ministers, most of whom had suffered detention to secure independence, as traitors.
[60] Although some ex-ministers acted with caution, Chipembere made a defiant speech following his resignation at Fort Johnston (now Mangochi), where he had a considerable support, complaining about the slow pace of Africanisation, and held a celebration of his suspension from the MCP on 19 September in Blantyre, where he criticised Banda's policies.
[64] The following week was tense throughout the country, and Zomba became a centre of support for the ex-ministers with many African government employees there going on strike, and senior civil servants (almost all Europeans) staying at home, fearing violence.
However, many African civil servants armed themselves with sticks, attacked and drove out the outnumbered MCP supporters, burned down the party's headquarters and assaulted two newly appointed ministers.
By his own later account, Chipembere claimed his original intention was to organise a campaign of civil disobedience and, up to late October 1964, his supporters kept most pro-Banda loyalists out of Fort Johnston District.
With no prospect of reaching Zomba before government forces were alerted, they retreated to Fort Johnston, where a detachment of the Malawi army caught up with them at noon the next day, killing or capturing several of Chipembere's men, although the majority escaped into the bush.
On 26 April, with the help of both Glyn Jones and US interests, the loan of an aircraft from the British South Africa Police, and with Banda's knowledge and acquiescence, he was secretly moved to Zomba, and from there to Salisbury (in Southern Rhodesia), London, New York and finally California.
[81] Many of his followers were detained without trial after his departure and a few continued raids on government targets for some time, leading to retaliatory burning of local villages and the hanging of one of the leaders, Medson Silombela, in January 1966 before an invited audience, rather than in public as Banda originally proposed, as Glyn Jones declined to sign the bill authorising this.