The Ministry of Information statement distancing itself from the Black Friday protests to boycott South African goods and services in Malawi. A leading consumer rights body called for the boycott and asked all Malawians to wear black during the protest.
Original Title
Govt statement on Malawi's 'Black Friday'
The Ministry of Information statement distancing itself from the Black Friday protests to boycott South African goods and services in Malawi. A leading consumer rights body called for the boycott and asked all Malawians to wear black during the protest.
The Ministry of Information statement distancing itself from the Black Friday protests to boycott South African goods and services in Malawi. A leading consumer rights body called for the boycott and asked all Malawians to wear black during the protest.
PRESS STATEMENT For Immediate Release April 23, 2015 Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture Lilongwe Malawi
GOVERNMENTS POSITION ON CAMAS CALL FOR BLACK
FRIDAY Government has noted the call by the Consumer Association of Malawi (Cama) that the people of Malawi should observe Black Fridays, when they will put on black attire and boycott South African services in Malawi, to protest against the Xenophobic attacks against Malawians citizens in South Africa. In the awake of this call, the Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture has received a number of inquiries from South African Page 1 of 3
investors in Malawi to find out if the Black Fridays observation
represents the official position of the Government of Malawi in dealing with the unfortunate events in their country. While these inquiries have been dealt with accordingly, Government wishes to inform other South African investors that may also be considering making their own inquiries that the position of the Government of Malawi is to support the process of dialogue which the State President His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has initiated. As you will recall, the State President stated a few days ago that he has opened communication lines with his South African counterpart President Jacob Zuma on this matter within the SADC framework. As a follow up, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Dr George Chaponda MP has been instructed to travel to the Republic of South Africa to meet his South African counterpart and set the wheels of dialogue in motion. Government wishes to give these processes a chance while its efforts continue to secure and support the lives of Malawian citizens that have been affected by the events in South Africa. This notwistanding, Government realises that it is under the obligation to uphold the dictates of our Constitution, among them Page 2 of 3
the right of expression, which encompasses the freedom to hold
peaceful demonstrations. HON. KONDWANI NANKHUMWA M.P. GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON & MINISTER OF INFORMATION, TOURISM AND CULTURE