South Africa-based rabble-rouser Ben Longwe has stopped taking calls or any form of communication from people that were arrested last week for breaking into shops and private properties as part of illegal demonstrations that he mobilized.
Police last Wednesday arrested 80 people for conducting an illegal demonstration and looting shops in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.
Ben Longwe mobilized what he described as ‘concerned citizens’ to the protests to express their anger on alleged selective justice by the judicial branch.
However, it turned out that the ‘concerned citizens’ Longwe mobilized for the demonstration were actually criminals as they went vandalising and looting innocent people’s property even beyond dusk.
The police arrested 80 protesters in the process.
But when they were in police cells, the suspected vandals and looters issued an audio clip on the social media in which they are complaining that Longwe is not assisting them.
“We are detained at Lumbadzi Police Station. Others have been detained at Lilongwe Police Station and Linthipe Police. But since we were arrested, we have had no food and no one to bring us something to eat. None of our big men are coming to see us. We’re told there’s a lawyer hired for us, but up to now, he’s not showing up. We are suffering,” says one of the arrested protester in the audio clip.
He vows that he will never participate in such protests in his life, stressing that he has been betrayed.
In his reaction, renowned governance and human right activist Undule Mwakasungula, said this confirms his fear that the protests were not organized in good faith.
Mwakasungula suspected that some politicians were behind the demonstrations.
He warned young people to avoid being used by politicians who have nothing to offer them except beer after their goal and motive have been achieved.