Malawi central bank removes pension trustees over disputed hotel deal:
Malawi’s financial regulator has removed the trustees of the country’s largest public pension fund after they ignored an order to halt a controversial hotel acquisition worth millions of dollars.
The unusually forceful intervention highlights concerns about governance in the management of public retirement savings.
The Reserve Bank of Malawi revoked the licences of 11 trustees of the Public Service Pension Trust Fund after they failed to comply with a directive to unwind the fund’s purchase of Amaryllis Hotel Blantyre, according to a regulatory statement.
The hotel is owned by Yusuf Investments Limited, which had received billions of Malawi kwacha from the pension fund before regulators intervened.
The case has quickly become one of the most closely watched governance controversies in Malawi’s financial sector, raising broader questions about how pension assets, representing the retirement savings of thousands of public employees, are invested.
According to a statement issued on Thursday, which the Mail & Guardian reviewed, the registrar of financial institutions, George Partridge, first intervened in November 2025 after concerns emerged about the valuation and structure of the proposed acquisition.
In a directive dated 14 November, the regulator ordered the pension fund to suspend all transactions related to the purchase, pending further review.
The trustees proceeded regardless.
Financial records examined by investigators indicate that by the time regulators escalated the matter earlier this year, more than $ 51 million (R853m) had been transferred to the seller.
The size of the transaction immediately drew attention inside government oversight structures. Documents presented to parliament’s public accounts committee of Malawi suggest the purchase price of the hotel might have climbed to about $ 74m.
Earlier valuations reportedly placed the property’s worth closer to $ 27m, creating a large gap between the assessed value and the agreed purchase price.
The discrepancy has become central to the investigation.
Regulators later instructed the trustees to rescind the agreement and recover the funds paid to the seller. The trustees were also asked to explain why administrative penalties should not be imposed.
They failed to comply.
Under Section 36 of Malawi’s Pension Act 2023, trustees who ignore lawful directives issued by the registrar may have their licences revoked. The central bank has now exercised that authority.
The trustees removed from office are Chizaso Eric Nyirongo, Chikondi Veronica Phiri, Idris Mdala Mwale, Maxwell Spencer Tsitsi, Ireen Chikapa, Arthur Manyunya, Precious Chimbamba, Yona Phiri, Richard Zimba, Brazio Mphepo and Bernard Nyondo.
All 11 are barred from serving as pension trustees. The enforcement action comes as Malawi attempts to strengthen oversight of its pension sector. The country introduced updated pension legislation in recent years aimed at tightening governance standards and improving the supervision of funds that manage workers’ retirement savings.
The Public Service Pension Trust Fund manages contributions from thousands of government employees, including teachers, nurses, police officers and civil servants. For many of them, the pension system represents the primary form of financial security after retirement.
But the regulatory action does not resolve the broader controversy surrounding the hotel transaction.
According to financial intelligence reports reviewed by investigators, authorities have frozen roughly $ 41m linked to the deal while inquiries continue into how the funds were transferred and whether any payments were diverted after leaving the pension fund.
Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has intensified its investigation into the transaction. Investigators are examining the movement of funds through company accounts connected to the deal, as well as the procurement and valuation procedures used to approve the investment.
Documents submitted to parliamentary hearings suggest the trustees might have ignored professional advice warning that the acquisition carried significant financial risks.
Some submissions have also questioned whether the firm responsible for valuing the property had the appropriate qualifications to assess a transaction of that scale.
The controversy has triggered concern among labour organisations representing pension contributors. The Malawi Congress of Trade Unions has called for the termination of the hotel deal and the full recovery of the funds paid to the seller.
For many contributors, the issue is straightforward. Public sector pensions remain one of the few reliable sources of retirement income in Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries.
While the removal of the trustees demonstrates a rare example of regulatory enforcement in Malawi’s financial system, the central question remains unresolved: whether the $ 51m paid for the hotel can be recovered.
In the opinion piece published by the Mail & Guardian on 28 April 2026 titled “JP Smith, the DA and Cape Town’s criminal underworld: The Black Books, the R8 billion tender shadow and why the Madlanga commission must come to Cape Town“, Faiez Jacobs writes as though JP Smith is concerned about testifying at the Madlanga Commission. The opposite is true. He has repeatedly requested the opportunity to give evidence and speak at the commission, particularly as the raid on his office has already been found by the court to be illegal, invalid and unconstitutional.
The raid was clearly a political hit job and members of the South African Police Service have confirmed that SAPS officials even travelled to the home of Minister Senzo Mchunu to brief him on their plans. We will now never know if he was being briefed of on or was influencing or steering their actions. But the political theatrics did not end there, with continuous leaks to politicians and sections of the media, including News24, the same publication Faiez references.
JP Smith stands ready to unpack all of this because for far too long, the African National Congress has abused the police service for political gain, a reality laid bare by the Madlanga Commission. Smith and the Democratic Alliance (DA) welcome every arrest that may arise from the Commission’s work. It is about accountability, cleaning up the very criminal justice system that politicians like Faiez helped destroy.
Faiez now speaks about safety, but where was that concern when he campaigned alongside Jacob Zuma, the central figure in state capture, under whose leadership the police and criminal justice system were weakened to protect corruption and enable looting? The DA has also demonstrated its commitment to improving safety in 2025 by supporting the upcoming Gang Violence Parliamentary Inquiry, set to begin in May. This is an important step, although one can expect the ANC to attempt to deflect responsibility and shift blame onto the City rather than confront its own failures.
This inquiry presents an opportunity to put the facts on the table: why gang violence remains out of control, and how the ANC’s handling of the criminal justice system continues to fail the people of Cape Town.
Why we are seeing historically low gang convictions, illegal firearm convictions and why the ANC’s police service is incapable of finding the source of illegal firearms flowing into our Country. In the past two years over 10 000 arrests were made for illegal firearms and ammunition yet the source cannot be found.
Faiez’s piece reads like it was lifted straight from the ANC’s handbook. So let’s deal in facts:
• JP handed over evidence provided by Human Settlements officials against Malusi Booi to both the Speaker of Council and SAPS.
• He was instrumental in establishing and resourcing the SSIU/SSIMS, which helped expose Ralph Stanfield’s attempts to secure City tenders and led to his companies being blacklisted nationally.
• These efforts were actively resisted by the ANC, the GOOD Party, and elements within SAPS. GOOD leader De Lille even tried to shut the unit down while she was Mayor to prevent it from undertaking investigations.
• He called for action against a City staff member once it emerged that the individual was related to Nicole Johnson.
• He was warned in December of a coordinated smear campaign involving political office bearers and certain police officials and was provided with recordings of related discussions.
• The Speaker of Cape Town, along with his legal representatives, wrote to SAPS on multiple occasions offering full cooperation with any investigation.
• The attempt to damage Smith’s reputation was based on allegations without evidence.
• Subsequent evidence has pointed to a long-standing ANC-linked contractor as the likely “JP” referenced in the so-called ledgers.
This information was handed to SAPS nearly a year ago, with little to no progress, something South Africans have unfortunately come to expect.
This was a desperate, and frankly distasteful, attempt by Faiez to deflect from the deepening crisis within the ANC, now exposed by the Madlanga Commission. The extent to which political interests have compromised SAPS and enabled criminal networks is becoming increasingly clear. No amount of attempts at deflection will change that.
The fact that South Africa is now on its fourth National Police Commissioner without a completed term speaks volumes about the instability and political interference that has hollowed out the criminal justice system, a system that should be protecting South Africans, not failing them.
Bring on the Madlanga Commission. Unlike those who rely on rhetoric and misdirection, the DA is ready to deal with the facts. While others spread misinformation, we will continue fighting for the safety and well-being of our residents.
Yours faithfully,
Nicholas Gotsell
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