Percy Kachipande

Safiel Percy Kachipande was born in Ntcheu, Malawi in 1944. He is a former civil servant and diplomat for Malawi diplomatic missions to Germany, US and South Africa.^[1][2] He was the Deputy Ambassador and later, Acting Ambassador to the Malawi mission in South Africa during Malawi and South Africa's democratic reforms.

Career

His career as a civil servant began as a District Commissioner for Dedza District and Zomba District.^[3] He also worked on the Malawi-Canada Railway project.

In the US, he was also a Consular in the 1987-1989 for the Malawi permanent mission to the United Nations in New York and to the embassy in Washington, DC.^[4][5]

In South Africa, he served as the First secretary and later acting Ambassador during apartheid South Africa.^[1] Due to his determination to pursue top quality education for his family, one of his daughters became the first black student to attend and hence integrate Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG) during the apartheid era where schools were legally separated by race.^[6] PHSG thus became the first all-white public school in the province of Northern Transvaal (now Gauteng) to integrate under the leadership of headmistress Anne Van Zyl.^[7] In South Africa, he worked as a UN observer during South Africa's first democratic election process, helping to ensure free and fair elections. He played a key role in ensuring continued diplomatic relations between Malawi and the new ANC government during the transition period in South Africa. Diplomatic relations between Malawi and South Africa had been unstable because Malawi was the only African country with a Black majority government (the other being White minority-ruled Zimbabwe), to have diplomatic ties with South Africa throughout the apartheid era. Nelson Mandela's first trip to Malawi after his release from jail and prior to becoming the president of South Africa assured continued relationships between the two countries. In 1992, Malawi was also transitioning to a multi-party democracy and changing oppressive laws under Kamuzu Banda.^[8]

In Malawi, he worked with the Ministry of justice and Ministry of Education.^[9] He was on the board of directors of the Designated Schools Board. He then retired as a civil servant in Malawi but continued to serve the public as a private citizen.

Elections

He ran two campaigns for parliamentary seats in the 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections for Ntcheu West.^[10][11][12] The results of which were being contested due to alleged irregularities during elections^[13] During the 2004 elections, he was a front contender for the Ntcheu West MP seat, where he reportedly won 3420 votes but lost the seat by 3 "miscounted" votes.^[11]

Philanthropy

He currently does charity work with Project Wellness, Canada that builds boreholes in rural areas and orphan feeding centers in Ntcheu District.^[14][15][16]

Personal

He is married to Florence Kachipande and has six children.

References