Land Given to the Church in 1948: A Malawi Family Appeals an Order to Leave Its Ancestral Home

• A Blantyre land tribunal ordered the Chepiti family to vacate land claimed by St James Chilomoni Parish
• The family says its ancestors settled there in 1918 and gave only part to the church in 1948
• The gift was made in thanks for church help with a relative’s travel to study in Kenya
• The family has appealed to Malawi’s Ministry of Lands

A family in Blantyre, Malawi, is appealing a ruling that it must leave land now claimed by the Roman Catholic Church’s St James Chilomoni Parish, Nyasa Times reported on July 2, 2026.

The Chepiti family, linked to the Zinganguwo chieftaincy in Chigwaja, says its ancestors settled on the land in 1918 after migrating from Mozambique. In 1948 the family voluntarily gave a portion to the parish in gratitude for church help with a relative’s travel to Kenya for education. The family maintains that only that portion was given, and that the rest remains theirs.

In 2012 a local chief told the family they would have to leave because the church owned the land. The Blantyre District Land Tribunal, chaired by Senior Chief Kapeni with chiefs Kunthembwe, Somba and Chigalu and a magistrate, ruled that the family should vacate. In 2026 the family took its appeal to the Ministry of Lands.

The dispute turns on what exactly was given nearly 80 years ago, and on the absence of a clear record of the boundaries.

Many Jamaican churches also stand on land that was given by a family generations ago, often with a handshake and a few words rather than a surveyed deed. When memories fade and heirs return, the question of how much was given can split a community. Churches holding gifted land should have it surveyed, get the gift recorded, and, where possible, register the title, while families giving land should put the boundaries in writing.