Moffat has told Zodiak on Thursday that the district is registering numerous incidents of property grabbing since chiefs are resolving issues of the deceased estates traditionally which is against the dictates of the reviewed law.

"This is a big problem emanating from the fact that this law talking about Wills and Inheritance, most of the villagers do not understand it. Either because maybe they deliberately choose not to understand law in order to benefit from the deceased estate.

"Let me take this opportunity to urge the ministry of information and the media to sensitize the communities on the content of the law so that we should not continue to have these disagreements. This is because they affect development of the district," Moffat said.

A visit by Zodiak at Chafukana residents, in Matchuwana village on Thursday, noted a terrifying situation where relations of their late father have allegedly damaged their houses, crops such as tea and maize and seriously injured some over the deceased estate.

According to one of the victims Delia Chafukana, this is the effort to grab the land their father owned for 52 years before he died in 2010.

"This place we are staying is for our late father. He took our mother from Matchuwana village way back when our grandparents were alive. We have been here for 52 years and there was no problem.

"When our father died in 2010 there was no problem until 2019 when one of their relations told us to leave this place to go back to our home village. So, three families started causing violence, assaulting us, stoning our houses and crops. Now we are currently living in great fear as if this is not our country.

"We cultivated our crops amid trouble, but we now hear that relation has harvested. Let me tell you that if nothing is done to our aid, the future of our children would be doomed," she said.

Another victim, Samson Liwonde, said “I have been staying and invested at my matrimonial land from 1987. So, from September last year, my nieces started asking me to force my children to go back home in Mulanje. They then started demolishing our houses and burnt everything," Liwonde said.

Meanwhile, minister of gender and social welfare Patricia Kaliati while condemning the acts, has ordered the police to re-arrest some of the perpetrators currently on bail.

"It is so sad that women continue facing gender related violence in the country like this case at Matchuwana village. These women have been at a place with their father for many years and nobody bothered them. Now that the father died someone should be coming out to claim the land? Where would they be staying?

"And what has concerned me most is reaching the extent of beating and hacking her in the head. This should not be tolerated. I am therefore ordering the DC and police to ensure that those culprits currently on bail should be rearrested without fail to face the law," Kaliati ordered.