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What will the death of Malawi’s VP Saulos Chilima mean for politics there?

Saulos Chilima and eight others were flying on a military aircraft on Monday morning when their plane disappeared from airport radars

It was the news that Malawians had been dreading: on Tuesday President Lazarus Chakwera announced that his vice president, Saulos Chilima, had been killed in a plane crash.

Vice President Chilima had been travelling to the funeral of a former government minister. The military aircraft he was on had been flying in bad weather and disappeared from airport radars on Monday. When it was found by rescuers, the aircraft was completely destroyed. There were eight others onboard, including the former first lady, Shanil Dzimbiri.

Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje has been looking at the reaction to Tuesday’s announcement with Bayana Chunga, a journalist in Blantyre and Felix Njawala, the spokesman for Vice President Saulos Chilima’s UTM party.

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