Talk:Hastings Banda

Latest comment: 3 years ago by IACOBVS in topic Kilburn or Harlesden?

POV edit

"On the positive side, Banda did much for the country's infrastructure. This included the establishment of major roads, airports, hospitals and schools in Malawi. He founded a school modelling Eton, called Kamuzu Academy, in which Malawian children were taught Latin and Ancient Greek by expatriate Classics teachers, and disciplined if they were caught speaking Chinyanja."

I don't for a minute consider the Classics stuff positive. Actually I think it's very negative. How to put it in a NPOV context? Everyking 09:31, 28 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

This has been resolved. 207.237.33.36 (talk) 02:02, 21 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

I did some cleanup on the infrastructure text; the wording was somewhat confusing, and I may have reinforced a false implication around British non-funding on moving the capital. Also, I strongly suspect that paragraph contains some uncredited copying from somewhere else, based on the use of acronyms not foudn elsewhere in the text. Henry Troup (talk) 17:50, 23 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Change reverted, why? edit

I put Banda in Category:Anti-communists, but this was reverted. Why? Banda was very anticommunist. He provided aid to UNITA in Angola, RENAMO in Mozambique, refused to allow ZANU/ZAPU and the ANC to use Malawi as a base, and generally pursued a pro-Western foreign policy. Hell, he even recognized South Africa.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.190.229.78 (talkcontribs) 15:57, 25 August 2006 (UTC).Reply

The reason your edit was reverted is because you also changed other things (besides adding Category:Anti-communists), without providing the rationale for your changes in the edit summary. Edit the article, providing references, to reflect your assertion that Banda was a notable anti-communist. Providing aid to UNITA etc. does not equal being anti-communist. --Ezeu 05:52, 26 August 2006 (UTC)Reply
Consider this, though. In addition to the things I listed, he also recognized Taiwan, but not the PRC.
Banda was widely known as an anti-communist; a google search on Banda anti-communist gives plenty of info (eg "Though Dr. Banda has long been appreciated in the West as a pro-Western anti-Communist..." [[1]] + several articles by Sam Mchombo). roundhouse 18:33, 5 September 2006 (UTC)Reply

Moreover, according to this article, Malawi never had relations with the Soviet Union, either.

Category:Malawian anti-communists edit

I haven't seen the point of creating smaller and smaller categories, Category:Malawian anti-communists being a classic category of 1. Category:anti-communists now contains no-one and tells us merely that anti-communists are of various nationalities, which we knew already. (Nationality is in any case controversial - see endless English/British arguments.)

Category:Malawian people seems to me to be much more useful if we leave some people in it - it is a category of people, not of sub-categories, and I expect to see people in it. roundhouse 09:09, 18 October 2006 (UTC)Reply

Stalin etc edit

I agree that Stalin, Hitler etc were in a different league from Banda. roundhouse 15:35, 19 November 2006 (UTC)Reply


The story ,probably false, that Banda was actually an impostor sent a prebisteran church is very famous allover the world. Although I don t believe on it, I think it is worth to mention it in the Banda bibliography, since it is a very famous story.


—Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.220.173.32 (talk) 16:17, 24 February 2008 (UTC)Reply

"2grandkids"? edit

There are unsourced statements about "2grandkids" supposedly being "heiress´s" to Banda´s fortune. It would be for the better to provide some credible sources, as a fortune this size and supposed controversies around them are a frequent subject of scams.

Since Dr Banda had no wife it is hard to that he was having a Son or Daughter as from other sources, Mama Kadzamira was just a hostess.

Kondwan (talk) 21:25, 10 April 2017 (UTC)Reply

(Unregistered user comment) So, there are at least three grandchildren, but only two of them were potential heirs, because the third was born with Downs syndrome.

I met the second one while drinking in China.

The first grandchild (male) has apparently given up his claim to a large portion of the inheritance via obtaining a foreign citizenship (Malawi doesn't allow dual citizenship), while the second grandchild (about 22 years old, with a master's degree now from Ningbo University. Undergraduate degree from Malaysia by 18/19) is now the primary heir, but is intending to settle in Canada.

I can't speak to the size of the wealth. "A lot of land" would be lost if she acquired foreign citizenship, was all that was mentioned. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.10.68.81 (talk) 01:44, 3 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

HIV/AIDS edit

Not a single comment in the article about his notorious "silence only" policy about the HIV/AIDS crisis which has become the foremost problem facing Malawi today? Pity. 207.237.33.36 (talk) 06:18, 1 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Image copyright problem with File:Banda and Youens in 1964.jpg edit

The image File:Banda and Youens in 1964.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check

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This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. --23:19, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

done. If only the bots could fill in the blanks. --Wtshymanski (talk) 20:47, 10 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

UK is domestic British, should not be used edit

There are united Kingdoms all over the world, most Kingdoms are. Using United kingdom is like calling London The town, locical for Londoners but not for others. Britain, Scotland or Great Britain should be used, or United kingdom of Great Britian. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.129.54.220 (talk) 20:00, 7 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

Is Joyce Banda related to Hastings Banda? = edit

I think the reader needs to know? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.129.54.220 (talk) 20:41, 7 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

Mwanza Four edit

I think that there are numerous problems with this section. How does a cabinet minister "Unwittingly" voice support for multiparty rule? Why the quote marks on "cabinet meeting" - it was either a cabinet meeting or it was not. Multiparty elections and a life presidency are two different matters. Banda either "dissolved cabinet" or he did not. How can everyone in the "chambers" be effectively stripped of "their political status" - and what does this mean?203.184.41.226 (talk) 04:54, 19 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

UK medical qualifications edit

I have edited the section on Banda's medical qualifications from the UK. The article mentioned "The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of Edinburgh" - no such institution exists. Banda studied at the University of Edinburgh, but his formal qualification was not awarded by the University. As was common at the time in Scotland, his medical qualification was jointly awarded by the three Scottish medical Royal Colleges: Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (as it was then known). The Triple Qualification was not abandoned until 1999, when it was replaced by the MB ChB qualification, awarded exclusively by the Universities. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Monsterseas (talkcontribs) 16:34, 21 January 2013 (UTC)Reply

One of the most repressive regimes in Africa? edit

I'm not trying to sound like an advocate for mass murder, but 6,000-18,000 dead does not appear very repressive within the context of Africa. Add that to his giving more people rights than many African people have currently, and he appears to almost be a saint comparably speaking. Is there anything else he did that would warrant the description of "one of the most repressive regimes in Africa", like eating the newborns of advocates, or playing put put with the heads of slave laborers? Otherwise I'm probably going to alter the description quite a bit, (at least the language, the facts appear to be good). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Abattoir666 (talkcontribs) 16:58, 21 January 2015 (UTC)Reply

Birthdate edit

We say there is no record of his birth and the best guess, which he accepted, is March or April 1898. Yet in the lede it's a very specific 14 May 1898. Is this latter date generally accepted as accurate? -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 22:01, 14 May 2017 (UTC)Reply

I've made the two elements agree. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 20:14, 8 December 2017 (UTC)Reply

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External links modified edit

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Kilburn or Harlesden? edit

In this article, it states that:

"After World War II, he established a practice at the London suburb of Kilburn and became politically active by joining the Labour Party and Fabian Colonial Bureau, which was founded in 1940.[22]

Banda moved to London in 1945, two months after the armistice, buying a practice in the North London suburb of Harlesden. Initially, he stayed at Mrs. French's house, with Mr. French joining them in October 1945. Later, he bought his own house in Brondesbury Park. Mrs. French moved in as his housekeeper, together with her husband.[21] According to other accounts, he lodged in a hotel, The Conway Court, in Paddington run by Mrs Janet Evans. Reportedly, he avoided returning to Nyasaland for fear that his new-found financial resources would be consumed by his extended family back home."

Which is it, a medical practice in Kilburn or in Harlesden? The neighborhoods are about 2.5 miles apart in the London Borough of Brent. --IACOBVS (talk) 17:54, 24 August 2020 (UTC)Reply