Malawi mourns pageantry pioneer

In July this year Carver Bhima, a man, who shaped the country’s beauty pageantry including Miss Malawi, told The Daily Times that he had no regrets to have strolled this pathway. To Carver, who was better known as Uncle Carver, pageantry was something he was passionate about and that is why he cherished it with an aim of empowering girls and young people. A phone call to visit him to share his pageantry story on that Friday was met with excitement such that he gathered several of the newspaper articles that spoke volumes of his feats in the game. I got lost on the way to his house but from afar, all those I asked for directions, they knew him well as someone “wopanga za Miss Malawi”. Upon arrival, I was offered a cup of coffee before the seasoned pageant promoter took me on a tour of his pictures archive. Later we went into a long conversation of his journey from where it all started, from organising Blantyre fashion shows before expanding the base to Miss Malawi. “If I did not love pageantry, I would have left it longtime ago but I held it so dearly,” he said. He struggled to speak at times and could not recollect some things but his smile attested to the fact that he was happy with the strides he had made for Miss Malawi. One of the articles that he showed was that which screamed with the headline ‘Bring Back Carver Bhima’. This was after Carver had suffered stroke and took a break from Miss Malawi affairs and the country had missed his versatility in running the national pageant. The pageantry icon recovered and came back to drive Miss Malawi and is credited to have send Miss Malawi to the Miss World through Elizabeth Pullu in 2001 and Rachel Landson Phiri in 2005 among others. “There have been a lot of things that people have spoken about me, most of which are not true. Actually some of the people I was working with left me but I held on,” he said. Carver is no more; he passed on at the age of 85 at LMJ Hospital in Blantyre on Tuesday after a heart attack according to his son Tucky. “We are saddened as a family. He was a pillar and taught us a lot. We will miss him,” he said yesterday. Tucky said the remains of his father, who he described as a Godfather of pageantry will be carried from Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes) Mortuary at 12 today before a service at Holy Innocence. Born on February 27, 1941, he will be laid to rest Friday in Chigumula. Dan Kamwaza, who worked with Carver for a long time, said he was shocked with his partner’s death. “He was like a brother to me; we shared a very special relationship such that the age gap did not matter. We complemented each other when dealing with Miss Malawi issues,” Kamwaza said. He said he will miss his wise counsel in that he had vast experience in marketing the pageants and also he created so many opportunities. Meanwhile, Miss Malawi organization has mourned Carver describing him as a mentor; guider and a custodian of an industry he helped build from the ground up.
2026-10-01 12:14:29