u/q203 breaks down the misinformed headline:

There are a bunch of issues with the headline and introductory section of this article.

1. ⁠Malawi and South Africa are different countries. This is about Malawi, a country in Southern Africa.
2. ⁠The name of the district is Dedza (not Dzedza). This wouldn’t be as big of a mistake if it was only done once but it’s repeated multiple times.
3. ⁠Theresa Kachindamoto is not “the first female chief” in Malawi, as the headline implies. There are multiple female chiefs in Malawi. She is unique in that she’s Ngoni, and she’s a female paramount chief of the Ngoni in Dedza. But even the use of the word ‘first’ here would be debatable. The legendary first paramount chief/high priestess of the Dedza area, Makewana, was a woman. Her name literally means ‘mother of the children.’ Kachindamoto clarifies that she is the first female Ngoni chief in Dedza in the article (not all of Malawi), but the headline distorts this.
4. ⁠The headline implies Kachindamoto single-handedly ended child marriage in Malawi. The Malawian parliament ended child marriage 7 years ago. Her achievements are still notable for enforcing this in her area, but she didn’t single-handedly take initiative to do this. She mentions Joyce Banda in the article, who is recognized as a driving force behind the change. Child marriage also still occurs, even if not in her particular area. They are working to end it, but the headline makes it seem as if it’s been totally eradicated.

I don’t mean to discount her achievements. Her firsthand account is great. The headline just irks me due to how inaccurately it portrays Malawi.