In Chirundu, first published in 1969 in Johannesburg, Mphalele as a South African outsider has also attempted a satire on an independent African state, Malawi. The basic plot is of the down-fall of a government minister, Chirundu, because of bigamy charges brought by his first wife under a law which makes a second marriage illegal where both are performed under civil statutes laid down by the colonialists although polygamy remains legal where only the traditional African rites are observed. This plot has therefore something of a symbolic significance as Chirundu attempts to reconcile his traditional instincts, his desire for two wives, with his own modernity. This basic plot is muddled by the introduction of the python symbol of Nsato and by Mphalele's uncertainty about the narrative method best suited to his purposes.

The python is introduced at key moments and an irresistible parallel is suggested between this swallower-up from the animal world and those who like Chirundu are swallowing up their own countries. This parallel fails when the python is identified as the god Nsato, a figure to be worshipped and feared. The Chirundu of the novel simply lacks the force and power to make this work. Indeed at times he appears rather hesitant and confused: his actions are not those of a man ready to sacrifice all for the sake of his own personal power. He seems, for example, to retain a genuine respect for his first wife. This complexity of character goes beyond satire and is to Mphalele's credit but it only makes his ultimate purpose in the novel harder to discern and the main cause of this is his inability to sustain a point of view.

He switches between Chirundu and his nephew, the trade union leader Moyo; from Chirundu's wives to the old grandfather who in a series of monologues tells the reader the whole history of the tribes of the region which eventually became Malawi; dramatic dialogue is used in the courtroom scenes and in the jail where exiled political prisoners are held. There is no doubt that Mphalele had a serious polemical purpose in writing the novel—or rather he had many—to educate, inform, shock and encourage his readers. The shifting tone which results from these many purposes is at times perplexing and detracts from the overall impact. At the end of the novel one of the prisoners decides to return to South Africa where he will probably be killed rather than remain in a safe place where he can be no more than an impotent observer of a foreign political scene; the reader too has the impression that the author would be happier with the starker simplicities of apartheid.