The COVID-19 pandemic prompted widespread mandates—including lockdowns, social distancing, and curfews—aimed at controlling the spread of the virus and protecting public health. While critical, these measures often restricted democratic freedoms and had immense social and material costs for the individuals, sparking scholarly interest. Most existing research, however, focuses on the national level, overlooking the crucial role of local communities and leaders. In the Global South, local state authorities and customary leaders often played an important role in implementing and enforcing restrictions. Focusing on Malawi, a context characterized by substantial variation in the community-level implementation of anti-democratic restrictions, this study examines where and by whom mandates were implemented and enforced and why and when citizens complied with these measures. Specifically, we draw on locally representative panel survey data collected before and during the pandemic to investigate the influence of local governance structures and horizontal and vertical ties (e.g., relationships among citizens and between citizens and leaders) that shape implementation and compliance at both the individual and household levels. By investigating these dynamics, our research contributes to understanding the intersection of local governance and citizen compliance with restrictive measures during a public health crisis. It also provides broader implications for managing public health crises in contexts with limited state capacity and varying strengths of local leadership.