He or she has no intention of turning at all. This is the Malawian sign that demarcates the extremity of the car nearest the middle of the road. It says simply This is where my vehicle ends. Please drive on the outside of this light . A wonderfully thoughtful habit, especially at night, since many vehicles possess only one headlight and could be mistaken for a motorcycle in the dark.
Indicators play a number of interesting roles.
If, for example, you are travelling behind a vehicle and you become aware of the right indicator flashing, it means one of two things. Either the driver is pointing out to you that this would be a bad time to over-take since there is oncoming traffic, or the driver is showing the oncoming car his innermost extremity. Of course there is always the outside chance that the driver may be intending to turn right. If the left indicator of the car in front flashes, it means the road ahead is clear and you may overtake. Unless of course it means that the driver will be turning left, which can give you a nasty shock if you try to overtake and find traffic bearing down on you.