Pre questions for Saturday Dec. 18, 2010
 
Clare asked about the Litunga's uniform. This uniform is more than a century old. The Litunga started using it in 1902. It has become part of the Lozi culture. The world is small. We share a lot of things. Siziba originated form Scottland. Misisi comes from Mrs. Missionary who prepared them many years ago. The Litunga uses the new and the old, depending on the occassion. But way way back they used animal skin. The Litunga used leopard covering like Akufuna Tatila here. Lewanika is also seen herein plain traditional gab without covering as a young Litunga, probably in 1886. But the uniform that the Litunga used this year is new. It is different from the usual one except for the head dress. I believe changes can be made.
I tried to answer all the questions on the e-mail thread to make things easier. I really spent almost the entire night, unfortunately Something happened to my computer and I did not save.I was so disappointed you know how that goes. I still plan to answer everything as per plan. Please pray for me. You can either start from the bottom or top. I hope I have answered your questions to your satisfaction. Enjoy your reading down below. My answers are in blue.
Godwin Kaluwe
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Subject: RE: Mark Your Calendars
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:55:54 +0000
Everyone we tried inviting on the pro side, have not responded yet. James
I will try to contact some people. It is not easy to find people who are pro in matters of this nature. I just have nothing to hide. I love Zambia. I love Barotseland. I understand what the people are going through and I would like to help end this mess. I am not the kind of pastor who is too heavenly minded that I become of earthly no good. I believe that matters of social life and civil rights and even politics affect all of us in real life. There is a time when even pastors should step up and provide the voice for the voiceless. It is Biblical.
Godwin Kaluwe
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Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:52:39 -0800
Subject: Re: Mark Your Calendars
Hi Rabson:
I agree, it is just that I am fighting myself not to comment on most of the information coming through to keep it fresh for Saturday. To be able to achieve what you have just said, even I want to hear Dr. Mbewe's, Prof. Tembo's even Pastor Kaluwe's comments for the first time. I only wish Pastor Kaluwe can also get someone with his point of view on the show so it does not end up too one sided.
Best regards,
Musaba
I will try to find someone. GK
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Sent: Wed, December 15, 2010 9:43:02 PM
Subject: Re: Mark Your Calendars
Musaba,
It will be an educative and amicable discourse under the usual tradition of order and mutual respect. At the end of the show we will have played a credible role in fostering our Zambian spirit of unity and co-existence in diversity. Such Golden opportunities are for us to continue being bridge builders and not spark plugs among our listeners around the world.
Cheers,
Rabson
Subject: Re: Mark Your Calendars
Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 7:47 PM
All good points and questions but lets hold some fire for Saturday otherwise the show could be boring to all of us.
Musaba
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Sent: Wed, December 15, 2010 6:01:45 PM
Subject: RE: Mark Your Calendars
1. How sure is Prof. Simenda and others in the Barotse Movements that all the ethnic groups or tribes he has listed agree that they are under the umbrella of “Malozi” and would like to participate in this petition? Asks Dr. Tembo
All fantastic questions listed here. Unfortunately such questions candidly put on our brothers advocating for Barotseland have gone unanswered. I personally asked Pastor Kaluwe same question on his first appearance, to my dismay he evaded it. Maybe it was because of time constraint which should not be the case this time around.
A talk to Nkoyas of Kaoma and other tribes reveal a lot besides willed disdain of this whole crusade. Perceptively this Barosteland issue lacks broader consensus and leadership besides enduring mistrust and incorrigible hatred dominant among their micro ethnic groups in contemporary society.
I have to be proven wrong on the view that on most value issues, the tribes of western province are diametrically opposed especially to this call of seceding from Zambia. Such is a recipe for carnage and ethnic cleansing at the hand of factionists God forbid. Western province like any other part of Zambia deserves better than these flawed thoughts of invulnerability where the few think they are invincible and can do anything without a popular consensus (love rebukes and corrects it does not spare). We need each other to develop Zambia in harmony.
Keen to learn on Saturday.
Rabson Lungu
Subject: RE: Mark Your Calendars
Date: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 2:23 PM
Fellow Zambians
Professor Simenda said:
Malozi are the people of Barotseland – constituted by 37 tribes ( amongst whom are Ma Mbowe, Ma Kwandi, Ma Kwangwa, Ma Subiya, Ma Kwamakoma, Ma Kwamwenyi, Manyengo, Mambukushu, Mayeyi, Mankoya, Maluvale, Mambunda, Machokwe, Maluchazi, Malunda, etc.).
As I have been reading all these lengthy legal documents and petitions about the Barotse Agreement of 1964, I have a million questions. Sometimes when you have a disagreement answering simple basic questions can shade more light and solve the problem peacefully and quickly.
For example:
1. How sure is Prof. Simenda and others in the Barotse Movements that all the ethnic groups or tribes he has listed agree that they are under the umbrella of “Malozi” and would like to participate in this petition? Do all of them want to secede? Have all of them been claiming that they have been suffering since 1964 and have not sufficiently enjoyed the fruits of Zambia’s independence? You know: tarred roads, free education, freedom to travel, to earn income, own land. Contrary to some of the rhetoric we Zambians have enjoyed tremendous Civil Liberties since 1964. If you disagree, think again. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Read about Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi, read about chaos and ethnic animosity in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, the chaos in Somalia, the tragedy of Biafra War, the impact of the protracted Wars in Angola and Mozambique. We Zambians are a blessed and fortunate people. Let’s not screw up and blow up the peace.
Dr. Mwizenge Tembo
I totally agree with you that the civil liberties in Zambia have been great. You have to lose what you have in order to appreciate it. We cannot have such short memory as to forget what Zambia has done for all of us. I think that was a good beginning. Beside that let us not forget where we have come from before that and the challenges that our forefathers went through. It was for the benefit of all of us. We are standing on their shoulders.
Prof. Simenda understands something that most of us need to learn or accept as fact about Barotseland. A lot of times it is misunderstood for being too superior. It is far from that. Remember that Barotseland is a kingdom. It was organized as such more than a century ago. Manipulative Politics is something new to Barotseland. We are raised under mornachy. The Barotse people have been pushing for independence long before Zambia was born, long before Dr. Kaunda was born. As a nation or Kingdom with diverse population some by annexation, others by naturalization, and by birth, we cannot all agree. We have different opinions. We even had a civil war in Barotseland. That was what caused our defeat from the Kololos. Otherwise the Kololos would not have made it to defeat the Lozi. Now understand that Lozi is citizenship, not a tribe. The concept of Lozi as a tribe came in the UNIP era, where it could be used very well to fragment the unity of the Kingdom, and break it appart to submit to the republic of Zambia. The Lozi people did not make good Zambian citizens because they had divided royalty, most important of which was their allegiency to Litunga than to a political president. The Barotseans had to learn that.
One mistake the Zambia made was to ignore this very important part of Zambian history in our schools. As a result it remained a mystry and the Lozi became like black sheep in Zambia. Any opposition to the one part participatory democracy was destroyed. We still have living victims of that era. Unfortunately some lost their lives. Where is Kapwepwe? Where is Mundia Nalumino? Where is ??????????? to mention but a few. It became rein of terror.
The local tribes had no problem accepting Litunga as thier leader. They still don't have that problem today. In the recent time of President Chiluba, he worked hard to try to break the back-born of Barotseland for political gain. He even went to theextent of demanding the third term,which also wrong. He incinueted the Nkoyas to create a new province known as Kafue province. That was when Litunga Ilute Yeta was putting pressure on the Barotseland issue. There may be a small pocket of Nkoyas who subscribe to that kind of nonses. But real well meaning Nkoyas know their history and know where we have come from together. They have a place in the BRE. Again we are living in the morden democratic world. You cannot take people for granted. But we should understand that there are more foreigners in Kaoma than the indigeneous Nkoyas themselves. By foreigners I mean all other Zambians from the four corners of Zambia including four corners of western province.
I don't want to Classify people by tribes in Barotseland. We are Barotse people, composed of all the various ethinic groups Pro. Simenda mentioned above. Do we all agree? No. We have different special interests. That is also good. Do we take ourselves to be as Pro. Simenda described? No. There are some of us who would like to rebel from this citizenship of Barotseland, mainly because we are living in a nation without a state.
2. Where is the geographic boundary of Barotseland since the 1890s or 1964? Does the boundary go all the way to Mwinilunga, Livingstone, Kafue, Lusaka, and the Copperbelt? Or May be including parts of Eastern Zambia up to Malawi according to some of the literature I have been reading?
The geographic boundary is not a mystry. It has always been known. It changed from time to time with the changing of hands of leadership. We seem to respect the boundary that Muzungu makes for us and not respect natural bounderies that go by the confluence of language and ethinicity. In the olden days bounderies were made by conquest or no man's land. Most of Zambia was unclaimed. Whoever made a claim during the scrumble for Africa had to defend the land. This is the reason when Lewanika claimed much of Zambia as he did, he requested the British to defend that land for him. Therefore, it became part of his kindom. The local chiefs inthese area did not fight back or reject the leadership of Lewanika including the Lamba people. Those who tried to resist were defeated and submitted to Lewanika's authority. Chief Monze for example onlyrequested the British to join Northern Rhodesia in1953 when barotseland became a protectorate. Before that most of Southern province along the line of rail to Vitoria Falls town all were considered Barotseland. We still have in the BRE achirves legal documents that show that Livingstone is part of Barotseland.
In short the original boundary was the line of rail from copperbelt to victoria falls. After becoming a protectorate the Barotse authorities simply gave up Zambia because they did not have the economic capacity to sustain such a bigger territory. The Lozi retreated to the regions of the present geographical bounderies and concentrated in there. Northern Rhodesia was happy to take up all unclaimed territory. But without Lewanika claiming as he did. Copperbelt would have been Congo as well as Luapula province. The Germans in Tanzania also paid very little attention to Zambia upon discovering Lewanika was in charge of this territory that extended to the border with Malawi.
3. Every group or ethnic group among the thousands in African countries can file petitions to the African Union or United Nations that they want to secede or are unhappy with the central government. Do the UN and AU organizations have thresholds for what case they will regard as legitimate to back?
If any group in Zambia has a legitimate claim of Self-Determination similar to Barotseland, it is not treasonable to express their civil and human rights. Let them champion their case, we will listen to their case rather than judge them.
The government knows the issue of Barotseland, the international community knew Barotseland before there ever was such a thing as Zambia. It is there for everyone to see. It is documented and is legally binding. Try to create a faction from Congo, Malawi or Angola, they will be charged with treason. They will be destroyed. But the government is careful how they handle any such cases from Barotseland, because here we are dealing not with disidents, not secessionists, not rebels, not anything of that sort, but we a dealing with a documented Kingdom. And the government knows they are wrong in what they did,to attempt to change the constitution of Zambiain the manner they did without consultation.
The government cannot keep on postponing the issue by appeasement of individual leaders in the Barotseland. They need to deal with this issue once and for all. It requires sitting down and deal with the legal aspects of it. If the people don't talk its fine. But when people begin to talk the government must pay attention and fix the wrongs. It is not about what the government has invested into Barotseland that matters, but how it was given and what the people themselves would like to become, the destiny of the people. This is what we call Self-Determination. No one wants to fight. War is not a good thing. We all love peace and it must stay that way.
It is the job of the UN and AU to determin which case is legitimate based on the merits of each case, not Barotseland. What the people of Barotseland are concerned about are their own rights and therefore, seek redress.
4. Some stories on the Web suggest that part of the Lozi might be in Namibia, Botswana, and Angola. Do they all agree to these petitions on their behalf? These countries will also be unhappy about riling up a segment of their citizens or alteration of the current borders.
It is no secret that Caprive Strip is part of Barotseland. The Colonialists cut a borderline in the middle of the river Zambezi. My father's home distric of Sesheke was cut into half. Our village was cut into two. One side became Katima Mulilo, Zambia and the other Caprive Strip Namibia. People still swim across the river to this day. There are more than 17 000 Lozi speaking residents in Caprive according to recent Namibian Statistics. These are my people. They are my biological cousins, uncles, brothers in law and sisters in law. Itis not wise for Barotseland to to start reclaiming parts occupied by other countries without being successful resolving the issue at home. Those others will follow later
Like I said, I have a million questions. To the million questions, we have a million answers
Mwizenge
Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D.
Professor of Sociology
President and Director Nkhanga Village Library Project (ZANOBA)
Bridgewater College
Bridgewater, VA 22812
www.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo
www.bridgewater.edu/zanoba
Cell: 540-421-9972
Phone-540-828-5351
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 1:57 PM
To: Mwizenge S. Tembo; Musaba Chailunga_Blog; Lobson Lungu_Blog; Harrison Muyeba
Cc: Richard Mbewe_Blog; Zbia Zbia_Blog; Mwanza Mwanza_Blog; James Mwape; [email protected]Subject: RE: Mark Your Calendars
Dr. Mwizenge
Now you are talking
I would appreciate for everyone who wants to intelligently contribute or learn something about this issue to visit www.BarotselandPeaceFoundation.org/ and go to papers. Then click on Legal definition article petition by Nosiku Kawanambulu
Godwin Kaluwe
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Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:36:44 -0500
Subject: RE: Mark Your Calendars
I have been too busy grading final exams and papers. I would have tried to get President Kaunda to come on the show not just as a former President but also as a private citizen. I don’t have enough time to call and make the contacts in Lusaka. He would be very willing to come on the show if he is not busy or if he could spare just half an hour or an hour. I have known him personally over the last couple of years and his schedule is always full.
Mwizenge
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 7:00 AM
To: Rabson Lungu; harrison musonda
Subject: Re: Mark Your Calendars
It looks like there will be no surprises right Pastor Kaluwe. LOL. There will be no surprises that I know of. Surprises may come from some of the questions we cannot predict. Lol
Musaba
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Sent: Tue, December 14, 2010 11:29:18 PM
Subject: Re: Mark Your Calendars
Salutations,
It will be a very resourceful discourse with mutual benefits. We are prepared and in it together.Zambia is bigger than anyone of us.
I hear you Doc. and I agree with you on that one. John Maiser once said: "All of us are wiser than anyone of us."
Blessings,
Rabson Lungu
Subject: Re: Mark Your Calendars
Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 9:35 PM
between thI have just sent you a document compiled by Namushi Nyambe Interim Chairman of BFM...This document outlines ONLY What he wants other people with BFM to know but what he fails to address is the fact that the original agreement e Muzungus and Lewanika was an act of deception which bound other tribes of other lands to an agreement that they did not consent to. "The legality of Illegality"
I don't believe that the original agreement between the Muzungus and Lewanika was an act of deception. The intent was not to deceive. Who was deceiving who? Did the two parties agree to deceive each other or what? What I know that is authenticated by History is that Lewanika signed genuine treaties first with the BSA. They gave him an impression that he was signing with Britain. That was corrected later. On the other hand, Lewanika exaggerated the extent of his territory as covering pre much the whole Zambia except some parts of Eastern region. But Lewanika did not do this to deceive. In those days they did not have town and country planning. The demographic intruments were not as defined as we have today. So his people simple pointed out that our sphere of influence extends up to the Congo. Mean while the Belgians and the French were encroaching into the same territory. Hence that gap in Katanga. Had Lewanika claimed that area sooner the Katanga would have been part of Zambia today. I don't see why you should emphasize negative aspect of the story rather than rejoyce in the outcome regardless of those minor elements.
If what we need is peace and harmony and unity, it begins with embracing all our history as one people regaless of the tribe of the players. Many timesI do not see appreciation for what Lewanika did for this country. The most civilized nation on earth embraces both its follies and triumphs. Lewanika is like what Abraham Lincolyn is to America. His role impacted the outcome of what we are today as a people and as a nation.
I am yet to find solid men and women of integrit who are not overwhilmed by this gab of tribal tag of war. I have many Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, and others whom I admire. I see greatness in them and I dont care what tribe they belong. If they are great just give them credit. What I fail to understand from you learned men is that you cannot find one single act of honor in Lewanika. That is surprising to me. I am not here to challenge what KK against what Lewanika did. That is not my intention. I would like to hear what we agree on first.
It is an interesting reading and opens lots of questions from the governments point of view and from a scholarly point of view.
Review it and let us have an internal discussion via email before Saturday.
Harrison Muyeba Musonda
Salutations,
It will be a very resourceful discourse with mutual benefits. We are prepared and in it together.Zambia is bigger than anyone of us.
I hear you and I agree with you on that one. John Maiser once said: " All of us are wiser than anyone of us."
Blessings,
Rabson Lungu
Subject: Re: Mark Your Calendars
Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 9:35 PM
I have just sent you a document compiled by Namushi Nyambe Interim Chairman of BFM...This document outlines ONLY What he wants other people with BFM to know but what he fails to address is the fact that the original agreement between the Muzungus and Lewanika was an act of deception which bound other tribes of other lands to an agreement that they did not consent to. "The legality of Illegality"
I don't believe that the original agreement between the Muzungus and Lewanika was an act of deception. The intent was not to deceive. Who was deceiving who? Did the two parties agree to deceive each other or what? What I know that is authenticated by History is that Lewanika signed genuine treaties first with the BSA. They gave him an impression that he was signing with Britain. That was corrected later. On the other hand, Lewanika exaggerated the extent of his territory as covering pre much the whole Zambia except some parts of Eastern region. But Lewanika did not do this to deceive. In those days they did not have town and country planning. The demographic intruments were not as defined as we have today. So his people simple pointed out that our sphere of influence extends up to the Congo. Mean while the Belgians and the French were encroaching into the same territory. Hence that gap in Katanga. Had Lewanika claimed that area sooner the Katanga would have been part of Zambia today. I don't see why you should emphasize negative aspect of the story rather than rejoyce in the outcome regardless of those minor elements.
If what we need is peace and harmony and unity, it begins with embracing all our history as one people regaless of the tribe of the players. Many timesI do not see appreciation for what Lewanika did for this country. The most civilized nation on earth embraces both its follies and triumphs. Lewanika is like what Abraham Lincolyn is to America. His role impacted the outcome of what we are today as a people and as a nation.
I am yet to find solid men and women of integrit who are not overwhilmed by this gab of tribal tag of war. I have many Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, and others whom I admire. I see greatness in them and I dont care what tribe they belong. If they are great just give them credit. What I fail to understand from you learned men is that you cannot find one single act of honor in Lewanika. That is surprising to me. I am not here to challenge what KK against what Lewanika did. That is not my intention. I would like to hear what we agree on first.
It is an interesting reading and opens lots of questions from the governments point of view and from a scholarly point of view.
Review it and let us have an internal discussion via email before Saturday.
Harrison Muyeba
...Ishina daWusi Wambakang'anda...
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