The Barotseland Saga

Please allow me to respond to some letters that have appeared in this media concerning the above stated issue.

Zambia is a united country made up of different tribes and its future lies not in the mistakes committed by the colonialists in defining the borders, at times separating one clan into two or three nations, but by accepting the borders at independence.

The Barotse issue is dangerous in the sense that we should not just read one treaty the British South African Company signed with the Lozi King but also for all the chiefs and kings in present-day Zambia.

It is not a hidden issue that the Lozi people are not Zambians but a combination of immigrants from the DRC and the Basuthu.

The Lozi people are an ethnic group primarily of Western Zambia, inhabiting the region of Barotseland.

Loz are also found in Namibia (the Caprivi Strip), Angola and Botswana. Why are they claiming the Zambian portion yet ignoring the others?

There is nowhere in history indicating that they conquered all the chiefs from the Western province to the mineral-rich ‘Copper-belt’ before the arrival of BSAC prospectors.

My maternal grandfather was born from the royal house of Chief Nkana around 1870. The prospectors used Lozis as interpreters and carriers.

The Lozi kingdom welcomed the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society between 1884 to 1900.

These opened schools and Lewanika insisted on teaching his children and others and it was for their education that many Lozi moved up from the Western province to the ‘Copperbelt’ during the exploration.

The arabs used to come from Zanzibar into Lamba land to trade their goods with ivory.

The Ndola town on the copperbelt was under these arabs and even now there is a big tree were slaves used to be sold. By the time Cecil Rhodes’ BSAC reached the area, Lambas were already subdued and chiefs were helpless.

Most of the copper-belt minerals are in the Lamba territories, and it was strange that Lewanika, situated almost 1 000km away, could claim royalties from the minerals.

The Lamba people suffered not only from arabs, but later from Cecil Rhodes’ BSAC and the Belgian King Leopold’s Company of Congo Free State (CFS). These created the ‘Pedicle’ (The small portion of the DRC from Lubumbashi downwards that nearly divides Zambia into parts) hence dividing the Lamba into two nations.

Those inside the pedicle became Congolese and outside the pedicle, Zambians.

King Leopold wanted copper concessions and thought the deposits must stretch southwards.

He insisted the Congo should be extended further south down to Luapula wetland for wild animal hunting.

He was so determined that he surrendered some portions of the Eastern Congo to Uganda and Sudan in order to get his way.

Unfortunately, he discovered later that the copper in fact stretched to the western part of Lubumbashi to Chipushi and into Zambia.

There is nowhere in the history or through the treaties that could prove that the Lamba gave consent to Cecils’ company to pay royalties to Lewanika.

The Lamba people, despite being the owners of one of the biggest mineral deposits in Central Africa, were denied proper education by the imperialists both in Zambia and Congo so that their wealth could be exploited without their consent.

Dr. Kaunda’s hands were tied when accepting the independence agreement because he wanted to unite all the Zambian tribes into one nation.

It is unfortunate that some few individuals are busy polluting the unity that was so carefully created.

Maybe this is leading to Armageddon, when nations will stand against nations, otherwise how does one explain these wild claims?

As explained above, Lozis are also found in Namibia, Botswana and Angola, the same way one would find the Lundas at the triangle of Zambia, Angola and the DRC.

One day the Lamba people will claim back their money from the Lozi Kings that they have been receiving from the Cecil Rhodes era up to the time it was stopped, and it is my prayer that they will come with compelling historical evidence that gave them authority over the other tribes before the arrival of Cecil Rhodes.

Otherwise it is bad to compare ourselves to what is happening in Sudan or Tunisia, because our situation is far different from those.

Again, let me repeat, Zambia is a united nation. People should stop misleading others for their own selfish ends.

It is bad to hear that some lost their lives for a misplaced cause.

It reminds me of the slogan on the union membership card I had in the seventies: United we stand; Divided we lose.

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