Interrogating the Auhthenticity of The Agreement On the Establishment Of the Luapula River Authority
Dr. Henry Kanyanta Sosala
PART IV
Who was John Cecil Rhodes!
In 1899 Cecil Rhodes company known as British South African Company (BSA), a business entity was given a charter to rule this country as an agent for the British crown. It was in 1924 that the British Colonial Office took direct responsibility for our country’s administration.
This man was a financial colossus whose money-spinning formula had no parallel anywhere in the world. It is amazing that nothing can be hidden from history and that is why it is rightly said, ‘’You can run but you cannot hide.’’ And since there is the ‘’law of cunning’’ involved, we then need to know his moral background.
Bertrand Russell a British philosopher, mathematician and historian in Freedom and Organization first described Cecil Rhodes as ‘’a bad man for Africa’’ then went on: ‘’Rhodes formed a Chartered Company and for which the British government required for it’s registration support from prominent individuals. And among the supporters of the Charter was the Duke of Fife (King Edward VII’s son-in-law.) The Duke of Fife was particularly useful since through him the British Royal Family became implicated in Rhodes’s doings. And eventually he created a vast system of political corruption both in England and in South Africa.’’
John Cecil Rhodes is among the top ten names of the world’s most corrupt individuals, and though Napoleon Bonaparte may not be a paragon of virtue or a champion of honest money, but he is nevertheless ranked among the world’s incorruptible seeds. This was because after England was defeated in the American civil war in 1776, Napoleon was invited to lead a military invasion and conquest of the United States of America and this was to be followed by division of the spoils. England would receive the northern states, united with Canada, while the southern states would fall to France. Napoleon was tempted by the offer of the awesome title of ‘’King of America.’’ However, he took strong objections to the plan of a joint attack on America.
Zambia is one of the few countries in Africa that is abundantly blessed with natural resources. And according to recent statistics released by Africa Page, Zambia has been ranked 5, out of 20 surveyed African countries and is fourth world copper production. But why are we living in such extreme poverty? Chairman Mao gives us the answer, ‘’There is no poor soil, only poor thoughts.’’
Zambia was literally ‘’placed in a bag’’ since everything came from South Africa and Zambia was squeezed from the very beginning of its colonization as Richard Hall pointed out: ‘’ A country of about 4,000,000 people ___ of whom less than 1,000 had been given the opportunity to complete a secondary education in the seventy-four years of colonial rule.’’ At independence we had about 100 university graduates, among them two doctors, one engineer and five lawyers; 1,200 with full secondary education (grade 12) and six thousand grade 9)
At a meeting of the Organization of African Unity calling for a boycott of South African goods, President Kaunda pointed out that every village store in Zambia had goods on its shelves with South African labels. He said, ’’Economically we are in very bad shape.’’ According to Richard Hall: ‘’Zambia had become a very good customer, taking almost half of South Africa’s total exports to the rest of Africa.’’
And as Mr. Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika pointed out: ‘’At the regional lever, Zambia has been in the forefront of the development of multi-national institutions for economic integration such as PTA and SADAC. On the surface, the goals of these organizations seem to set the conditions for meaningful regional development. In it’s initial years, ahead of the pending the defeat of apartheid in South Africa, SADAC, for example, had the expressed objectives of reducing dependence on South Africa and promoting equitable regional cooperation and joint local and foreign resource mobilization.’’ (From Political Economy of Zambia to 1990 End of One Party State)
And there is just too much dependency on South Africa and I hope in future there will arise political revolutionary extremists with swollen heads who will ditch SADAC as Britain left EU just in order to develop the country.
And this dependence on South Africa is negatively helping to increase the country’s poverty levels since all the shopping malls in this country originate from South Africa and there are very few local products like mealie meal, sugar that can be found in these shops. And it is being very inconsiderate by our leaders to the plight of small businessmen to allow Shoprite to operate in residential areas like Matero and Chilenje. And I remember the then Vice-President Mrs. Inonge Wina talked about the unfairness of opening foreign shopping malls in residential areas, but she was ignored.
Reduction of poverty means that cash should circulate in a particular area, for example, when a Matero businessman sells a soap tablet, he might buy beer at the local bar where the employer pays the waitress who in turn buys school uniforms from a local kantemba. The owner of Kantemba orders more of his stock and may eventually employ someone, which, of course is an insignificant way reduces unemployment. The circulation of money within a certain area is a means of reducing poverty. But, on the other hand, Shoprite operates collection bank accounts and weekly the money is converted into dollars and sent to South Africa. And even the employees do all the shopping within because they are given to buy items on reduced rates.
How true are the words of Mr. Kapwepwe, the Bemba political hero and Zambia’s ‘’Aristotle,’’ and of whom Richard Hall wrote: ‘’This man who made the crowds roar on the copperbelt was Simon Kapwepwe, an orator, fiery and compelling; a Bemba among the Bemba. They were ambitious for him. And we at the tail end of history are stunned at his foresight when in 1970 he said< ‘’ This is a historic moment…..most of the leaders have turned into opportunists. We have lost the love for our people. We have fallen victims to flattery from imperialists…. We no longer mind what happens to the people of Zambia or to their children’s future’’
The Challenges of Water in The Southern Region
In 1960 when I was doing my primary education, our Geography teacher, Mr. Michael Kalunga (thank God is still with us) mentioned something to the extent that because of scanty rainfall in the southern region the trees have thorns in which they store water.
Here again one appreciates the powerful foresight of the white man because at those very early times he was actively planning of how to tap water several thousand kilometers away from one of the world’s largest wetlands (i.e., Lake Bangweulu swaps). And interestingly, I will lead you to see how God has in His great mercies preserved our water basin from falling into foreign hands,
According to Richard Hall in his book The High price of Principles: Kaunda and the White South wrote that in 1922, General Smuts wrote to Sir Winston Churchill, then the Colonial Secretary saying, ‘’ I will be prepared to consider the Government of the Union of South Africa taking over Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and relieving the Imperial Government of the burden.’’ The possibility was considered by Churchill, but the obstacle was the need to reach agreement with the British South Africa Company on its The High price of Principles: Kaunda and the White South compensation claims for minerals and land rights in the country. The problem was how to raise 250,000 pounds to compensate the British South African Company owned in which the British monarch had an interest. The 1922 General Smuts scheme was to cover over 400,000 square miles of land stretching from Lake Tanganyika.
Romans 8:28 says ‘’all things work together for good……for those who hope and trust God.’’ In fact Cecil Rhodes had fraudulently forged the documents purporting to have received mineral concessions from the king of Barotseland. However, just two months before our independence in 1964 and the British South African Company was demanding 1,000,000 British pounds compensation from us, but in the miraculous turn of events, Honourable Arthur Wina solemnly announced that there were now grave doubts about Charter’s legal right to mineral royalties. He said if any compensation were to be paid, it was Britain’s task. It was the failure by General Smuts to compensate BSA company in 1922 that saved our water basin from falling into foreign hands.. PRAISE GOD.
Second attempt: Zambia has a boundary of about 160 km with Caprivi Strip which was a Germany colony, but after the First World War, it was handed on take-care basis to South Africa by the League of Nations (which was a fore-runner to the United Nations). And South Africa wanted to tap water from the Zambezi river. However there was a delay in implementing their plan since there was case pending in the World Court in which Ethiopia and Liberia had sued South Africa for illegal occupation. The case was however dismissed after ten years. But by then the Kariba Dam was being built. Here again we marvel at the God’s timing.
Third attempt” In 1953 an attempt was made and it is the same plan which is in the current fake document. In this instance, the colonial administration tried to implement the so-called ‘’conservation’’ measures in Luapula-Bangweulu area which led to the 1953 rebellion. It was felt among the Aushi, Kabende and Ng’umbo people that the conditions impinged unjustly on their God-given land. And as a result, three chiefs led by Senior Chief Milambo stood up in opposition and incited their followers to civil disobedience because it was seen as the first step towards the annulment of the African population’s rights to their land. The colonial government responded to the rebellion forcefully, deposing Senior Chief Milambo and had him exiled across Lake Bangweulu in Luwingu District. Here again, it was the Lord’s intervention that led the colonialists not to pursue their plan inspite of having ruthlessly dealt with the rebellion.
Fourth attempt: this one was more radical because it involved Moise Tshombe, the Katangese prime minister and the boundary was to follow Luapula river and take part of Lake Bangweulu. In this scenario, the South Africans were desperate to grab our water basin since the nationalists were waging a fierce war to gain independence. Here is Richard Hall: ‘’It was assumed that Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) could have been ‘contained’ by the intelligent use of security forces. They proposed that Kaunda and his principle party officials should be kept indefinitely in restriction camps. The rest of the population could then be firmly disciplined. It was conceded that this might involve establishing a 100-mile (160-km) cordon sanitaire across the waist of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) from the Congo to Mozambique and virtually abandoning the vast and unproductive area beyond it. This would reduce by 1,000,000 the number of Africans to be disciplined; if they wished they could join up with Tanganyika (Tanzania) or Nyasaland (now Malawi), and a good riddance for the Bemba of the north who were notoriously obstreperous. The parts which mattered were water and the mines that would be left in white hands.’’
‘Hall continued, ‘’The credibility of the scheme was somewhat damaged at the start of 1963 when the United Nations finally managed to overthrow Moise Tshombe. He was a firm ally of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Katanga under his control would have provided a back-rest as it were.’’ And Hall concluded with this remark which show that the Lord Almighty is always with the people of Zambia: ‘’The fury among the whites at the UN action in removing Tshombe amounted to almost hysteria; the emotion is apparent in Welensky’s memoirs.’’
PRAISE BE TO THE ALMIGHTY AND LIVING GOD. And those who are in the fore-front of this evil scheme should open their eyes to see what happened to Moise Tshombe and the Lord will also sling you out of your comfort zones if you continue to oppose His will for the Zambian people..
The Birth of the Luapula River Authority
Here one must appreciate the white man’s determination to possess the water basin. Richard Hall wrote: ‘’The clearest message was that South Africa could assume that in 1974 there would be no impediment to its receiving power from a dam as far north as the Zambezi…..’’ Which dam is far north of the Zambezi if not Lake Bangweulu. And eventually that was the birth of Luapula River Authority engineered by Zesco and Snel in 2019
Epilogue
‘’ … a good riddance for the Bemba of the north who are notoriously obstreperous…..’’ Yes indeed we have met their white descendants and Me the Bemba descendant with the same purposes i.e., for them to possess our water basin and myself to resist the take-over. Here we are witnessing the Law of Generation in action: “We are all linked to previous generations behind us. Our ancestors are in our genes, in our bones, in our marrow, in our physiological and emotional make-up. We, in turn, will be written into the children who come after us.’’
The white man’s attitude against the Bemba originated in 1898, when the missionaries advised the colonialists to go slow on educating and developing the Bemba areas, otherwise they would eventually give more problems to the administration. And consequently, the colonialists sidelined Bemba territories on development. Andrew Roberts wrote in A History of the Bemba: ‘’Colonial rule brought far-reaching economic and social changes which were not, for the most part, to the advantage of the Bemba as a group. But for this very reason, it was of great importance that their pre-colonial system of chieftainship should have been preserved. Amid the upheavals of the twentieth century, the Bemba have retained a sense of their political structure, a living testimony of their imperial past.’’
And during the struggle of Zambia’s independence, the white employers could not offer jobs to the Bemba: ‘’Ini lo mushobo kawena?’’ (i.e., what is your tribe?) And if Bemba, then the next thing was, ‘’Amba lapa Kaunda ena engeneza ena muzebezi, (Kaunda will go and employ you).
Bemba aristocracy is defined by Mr. Valentine Musakanya:’’The Bemba aristocracy always believes not only in their inherent aristocracy but also in the vocal aggression to make others believe so. Their aristocracy has no foundation in wealth or known education but essentially in being a Bemba and I agree with Cicero when he stated that pain is not the greatest evil of life. The greatest evils are ignorance and silence
And in closing I wish to ask, ‘’Where is the colossus successor?’’ Mr. Kapwepwe’s last prophesy to us which unfortunately is now a reality has been haunting me for long. The persistent nagging gnaws away at my brain and flirting around my head like a mosquito. He said, ‘’Mukashala na baume abapemena mu matanta.’’ You will remain with spineless and weak leaders.’’
