Nomad_Africa_Edition12

KENNETH
KAUNDA
ZAMBIA’S FOUNDING FATHER
Can you remember those old TV images of that flamboyant
politician – the person who used to wave a white handkerchief, one of the
key elements and an essential part of his attire at the time? Yes, it is one of Africa’s
greatest politicians and liberators from colonial powers – Mr Kenneth
David Kaunda of Zambia
Words: DIETER GÖTTERT
born on 28 April, 1924 in
Lubwa, near Chinsali, in
the then Northern
Rhodesia and now part
of Zambia, Kaunda’s father
hailed from
Malawi, formerly
known as Nyasaland,
and it was this legacy
that would later become yet another challenge
to Zambia’s first president after Britain
had relinquished colonial power.
Being the youngest of eight children, the
young Kaunda, very much like other Africans
who attained some form of middle-class status
in colonial Zambia, went to the Munali
Training Centre in Lusaka from 1941 – 1943.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Kaunda
taught at the Upper Primary School at
Lubwa, followed by time spent, apart from
being a teacher, a missionary, choirmaster
and even leading a Pathfinder Scout Group.
After 1943 and travelling from colonial Zambia,
the young Kaunda spent further time as
a teacher in Tanganyika – present day Tanzania.
But it was upon his return to Zambia in
1949 that his roots in politics started to grow
when he became an interpreter and advisor
on African affairs to a liberal white immigrant
and also member of the Northern Rhodesian
Legislative Council, Sir Stewart Gore-
Browne.
As an astute and intelligent person, Kaunda
acquired a wealth of political knowledge on
how colonial governments worked, and
learning vital and necessary skills that would
bode very well when later that year, he
joined the first significant anticolonial organisation
in Northern Rhodesia, the African National
Congress (ANC).
Bearing in mind that as one reflects and
writes about these great sons of Africa years
later, the trials and tribulations of such men
were never easy. There were many pitfalls
and failures that all great leaders encountered,
for the path of a leader is never an
easy one, and always requires enormous responsibility,
sheer guts and determination.
It is said that Kenneth Kaunda’s fate was
sealed for the future to become one of
Africa’s great politicians when he became
the ANC’s Secretary-General in the 1950s –
a role that ostensibly thrust him into being
the chief organising officer of the movement
and also brought him into close contact with
rank and file members. This, in hindsight, was
a key element when he formed a new organisation
called the Zambia African National
Congress.
Perhaps one can argue that this is where
Zambia’s independence movement really
started gaining significant momentum in
terms of Kaunda fighting against the colonial
powers, setting in motion a chain of events
that would ultimately lead to Britain inviting
Kenneth Kaunda and other leaders to the
seat of colonial power in London for discussions
on the three central African colonies—
Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and
Nyasaland.
POSITIVE NON-VIOLENT ACTION
Going back and before those inevitable discussions
with the British rulers became a reality,
Kaunda had, as the leader of the new
Zambia African National Congress, skillfully
hatched a militant policy against Britain’s
plan for a federation of the three central
African colonies, Southern Rhodesia, Northern
Rhodesia, and Nyasaland.
With a real fear on the part of many African
62 | www.nomadafricamag.com | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | Issue 12