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 <strong>Africa</strong>’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 <strong>Africa</strong>ns 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 <strong>Africa</strong>n 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 <strong>Africa</strong>n National Congress (ANC). Bearing in mind that as one reflects and writes about these great sons of <strong>Africa</strong> 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 <strong>Africa</strong>’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 <strong>Africa</strong>n 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 <strong>Africa</strong>n 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 <strong>Africa</strong>n National Congress, skillfully hatched a militant policy against Britain’s plan for a federation of the three central <strong>Africa</strong>n colonies, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland. With a real fear on the part of many <strong>Africa</strong>n 62 | www.nomadafricamag.com | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | Issue 12
Kenneth Kaunda Issue 12 | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | www.nomadafricamag.com | 63