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(TIMES) Departure of Kalonga Gawa Undi marks end of an era

Departure of Kalonga Gawa Undi marks end of an era
By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE

THE land of the Chewas was engulfed in deep sorrow as its inhabitants groaned and mourned the passing of their visionary Paramount Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi X whose 50-year reign sustained the Chewa territories in the region, besides helping to shape Zambia’s political landscape.

Born in 1931, Gawa, as his people fondly referred to him, was such a prized possession of his parents that he was never let out of sight for a single moment.

This was because in the days of his childhood, the royal family had few sons in spite of boasting of many daughters. They were facing a shortage of potential heirs to the Chewa throne.

According to the royal family spokesperson, Joseph Gareta Chikuta, Undi’s nephew, the paramount chief started primary school when he was old enough and he progressed well into secondary school.

It was then that his parents opted to give in to the demands of his uncle who asked the Gawa to serve as court clerk at Mkaika palace.

In this way, the young man was drilled and prepared for leadership. In 1953 he became ruler of the Chewa kingdom which stretches across the Eastern Province of Zambia into Malawi and goes as far as Tete in Mozambique.

University of Zambia academician and recorded-history enthusiast, Mapopa Mtonga explained that the Chewa kingdom, referred to in some cases as Undi kingdom or Kalonga kingdom, was an ancient establishment formed hundreds of years ago.

It was shaped by Central Africa’s Luba-Lunda migrations with the help of a man called Kalonga Muzizi.

After leaving Katanga, Muzizi’s followers entered Malawi where they intermarried with other Bantu groups and became known as the Kalonga people.

Succession disputes later forced Undi to break away from Malawi. He migrated westwards into Zambia, establishing his own kingdom south of Katete district where he built his capital at a place called Mano.

Fortunately for him, the fertility of the soils in his kingdom, coupled with the presence of ivory, salt, good pastures and gold deposits attracted Portuguese traders who established long-distance trade with him, bringing guns and other things that his rivals had no access to.

He also controlled the Makewana rainmaking shrines of Lilongwe valley, which made him both powerful and feared by his rivals.

As a result, Undi was able to expand his kingdom, defeating neighbouring tribes that lived in small independent chiefdoms across eastern Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique before his kingdom reached its height between the 18th and 19th centuries.

But due to its vast size and other factors, the kingdom became difficult to govern and experienced a sharp decline in strength.

However, the Chewa people did not discard their past. They remained united and sought the guidance, wisdom and counsel of their leaders at Mkaika in Katete.

That was the society Kalonga Gawa Undi X inherited when he ascended the throne in 1953 and, according to Dr Mtonga, Gawa Undi did not fail his people.

He used his influence over the subordinate chiefs to hold the Chewas in the region united.

“He is the figure that has consolidated the Chewas in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique and he achieved this feat through initiatives like the annual commemoration of Kulamba ceremony which not only brings the Chewa people together, but also makes it possible for the council of chiefs from all these countries to meet,” Dr Mtonga said.

The academician also said that modern regional groupings in Africa had lessons to learn from the Gawa Undi who had kept his people united at a time when organisations like the African Union (AU) were struggling to promote unity.

“You can imagine that recently he went to Malawi to install 15 Chewa chiefs there, and that country’s President, Mbingu Wa Mutarika, attended the installation.

“After that ceremony, the President invited him to State House in Lilongwe where they met and talked. That is how respected this man was even out there,” said Dr Mtonga.

However, the academician explained that the Gawa was faced with the challenges of Zambia’s turbulent political situation other than keeping the Chewa people together.

“Kalonga Gawa Undi is one of the makers of Zambia’s history because his installation in 1953 coincided with politics of the Federation of Nyasaland and Rhodesia that was perpetrated by colonial elements,” Dr Mtonga said.

Gawa Undi, who was trained in Britain as was the policy of the colonial government to train Africans in administration in order to further the colonial authority, felt obliged to use the influence he acquired to advance Zambia’s quest for independence.

Using his vast administration skills gained from working in the Chewa Native Authority, he became a portent force that thwarted the planned Federation of Nyasaland which sought amalgamation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia, now Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively, and Malawi.

The Federation was crushed in 1963 and Gawa Undi then committed himself to political emancipation of his host country Zambia.

According to Vice-President Lupando Mwape who attended the official funeral of the paramount chief, Gawa Undi was instrumental in convincing the British to accord Zambia independence.

“The annals of history abound in reminding us of the important and crucial role that he (Gawa Undi) played in negotiating and urging the British colonial administration to expedite the process of granting independence to Zambia,” Mr Mwape said, explaining that even after the country attained independence, the paramount chief was supportive of the Kenneth Kaunda government.

“The late paramount chief’s constant and visionary counsel to our first Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda contributed to Zambia’s continued status as an oasis of peace.

He will be remembered for the wise counsel he provided for Zambia not to go to war with the minority regime in southern Rhodesia and the apartheid regime in the Republic of South Africa,” said the vice-president.

Mr Mwape said because of the recognition the Kalonga attained, he was appointed to represent Zambia at the 10th Independence Anniversary celebrations in Nigeria in 1970.

His active political career enabled him to be appointed as member of a Commission of Inquiry that helped to defuse the Lunda-Luvale tribal conflict in 1971. He served on the commission together with Chief Mapanza of Southern Province.

In 1973, the Gawa Undi was appointed president of the House of Chiefs until 1988.

Mr Mwape said these and many other achievements earned the Gawa Undi various honours and awards.

In recognition of his achievements, President Levy Mwanawasa instructed the Government to document the paramount chief’s life in a biography that, unfortunately, the traditional ruler was never to read.

“The Government has been able to recount and establish a chronicle of Kalonga Gawa Undi’s immense contribution to the well being of his reign up to the date when he invited the President to come and grace this year’s Kulamba Kubwalo ceremony on August 28.

“It is for this reason that the Government is deeply saddened because Kalonga Gawa Undi has departed at a time when he would have read and looked at his biography that the President asked Government to write,” Mr Mwape said.

But the vice-president was quick to point out that production of the chief’s biography would proceed as planned in the hope that the nation would benefit from learning about Gawa Undi’s exploits.

“Yes, Kalonga Gawa undi X has gone at a time when Zambia requires his superior administrative skills to steer past the many social and economic pitfalls dogging the country.”

To Mapopa Mtonga, the chief’s death marks the end of an era and the beginning of another.

“He is a kind of legend of the 20th century whose contribution was unique because, for example, at a time when we are struggling for regional unity within the African Union, here was a man who could easily bring people from three countries together. I think that indicates regional harmony,” he said.

Harmony, indeed, is the word that could best describe the way in which the local Chewa people coordinated with their tribesmen from Malawi and Mozambique to put their leader to rest.

With them were hundreds of sympathisers who apart from the vice-president and Dr Kaunda, included Malawi local government minister Jafali Mussa, opposition Heritage Party president Godfrey Miyanda, Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) leader Christon Tembo and Michael Sata of Patriotic Front (PF).

Malawian traditional leaders were led by Paramount Chief Mzimbi IV while Zambia’s Mpezeni of the Ngoni was also present.
Having died on November 21, 2004 at Katete’s St Francis General Hospital, the body of the chief was taken to the Chewa headquarters at Mkaika palace where it lay in state in a flag-draped casket awaiting burial.

As the Chewa elders fired the royal muzzleloaders to signify the mortal flight of their paramount chief from the palace last Friday morning, the appearance of one Fred Daka, the Undi’s successor, was consolation to the mourners that Chewaland would live on.

Surrounded by royal advisors, Mr Daka was driven in the lead car ahead of a procession of vehicles waged in a meandering line that extended for a few kilometres. And with him went the whole of Katete and the Chewa populace to Dole Ancient cemetery situated off the Katete-Mozambique road.

On both sides of the road, Katete district lay deserted as its grief-stricken residents thronged the royal burial grounds where solemn music of local women and that of a police brass band was punctuated by sporadic booming of the royal muzzleloaders.

Neither body viewing was permitted nor laying of wreaths on the grave. And strange enough, not even a single Nyau was visible throughout the whole programme despite the fact that the Chewas thrive on the Nyau tradition.

Although Chewas are a matrilineal society, women were not allowed to venture near the graveyard just like the journalists covering the funeral and all the strangers except a handful of guests representing the three governments, traditional establishments and family members.

Such was the burial of the Gawa Undi whose people felt nothing but sorrow. They could not even feel the pouring rain that drenched most of them.

Perhaps that was a signal to show that just as rain creates streams, rivers and causes new plant life to emerge, so would Fred Daka, the Kalonga Gawa Undi’s successor infuse new life in the Chewa society.

But memories of the late Kalonga Gawa Undi X, who died at the age of 73 and is survived by eight children, 27 grand children and five great grand children, will not fade from their minds.

They will always remember the Kalonga as one who installs, Gawa as one who shares, and Undi as one who protects; for that is the meaning of the words “Kalonga”, “Gawa” and “Undi”.

May his sole rest in peace.

Labels: CHIEFS, KALONGA GAWA UNDI

posted by MrK @ 8:57 AM