Gawa Undi induna implores Zambians to uphold identity
By Christopher Miti and Moses Kuwema in Katete
Mon 02 Sep. 2013, 14:00 CAT
PARAMOUNT Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi's senior induna Joseph Chikuta Mbewe says Zambians should not lose their identity by copying things. In an interview after the Kulamba traditional ceremony on Saturday, Induna
Chikuta said imitating other people's cultures would not help Zambians. He urged people to attend traditional ceremonies such as the Kulamba so that they could learn their culture.
Induna Chikuta said one of the areas where Zambians had lost their culture was dressing.
"If we lose our identity by copying things, then it will not help us. You can see as of now our women go into the shops to go and shop nakedness. So I feel copying things that you don't know is not good. My appeal is that let's develop these ceremonies," he said.
Induna Chikuta said there was need to boost traditional ceremonies in the country.
He also said original Nyau dancers were now only found in villages.
Induna Chikuta also described the 2013 Kulamba traditional ceremony as a success.
He said traditional ceremonies served as a symbol of unity.
"My last word is not only going to Zambians but to Africans at large who did not attend the ceremony that they have denied themselves our way of life; our ceremonies bring so many people together. We tried it here; it succeeded. We had previously our Zambian President, we had the Mozambican President and we had the Malawian President attending this ceremony the same day. So to us, that was a testimony that the ceremony is a unifying factor," said Induna Chikuta.
This year's ceremony was attended by Vice-President Dr Guy Scott and his Malawian counterpart Khumbo Kachali.
Also in attendance were MMD president Nevers Mumba, UPND vice-president Canisius Banda, among others.
Labels: CHIEFS, CULTURE, KALONGA GAWA UNDI
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Mpezeni should consult over renaming of institutions - chief Chanje
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Sat 03 Mar. 2012, 11:57 CAT
CHIEF Chanje of the Chewa people in Chipata says Ngoni Paramount Chief Mpezeni should have consulted his colleague Paramount Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi before making his request for the renaming of Chipata General Hospital and other institutions. And chief Chanje says he is worried with the government's delay to open the tobacco market.
Commenting on chief Mpezeni's suggestions to rename Chipata General Hospital as Zwangendaba Hospital, Mwami Adventist Hospital and Mwami border post after him, chief Chanje said what should be appreciated is that there were two paramount chiefs in the province and that matters such as the suggested renaming of big institutions required consultation.
"The two paramount chiefs can share ideas on such matters. We should carry a research to find out who were the first ones to come between Chewas and Ngonis. So Paramount Chief Mpezeni should ensure he has an audience with his colleague and chart the way forward…," chief Chanje said.
He said the government should also realise that there were two paramount chiefs in Eastern Province.
Chief Chanje also said the delay to open the tobacco market had also delayed his annual consultative meeting with out-grower companies.
"Every year, I normally call for a meeting with out-grower companies especially end of February. The purpose of this meeting is look at the marketing season; how are these companies going to buy the crops? What about payments? How is the loan payment system? What will happen to defaulters and other issues are normally discussed at the meeting," he said.
Chief Chanje said it was worrying that the institutions that would run the tobacco floors had not yet been known.
He said he had instructed his indunas not to allow tobacco vendors in the area because the consultative meeting had not yet been held.
Chief Chanje said the delay to open the tobacco market might also give room to vendors who had taken advantage of the hunger situation in the area to exploit farmers.
Labels: CHIEF MPEZENI, CHIEFS, KALONGA GAWA UNDI
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Chewa people mourn Gawa Undi mother
By Charles Kufa, Nyasa Times
September 15, 2011
The Chewa speaking people in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique are mourning the death of Esinala Phiri, mother to Paramount King Kalonga Gawa Undi XI. Chewa Heritage Foundation (CHF) in Malawi announced on Wednesday the mother of the Chewa supreme leader died on Tuesday at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Zambia’s main referral hospital in Lusaka.
According to CHF, the king mother will be laid to rest with full cultural honors on Sunday at Mkaika palace in Katete district, eastern Zambia.
Picture showing Chewa subjects paying homage to Kalonga Gawa Undi, the Chewa King of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
Mkaika palace is the headquarters of Paramount Kalonga Gawa Undi who to date presides over 10.5 million Chewa speakers from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique.
The current Paramount Chief ascended to the throne in November 2004.
It is also at this palace, where the Chewa people from the three countries converge every August for the Kulamba traditional ceremony to show unity of purpose in honouring their rich traditional cultural heritage and paying homage to their Paramount Chief.
Former Malawian Vice President Justin Malewezi, the chairman of the Chewa Heritage Foundation in Malawi is also the spokesperson for the Kulamba ceremony and a special advisor to king.
For the past three years now, Malewezi has been reading the speeches of the Paramount Chief during the Kulamba event.
This year, the highly respected and superlative annual event was held on August 27th and as usual scores Malawian Chewa chiefs were in attendance.
Labels: CHEWA HERITAGE GROUP, CHEWA ROYAL ESTABLISHMENT, CHIEFS, KALONGA GAWA UNDI
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Wa Mutharika fails to show up at Kulamba ceremony
Written by Mwala Kalaluka and Christopher Miti in Mkaika, Katete
Monday, September 07, 2009 2:47:52 PM
MALAWIAN President Bingu wa Mutharika, who was expected to grace this year's Kulamba traditional ceremony with President Rupiah Banda in Eastern Province, did not make it but instead sent his local government minister to represent him.
And the Chewa people have maintained that paramount chief Kalonga Gawa Undi is not fit to be called a 'paramount chief' but a king because he rules over 13.5 million people in the three nations.
President Wa Mutharika, who was expected to co-officiate at the 2009 Kulamba ceremony of the people of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, with President Banda, failed to attend and but represented by Malawian local government minister Goodall Gondwe.
The attendance of President Mutharika at this year's ceremony, following last year's unprecedented attendance of presidents from the three countries, was marred with uncertainty.
President Mutharika was expected to arrive in Zambia for the Kulamba Ceremony on Saturday after an earlier tentative programme released by the Eastern Province administration indicated that he would be in Chipata ahead of the ceremony on Friday afternoon.
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza equally sent one of his ministers to represent him.
Speaking through his representative, former Malawian vice-president during the Bakili Muluzi administration, Justine Malewezi, Kalonga Gawa Undi thanked the three presidents from Malawi, Zambia and Malawi, for their presence at the event and he noted that the presidents of Malawi and Mozambique had sent representatives.
"We are most grateful to see in their absence (presidents) the attendance of the first president of the republic of Zambia, Dr Kenneth Kaunda," Kalonga Gawa Undi said. "Your presence is a testimony of the warm relations that exist among the three countries."
Kalonga Gawa Undi said Dr Kaunda's attendance would go a long way to cement the bilateral relations between Zambia and the two countries.
He said as the people celebrated Kulamba, they should remember all those that endured great difficulties to uphold the Chewa tradition and culture.
Kalonga Gawa Undi thanked Wa Mutharika and his government for upholding the Chewa tradition by adhering to the Chewa hierarchy and he observed that there had been a marked improvement in the communication between him and the chiefs in Mozambique since President Armando Guebuza's last visit to Katete.
Kalonga Gawa Undi thanked President Banda for his involvement in ensuring that presidents of the three countries attended the traditional ceremony.
He said the Kulamba ceremony was revived in the 1980s after the colonialists banned it, saying the ban was an act of subjugation by the colonialists.
Kalonga Gawa Undi thanked the Chewa Heritage Foundation and all the people that had played a role in ensuring that this year's Kulamba ceremony was a success.
He apologised to some of the dignitaries who may not have been satisfied with the hospitality accorded to them at this year's ceremony.
"I do not want to spoil the ceremony but allow me to bring to attention a few issues that need government attention," he said.
Kalonga Gawa Undi said peasant farmers in the province were unable to make ends meet because of the high costs of inputs.
He said the late entry of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) into the province's rural areas exposed small-scale farmers to briefcase business people, who usually bought maize at exploitative prices.
Kalonga Gawa Undi said the numerous interruptions and low electricity voltages experienced in the province affected the area's economic development.
"We are hopeful that with government involvement, these problems would be addressed," he said.
He urged President Banda to ensure that the government attracted investors in the agro-processing sector to the province, which he described as predominantly agricultural.
Several traditional leaders, from the three countries, including paramount chiefs M'mbelwa and Mpezeni of the Ngoni people in Malawi and Zambia respectively, attended the ceremony.
A representative of the 13 Chewa chiefs who travelled from Mozambique to Zambia to attend the traditional ceremony said the chiefs were always keen on having constant interaction with Kalonga Gawa Undi but that they had a problem of communication.
The chief said the Chewa chiefs in that country were fully behind the leadership of Kalonga Gawa Undi.
Several people from all walks of life and nationalities converged at the Chewa capital, situated about four kilometres from the Great East Road in Katete, as early as 08:00 hours to witness the proceedings of the ceremony, which were characterised by various dances.
And former Chipangali member of parliament Lucas Phiri said the classification of Kalonga Gawa Undi as a paramount chief was belittling because he was a king.
He said during his role as master of ceremony at the traditional event, that the title of paramount chief was lumped on the traditional leader, arising from the exploitation that the black man faced from the colonialists.
Officiating at the ceremony, President Banda said a few years from now, the people of Zambia and Malawi would be able to travel by train from Malawi to Kitwe following the completion on the rail link between the countries.
He said the government was in the process of drilling 500 boreholes to service some districts in the Eastern Province.
President Banda said he joined hands with Kalonga Gawa Undi in calling on Zambians to attach great importance to educating their children.
"That is why my government is busy building new schools...and encouraging education as the first front to fighting poverty," he said.
President Banda urged Zambians to utilise every available facility to further their education even at old age.
He encouraged all Zambians to go for Voluntary Counselling and Testing so that they know their HIV status and do something about it.
"Thank you for the variety of names of this vicious disease. It can be managed," he said
President Banda said he heard the complaints from Kalonga Gawa Undi and chief Kawaza on the problems in the procurement of maize among other issues.
"There is a big problem in crop marketing but I want to assure everyone that government has learnt lessons from that and steps are being taken," President Banda said.
Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, CEREMONIES, KALONGA GAWA UNDI, KULAMBA CEREMONY
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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
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