|
The Legends Of
The Royal
Graves Of
Barotseland
By Yuyi Libakeni
Lishekandinde
Malalo a “Mafa
Muku a Mukola”(1)
Godwin Akabiwa Mbikusita Lewanika was Litunga of Barotseland from
1968 to 1977. Shortly before his death in 1977, Mbikusita organised
a regatta on the Zambezi River near what is today his sitino.
It was at this regatta that Mbikusita formally announced to his
Kuta his chosen resting grounds. The spot chosen was an
uninihabited mound known hitherto as Lumbo, high ground, the
creation of Inyambo, the second Litunga. He then set down to draw
the perimeter of his grave, limbwata, as is custom.
Lishekandinde
is derived from two Siluyana words: ku sheka, to laugh, and
ndinde, a garden or field. Lishekandinde would therefore
mean a place or field that makes one laugh. Or as Mbikusita's
alter ego put it to me in silozi, "nto ye sehiwa ki sicaba",
something despised or ridiculed by the public. But why laugh at a
field? Perhaps it is an admirable piece. If this be his idea then
Mbikusita would have been drawing parallels with his father’s “mba
ni kelako”, I wish I could be there. Lewanika is said to have
so remarked in 1884 about the place that was to be his sitino. A
laugh can also express disdain, scorn or satisfaction. One laughs
at something considered useless. It might even be a hitherto
forsaken field, condemned as unproductive, but when put to the
plough has yielded seven fold! It is the latter inference that is
thought to have been at the back of Mbikusita’s mind in coining the
name for his resting home. Coining' is used here advisedly, there is
place of similar name ,in Senanga.
Mbikusita had fought a war of identity throughout his life.
Seventeen years after his death, the debate (2) lingers on : was
Lewanika his putative father? Those who pursue this line of
reasoning point to the name Akabiwa, meaning a person cannot be
given away. But who gave away who? The truth, elders say, is that
the name was given in response to the wild rumours that Lewanika had
given away his child, mwana kabiwa, a child is never given
away, Lewanika responded. Akabiwa is Mbikusita’s formal given name,
the latter being a sobriquet, the kicking horse (mbi ku sita o
kulaha mufelo nakuwana - when the kicking horse punts you it is
death). As a baby Mbikusita was reportedly notorious for kicking
about and around hence the name in memory of a son of
In’alamwa-wa-Mukola, progenitor of the present ruling family.
It is interesting that even as late as 1961 the African Mail
newspaper of Lusaka reported that Mbikusita was forced to fend off a
virulent attack on him by disclosing that it was the then Litunga
Imwiko who in 1947 had in a letter addressed him as Lewanika and
munyan’a ka, my brother, thereby recognising Mbikusita as
Lewanika’s son. And in 1948 the then new Litunga Mwanawina III wrote
in the same fashion inviting Mbikusita to be his private secretary,
a proposal that raised disquiet from the provincial administration
in Mongu. But when the Kuta at Lealuyi asked Malozi in Lusaka and
Kitwe to propose a private Secretary for the Litunga, both groups
overwhelmingly voted for Mbikusita!
Nor was the issue of paternity the only problem. In 1937 along with
others (including Kaluwe, son of the then Litunga Yeta III)
Mbikusita was expelled from Lealuyi and banished from Mongu-Lealuyi
District, for allegedly planning a rebellion against Yeta III - the
plot was apparently hatched during the Litunga’s absence, in London,
with Mbikusita!.
In addition the local administration was hostile to Mbikusita.
According to records at the National Archives of Zambia in 1945 when
the then Barotse Native Government (BNG) resolved to lift the
banning order, the Provincial Commissioner, Mongu, did not mince his
words in his minute to the Chief Secretary in Lusaka:
“this man (i.e. Mbikusita) is a thoroughly undesirable
person … he should only be permitted to return on the understanding
he is not to hold any office or employment under the Native
Government.”
It is clear that throughout the years, Mbikusita was rejected and
not accepted by his own royals and yet in defiance of all this he
acceded to the highest throne, receiving the full support of the
Lozi people and he, in turn, uniting them like never before. Indeed
had the then President Kenneth Kaunda at anytime detected any
dissatisfaction among the Lozi against Litunga Mbikusita, his
bete noire, he would have swiftly taken the opportunity to
de-recognise Mbikusita; after all it took Kaunda three years to
recognise him as Litunga.
Here was a man long rejected, ostracised but at last becoming a
uniting Litunga. “Can anyone now laugh about my true identity, I am
on the throne, I have done it!” one can imagine Mbikusita whispering
to himself, and like King Lear boasting he was prince every inch.
Lishekandinde mu Ukolo ta malalo a Mbikusita wa Mukola, meaning
deep in the Barotse flood plain stands Lishekandinde, Mbikusita’s
burial village.
Mbikusita’s grave keeper, n’omboti, is named In’omba. N’omba
is the male lead lechwe - always alert to danger while the rest of
the herd are busy feeding or resting. It keeps order - mukunyi wa
mbulwa n’omba ku enda niku shuwila - a herd without a n’omba
(leader) is always in a state of disarray. Mwanawina III had fought
a pitched battle against encroachments by Kaunda, did Mbikusita see
himself as the man who provided leadership to the Lozi when they
were under siege? (3) And yet, n’omba also means “the last
born” - n’omba lu kombola mapumo - one that cleans the womb,
after him no more. Again that defiant message - I am Lewanika’s last
son on the throne, whence comes such another! Moreover the Lozi
believe that not only does n’omba clean the womb but he also
gets all the remnants of their parent’s wisdom. In fact it is
believed that parents deliberately reserve their best brains for
imparting to the last child so that he is better endowed to fend for
himself in their absence - the first born is expected to mature long
before the parents expire, not so for the last . And so he who
picks residual wisdom is better endowed!
The headman at Lishekandinde is known as Ikanjiwa. The name is best
known as the president of Namaenya local court and senior steward at
the former Nawinda chietainancy, Balovale (Zambezi). But why did
Mbikusita choose it for his ngambela? The cue might lie in the
Siluyana saying “kanjiwa samba konji mu si nyomeka mu kanwa”
(4) - I have not said anything myself, all this talk is just forcing
words down my throat! For years Mbikusita was newsmaker as Junior
Minister in the Federal Government. Following the dissolution of
the Federation Mbikusita returned to his cradle becoming Induna
Natamoyo, the second position after Ngambela, before he became
Litunga. Throughout his time at Lealuyi, Mbikusita remained
‘silent’ in spite of provocations. Kaunda waylaid him at every
corner but Mbikusita kept his cool, sadder but wiser.
Notes:
(1) Mbikusita signed off using this phrase (extolling Mukola his
village as the place were rats die in their thousands) in some of
his letters to his old teacher, the late Y W Mupatu, grandfather of
the writer. He probably got the idea from The Pied Piper Of Hamelin:
Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats
Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats.....
Families by tens and dozens......
Followed the Piper for their lives.....
Until they came to the river Weser,
Wherein all plunged and perished!
(2) It is tempting to digress into this paternity debate, but I do
so here merely to raise points which appear to me to merit
clarification. At Mbikusita’s birth, a messenger bearing this good
news was despatched by Lewanika to his eldest son, Yeta III then
chief at Mwandi, Sesheke (this messenger crossed with Yeta’s own
messenger bearing the message of the birth of his own son, Kaluwe).
The royal naming ceremony normally takes place around 4 years of
age, before that a cover up name is given, usually an awkward one
depicting the child as ugly, sickly etc. It is said that when news
of Mbikusita's birth was delivered Lewanika who was knitting a
fishing net, sandi, as if by reflex ordered that the baby be named
Sandi. He was also named Sikopo - one with a concave face - before
the formal name of Akabiwa. Mbikusita was given Mubanga Village,
which had belonged to his earlier namesake. Why would Lewanika go to
this length if Mbikusita was not his own?
(3) This feeling is best epitomised in the popular Simbunda song “
Ni ka chayisa phone ya ku ya England” talking of Mbikusita inviting
the UK to help sort out the interferences in his Kingdom from the
UNIP government of Kaunda.
(4) I came across this saying in a copy of Mbikusita’s unpublished
manuscript generously made available to me by one informant.
Writing immediately following explusion from Lealuyi it is probable
that Mbikusita was reflecting on the rebellion allegations against
him, and events of later life must have reminded him.
|
December 2004