THE POST INDEPENDENCE NEGLECT OF MBALA, MY HOMETOWN
Dear Editor,
MBALA, my hometown hosted the earliest man in Zambia. Archaeological sites in the area, such as at Kalambo Falls, provides a record of human activity in the Mbala area over the past 300, 000 years! No other place in Zambia holds this record.
The area was ravaged by the slave trade during much of the 19th Century. For this reason, it became the focus of British interest following reports by the explorer David Livingstone, the first European to visit the area, in the 1860s.
He was followed by other missionaries of the London Missionary Society who worked tirelessly in the area to end the slave trade.
In terms of modern civilisation, Mbala was the first place in Zambia to have a telephone access to Her Majesty the Queen of England. A telephone line from Blantyre, Malawi, reached Mbala in 1889, almost 130 years ago.
Mbala also had the first airport in Zambia, operational by 1905, which is 115 years ago. This is where the ZAF base is hosted today. For comparison’s sake, Kenneth Kaunda International Airport was constructed in 1966, some 55 years ago, and upgraded to current status in 2021.
Mbala played a backstopping role to the people of this country not only against the marauding Arab slave traders, but also Hitler’s brutal Germany troops. Mbala is the place where the First World War was ended.
The last shots of World War One were fired in Mbala, and Germany troops surrendered to the British troops. A memorial is erected in Mbala to symbolisewhere German commander von Lettow-Vorbeck formally surrendered at the end of the First World War on November 25, 1918. After the surrender, German troops were ordered to throw their weapons into Lake Chila.
To be clear, colonial government began in Mbala as far back as 1893. Hugh Marshall was sent as the British Consul for the area. He built a well-fortified bomaand acted as Magistrate and Postmaster for the boma. At the time, Lusaka and other areas of what would become Zambia, were mere scattered villages.
In 1895 the British South Africa Company (BSA) took over administration of the territory, called it North-Eastern Rhodesia, and Mbala became known as Abercorn, named after BSA company chairman. The site was favoured by the British as being “healthy and having a pleasant climate with plenty of hunting.”
Post independence, Mbala is a sorry site. It is a shadow of its past glory. Places on the line of rail from Livingstone, Lusaka to Chililabombwe, which by 1900 were just villages, today host the great cities of independent Zambia.
Sadly, even the wooden bridge in Mbala, which David Livingstone used in the 1860s (over 180 years ago) to cross the Kalambo River to and from Tanzania, is the same bridge that Mbala people still use.
Elsewhere in independent Zambia, modern roads and bridges have been built e.g. bridges at Kazungula, Kafue, Chirundu, Sesheke, Chambeshi, Luangwa, Chembe, Kitwe, Sabina, and elsewhere in the country.
Such is life and living in Zambia.
Mwebantu, kanshi where did we get it wrong, fwe bena Mbala, to deserve this neglect?
PETER SINKAMBA.
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