SIKOTA WINA COMES ALIVE: Exhibition chronicling life of late freedom fighter opens

“TO be honest, I am very impressed with what I am seeing here today. This is the kind of history that we should be teaching and telling our children about,” says Kabwe teacher and historian Adrian Mushiko. “I am a historian myself, and trust me, this is what I have always been wishing to happen.”

Mr Mushiko is a teacher at a named private school in Kabwe.

He recently brought a group of learners – on a guided educational tour – to the Lusaka National Museum.

“We strategically put the museum on the itinerary because we know that pupils can learn a lot of things from here. Plus, I teach history. It’s only important that they come here and appreciate some of the things they learn and also see for themselves some of the artefacts here,” he says.

According to him, he expected to find everything else that he saw there, except for one inclusion that did not only dazzle, but excited him – the Sikota Wina exhibition.

Yes, just about five months after his death, Mr Wina has been brought to life, but this time only in picture, text and other personal effects of his, through an exhibition that has recently been opened at the Lusaka National Museum.

“This is what I always talk about,” says Mr Mushiko. “If it were up to me, I would change the country’s curriculum to include such people in our history lessons. We cannot be teaching people about people that are not in any way connected to us.”

Mr Mushiko added: “Anyway, I am glad my learners have been here and they have learnt a thing or two about this man’s great legacy and his role in the liberation struggle.”

Mr Wina, who died last June at the age of 91, was the last surviving  member of Zambia’s first cabinet, following the death of first President Kenneth Kaunda in June last year.

Aaron Milner, who was a minister of state but did not make cabinet at independence, is now the torch-bearer from that 1964 class.

Mr Wina was one of the most colourful figures of that generation.

And during his heyday, women found him irresistible, so said his late wife, Princess Nakatindi Wina and Sandy Clark, who worked for Mr Wina’s brother, Arthur, in the early 1970s. 

“When I met a very handsome and powerful black Zambian politician, and past freedom fighter by the name of Sikota Wina when I arrived in 1970, I liked what I saw,” Sandy Clark writes in her book, My Love Affair with Zambia.

She says: “He was a tough character who fought for the right for Zambia to manage its own affairs. By this time in the country’s history, lethargy had ended, paternalism had had its day and Sikota was right up front, leading with those fighting against foreign domination of the country he was born in.

“I recognised quickly there was electricity that was happening between us. I was newly-wed, facing a few re-adjustment marriage problems in a new country far from home. Sikota was challenging and tough. He was ruggedly handsome with an amazing set of white teeth and a great smile and his dark brown shining eyes were piercing. So piercing that I remember it wasn’t easy for me to look him in the eye for too long.”

His late wife, Nakatindi, actually confessed that it was a battle for her to get him as a husband because he was highly on demand.

Princess Nakatindi, who died in 2012, said Mr Wina was highly sought after by women from all races and she had to turn physical to turn them away from him.

“I really scattered them all. I really fought for my marriage,” she said in one interview.

But make no mistake, when it came to national matters, particularly the liberation struggle, Mr Wina was a firebrand who was even expelled from Fort Hare University in South Africa because of his nationalistic tendencies.

From the exhibition that has been put together under the museum’s running programme called ‘Celebrating our heroes and heroines’, one can relive his life once again.

The exhibition, which was officially opened by Minister of Tourism Rodney Sikumba and attended by, among others, former Vice-President Inonge Wina, who was wife of his late brother, Arthur, chronicles his personal and political life in pictures.

Some of his personal effects such as honours, medals and books are also on display. You need to see the books – he had one of the most impressive collections, including those he authored himself and those gifted to him by his late wife.

Mr Sikumba wishes that as a way of preserving the country’s history, more of such exhibitions could be held in honour of all those that fought for the country’s independence and freedom.

“It is true that Mr Wina’s belief in truth, peace, love, unity, loyalty, humility and obedience was the driving force behind the One Zambia, One Nation motto, which united the Zambian people despite cultural differences,” he said. “These are attributes that all of us should emulate to ensure that peace and unity prevail in our country.”

Lusaka Mayor Chilando Chitangala said Mr Wina’s legacy will live on for generations to come.

“We the current leaders have a lot to learn from his life,” she said.

For the freedom fighters, bringing Mr Wina ‘back to life’ is a great remembrance of one of their own – a man they hold in high regard.

“You know, before his death, Mr Wina was interested in promoting the preservation of the comprehensive history of the freedom fighters movement,” said Herbert Zulu, the national secretary for the Zambia United National Freedom Fighters Associations, in an interview. “We therefore urge the National Museum to carry on the vision by documenting the stories and accounts of different freedom fighters and collecting memorabilia from them which might help us to preserve the history of the freedom struggle.”

TOURISM CAPITAL GETTING RHYTHM BACK: Minister working towards attracting local tourists

LIVINGSTONE, which is just a few kilometres from the Zambezi River and the border with Zimbabwe, is a hub for visitors to the Victoria Falls – Zambia’s iconic tourist attraction.

Although it lost its national capital status in 1935, the city has over the years been re-branded as the nation’s ‘tourism capital’ due to its status as the home of the world-renowned waterfall which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1989.

Minister of Tourism Rodney Sikumba was the Livingstone Tourism Association (LTA) board chairperson when the town, whose economic mainstay is hugely reliant on tourism, was going through one of the most turbulent times – the coronavirus pandemic.

He knows well how hard it was for Livingstone residents to get by.

It meant businesses, mostly tour operators and lodges and hotels, would either fold or lay off workers just so they could stay afloat.

International travel bans and travel restrictions meant loss of business for many tour operators, and lodge and hotel owners, because international nationals, who are arguably the big spenders in the city, were either not visiting or came in trickles.

Whereas Mr Sikumba could not have avoided the COVID-19-triggered job losses, his immediate remedial measure was to work towards attracting local tourists.

His call, during that period, was for tour operators to incentivise local tourism through reasonable pricing so that locals could be lured to sample local tourism packages.

“The overwhelming support as evidenced by the influx of local tourists and holiday-makers is a clear indication that the Zambian tourism sector can thrive with the support of Zambians even under challenging circumstances such as COVID-19,” he once said. “...and, as such, as LTA, we shall continue to incentivise local tourism through reasonable pricing for enhanced access to tourism services and further invest in the development of additional tourism products for all to enjoy.”

Whereas it is evident that foreign nationals are the biggest drivers of the tourism sector, the role that locals play cannot be underplayed.

It is for this reason that during the Independence Day long weekend, as people were trooping to Livingstone for the Zambian Breweries- sponsored Mosi Day of Thunder music festival, Mr Sikumba, the Tourism minister, was happy that for the first time, in two years, the country’s largest brewer drove tourism traffic into Livingstone for both locals and foreign nationals.

An estimated 10,000 – maybe even more – from Zambia as well as neighbouring Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa trooped into Livingstone for the music extravaganza.

“Tourism goes hand in hand with entertainment. The ministry has been categorical with regard to entertainment. This is an event that draws people from far and wide,” Mr Sikumba said.

Obviously, more traffic translated into more business and economic activity for the town – and Michael Moonde, a local taxi driver, was no exception.

“I have not seen this many people here in Livingstone in a long time,” he said. “But I am not surprised,” he continued. “You see, from the time they relaxed the COVID-19 restrictions and the world slowly started returning to normalcy, we knew that the city would come back to life.”

Hillary Kashempa is the current LTA board chairperson. He took over from Mr Sikumba when the latter resigned to run for political office.

He says the annual music festival brought a lot of business to the town. “It’s actually one of those events that people had been looking forward to because of the kind of traffic it comes with. People come from far and near just to experience it. To us, that is business on its own,” he said.

Mr Kashempa adds: “We are glad that, after a two-year hiatus, the organisers pulled it off. It is the biggest attraction in terms of numbers, which we had over the long weekend.”

Nearly all lodges and hotels in the tourist capital were at full occupancy. “We had a number of arrivals from neighbouring countries that came specifically for the event and took part in mostly boat cruises and game drives aside from visiting the waterfalls and the two museums,” he said.

“People had a tough time finding accommodation,” said Aaron Masiye, who had traveled  from Ndola with his partner. “Luckily for us, we had made prior arrangements. It’s our first time coming here (Livingstone) and we are glad that we timed our trip perfectly.”

However, for a tour guide that sought anonymity, it wasn’t a very good weekend.

He said much as there were a lot of people in town, most of them were local tourists that do not appreciate the value of a tour guide.

“Most of them think they know their way around the city,” he said. “But what they don’t know is that we know so much and we can even help them get bargain deals. Most of them (local tourists) fear engaging a local tour guide for fear of being exploited. Truth is, there are bad guides there, but not all of them are.”

Companies such as Abseil Zambia made the most out of the Mosi Day of Thunder. Abseil Zambia is one of the tour operators that provide nerve-racking activities that call the adrenaline to action such as abseiling or rappelling, gorge swing, high wire and also the flying fox.

“We have reduced our prices to close to half for anyone that is coming here with a ticket to the Mosi Day of Thunder. The idea is we want to encourage people, especially locals, to indulge in these activities,” said Mulele Sikaneta, Abseil Zambia operations manager.

The event drives local tourism and draws thousands of people from across the country and beyond.

Zambian Breweries decided to go with an entirely local line-up to invest more in the local artistes and have them perform on this platform.

“The Mosi Day of Thunder is a celebration of Zambian arts, music, and culture. The event brings together a number of artists on the stage to celebrate Zambia,” said Zambian Breweries head of marketing Sibajene Munkombwe.

Among the local artistes that performed were Macky II, Bobby East, T Sean, Princess Natasha Chansa, Towera Kaira, and Slim The Hitmaker.

Livingstone Mayor Constance Muleabai said: “We are promoting local artistes. We want to campaign for everyone to know that local artistes are there and that we can perform at the highest level, even as Zambians.” 

The music extravaganza is an exciting celebration of Zambian culture with the music festival’s concept derived from the iconic Mosi Premium Lager’s proposition of bringing Zambians together through music and arts at the home of the mighty Mosi-oa-Tunya Falls, where the lager gets its name from.

This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of Saturday, November 12, 2022