By
Andrew Mulenga
As
Zambia’s Golden jubilee draws near, Dr Kenneth Kaunda still remains the nation’s
most famous and dearly loved son.
Front view of the Landrover that was donated to KK by a missionary to used be during the liberation struggle |
Any
Zambian who has been abroad will attest that oddly, his successors, all great
men in their own right are hardly recognised beyond these borders and the first
question you are asked upon revealing your nationality is: “How is Kaunda?” or
KK as we so fondly call him. It is not uncommon that if it is an international conference
you are attending, you are quickly nicknamed after him.
To many
South Africans, including the ‘born frees’ (those born after the apartheid) KK
is second to Mandela, and we all know how beloved Mandela is to his people and
the world, why half of South Africa’s streets and city squares are named after Tata Madiba, as he is called nowadays.
In
fact the liberation of the entire Southern Africa is attributed by many to our
own KK. A detail that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe re-emphasised while
visiting KK at his home in Lusaka last week when he came to launch this year’s
Agriculture and Commercial Show.
KK is
up there with Africa’s liberation greats, Nkrumah, Mwalimu Nyerere, Lumumba, Nasser and His Imperial Majesty Haile
Selassie among others. KK is a superstar.
But
one can only wish as much could be said of his former residence, Chilenje House
394, a national monument and one of Lusaka’s few tourist attractions.
The side view of KK's car speaks for itself, the doors are riddled with holes and the roof has fallen in |
It
gets worse. One of Chilenje House 394’s main attractions, and without doubt the
most visible, an early model Land Rover given to KK by a European friend of the
fight for equality Marvin Temple, a missionary is in a sorry state.
The rusty
vehicle is nicely placed under a shed on a short pair of stilts with a plaque
that reads: “This Land Rover was donated by a Missionary, Mr. Marvin Temple to
Dr Kaunda for use during the liberation struggle. It was burnt during the food
riots on 30th June 1990”.
The
food riots of course would be a precursor to the moment when KK would finally
allow democratic advancement allowing the ushering in of the Movement for
Multiparty Democracy (MMD) by popular vote.
The sign post that points to KKs former home, a tourist attraction, is falling apart, meanwhile Zambia will be hosting the UNTWO months from now |
Retired
museum director Sibanyama Mudenda concurs that there is no need to keep the car
in its current state.
“The
car is a historical artefact they have to restore it. It’s like the Chilenje
house itself, you cannot leave it to deteriorate in the name of keeping the
house the way it was when KK and family used to occupy it” he says. “Even in
museums abroad, they mend broken artefacts for the conservation of national
heritage. For instance, things such as the small cups that Abraham Lincoln used
to drink from are restored if broken, and they are kept for display. Similarly
we have to preserve our heritage too, and I am sure we have experts that can do
it.”
Mudenda,
who is also a consultant in cultural ecology, archaeology and culture tourism
says we risk losing the car to the elements if something is not done as soon as
possible. He says museums and their artefacts play a very important role, even
in tourism and that it is a pity the authorities do not see this.
Retired museum director Sibanyama Mudenda says there is no reason to keep KKs car in its current state |
He believes
the successful co-hosting of the World Tourism Organization
UNWTO 2013 General
Assembly by Zambia and Zimbabwe will render international visibility to Zambia
as a tourist destination of choice and will raise the country’s profile and
stimulate interest in Zambia and subsequently lead to an increase in tourist
arrivals.
“It is
unfortunate; therefore, that for the past 47 years, the state had continued to
‘put all their eggs in one basket’ Why protect wildlife resources and develop
nature and hospitality tourism almost exclusively at the expense of cultural heritage
and cultural tourism?” he continues.
Of
course by “eggs in one basket”, Mudenda cites the Mosi oa Tunya (Victoria
Falls) and wildlife as Zambia’s only tourist attractions and by cultural
heritage tourism he includes museums.
Mudenda
in any case is right. Museums can be part of a country’s tourist attractions
and the authorities are not doing enough to market what we have. This author
was privileged to be among a group of 50 foreign visitors to KKs former house
as earlier mentioned and just the sheer excitement on the faces of these guests
at having a chance to visit the site spoke volumes. They all took out their
camera phones to have their photos taken against the corroded Land Rover and
quickly posted the photos on Facebook and Twitter.
It is
indeed a pity that our new tourism minister like all before her cannot see
beyond the enchanting smoke that thunders, the Mosi oa Tunya, when there is a Land
Rover among other things that needs to be restored right at her doorstep. One
can even bet that she has no clue that in the vaults of Livingstone Museum lie
paintings that predate David Livingstone, as Mudenda reveals.
“In
museums like Livingstone, artworks go back to 1750; they are locked away but are
very well preserved paintings by some big names. Some of them were done by the
painters who used to travel with David Livingstone and other explorers before
him. Even if they were done by colonialists they are part of Zambia’s art
history. There are paintings of huge baobab trees, the falls, the landscapes
all these are part of our history,” discloses Mudenda who worked at the museum
for ten years before he moved to Copperbelt Museum where he served another six
years, subsequently heading the Lusaka National Museum until his retirement in
2004.
If Mudenda's
revelations are anything to go by, it is now time for such paintings to be
displayed for public consumption. They cannot be locked away forever. If the
museum does not have the technology to have them displayed in fear of
deterioration, the powers that be must start working towards correcting the problem.
We need those paintings to be displayed in their own gallery space at the
museum as soon as possible. In fact now is the best time, as we prepare to host
the UNWTO general assembly next year. To have paintings that old will bring a whole
new dimension and credibility to Livingstone museum. We cannot continue to sit
on such treasures. In the tourism world it is a known fact that some tourists
travel half way around the world just to have a glimpse of an old painting. Who
knows what we are sitting on? If handled well, and Zambia announces to the
world that she will be revealing 200 year old paintings that have never been
seen before, Livingstone will be swarmed by art historians from all over the
world.
Nonetheless, back to the
Land Rover. Whoever is in charge of these things, please restore KKs car. If it
cannot be done locally, put it on the back of a truck and send it to Zimbabwe
or South Africa if need be.
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