Judge Kenneth Kaunda in the context of his times

Dear Tingasiga:

Kenneth Kaunda, the founding president of Zambia, was a very good man. No, he was not perfect. He was as fallible as you and me. His leadership of Zambia from 1964 to 1991 was marred by failures and lost opportunities that retarded his country’s progress. Indeed, under Kaunda, there was a reversal of colonial Northern Rhodesia’s socio-economic advantage.

However, judgement of the man must be made in the context of his times. What was the colonial history of Northern Rhodesia? In what culture was he born and raised, especially regarding freedom of speech and association? How did Africans view public challenge to a chief and the concept of political opposition? How had Northern Rhodesia been prepared for independence and competitive democratic politics?

What were the internal and external economic and political forces that impacted land-locked Zambia’s single commodity export economy? Would any other leader have done better in the circumstances? Did his nationalization of the Zambian economy reflect a well-considered balance-sheet or was it an impulsive act to keep up with the fashion of the day?

What was the impact of Zambia’s shared borders with five colonised neighbours during most of his time in power? During Kaunda’s first decade in power, the Portuguese colonies of Angola to the west, and Mozambique to the east, sandwiched Zambia and controlled the shortest access to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, respectively.

To the south, Rhodesia, South Africa, and South-West Africa occupied a horse-shoe swath of territories that were the last bastions of officially racist regimes. These colonies’ rulers were in a life-and-death struggle for continued European domination. Kaunda’s decision to host and support the militant anti-colonial resistance movements was a very high-risk sacrifice that was guaranteed to bring his country to its knees.

Was his decision to pursue the Pan-Africanist mission of liberating all European colonies of Southern Africa a fool’s errand or a noble risk that was worthy of any self-respecting African leader? To some, Kaunda’s primary contract with Zambians was to govern them and lead their country towards positive transformation. Risking it all for the sake of their neighbours was a foolhardy romance with predictably disastrous consequences. To others, the liberation of Africa from the invading tribes from Europe was a prerequisite to any meaningful enjoyment of independence in Zambia and elsewhere.

I subscribed to the latter view. The human rights and dignity of the African were paramount. The risks taken by leaders like Kaunda and Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania who hosted and trained anticolonial fighters, deserve praise and gratitude, not ridicule and condemnation.

In the aftermath of Kaunda’s death on June 17 at the age of 97, I find myself focusing on the man himself, not on his complex and controversial 27-years in power. I have read through my extensive transcript of a conversation I had with him on Saturday December 6, 2003, during which I got a glimpse into his character.

My conversation with Kaunda had been arranged by Dr. Shaka Ssali of the Voice of America. Kaunda, in residence at Boston University’s African Presidential Archives and Research Centre, had readily agreed to my request for a telephone conversation. He received my call with great courtesy and friendliness as though we had been old friends. Aged 79 at the time, he had an excellent command of the facts and a quick wit.

We discussed his personal and family history; his vision for Africa in the early 1960s; power and its addictive nature; the liberation struggles in Southern Africa; Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe’s complex problems; his friendship with Uganda’s Milton Obote; the differences between his generation of leaders and their successors; globalization and neocolonialism; the role of African intellectuals in shaping the continent’s future; and his opinion about his period in office.

Like all educated and psychologically secure people, Kaunda readily admitted his weaknesses and failures. His humility was genuine. He was a committed Pan-Africanist, not a nyampara (headman) acting on behalf of neo-colonial interests.

He did not speak ill of his political opponents or use condescending language. There was not a hint of the arrogance that afflicts people who have tasted political power. Instead, he readily acknowledged his political errors without attempting to justify them.

For example, his political relationship with Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, his childhood friend and vice-president of Zambia from 1967 to 1970, occupied a large part of our conversation. Kapwepwe, who had been Kaunda’s comrade during the struggle for independence, broke ranks with the president over economic and democratic policies. He initially offered to resign from the presidency in 1969 but was persuaded by Kaunda to hang on to his job before the latter fired him in 1970.

When Kapwepwe formed a new political party in 1971, he was promptly accused of being an agent of the colonial regimes in Rhodesia, Mozambique, and South Africa. He was thrown in jail on February 4, 1972.

When I told Kaunda that I was an admirer of Kapwepwe, he chuckled and said: “Yes, we were different. I can see why you liked him.” He proceeded to tell me that he regretted the way he handled Kapwepwe’s political challenge. “Power is dangerous, my son,” Kaunda told me. “One gets paranoid and sees enemies where there are none. My advisors who disliked Kapwepwe took advantage of the situation and misinformed me about his intentions and activities.”

Kaunda volunteered that he discovered later that Kapwepwe had been innocent and simply held a different vision for Zambia. He attempted a political reconciliation and invited Kapwepwe to rejoin the ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP) in 1977. Kapwepwe did so and challenged Kaunda for the party’s presidency the following year. UNIP’s constitution was quickly amended to disqualify Kapwepwe. The latter retired from politics and died from complications of a stroke in January 1980.

Kaunda sounded genuinely sad as he recalled his rift with Kapwepwe. He regretted that they never recovered their friendship but was happy to note that Kapwepwe’s widow and children had restored their friendship with the Kaundas. “Kapwepwe’s daughter and my son work together politically,” Kaunda said. “I still mourn my friend,” he added.

When I asked Kaunda to tell me other major mistakes he had made, he told me that they were too many to write down. After a long pause he said: “I think they will appear in my autobiography. So, wait for it.” It has been more than 17 years since our conversation. I am yet to see a published copy of that autobiography. Hopefully he has left a manuscript for publication. It would make an interesting read.

Mulera is a medical doctor

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