WATCHING the funeral of the departed Dennis Liwewe, I was left wondering how it would have been had he been the one to cover his own funeral.
So many people in various spheres of life have explained how Dennis touched their lives and the luminaries who attended the funeral at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Leopards Hill Memorial Park just told you the larger-than-life kind of person that was being put to rest.
I listened to the eulogies from his children Ponga and Kwangu, but the one by his granddaughter Farai delivered in the football lingo must have had Dennis turning in that casket draped in the Zambian flag, befitting of a person accorded a state funeral.
What particularly struck me during the live funeral procession on ZNBC was the interview at the Cathedral when anchor Franklin Tembo jnr spoke to football administrator Simataa Simataa who talked about the need for commentators to mimic Dennis’ works and NOT his voice.
Despite being banned for life, I know for a fact that the head on Simataa’s shoulders contains a lot about football knowledge.
His life ban from all soccer activities is a topic for another day.
By the way Dennis too was also stripped his FAZ life membership and I hope it will be restored.
One attribute of Dennis that Simataa talked about is the exceptional preparedness he used to put in before matches, little wonder he brought out information about both sets of players on the pitch as if they were his own children.
A lot of behind the scene research went to into those commentaries.
Mind you, Liwewe etched his name as a commentator at a time football jerseys had no names at the back but never before did he mistake one player for another. If he did, he would correct it in a canny way that did not spoil the flow
Like Simataa aptly put it, his passing throws a huge challenge on today’s commentators to walk his talk. Research about the two teams before the match, you have to know all the permutations of the match before stepping into that commentary box.
Dennis’ voice will be difficult to mimic. The more today’s commentators try to mimic his voice, the more they get it wrong. It would actually be better to etch a name as a good commentator modelled on the fallen hero’s passion not trying to mimic his voice and doing a bad job of it.
While we are still at it, I am never too comfortable with the way the title soccer analyst gets used on every Jim, Jack and John who is invited on to appear on a soccer programme. Some of us should just be called soccer fans.
Knowing that Nkana stadium was also called Scrivener because you lived near it does not make you a soccer analyst any more than living a few blocks near a Catholic church makes you an expert on Catholicism. These titles must be earned.
Overall, Dennis Liwewe’s funeral was a befitting send-off of a gallant son who drew bigger audiences to radio than to the comfort of television.
Everyone visualised the game better from his descriptive and insightful commentaries than seeing the visuals on television, let alone the stadium.
ZNBC did a good job beaming the funeral live. For some reason, I kept picturing that the best person to cover that funeral taking in the whole spectacle would have been Dennis Liwewe himself.
I am pretty sure that Dennis being the accomplished broadcaster with his penchant to always pay attention to detail, had he been the one to sum up his funeral would have explained the meaning of the Last Post that was sounded at his funeral as well as the gun salute or why his beloved wife Silvia gets to keep the flag that was used to drape his casket.
The bugle call is a symbolic cavalry trumpet sound  played at Commonwealth military funerals as a final farewell, symbolising that the duty of the dead ‘soldier’ is over and that he can rest in peace.
It is also played at ceremonies commemorating those who have been killed in war, the Zambian equivalent of a State funeral or full military funeral.
The bugle call culminates into a volley of gun shots in the air which is only accorded to distinguished citizens.
Even at his requiem mass, Dennis who rose to the title of Canon in the Anglican faith would have explained to the viewers why it was presided over by bishops and not regular priests.
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The glaring mistakes that go uncorrected are an indictment on a television station, especially when they come during prime viewing time like during the main news.
On Sunday, this screaming headline opened the ZNBC Main news at 19:00 hours; the Nevers Mumba’s led camp defies court order.
The newscaster of the day read it as it was, rightly so, and the headline kept running on the headlines’ bar at the bottom of the screen throughout the bulletin.
The possessive apostrophe and the letter S were not supposed to be there since the word led was already there.
Those are minor grammatical errors that, however, have a bearing on the reputation of the station especially to young viewers who are only learning these grammatical things now.
Away from that, I was impressed with the way ZNBC covered the Kenneth Kaunda 90th birthday anniversary particularly a documentary narrated by Grevazio Zulu which brought out the former President’s rise to the presidency.
It put into perspective the birthday that was being celebrated and how the life of Dr Kaunda has transformed over the years, detailing his life in the political realm, transition out of State House and back into the limelight for his fight against HIV/AIDS.
It was an educative in depth piece which was conveniently aired on his birthday. Long live KK.
Here is from the mail bag
Good afternoon Mr Manchishi,
I read your through your column in yesterday’s Sunday Times of Zambia as you discussed the discussion Grevazio Zulu had wit the acting CEO for KCM.
I watched the interview.
First, I may not be a mining expert but at least I have worked for a long time in the mining industry on the engineering side for some time.
I have gone underground a countless times working on drilling machines and mobile equipment.
David Ng’andu, I need to acknowledge came for the interview prepared and his knowledge of the subject at hand was exception.
He may, and I mean maybe he was not truthful for some people or whatever but the guy knew what he was talking about. Grevazio did a good job. To interview is not a question of coming up with questions without listening to what the person you are interviewing is saying. The guy answered questions and he is an orator.
I work for Mopani but for once I was envious of the guy, he did a good job of representing his company.
If some people are not happy with the information Grevazio got out of that guy, why can’t they do their own research instead of waiting on some NGO in the UK to come up with some report then we start talking.
Regards,
Mpongwe Nsama, KITWE
Hi Xavier,
There was news item on ZNBC on Sunday which referred to Mwata Kazemba of the Lunda people of Luapula Province as Senior Chief Mwata Kazembe.
The Mwata is not a senior chief but King. Mwata means King so as the Litunga. I have also noticed that many people including media houses say Umutomboko when referring to the traditional ceremony of the Lunda. It is Mutomboko without a U at the beginning.
Let us preserve our culture and history by not institutionalising mistakes.
Regards Stanslous