*MWAANGA left shares notes with former president Rupiah Banda and Southern province minister Daniel Munkombwe

By MIRIAM ZIMBA –

SHOULD age really be a major factor when time is ripe for the selection of leaders?
Should the selection criteria of leaders really be based on age rather than ability?
Vernon Johnson Mwaanga is one such individual who managed to break through the age barrier to provide his ability to levels of excellence.
At the time of Zambia’s independence in 1964, he became the country’s first Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and the following year, he became Zambia’s Ambassador to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Dr Mwaanga  describes his experience as Zambia’s Ambassador to the USSR at a tender age of 21 years as a very memorable one.
This is because when he got there, the then president Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan was so eager to see the young man who was sent to serve as Zambia’s envoy there.
As protocol would dictate, President Mikoyan would have delegated receipt of the credentials from the 21-year-old diplomat to one of his vice presidents, but he decided to receive the credence himself.
“I went to the Kremlin to present my credentials and the protocol procedure is after presenting the credentials, one would spend at least 30 minutes with the president and then leave, but my case was unique!
“When I told Mr Mikoyan that I was going to take my leave, he insisted on me staying longer because he wanted to talk to me,” Dr Mwaanga recounted.
“We talked about the middle-East, we talked about his travels in Africa and he wondered how a young man of my age could have such a wide understanding of issues,” Dr Mwaanga recalled.
Perhaps, this first encounter between Dr Mwaanga and Mr Mikoyan is what sparked the long and cordial relations between the two.
This is because after this encounter, Dr Mwaanga won the favour of Mr Mikoyan who always extended him an invitation whenever he (Mr Mikoyan) hosted a function.
“Sometimes he even invited me to spend weekends at his home, just to talk to me. He was so fascinated about talking to me,” Dr Mwaanga says.
Already after scoring two major debut career breakthroughs on the international scene, this did not just end here.
Shortly before his 24th birthday, he became Zambia’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in New York.
It was at the UN that he was elected to represent Zambia on the UN Security Council, a position held for two years from January 1969 to December 1970.
It was while he held this position at the UN that Dr Mwaanga made history by becoming the world’s youngest member of the UN Security Council.
He also became president of the UN Security Council, and that was at the height of dealings with the Middle-East crisis which is still continuing.
One of the bravest moves that Dr Mwaanga has ever had to make has been the decision to refer the South-West Africa (now Namibia) question to the International Court of Justice (ICC) for the second time in 1970.
This was to get a ruling from the court on the question on the legality of South Africa’s presence in South West Africa, which was under UN trusteeship.
At the time, the issue had previously been referred to the ICC before in the early 1960’s by Ethiopia and Liberia, and when the court finally ruled, it was very disappointing.
This is because the ICC ruled ‘not to rule’ on the matter!
It was very disappointing for these countries (Ethiopia and Liberia) and also for the Namibians.
“So when I decided that it was time to take the issue back to the ICC, SWAPO (Namibia’s political party) had a lot of reservations as its leader Sam Nujoma did not want the matter to be pursued by the ICC.”
“But I had been to The Hague and the composition of the court had changed and the new judges were eager to take a more progressive view on a number of issues,” he explains.
Of course, these judges who were to preside over this case were a fair balance, as they were elected from different regions of the world by the UN General Assembly.
“Because of SWAPO’s objection, I also needed to be on safe ground by consulting my president (Kenneth Kaunda) as well as Zambia’s Foreign Minister to make sure that they actually supported my position on the mater,” he explains.
Fortunately for Dr Mwaanga, both the president and the Foreign Minister supported his position of taking back the matter to the ICC at The Hague.
“When this case finally went to The Hague in 1970, much against the opposition from SWAPO, the court ruled in our favour-they ruled that South Africa’s presence In South-West Africa was illegal,” Dr Mwaanga recounted.
This was the basis upon which the UN Security Council’s Resolution number 435 was passed,  which eventually led to the independence of Namibia.
In all fairness, Mr Nujoma was one of the first people to call Dr Mwaanga to congratulate him for having succeeded at the ICC to get the court to rule in Namibia’s favour.
That really was one of the highest points of Dr Mwaanga’s career at the UN and at the time, he was also president of the UN Council for Namibia from 1968 to 1972.
His invaluable contribution to international politics has undoubtedly left an indelible mark that will probably outlive Dr Mwaanga’s life.
This is a man who was once nominated for the position of secretary general of the Organisation of African Union (OAU), and only failed to scoop the position after missing out by only three votes.
“There was a requirement for a two-thirds majority and I got 25 votes, and I was short of 3, and my opponent was way behind what I managed to get,” he narrates.
“It was good to get so much recognition from the African continent. I had also been offered a position as assistant secretary general of the UN but after consultations with KK, I came to the conclusion that my country needed me most, and I decided not to take up that job,” he adds.
His career as a diplomat was no mere accident, he was sent into diplomatic training by the then president, Dr Kaunda.
He trained at the Oxford Institute for Diplomatic Studies, after which, he was sent to the British Embassy in Rome Italy, where he was attached as Second Secretary-trainee, and he worked with a Mr Douglas Hard, who later became British Foreign Secretary.
In as much as all this may look so exciting from the outside, it was very challenging and also full of danger from time to time.
”I remember once when I was in Guinea as a member of the UN Security Council, when we had gone to investigate the invasion of Guinea, the hotel where I was staying was attacked by one of the rebel groups, and I remember running out of the hotel room in pyjamas,” he said chuckling.
All this was for the sake of Africa,  a continent that he holds so dear to his heart.
He carried out many travels in the countryside to interview people who had been arrested and tortured, all these formed part of his challenging times in his diplomatic career.
He has also been involved in international mediation, one of these being when he mediated between various political parties in Seychelles.
In 1974, when Dr Mwaanga was serving in the OAU, he was also mediator in Cyprus between the Greeks and the Turkish factions and this process was a great challenge and he is happy to note that there is no more fighting between these groups and there is now peace between them.
He also mediated between South Africa and Namibia, between the Apartheid regime and the nationalist leaders, and always advocating the overthrow of Apartheid.
“I remember when late Nelson Mandela came to Zambia for the first time after being released from prison, he said he wanted to see the man called Vernon Mwaanga.
“I went there to see him.When he emerged from his bedroom, I stood up and said to him ‘welcome to Zambia Sir’, and he said ‘thank you’,” he recounted.
“He looked at me and said,  I hope there is no mistake and I responded by saying I hope not”. Mr Mandela  then said he wanted to see the man who was ambassador of Zambia to the UN in the late 1960’s and the early 1970, who used to demand the release of Apartheid prisoners from Robben Island.
“Mr Mandela asked me if I was the same man and he was amazed when I told him I was the man he wanted to see. Mr Mandela said he expected to see a much older man, and he gave me a big hug, and told me how they smuggled radios into the prison at Robben Island through the prison guards in order to listen to some of my speeches.
“This was after I explained to him that I started young and I was the one who was at the UN during that period , so from that day Mr Mandela and I became very good friends”.
Each time Mr Mandela came to Zambia after that, Dr Mwaanga was the Minister-in- waiting who was attached to him.
This is perhaps the reason why when Mr Mandela died, Dr Mwaanga was asked by the South African government to deliver his tribute at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, during a church service held in his honour.
Dr Mwaanga also became very close to a number of Mr Mandela’s children whom he knew at the time.
He holds issues relating to development of young leaders very close to his heart, perhaps because he himself assumed leadership at a very young age.
Dr Mwaanga recounted the number of times he was in Cabinet, and  when names of young people emerged for appointment, he always supported such causes.
“There were times when certain young people were being considered for appointments, and one such example is George Chilupe who was being considered for Attorney General, and  there were people who objected this appointment on grounds that he was a young man.
“I challenged them by asking if it was a question of age, or the ability. I always draw a distinction between age and ability,”.
“I gave them the example of how old I was when I became Foreign Minister the first time I was appointed, I was only 29 years.
“I reminded them that I became ambassador at only 21 years. I was appointed not because of my age, but rather that the leadership was convinced that I had the ability to perform these duties and fortunately, I did not disappoint them. So we cannot object on the basis of someone being young, this is why I have always defended the appointment of young people,” he explains.
Dr Mwaanga  said there is a tendency to equate ability with age, when the two are exclusive, because young people are capable of performing leadership roles if they are given an opportunity.
“We cannot continue promising young people that they are the future leaders, because when they are 20, you tell them you are the future leaders, when they are 25, or even 35 years, they are told the same story, but the question is when are you going to give them leadership?
“When is that future going to come?” he questioned.
Dr Mwaanga said this was why he  had  never really accepted that argument, because he thinks that the  argument is defective.
At the time of Zambia’s independence when it was certain he was due to go to London as high commissioner, he made a special request to president Kaunda to allow him spend even just a day longer to witness the coming down of the Union Jack and the hoisting of the Zambian flag.
If people like Dr Mwaanga picked up the mantle at the tender age of 21 years and ran with it for about 50 years, then one’s ability to perform should out-weigh the question of age.