• MRS Salome Kapwepwe recalls some events. (Background) MR Kapwepwe’s picture hangs on the wall.

By MOSES KABAILA JR –

UBUSHA (slavery) was not Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe’s companion; he detested it to the core. This is what pushed him to join the freedom struggle.
Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, the second vice-president of Zambia, who was born in Chinsali on April 12, 1922 and Kenenth Kaunda’s friend (Zambias first Republican President) at the age of 12, was also a Chinsali descendant. Kapwepwe and Kaunda had together trained at Lubwa Mission as teachers.
Kapwepwe started teaching primary school in Kitwe but he was already dissatisfied with the colonial government. This marked the beginning of his illustrious political career.
Sharing a moment with Kapwepwe’s widow, Salome Kapwepwe, looked back at the important role her husband played during Zambia’s independence struggle.
Mrs Kapwepwe, now 88, had married the late gallant freedom fighter in 1948. Had her beloved husband been around to celebrate 50 years of Zambia’s independence, they would have been in marriage for 66 years.
A visit at the Kapwepwe residence, however, still gives a guest that same warmth and comfort as if Mr Kapwepwe himself were around.
“Nothing much has changed in this house,” Chilufya Kapwepwe, who happened to be at home with her mother said.
A quick scan around the house seemed to agree with Mr Kapwepwe’s third-born daughter. It is apparent to note that not much has been altered in the house, Mr Kapwepwe’s character, as recorded in the history books, is still very present in his abode.
The library, including the books he used to read are still in their position. The seats, his picture frame and the still growing family tree, otherwise Cabinet-depicting picture is still clinging on the walls of the house to remind guests that they are stepping on the same soil that the famous politician stepped on.
Apart from all the property owned by the Kapwepwes that still stands strong in the house, the welcoming smile by the elderly host still glows.
During this period of jubilee celebrations, the Kapwepwes, particularly the widow, have received more than a handful of visitors ranging from journalists to politicians who want to get her views about Zambia’s long walk to freedom. The old lady has never turned her back on anyone; she handles every guest as if they were the first to have approached her.
Her energy, her strength and interest to explain the same things over and over again to different guests, but every time with a little bit of updates, makes one understand how important it was for our country to be liberated.
“Everything that day came to a standstill,” Mrs Kapwepwe recalled about October 24th.
“People had been through a lot before we got our independence. I thank God He heard our prayers and we are where we are today,” she said.
She said it was still vivid in her mind that when the independence struggle started, she was not aware that her husband had jumped on the band wagon pushing for the freedom of the people as Mr Kapwepwe would just tell her that there was a group that needed his services.
“Those days a wife listened to her husband without much questions. There was no turning back once you got married because families believed that a couple had the capacity to sort out their differences without anyone running back to their parents.
“I had no choice but to support him once I found out about his political meetings,” Mrs Kapwepwe said.
It had been the turning point for a woman who knew the significance of being free from colonial rulers. She also knew the risks of having a husband with an ideology of challenging the whites who had a firm grip on power.
Before independence dawn, not everyone had made it, others had died along the way, either during the clashes with colonial masters or from other natural causes.
According to Mrs Kapwepwe, others died without tasting anything better. At the end of the day, it was important that they had participated in the struggle.
“Fifty years of freedom brings back good and bad memories. People suffered to achieve this feat. It is a time for all of us to merry. We should respect this period and remember those who contributed to our freedom. All differences have passed,” she said.
Kapwepwe’s daughter Chilufya, shared that every December, their father, together with the family, use to take a break from the busy schedule of urban life by travelling to their Chinsali farm.
It’s the same reason why she finds no problem spending time at the farm because it is something her father made her get used to.
“My father always encouraged us to know the importance of one’s home village. He also emphasised on the substance of farming. He would remind us and other people that a country can’t entirely depend on copper, a diminishing metal for its economy,” Ms Chilufya said.
As a trained journalist, Mr Kapwepwe pushed for people’s rights to exercise their freedom of expression before and after independence. It would seem that before Zambia started talking about democracy; Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe had already drafted his roadmap for a democratic Zambia.
This is probably something that should be credited to him as he is known to have played a role in the quest for multi-party politics.
It took a brave warrior to challenge a colonial system that had nothing to hide in terms of punishment it meted out on people deemed troublesome.
“Because of his courage to even challenge the government of the day, we were abandoned by friends and relatives for fear of landing them in trouble. Dad, however, would tell us to stick to our principles and our dignity, even when everything had been taken away from us.”
Chilufya recalls that her father used to tell them that: “Before I die, I have to see the day we’ll get free as a country.”
After his death in 1980, 16 years after Zambia’s independence, the Kapwepwes still preach about the need for political tolerance by saying that political parties should be like churches. People should be free to belong to any party and still be respected.
“Political parties need to read each other’s manifestos so as to understand and respect their views and visions. We also need to diversify as a nation to run away from poverty. Rich agro policies and crop diversity is what the country needs to protect our Kwacha,” Chilufya added.