•SATA when he was MMD Chairperson for Local Government before addressing a rally in Chilenje in 1991. Picture By Killian Mambwe

By NORMA SIAME –
AS Zambia puts to rest President Michael Sata, it cannot be argued that in political circles he was larger than life – constantly refining his style of populist politics which eventually propelled him to the highest office in the land.
To try and understand what made Mr Sata into the prolific politician he was, it is imperative to try and peek into the late President’s early life, whose bulk was centred on the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church is known for its meticulous knack for record-keeping, and in a document originating from Chilonga Catholic Church called The Certificate of Christian Family belonging to the late President, Mr Sata’s date of birth is listed as July 6, 1937 at Chitulika Village in Mpika District of Muchinga Province.
Mr Sata’s file number on the document is recorded as 753 under the names Michael Mubanga Chilufya Sata, whose father was Juliano Mubanga Sata while the mother is listed as Hanrieta Kabuswe, both of Chitulika Village.
The document goes on to affirm he was baptised at Chilonga Parish and shows his baptism number as 17608. As a tradition in the Catholic Church, Mr Sata was also confirmed at the same parish with the number 22J.
President Sata’s father, also known as Langford Sata, was appointed headman of Chitulika Village in the early 1980s.
Philemon Mulenga, 86, who came to Chitulika in 1958 following his appointment as a court interpreter, recounted part of the sequence of events.
Despite the fact that exact dates elude him now, according to Mr Mulenga, Chitulika had no headman for a long time following the death of a Mr Chitulika.
As the village is located in Chief Chikwanda’s area, the then (traditional ruler) Chikwanda decreed that a new headman be appointed.
It was at that meeting that Mr Mulenga proposed that President Sata’s father be appointed as the new headman.
“I raised my hand and proposed ba Langi’s (Langford) name. I was seconded by the granddaughter of the deceased Chitulika, bana Bwalya Arnold and a Mrs Silwizya.
“He remained our headman until the late President came to collect his father in 2003 to take him to Lusaka due to health issues related to old age. Ba Langi died at the age of 99 just three months before turning 100,” Mr Mulenga recounts.
It is at the late Mr Sata Snr’s house that mourners in Chitulika are congregating.
From his early life, partly stemming from the fact that both his parents were Catholic, Mr Sata took his faith as a Catholic seriously.
Over a long period, he cultivated close ties with the church. Many clerics, both young and old, called him a friend and have many anecdotes about him.
It is possible to glean from church records and first person accounts from within Catholic circles of the type of foundation Mr Sata’s unique character was built on.
Seventy-eight-year-old priest Telesfore Kabiti, who currently lives at Lwitikila Parish in Mpika, said Mr Sata went to Katibunga Preparatory Seminary and another Catholic school called Kantensha in Isoka before proceeding to Lubushi Seminary in Mporokoso District.
Katibunga in simple terms could be described as a church nursery of sorts used to prepare young boys that wished to become priests.
Father Kabiti said the rules and conduct inculcated in young seminarians were deeply ingrained in all those that passed through such institutions. The White Fathers that ran the prep schools imparted a spirit of hard work and the hallmarks of what a person whom others would look up to for guidance needed to cultivate.
The priest strongly believes that having led a life as a seminarian greatly impacted on the type of leader Mr Sata evolved into.
By and large, priests have been known to speak out on issues of national importance and public welfare even if it means speaking out against the Government of the day. Mr Sata himself had close brushes with the Catholic Church, having some of his decisions closely scrutinised and criticised through pastoral letters.
And even though the late President never graduated as a priest, it was evident certain positive traits picked from the seminary stuck with him for life.
He spoke with earnestness and conviction endearing him to those that loved him and at times caused dread among political opponents.
Mr Sata was a man of vigour that made him a force to reckon with in the political arena.
Those who heard Mr Sata speak never failed to be moved by his words nor did they forget the impression he left.
Based on the teachings of his faith, Mr Sata always had a message for the underprivileged. In the book Zambia’s Democratic Journey: Elections of 2011, there is a picture of President Sata standing before a sick woman being transported on a bicycle.
Fr Kabiti confirms Mr Sata’s passion for the poor as he had known the President to be a person who would part away with his money to assist someone less fortunate. Recipients of his benevolent acts were usually random people he met as he criss-crossed the country selling the policies of the party he founded, the Patriotic Front.
There have been many speculations about why he did not proceed with his earlier ambition of becoming a priest, but Fr Kabiti says his peers, some of whom are still living, can testify that Mr Sata left Lubushi Seminary in 1956 at the age of 19 on his own accord.
He is said to have told his friends that even if he cleared his examinations, he would not be returning to the seminary. This was a personal choice.
Kasama vicar general Ives Batungwa extolled Mr Sata’s political career as one filled with good intentions designed to uplift the living conditions of ordinary Zambians.
Fr Batungwa said although he could not claim to have been one of the President’s close confidantes, during the times he found himself at the same functions as Mr Sata, the late President would, as he was speaking spontaneously, begin singing a hymn titled Tutemwane Bane Bonse which talked about loving one another.
“Personally, his death has bewildered me. A few meetings I attended where he spoke, it was evident to see he loved the people of Zambia.
Tutemwane is a rallying cry for togetherness and love, a spirit that should be maintained and kept alive,” Fr Batungwa said.
It is difficult to compartmentalise the life of a person of Mr Sata’s stature. Perhaps the most apt words are those of Abraham Lincoln in his eulogy on Henry Clay on July 6, 1852:
“He loved this country partly because it was his own country, but mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with a zeal for its advancement, prosperity and glory, because he saw in such, the advancement, prosperity and glory, of human liberty, human rights and human nature. He desired the prosperity of his countrymen partly because they were his countrymen.
“It is at times like these, that the petty distinctions of mere party disappear. We see only the great, the grand, the noble features of the departed statesman; and we do not even beg permission to bow at his feet and mingle our tears with those who have ever been his political adherents — we do not beg this permission — we claim it as a right,
though we feel it as a privilege. He belonged to his country, mere party cannot claim men like him. His career has been national — his memory will endure to the last syllable of recorded time.”
On this occasion, where so many thinking differently are gathered, all are joined in doing honour to his memory.
In an era where political correctness curbs the urge for people to call out things as they see them, it will be a long time before a politician of Mr Sata’s calibre can be seen again.