HOW FREEDOM FIGHTERS PLANNED TO “SLAUGHTER” DISTRICT COMMISSIONERS TO FORCE COLONIAL MASTERS INTO SUBMISSION
Hey Folks,
Since October is Independence month, I intend to share with you independence excerpts from my Conversations with Memorable Personalities book series over the next few days leading up to October 24.
For starters, listen to veteran freedom fighter, the late Lewis Changufu, explain how—before independence was won on October 24, 1964—a terrifying, four-stage blueprint for a countrywide coup sat in the dark.
It started with burning ifitupa (national identity cards) and moved to sabotage.
Stage Four was going to be the deadliest: a coordinated, nationwide plan to “slaughter” every colonial District Commissioner in broad daylight using a deceptive ceremonial dance.
Dive into this gripping firsthand account of the “Cha-Cha-Cha Movement” and learn more from this excerpt from Conversations with Memorable Personalities, Part 1 (2022), Pages 94–97:
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Amos Malupenga: Did the British government get the message after the death of Lillian Burton?
Lewis Changufu: Yes, because our friends who were attending the conference at Lancaster made a clear statement that if the British government did not give us independence, Mau-Mau will look like a picnic.
Malupenga: What was Mau-Mau?
Changufu: This is what they were using in Kenya.
Malupenga: What is Mau-Mau in plain language?
Changufu: Mau-Mau is killing whites. The freedom fighters in Kenya were killing whites. The freedom fighters in Kenya were called Mau-Mau and they went into the bush. People like Dedani Kimathi commanded freedom fighters from the bush.
But we did not want to command from the bush. We wanted to do it openly in the streets
and we did just that.
Malupenga: Is that what you meant when you said Mau-Mau would become like a picnic?
Changufu: Yes. We said instead of going into the bush, we will just do it in the streets openly. And we had to plan the chachacha in stages. There was stage one, stage two, stage three and finally stage four.
Malupenga: What activities were involved in stage one
Changufu: What was involved was burning of documents, things like identity cards or ifitupa.
Malupenga: Whose identity cards did you burn?
Changufu: Ours. You know in those days we were required to carry these identity cards wherever we went. So, we collected and burnt them at one rally. And we said, ‘Now we have no identity for you to identify us.’ This was meant to make the government ungovernable.
Malupenga: And why did you have to identify yourselves?
Changufu: You know when you are in the minority and try to rule the majority, you are scared. On that chitupa, there was one’s names, the village where he came from, the chief ’s name, the district, the tribe and it had to be stated in the chitupa whether or not you were employed. The chitupa also stated whether or not you had paid tax.
Malupenga: If one did not have the chitupa, what were the implications?
Changufu: They would arrest and send him to prison. But the whites were not required to move with the chitupa.
Malupenga: And what was involved in stage two?
Changufu: Stage two was sabotage. We had to destroy property and some sensitive installations. In stage three, we had to harass white people in the real sense. We threatened to kill them.
In stage three, the plan was to deal with whites; particularly district commissioners, their messengers and the Kapricons.
Malupenga: And what activities did you line up for stage four?
Changufu: Stage four was for us to take over government without any declaration from the British.
Malupenga: Did you go up to stage four?
Changufu: No. Stage four was to be the dark hour of our country where all the district commissioners throughout the country were going to disappear.
Malupenga: In what sense?
Changufu: They were going to be slaughtered at one go, at the dark hour.
Malupenga: How many district commissioners did you have at the time?
Changufu: I think they were forty because we had about forty districts at the time. So, in stage four, we were going to take over government without the British authority.
Malupenga: Did the British government know what you had in stage four?
Changufu: No, because there were no leakages.
Malupenga: But how were you going to slaughter the district commissioners?
Changufu: We got the idea from one of ifyabukaya Bemba books. In that book, there was a narration of the way Chief Chikwanda of Mpika was slaughtered by the Bisas. The Bembas went into the land which was known to be for the Bisas and the Bisas could not entertain that.
So, at one time they planned that they should get rid of the chief whom Chitimukulu had
posted to Mpika. What they did was to arrange women to go with homages and men were behind women carrying spears.
As women were laying down their homages before the chief, the men came and shouted ‘wishinshika, wishinshika.’
This is one of the words they use to honour the chief but these men proceeded to spear the chief. That is how Chief Chikwanda died.
Malupenga: Was this your plan against the district commissioners?
Changufu: Our plan was a dance. We were going to go to the Boma with women whose faces were to be painted to conceal their identity and they were going to drum.
And the men were going to come to perform the dance, completely distanced. The district commissioners and their messengers were then going to come out of their offices and watch the dance. This was to happen during the day.
Everyone could have come out to watch the dance because it was going to be a strange
dance. But what was behind would have been unknown to the district commissioners.
When all the commissioners were out, the men were going to act and would have slaughtered all the district commissioners and their messengers.
Malupenga: Did you have men and women already lined up for this dance?
Changufu: They were going to be lined up. We were just in the planning stage and this was going to happen at the same time countrywide. The district commissioners would have fallen at the same time and then we would have taken over the government.
In short, that was going to be a coup.
Malupenga: At what stage did the whites give in?
Changufu: They gave in at the Sabotage Stage. If they had not given in, we were going to move to the next stage seriously until we took over the government by force.
Malupenga: What role did the district commissioners play?
Changufu: They were there to impose discipline in the country and to collect taxes. At the same time, they went into villages to conduct census. They were also Magistrate Class Two and they had powers to arrest and imprison. These were very powerful people.