Late Lt Col Dunstan Kasote; One of the Pioneers of Zambia Army Officers’ Corps From Independence

Late Lt Col Dunstan Kasote; One of the Pioneers of Zambia Army Officers’ Corps From Independence

By Col Hamwiinde Munamunungu (Rtd)

The late Lieutenant Colonel Dunstan Santa Kasote was in the same Officer Cadet Intake, with cadets Godwin Kingsley Chinkuli and Benjamin Ndabila Mibenge of the 1963 Royal Military Academy, RMAS, Sandhurst in the United Kingdom.

He was among the six Officer cadets from the then, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

The three blacks were from Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and the other three whites from Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), in 1963.

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The Royal Military Academy, RMAS, Sandhurst in England is one of the finest Military Academies in the world.

It is along the lines of the West Point Military Academy in the US and that of the French, the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM Saint-Cyr), often referred to as “Saint-Cyr”.

Amongst Zambian Officers that have passed through this Academy; include General Malimba Nathaniel Masheke, former Commander Zambia Army, and last Prime Minister of of the Republic of Zambia and also Lt Colonel Panji Vincent Kaunda, currently, Zambia’s High Commissioner to the Republic of Malawi.

The list of RMAS students has other names of Zambian Officers as well.

The three Zambians (Kasote, Chinkuli and Mibenge) had just completed their Form 6 higher Cambridge certificate of education at Munali Secondary School in Lusaka, in 1963.

Col Kasote and others were at the RMAS from September, 1963 until 1965 for a two year military and academic Officer Cadet training course.

Both Kasote and Mibenge returned immediately to Zambia after receiving the Queen’s Officer Commission as full Lieutenants in 1965.

Lt Chinkuli remained to do a Junior Commander’s course in the UK.

By the time he was coming back, Zambia was born, and Zambia Army was created from the Northern Rhodesia Regiment in 1964.

In a special sense, Lieutenants Chinkuli, Kasote and Mibenge could be classified as the pioneers of the Zambia Army indigenous Officers’ Corps.

However, there were some other officers who trained at Mons Officer Cadet School, in the United Kingdom (UK) for six months in 1964 but returned to Zambia in 1965, together with the Kasotes.

The only difference was that those from Mons were commissioned as Second Lieutenants and not full Lieutenants as the Kasotes.

Lt Kasote was deployed in various units of the Army as a Lieutenant and Captain to gain field experience. Hear from his Army Commander, and cadetmate, General Godwin Kingsley Chinkuli talk about him.

“ Dunstan was the most lively newly commissioned Officer among the three of us, the first indigenous Zambian cadets returning from RMAS. He was instrumental in generating ideas as we embarked on Zambianising the Army.

The first position I gave him was that of Director of Signals to ensure security in communications. Later on I moved him to QuarterMaster General (QMG) to ensure Logistics, Planning among other things. Of course, it was not surprising that he later found himself at MILTEZ as Commandant because he was a very brilliant Officer”.

In 1971, he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel and appointed Assistant Quartermaster General at Army Headquarters.

In 1972, he was appointed Commandant of the School of Military Training, SMT, now Zambia Military Academy (ZMA), taking over from Lt Col Godfrey Miyanda at the newly established Kohima Barracks.

SMT was previously stationed at Kalewa Barracks, where all types of military training took place for years, under the British administration of the Zambian Army.

After independence it was decided that a new barracks to accommodate SMT, be constructed and as such, Kohima Barracks was established.

The last white Commandant at SMT was Major Francis and, the author of this piece, Col Munamungu was an Officer Cadet under his command.

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It was here at Kohima Barracks where I came to know and work closely with Lt Col Kasote as his Staff Officer (Paymaster/ Adjutant ).

Lt Col Kasote was a planner, dynamic, intelligent and a down to earth senior Officer. He shied away from publicity and had no airs about himself. Junior Officers mingled with him socially and freely.

As a Lt Col that time, he was considered as a very senior Officer in view of the fact that the Army Commander was a full Colonel.

I related well with him as his Staff Officer. For instance, he could regularly visit my house no 11 ( his was no 01 ) in Kohima Barracks, to read or borrow books from my personal little library.

By the way, let make mention that the this library is now big and contains important books on various topics. My children and grandchildren are making most use of it now.

In my life, I have had a knack for buying and reading books widely especially on African politics and military history.

While in the Army, I was a member of the UK based Home Library Service, which supplied three types of books monthly through monthly subscriptions. I influenced a number of other Officers to join this UK Home Library Service.

In addition I was also a regular recipient of a London based confidential fortnightly newsletter, AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL, a very informative newsletter carrying military, economic and political issues on Africa.

One could only access it through subscriptions but stopped getting it years later because of foreign exchange restrictions. This newsletter is still in circulation to this day.

As Commandant SMT, it was Lt Col Kasote’s time to propose a new name replacing the School of Military Training, (SMT). Three names were proposed and forwarded to Army Headquarters, Lusaka for approval.

The name, “Military Training Establishment of Zambia, (MILTEZ) ” was approved. We all rejoiced at this choice signifying that we had done an excellent job.

Under MILTEZ, are various Wings, Schools, Colleges and Zambia Military Academy (ZMA) training all Officers and men in the Zambia Army and at times Officers and men from the Zambia Air Force.

It was therefore the highest military training institution on the land in the 1970s.

Most outstanding Officers ( the cream ) and men were seconded or posted to MILTEZ as instructors, or as Wing, school, college and/or Academy Commanders.

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This Establishment was therefore a key institution providing military leadership training in the Army. It also trained a number of Tanzanian Officer Cadets.

We also had Tanzanian Officers, on secondment, as instructors and one of them was Captain George Sayore who in later years became Army Commander of the Tanzanian Army with the rank of Lieutenant General.

This means that the supreme chief of MILTEZ was to be a topnotch military offiicer with adequate education, suitable military qualifications, experience and wisdom.

This is what Lt Col Dunstan Kasote was, and had. He pioneered the First Intake of the Zambia Army Officer Cadets and those Officers from the Office of the President, Special Division, at Kohima in 1972.

His Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor was Major Bestings B Mpande Chisuta, popularly known as BBC.

Both were excellent gurus in Staff work (SD), military tactics and strategies and I gained from their varied knowledge and experience as a Lieutenant and young staff Officer under their command.

I say thank you to both of them, though Lt Col Kasote is late. BBC retired with the rank of Major General and is still alive.

Lt Col Kasote was born on 22 May, 1942 at Village Posa, Chief Tafuna’s area in Mpulungu district of Northern Province.

He was retired from Zambia Army in 1973, and transferred to INDECO where he served only briefly. He resigned from INDECO in 1974 to grow tobacco on some farm.

He died on 20 September in 1983.

A number of Officers, who knew him, were extremely sad to lose him in the Army at the time when his services were still greatly needed and they also mourned him dearly upon hearing of his death.

My pride is that I served these three pioneers, including General Malimba Nathaniel Masheke, at different times and in different capacities in my military career. I can write about them with authority and with a clarity of thought.

I found all of them articulate, sober, helpful , disciplined, farsighted and hardworking individuals who were prepared to transform Zambia Army into a formidable new military force in Africa.

These were young men in their 30s in the 1970s. Unfortunately both Kasote and Mibenge are now late.

The history of Zambia Army, the Zambia National Defence Force and indeed that of Zambia, as a nation, would be incomplete without mentioning the names of these great Generals of our time.

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Gen Chinkuli became a Cabinet Minister, and Gen Masheke, a Cabinet minister and Prime Minister.

Although Comrade Kasote left the Army as a Lt Colonel, in death, he qualifies to be a General.

May His Soul Continue Resting In Eternal Peace.
[ The Zambia Army ]