ADAMSON MUSHALA: AS TOLD BY HIS WIFE
By Jack Zimba
In December 1972, Adamson Mushala bundled his wife and five children including a two-week-old baby into a brand-new Land Rover 109 station wagon and drove away from their home in Mufumbwe.
He told his wife they were heading to Mongu, Western Province, to attend a friend’s wedding. But instead, they soon found themselves crossing the border into Angola.
This was Mushala’s escape from Zambia, marking the beginning of an armed rebellion against the Kaunda government that would last from 1976 to 1982.
Before being killed by government soldiers, Mushala had become an enigmatic figure, inspiring both fear and admiration.
Thirty-six years after his death, his widow, Rejoice, remembers him as a smartly dressed gentleman with a beautiful smile. A black-and-white studio portrait of him still hangs on the wall of her modest living room.
“He took that picture when we were in Angola,” she says calmly, noticing my curiosity.
Rejoice now lives in Kivuku, a small settlement in Kasempa, North-Western Province – just a few hundred metres from where she first met Mushala in the 1950s at Mukinge Mission School.
After completing Standard Six Upper, Mushala trained as a game ranger, while Rejoice moved to Chizela (now Mufumbwe) to work as a community school teacher. They met again and fell in love.
Rejoice had many suitors before Mushala, including the late Emmanuel Mulemena, who would later become a celebrated kalindula musician.
“There were many who wanted to marry me, but I believe God chose Adamson for me,” she says, her eyes glinting. “I don’t know exactly what attracted me to him. Yes, he was tall, very smart, and looked good in suits – but I think it was simply God’s plan.”
She smiles. “I liked the way he walked, and he had a beautiful smile. I also liked his complexion.” She still calls him my black shine.
In 1959, they married at Chizela Bible School, with European missionaries helping to arrange and sponsor the ceremony. “Many people attended because it was the first of its kind in Mufumbwe,” she recalls. “It was a wonderful Christian wedding.”
Their marriage, she says, was “wonderful”. “He really loved me.”
Their first child, Bert, was born on January 16, 1960. By then, Mushala was already disillusioned with the British colonial government. “He hated the colonialists and wanted to join the fight for independence,” she says.
Both were active members of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) under Kenneth Kaunda. Rejoice recalls being present in 1961 when Julia Chikamoneka and other women protested topless in Lusaka against colonial rule.
In 1962, at the height of the struggle, Mushala and other young men were sent to China for guerrilla warfare training. While there, he met Chairman Mao Zedong, who, upon learning Rejoice was expecting, gave him a parcel of baby clothes and toys with one request – to name the child after him. In 1963, upon his return, Mushala found Rejoice had given birth to a girl, and they named her “Mao”.
When Zambia gained independence on October 24, 1964, Mushala was living in Kamwala, Lusaka. “We all wore suits and celebrated,” Rejoice recalls. But his joy was short-lived – he was disappointed after being overlooked for a post as head of the Wildlife Department, a job he loved.
Feeling betrayed, Mushala left UNIP and joined Nalumino Mundia’s opposition United Party, which led to his detention in Chinsali. Rejoice was placed under house arrest in Mufumbwe.
By December 1972, Zambia had become a one-party state something Mushala strongly opposed. “He used to say, ‘Why should a man stand against a frog? Does a frog represent the people?’” Rejoice remembers, referring to the YES/NO ballot symbols.
That same month, under the pretext of attending a friend’s wedding in Mongu, Mushala persuaded Rejoice to travel with him. Two weeks after giving birth, she reluctantly agreed.
After a week’s stopover in Manyinga, she noticed soldiers in strange uniforms. Mushala revealed they were heading to Luanda, Angola. “I didn’t know we were going to Angola. He never shared his plans with me,” she says.
The family eventually settled in Luanda, then later moved to South Africa. In 1976, Mushala returned to Zambia to begin his armed campaign. That was the last time Rejoice saw him.
In November 1979, she returned to Zambia with her children but was detained for years under house arrest.
On November 27, 1982, she was handed a newspaper reporting Mushala’s death. The night before, she dreamt of him saying goodbye. Initially told she could attend his burial, she was later denied travel for “security reasons” and collapsed in shock.
She remained in detention for two more years, staging a hunger strike with two other women. In 1984, she spoke to President Kaunda by phone, who told her she was free but advised her to settle in Lusaka.
“I refused. I didn’t want people to think I was working with the government against my husband,” she says.
