What did Anderson Mazoka say about Founding UPND?
Amos Malupenga Wrote;
FIGHTING OVER HISTORY: THE CASE OF BATUKE IMENDA AND KELVIN NDILA
Hey folks,
In the last few days, I shared with you some footage from my first book launch graced by Zambia’s first president, the late Dr Kenneth Kaunda on September 3, 2009. The book is about the life story of Zambia’s third president, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, SC.
This book was edited by a renowned academic, Professor Fackson Banda, who moved a vote of thanks to Dr Kaunda’s launch speech. In moving his vote of thanks, Professor Banda challenged or called upon all those with “the gift and skill to capture stories” to emulate my example by writing .
FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH, An excerpt from Conversations with Memorable Personalities (Pages 244 – 245): A conversation with Anderson Mazoka in April 2004.
“… I came to Lusaka as managing director and after serving Anglo for all these years, I went to my boss in 1998 and I said, ‘I want to work for my people.’
Anglo said, ‘No, why do you want to leave? Are you under pressure from your contemporaries?’ I said it was my own choice.
They said, ‘If you are under pressure, we are going to transfer you to another country.’ I said there will be a conflict because I can’t work for Anglo and at the same time be in politics.
We agreed with my boss and they gave me my terminal benefits.
And you know the formation of UPND. We started meeting here [at his residence in Lusaka East] with some people. I had spent a lot of time advising MMD. I said, ‘This is not what we fought for to get rid of Kaunda.’ I said, ‘We need to look after our country.’
I came to a point where MMD was developing thick skin, they didn’t want to listen to people. So, I said the only way is for me to join in their ranks. I wanted to join MMD as a party official. But they blocked me when I attempted to stand as treasurer in Bauleni
compound at a ward level. I appealed to them to re-run the election but they refused.
Finally, I sent them a letter that I am resigning from the party and [Michael] Sata was the first one to take the letter to the newspapers that he had accepted my resignation.
Infact, they would have cornered me if at that point they had reinstated the election and I was elected at the branch level. They would have closed me there and used party rules to control me. But when they decided to accept my resignation, I said hallelujah! Then I met some of my colleagues – John Mulwila, David Matongo, the late Munansangu and Kelvin Ndila was there.
I said, ‘We have to form a party’, so we formed a committee and that committee was to look for the name of the party and the symbol.
They also looked for the slogan and we kept consulting.
Then rumours started moving so we had to give a dummy name which you guys [The Post]picked and said, ‘We were going to register such and such a party.’
In the meantime, we got ordinary people like Justin Mweene to register UPND. They
agreed that after 14 days, they would hand over the party to me, which they did. We then launched the party at Mulungushi Conference Centre and we announced the names of people in the management committee.
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From the above, different readers may create their own realities. And there are so many versions out there yet to be documented or discussed. The point to emphasize, nonetheless, is let us learn to document our own history and contribute to the body of knowledge for the benefit of posterity and those who love to research.
Cheers!
Amos Malupenga
Author
Pictures’ captions: Anderson Kambela Mazoka, Mr Kelvin Ndila and Hon. Batuke Imenda