On Lunar surface landing, funeral etiquette & Lusaka City centenary

I will admit 2013 has been a marathon year. We are almost done with the year. Am glad it is in this year that this blog was born. I get emotional writing these blogs, because I feel like I am expressing my opinions to the whole world even though in reality it’s only a few of my friends who dare care to visit my blog site every now and then. So as the year is coming to a close, there are a lot of things I’d have loved to discuss, but I just cant talk about everything hence I will touch on selected happening of the last 7 days. Frankly speaking, even my closest of friends don’t need my opinion on everything.

However, the past week has had so much happening for me to just cast a blind eye without a comment. Looking at the past seven days in retrospect, so much has happened and a lot of people have expressed their view on each and every event. Maybe I should too, but where do I start from then?

Over the weekend of 14 December 2013, China landed a craft carrying a robotic rover on the surface of the Moon. Television pictures showed the moon's surface as the lander touched down as Staff at mission control in Beijing clapped and celebrated after confirmation came through. The last time humans landed a craft on the Moon was back in 1976, when the Soviet Union sent a robotic explorer so this did not go down well in the western world. Phil Plait who writes Slate’s Bad Astronomy blog and is an astronomer, public speaker, science evangelizer, and author of Death from the skies wrote; “I’m glad humans are sending things to the Moon — read what Sean Carroll wrote about that — but I’d like to see the United States taking this sort of thing more seriously. When the US dreams big, it can make grand things happen. We’re becoming more insular in our outlook on a lot of things, including space exploration, and that’s a damn shame.” 

The UK Daily mail on 16 December 2013 went with a screaming headline; “China's just sent a rocket to the moon and is an economic superpower. So, Mr Cameron... why ARE we still giving them £27MILLION in aid?” Other publications like the express, The Telegraph and The independent also questioned the reported £27.4 Million in aid given to china by the UK government in 2012. But I bet the rest of the world is happy that India and China are no longer just referred to as emerging economies but now as super powers. This will quell some of the arrogance displayed by some nations. It’s like in business when competition emerges to counter a monopoly. Sanity comes onto the market baby! Exploitation of consumers almost comes to an end. 

see who isn't amused!

However, the biggest story of the weekend for me was still comrade Nelson Mandela’s funeral. After about two weeks of mourning, glowing tributes and eulogies from world leaders, celebrities, business icons, global opinion makers and the regular Sara & Robert, the South African global icon fondly called Madiba was put to rest on Sunday 15^th December. In Zambia, what was ‘trending’ regarding Mandela’s burial day was our former president, Kenneth Kaunda’s speech at the funeral service! Kaunda’s vote of thanks given at Qunu was so animated, albeit truthful, hence brought loud laughter at a ceremony where solemn quietness largely prevailed. KK referred to the apartheid-era National Party as the "Boer" party. "I had a chance to meet a number of friends of the boer company. I spent three nights with [former Prime Minister John] Vorster on a train [stationed on the railway bridge over Victoria Falls, which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe]," Kaunda said.

He added, "I asked the prime minister to please release Nelson Mandela and his colleagues and come together in discussions. It came to nothing.

"Then came another boer leader - I think he was called [PW] Botha - to discuss the future of South Africa together. I didn't succeed and it also came to nothing.

"Then came my meeting with FW de Klerk... and, after a few hours, I called a press conference where I said: 'I think I can do business with this man'. Thank goodness he released this great man."

A lot of Zambians took turns in condemning comrade KK’s persistent use of the word “boer”. More people condemned his singing, “tiyamike Madiba ni mutima umo!, oho you have forgotten”. Many asked why KK was allowed to go on stage without a written speech. Some claimed the old man broke funeral etiquette.

I found nothing wanting in KK’s speech. He spoke from the heart, reminded the world that a certain clique of ruling ‘boer’ elite had sought to create a nation of prosperity for the minority white and oppression for the majority black natives, Indians and coloreds. But off course most Zambians didn’t want KK to speak the truth but rather for him to give a highly ‘cosmetic’ and PR innuendo glossed speech such that they made comparisons to Barak Obama’s speech at the soccer city stadium a few days before.

What I found to be breaking funeral etiquette was the flirty behavior exhibited by David Cameron & Barak Obama with the blonde Danish Prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. They took ‘selfie’ pictures of themselves, laughed, and then Miss Thorning-Schmidt put a hand on Mr Cameron’s Cheek to pull him closer to her, or was it to just make the three of them fit in the picture? All this happened to the apparent displeasure of Obama’s wife, Michelle.

In the week that was, I couldn't forget the story of the famous sign language interpreter at the same ceremony. According to deaf news blog The Limping Chicken a proper interpreter was present, however the man signing on stage didn't appear to know what he was doing, signing with a bizarre rhythm in a way that didn't tie into what the various speakers were saying. The 34-year-old later claimed he may have suffered a schizophrenic attack in which he saw "angels" flying into the stadium.

The week didn't end with the bizarre interpreter that made me want to pay a little more attention to the interpreters on ZNBC with my limited knowledge of sign language, there was still a news story coming from Zimbabwe. I read on a news site that ‘Uncle Bob’, Robert Mugabe, wants to rename the Victoria Falls. Apparently he believes the name Victoria Falls does not reflect liberation heritage. The man is so deeply entrenched in liberation from colonial rule he hasn’t noticed we are almost in 2014 and our liberation struggle is now from poverty not colonialism. Phew, too much has happened in the week, but I need to digress and focus on Lusaka city centenary.

2013 is the year Lusaka City council (LCC) clocked 100 years of existence. 1^st July – 31st July saw the height of the centenary celebrations. I hope we just didn't put up posters all over the city pop Champagne and go to sleep without sitting down to reflect and put a plan of where we want to see Lusaka after it clocks another century. The city has definitely come a long way and it is as modern as an African city can be.

But the growth of the city has come with challenges of its own. The major challenge being that population growth has not been matched by an expansion of amenities like water reticulation, proper sewer systems, and housing infrastructure. I forgot the ‘inadequate’ road network. The population growth has also led to a rapid inflation of real estate and housing. We may not be able to afford living in this city soon.

The LCC has reportedly requested to expand the boundaries of the city following the growing population. They have written to President Sata requesting him to allow for expansion of the city. This expansion is highly rumoured to be only in terms of boundaries. However Lusaka must develop like many other cities across the globe that have maximized available space as well. A little more sophistication on the road network will also help.  It is my hope that the local authority has a comprehensive urban development plan which will be executed in the near future.

It is my hope and prayer that as LCC gets into its 2^nd century of existence, it will be a City that will be vibrant and greatly admirable. Currently, it is a young City, the capital of a great people of Zambia but it will not be young forever. I hope no blogger in July 2113 will say, “LCC has clocked 2 centuries!! Celebrating what?? Blocked drainage, filthy streets, uncollected garbage, poor road signs list goes on.” That is if it will still be called Lusaka.

Lusaka in 1971

May not really look like this in reality, but this is Lusaka in 2013