The Kambwili conundrum

By now, it is certainly beyond any doubt that while I don’t so much like to discuss politics and religion on my blog, the two subjects are probably some of the topics I cover the most. For this reason, I will drop the ever present now monotonous disclaimer that I always add intuitively to the blogs that cover the two subjects.

This is a very interesting time in politics, when US president Donald Trump is threatening North Korea with “fire and fury like never seen before”, President Jacob Zuma is narrowly surviving his eighth vote of no confidence and here in Zambia Chishimba Kambwili the once very powerful man in the nation of Zambia, has embarked on a tour of apologies. I must also add that the names Mmusi Maimane and Julius Malema have been mentioned by Zambians quite a lot of late.

Well, where do I start from?

When Chishimba Kambwili (CK) was expelled from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party, I did put up a post on Facebook to weigh-in an opinion and I never intended to ever comment again on anything related to the man. However, his recent tour of the country apologising at every opportunity has compelled me to weigh-in once more.  

First Chishimba Kambwili went to southern province to meet some selected chiefs and apologise for his outbursts when he was minister especially that statement where he accused the Tonga people of being highly tribal beyond any match. He had suggested back then, that not even the Nazarene Jesus Christ would be spared from the kind of tribalism practised by the Tonga people. Those words by the way were said by a chief government spokesperson. Today the PF have distanced themselves from such utterances and they have called them highly tribal and divisive saying Kabwili’s greatest enemy is his mouth.

I should mention that political discourse in Zambia over the last two years or slightly over has been lacking objectivity but just full of tribal and regional predisposition. The kind of subjectivity in political discourse exuded lacks any basic sincerity, and has only exposed the level of polarity in our society. It makes me wonder if our politicians today seek office in earnest or just to enrich themselves. Another thing I also wonder is if internal democracy in Zambian political parties does exist or it is just a fallacy. I say this because, how is it possible that all members and followers of a political party are not allowed to have diverse positions on matters but instead expected to toll the same line all the time. The only time you hear different views on issues is when one gets the boot like the case of Kambwili.

Sadly Kambwili should bear a lot of responsibility for this intolerance that has gripped Zambian politics. As a matter of fact he should bear more responsibility than just intolerance and tribalism so rife in Zambia today. The conduct of Kambwili when he had little power scares me of what he could become if given more power. What would happen if God forbid he became the head of state?

Kambwili can fool some people all the time, but he won’t fool all the people all the time, and I suppose the Chief Chitimukulu had John Fitzgerald Kennedy in mind when he turned the burly Roan MP away from his palace recently. When Chishimba Kambwili ‘rocked up’ at the Ukusefya pa Ng’wena traditional ceremony, he was promptly turned away by police. Though I may not agree with the police action of turning him away, but the question is, what was he doing there? Records indicate that the man has never attended any of the previous ceremonies the whole time he was a powerful minister. It can even be assumed that he may never have attended any, his entire life. The monster of intolerance which he created was on hand to turn him away as police swung in quick action. So this tour of duty of his to apologise to the nearest chief he can find will not fool some of us.

Since Dr Kambwili is on the apology pilgrimage, next step, let him apologise to all journalists and media organisations for the way he treated them when he had power. He would be shouting at them in his office for no reason mostly because they worked for media houses he didn’t like. I vividly remember one incident when he dressed down a reporter from The Post newspaper. That reporter was just trying to put food on the table, man! Another incident was when he tore into radio phoenix and threatened to deal with a specific presenter.

That period when Kambwili was information minister was probably the worst period for Zambia’s media industry. These days we don’t even have any professional journalists or media houses. The Kambwili reign made sure to make daylight between pro-government and anti-government media. Nothing in between and completely no professionalism just propaganda for or against. Of course he didn’t achieve this alone, but he was the most vocal, while other may have just been ‘pulling strings silently’.

I was an avid follower of Sunday interview TV programme, but then Kambwili made the program his personal propaganda tool where he featured at will vilifying his opponents and perceived enemies. After watching him twice, I vowed never to watch the program again and to this day I haven’t watched a single minute of the program since then.

I hope we never see a politician of this kind ever in our country. Sadly he has a huge cadre of followers.

The poser Dr Kambwili finds himself in now, and which he will face the next few months and years will be as a result of the zealots that urge him on. Make no mistake about it, there are pockets of die-hard Kambwili supporters out there especially in some few towns on the copper belt province. When I talk of Kambwili, I actually use the doctor title only because that is what he prefers to be addressed as. I hope this blog doesn’t misrepresent me as one who has a lot of hate for Kambwili because frankly I like a few thing about the man.

I like politicians who speak their minds and more often than not, say things 'off the cuff', as we see them for who they really are.

They don't claim to be a lot of things they are not, least of all humble. With them, what you see is what you get. I like that in a politician and it explains why I have a soft spot for Donald J. Trump. Michael Sata was the same, he said things as he saw fit. The same can be said of Dr. Guy Scott (now that’s someone I call doctor with ease). This ‘bruteness’ that Kambwili often portrays perhaps explains why a lot of people (mostly his hardcore supporters) call him junior Cobra. My view is that in politics it’s better to make your own legacy than follow in the footsteps of others.

Chishimba Kambwili's chips are down now but definitely not out. He is not the type. His next step will be very interesting. He has been expelled from the PF, a political party he co-founded with late Michael Chilufya Sata and a few others not in the PF picture now. If you ask me, it is a good thing when organisations outlive their founders and in the process evolve. But that is not the direction of my thoughts now.

What next for the man fondly referred to as CK? I doubt the UPND, a party with its stronghold in the Tonga speaking region of Southern province, will welcome him let alone entertain him.

They will vividly remember the once all powerful minister of information who would walk to ZNBC at will and ask Grevazio Zulu to interview him on Sunday interview where he would utter disparaging remarks against an entire Tonga tribe and the southern province all to score points against a few political opponents among them Hakainde Hichilema and a few of his lieutenants who are Tonga. The statement that the Tonga people wouldn’t even vote for Jesus christ, as long as he wasn't Tonga will forever remain engraved, albeit negatively in the minds of many.

I don't know if CK knows this but southern province gave Fredrick Jacob Titus Chiluba overwhelming votes in 1991. Back then, only eastern province voted for Kenneth David Kaunda, the rest of the country embraced change.

Now that CK has lost his place from the table of the powerful, what next for him? What change in him are we going to see? They all change, at least their tone of words, when they lose power. When Nevers Mumba became vice president and very powerful, I couldn’t recognise him until he was unceremoniously dropped by Levy Patrick Mwanawasa.

Back to CK, I doubt the UPND which is the second biggest political party in Zambia will entertain him. They may sympathise with him here and there because he is now on the one side as them but they will not go to bed with him. The same way Winter Kabimba couldn’t charm the UPND once he lost his political power and found himself in the political doldrums of opposition party leader in present day Zambia.

The funny thing is that CK and Winter cant also work together. CK was the chief orchestrator to the fall from grace of once most powerful man in PF, Winter Kabimba, at least this is what outsiders know. At least the gossip from the barber shops suggests this version (or as the saying goes, Nkhani yamu kachasu).

CK & Winter can’t also work with Saviour Chishimba because the two hounded the latter out of PF when he dared challenge Sata for PF presidency back in 2005/2006 when none even dared just dream that there would be a day of PF without Sata. I however think that the closest person Kambwili can work with is really just Saviour Chishimba, especially going by recent event. Whether this can happen or not remains to be seen. This is one big conundrum.

It is one of the hardest things to do trying to figure out who Chishimba Kambwili can work with as his bullish and brute nature makes it hard for him to endear himself to many. I know for sure he cannot work with Mike Mulongoti or Nason Msoni either. They will remember how he antagonised them and called them all sorts of names among them 'nashala neka party'.

Maybe CK may work with Elias Chipimo, which I strongly doubt. The two are not birds of the same feather, their methods are so different. Chipimo is a very thoughtful man, perhaps the most sober politician we currently have in Zambia. I must add very intelligent too. And that is such a parallel to Chishimba Kambwili, according to me.

But nothing surprises me in Zambian politics of today. We definitely need change in our politics of today. Of course it is a step by step process because society and politics are organic and dynamic. They evolve with time. The only problem with our politics is that it is evolving for the worse and not getting better. There is gradual degradation in our way of politics.

In all that I have written, Zambia today finds itself at a crossroads of identity, a highly polarized society where the content of individual character matters less than does a person’s tribe because of politicians like Kambwili. I know he is busy trying as hard as he can to remain relevant to the Zambian political landscape, but even though he has some pockets of faithful disciples, he may not succeed with a comeback. This is the conundrum for Chishimba Kambwili.

But who am I to judge any of our current politicians? Who am I to judge Chishimba Kambwili? For all we know or may not know, he may be a changed man as everyone can learn how to do good the same way they leant how to do bad. This is what Nelson Mandela tells us in his 1994 book, Long walk to freedom.

"No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

Zuma’s nine lives

For a man who is said to have received no formal education, I have always thought of Zuma as a very intelligent man. He is in all manner made for the words, smart and cunning a fact he seems to be well aware of thus constantly puts those traits to use even though his shrewd nature has more often than not put him in trouble. It must be mentioned that Mr Zuma has also in many instances used his guile nature to good use.

His profile from various sources, suggests that he was a key figure in brokering peace between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and Africa National Congress (ANC) in Natal region in the early 90’s. The profile further indicates that Zuma’s Zulu heritage played a big part in ending violence that was then present in Natal region as the Mangosuthu Buthelezi led IFP, apparently put extra emphasis on Zulu pride and political power. This in my view was a very important role that the ANC would not have given to someone without the credentials. The Zulu are quite a proud and militant people and at the time the situation was very delicate.

The belligerent nature of the Zulu people can easily be confirmed in the firmness and military mentality of King Shaka. In more recent years, precisely 2015, some pockets of South Africans engaged in xenophobic attacks against fellow African nationals immediately after a statement from the current reigning Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini, quoted as saying "Let us pop our head lice. We must remove ticks and place them outside in the sun. We ask foreign nationals to pack their belongings and be sent back." The attacks on foreign nationals that followed were shocking and only best described in the words of Donald Trump, fire and fury, and went on unabated for weeks. I wrote about those xenophobic attacks in a blog post I called thou-shalt-kill-thy-neighbour.

 

Of course it will be nonsensical and extremely unfair to suggest that every Zulu is militant based on the fact that there once lived king Shaka who was Zulu. However, there are many out there who get aggressive just because they are Zulu. They may be in the minority, but they exist and its fanatics that brew up trouble. The Zulu are the largest ethnic grouping in South Africa with an estimated population of over 10 million. You may agree or not agree with me but this simple task makes Zuma a genius in my eyes.

In this context, Zuma's Zulu heritage made him the perfect panacea in ANC's efforts to end the violence, emphasizing the aspect of political power and not tribal ‘domination’. The tag of Jacob Zuma being a proud Zulu has more often than not proved to be the antidote for his political rise in post-apartheid South Africa. For his efforts in bringing peace and unity in the Natal region, Zuma was rewarded with a meteoric rise in the ANC rising to deputy president in 1997 and in 1999 becoming the deputy president of South Africa.

Although Zuma was removed as deputy president of South Africa in 2005 by then president Thabo Mbeki after being implicated in corruption scandals some of which saw Zuma’s financial advisor Shabbir Shaik convicted for corruption and fraud, he has always found an opportunity to rise. In the same year Zuma faced rape charges which he later won after the court agreed with him that the sex was consensual. The highlight of the rape trial was when Zuma admitted to not using a condom despite knowing that the woman was HIV-positive but that he took a shower after the sex to decrease the risk of contracting the virus. The statement was heavily condemned by many people especially that Zuma was at the time head of the National AIDS council.

The legal battles which culminated into Zuma being dropped as South Africa’s deputy president did not keep him down forever as he emerged to defeat the incumbent Thabo Mbeki as ANC’s president in 2007. The following year Zuma was cleared of all corruption charges and his supporters propagated in a bellicose manner that the charges were politically motivated by Mbeki who was then recalled by the ANC National Executive Committee leading to his resignation. In 2009 Zuma became president of South Africa winning by a big margin and becoming the first Zulu president as both Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki were Xhosa.

Throughout his presidency, Zuma has faced a plethora of allegations and legal battles ranging from questionable arms deals, failure to declare his assets, dubious appointments, to the influence of the wealthy Gupta family and most recently the upgrade on security and private setting at his personal homestead at Nkandla in rural Kwazulu-Natal. Since then, the two main opposition parties the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Democratic Alliance (DA) have repeatedly campaigned for Zuma’s resignation but to no avail. More recently factions within the ANC have emerged prompting the opposition to push the latest vote of no confidence in Zuma’s presidency to be done though a secret ballot.

This was the eighth time Zuma faced the no confidence vote and had won the previous seven easily. However when the eighth vote was held on 8^th August 2017, the motion was defeated 198-177. The outcome was expected, but not this close. The result essentially meant that even thought there were some abstentions, at the very least 26 ANC MP’s voted in favour of the motion with the opposition, under the safety net of secret ballot. It is more frightening if at all there are any opposition MP’s that voted against the motion, then the number of ANC MP’s ready to recall Zuma and risk everything is higher most likely close to 40.

I am highly skeptical of there being a 9^th No-confidence vote coming soon. But should it come, that too will be defeated as Zuma has a political life of the proverbial cat. He has nine lives and unlike when the ANC recalled Thabo Mbeki, they don’t have a successor in waiting now (Especially not a successor in waiting who will be the first Zulu president after two Xhosa). There is too much for the ANC to lose. In addition, the threat of the DA is more now under the leadership of Mmusi Maimane than it was under Helen Zille, though the DA is still not a much trusted party in Black South Africa.

Whatever happens, Mr Zuma is smart enough to outwit his opponents. He is definitely not going down now. Not from a motion of no confidence. Jacob Zuma was clearly thrust to power on the back of two Xhosa presidents, after the end of the apartheid era. He represents the biggest tribal grouping in South Africa, and that is a big factor in African politics. A factor far more important than Zuma’s tribe is the fact that he represents the ANC, a party of Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu. This is the party synonymous with the struggle against apartheid and is still very popular in most parts of the nation no matter how unpopular Jacob Zuma has become.

It can be highly argued that many ANC MP’s who voted to keep Zuma, basically voted for their livelihood as a snap election now would have proved too unpredictable. Voting for Zuma would have essentially meant voting themselves out. My view is that Zuma understands these dynamics and he knows well enough how his survival rests on him keeping all the dynamics at play to his advantage.

Jacob Zuma may have survived yet another motion of no confidence, but the truth is that his enemies are now everywhere and that he is hanging by the thread only because there is clearly no ready successor. The question is for how long will Zuma's cunning and witful nature save him? He will survive for now but should South Africans find a suitable successor, he will be gone. I hope the likes of Mmusi Maimane do know this - that it is just a suitable and sobber successor (or alternative) that the people seek.

Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger mother - Book review

Synopsis:

Published in 2011, Battle Hymn of the Tiger mother chronicles the experiences of a Philippines born Chinese Yale University law professor married to a Jewish American, in raising their two daughters Sophia and Loiusa, in Cosmopolitan 21^st century America. The book is written with a somewhat ironic tone suggesting western parenting fosters the idea of children’s individuality whereas ‘Chinese’ parenting cultivates competitiveness based on arming children with strong work habits and several hours of practice. The book has since its publication ignited a lot of debate with most westerners questioning Chua’s methods of parenting as many westerners believe the strict regime infringes on children’s rights. Even though her methods have been questioned, the results are quite great as Sophia and Lulu excelled at most of their activities, no grade below an A, and always excelling in their musical lessons travelling to perform violin and piano around America and Europe.

“This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs. It’s also about Mozart and Mendelssohn, the piano and the violin, and how we made it to Carnegie Hall. This was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones. But instead, it’s about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how I was humbled by a thirteen-year-old.” – Amy Chua

Publisher: Penguin Press

Pages: 240

Review:

Battle Hymn of the Tiger mother opens with a very interesting line that makes the reader want go on and on without putting the book down, even at the end of each of the three parts each with its own titled and numbered chapters.

‘A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereo-typically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it’s like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I’ve done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• attend a sleepover

• have a playdate

• be in a school play

• complain about not being in a school play’

For a book that begins in such a grandiose fashion with a mother bragging about how a certain demographic she belongs to is so successful at ‘producing’ math whizzes, one would be forgiven for thinking the book is a parenting guide. Contrariwise, the book is full of somewhat controversial statements most of which contributed to the author being demonised after the book was published.

‘Fifteen minutes later, she was still yelling, crying, and kicking, and I’d had it. Dodging her blows, I dragged the screeching demon to our back porch door, and threw it open. The wind chill was twenty degrees, and my own face hurt from just a few seconds’ exposure to the icy air. But I was determined to raise an obedient Chinese child—in the West, obedience is associated with dogs and the caste system, but in Chinese culture, it is considered among the highest of virtues—if it killed me. “You can’t stay in the house if you don’t listen to Mommy,” I said sternly. “Now, are you ready to be a good girl? Or do you want to you want go outside?”  Lulu stepped outside. She faced me, defiant.’

The excerpt above is one of the many parts of the book where the reader may be forced at ‘face value’, to question Ms Chua’s model of parenting. I mean, what kind of parent throws her three year old child in the freezing cold? This was all for ‘refusing’ piano practice, or as it was, Amy demonstrated to the toddler how to play a single note with a single finger, evenly, three times, but little Lulu instead smashed at many notes at the same time with two open palms. Amy asked her to stop but the toddler smashed harder and the whole piano lesson escalated to a big furore where Lulu smashed at the piano with both hands faster and harder and reacting to attempts to pull her away from the piano by “yelling, crying, and kicking furiously”.

Like I say at face value one can judge Ms Chua harshly. As a parent, I have come to learn that there will be moments like that in parenting. I am a product of strict parenting myself thus the book made for very interesting reading. As a matter of fact, I too espouse strict parenting. This is more so during the formative years between birth and fifteen years. Thereafter, I strongly recommend the idea of easing up slightly. However, there is no manual for parenting that can be applied universally even among communities in the same geographical locations or with the same cultures.

What makes Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother such a wonderful read is the fact that it’s not a ‘how-to’ book or any guide/parenting manual. In the book, Ms Chua writes about many events where she pushes her two children to work extra hard in academics and the extracurricular activities she chose for them, putting many hours of practice. The girls were not allowed to have sleepovers, no playdates and most importantly no grade lower than an A on report cards. The results from her parenting style were great as her daughter were ‘perennial overachievers’,

She writes, ‘Sophia excelled in nursery school, particularly in math. While the other kids were learning to count from 1 to 10 the creative American way—with rods, beads, and cones—I taught Sophia addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals the rote Chinese way.’

In another passage she writes, ‘But probably most important, we stuck with the Chinese model because the early results were hard to quarrel with. Other parents were constantly asking us what our secret was. Sophia and Lulu were model children. In public, they were polite, interesting, helpful, and well spoken. They were A students, and Sophia was two years ahead of her classmates in math.’

The truth of life is that children will only be performers in whatever they do if they are pushed. A lot of talented sportsmen have fallen by the way side because of lacking discipline and putting in extra hours of practice. Sir Alex Ferguson is famously quoted as saying, "David Beckham is Britain’s finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practises with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn’t contemplate." Another fact of life is that children will not work hard on their own unless given a push. They will prefer a lot of hours playing video games or watching television. In order for children to spend hours practicing, there has to be a deliberate push and Amy Chua’s Tiger parenting model may just be that push that is needed in order to ensure that children attain excellence and not mediocrity.

Nonetheless, while I may be a proponent of strict parenting, Ms Chua’s style was over bearing. In a way, it was almost as if she was trying so much to achieve her own dreams through her children which most times is never the best way to raise children. In doing so Ms Chua portrays herself more of a callous and over bearing mother. This is more so portrayed by the imperceptible role her husband, also a Yale University law professor, Jed Rubenfeld plays. Jed is not mentioned many times in the book unless the whole family is on a trip overseas or a mention of his family especially his mother who did not particularly get along well with Amy. Other moments when Jed is mentioned are when he tries to reign in on the excesses of his wife’s ‘Tiger parenting’ but he clearly didn’t get his way and there isn’t much mention of him.

Despite the book being controversial in many aspects according to western parenting standards, it is sure a good read and will ask a lot of introspective questions to many a reader. But take nothing 'too serious' from the book, it is just a tongue-in-cheek memoir. 
It is definitely not a parenting manual!

Maureen Nkandu’s Tried and Tested, My first Fifty years – Book Review

Synopsis:

“When she was twelve years old, Maureen Nkandu told Queen Elizabeth II that she wanted to be a television star when she grew up. Twenty years later she was able to tell the Queen at a reception in Durban South Africa that she had achieved her ambition. In her autobiography, Maureen discusses her early days at Zambia national Broadcasting Company and why she left, her move to Bophuthatswana, training in India and Europe, her challenging but exciting career with South African Broadcasting and her work with the BBC in London. In pursuit of a story and at considerable personal risk she tracked down rebel leaders like Laurent Kabila of the DRC, was arrested in Kinshasa on alleged spying charges, and just got out of Freetown before the rebels invaded. She has interviewed a long list of African and world political leaders and won awards for her broadcasting. More recently she has worked with the United Nations and the World Bank.

This book also frankly discusses Maureen’s family background, her rivalries with her siblings, difficult relationships, and sometimes abusive marriage. It also reveals her love for her parents, her three children and the deep she had for her journalist father.”

Publisher: Gadsden Publishers

Pages: 136

Review:

 “Kalusha and I were young, famous and madly in love. When I was seven months pregnant rumours started flying that I had given birth to a coloured-Indian baby. Ours was a very public break-up and I was humiliated.”, wrote Maureen Nkandu on facebook. This was a post she put up on 29^th June 2017 as part of the promotion and publicity of her book.

Another post read; “I was 18 years old when I joined ZNBC. I was young, naïve, confident, determined and grew into a seasoned news anchor. But I suffered immense sexual harassment and bullying. I refused to give in. They decided to transfer me to the commercial department and later ZIS saying I was a bad news reader. I said NO. It was time to leave.”

These two publicity posts were enough to make me mark my diary so I could get myself a copy when she was in Lusaka next on 1^st July 2017, as she was in Ndola on 30^th June. When Maureen Nkandu graced ZNBC screens in the early 90’s. Though very young, I was old enough to remember the lasting impression she left with me.

I took two days to read the book (maybe less). One can read the book within a day, but once I put the book down my wife picked it up and I couldn’t continue until she was done. The book is an easy read, succinct and quite thrilling, and stimulating I must say. Maureen lets the reader into her inner fears, then her fascinating strength of character, her sheer determination and zeal to rise whenever she faced adversity. Perhaps the most gripping aspects in the book was the fact that behind the beautiful face that was a darling of many Zambian and international viewers was a woman who was just human with her own flaws. A woman who was fragile and was taken advantage of by some men.

And yet it’s not all gloom and doom. The courage and strength of Maureen is shown through her fearlessness that made her leave her country of birth to apartheid South Africa. Her search for excellence shines through her story of how she left to study in Europe without even guaranteed tuition and other fees.

Perhaps the part of the book where I drew more inspiration is when she narrates her ordeal in the Democratic Republic of Congo after she and her cameraman (a supposed relative of Nelson Mandela), were arrested by Rogue soldiers for filming them as they were assaulting innocent civilians in the city center. The narration of her excursion into Freetown in Sierra Leone in the hope of a scoop to interview rebel leader Foday Sankoh was one gripping chapter. The fact that she hurriedly left that country just in time to escape an ambush of the UN peacekeeping troops some of whom had kept her and her colleague company and provided links for news sources. UN peacekeepers from Zambia caught off guard and 23 killed as Maureen puts it in her book, ‘hit like sitting ducks’.

That incident made sad global news headlines back then in 1999 as world cameras rolled on pictures of lifeless soldiers in UN uniforms with Zambian flags on the pocket and shoulder lay sprawled on the ground. The book highlights a lot of other career highlights for Maureen among them being the reporter who broke the news through the BBC that former Zambian president Fredrick Jacob Titus Chiluba would not change the constitution to stand for a third term of office. 

Throughout the pages, her book is an inspiration. In chasing her dreams, be it as a broke single mother barely surviving in foreign countries while pursuing her studies or her forays deep into rebel territories where civilisation almost seemed non-existent, her life story is full of inspiration.

However, I felt she was rather tight-fisted with some gritty details or ‘pin down facts’. For instance she mentions of sexual harassment from her boss at ZNBC which even almost destroyed her career, but there are no names mentioned. I bet the ‘boss’ preyed on more young journalists and definitely destroyed their careers. She mentions of colleagues who were in love affairs with government officials who used their authority to ensure she was removed from ZNBC to avert competition that she posed. She mentions some ANC comrades who were pivotal in her ‘escape’ from Bophuthatswana but there are no names or anything more detailed.

Some of the ‘revelations’ should have either included more detail or should have been completely left out of the book. Once you decide to pen a biography you have to be willing to let people in on the juicy details. This is what biographies are all about. If there are details that one is not willing to discuss, then one should not bring up the ‘clues’. The ANC connections for instance left me thinking that is a whole story that requires telling (maybe for another day). Granted, she opened up about her first sexual encounter and the humiliation she felt after she found hotel staff talking about it and other details like an abusive marriage and how she almost twice tried to commit suicide. She could have even spared us that, a child was born so obviously she had sexual encounters with Kalusha Bwalya. Her suicide attempts too were already in the public domain, hence nothing really new.

Despite the fact that I feel some juicy details were deliberately omitted, the book is an all-round excellent read. Maureen’s attempts to put in her own words some of the rumours that mostly followed her throughout her first 50 years is captivating. I like it all the more because she is one of the few non-political celebrities to write her biography. Zambia has a lot of heroes whose lives need to be put up and out to encourage and inspire. Politicians should not have the monopoly.

I recommend the book for anyone’s collection. It will petrify, terrify, inspire, challenge, motivate and all the while grip you.  

Libya & Russia – The next dream

There has been a great furor in Zambia recently following the loss by Zambia to Mozambique in an AFCON 2019 qualification match on 10th june 2017. Well here is a piece i wrote a few years ago around 2013 following some very questionable performnces by the Chipolopolo.

The piece was never posted because I wanted to edit it further or even add more analysis to it and i just never got the time to add anything on it and like many pieces I write, it just never made it on my blog. Here is the piece uplifted as raw as it was left back then in 2013 or there abouts;

The inevitable has happened. The Zambia National soccer team has yet again failed to qualify to the FIFA world cup. In as much as most fans are cross with the Ghana FA and other Ghanaian officials, I beg to differ with that approach. Our qualification was not lost in Ghana, but in Lesotho and Ndola. I only mention these two places because I don’t want to include the spanking we got in Khartoum as a FIFA boardroom decision gave us a lifeline.

Even though the loss in Khartoum did not count towards our failure to book a maiden WC appearance, the performance Zambia put up their still deserves some mention. It was so terrible a performance, I was left wondering if that had been the same Zambia that had won the AFCON title a few months before. In winning the AFCON, Zambia actually thumped Sudan 3nil, which was also the score line the same score line the previous time the two teams had met at another AFCON tournament.

After another world cup qualification campaign that has ended in misery for Zambia it is time we looked at what the problems had been and how we can remedy such in order to secure qualification to AFCON 2015 and World cup 2018. Looking back at the 2014 qualification campaign, we actually didn’t come as close to qualification as most people may have thought.  We ended up with a whopping 4 points behind group leaders Ghana; this is despite free 3 points. We couldn’t beat Sudan home and away while Lesotho beat Sudan. Then add to that the fact that Ghana the group leaders haven’t yet made it to Brazil but have to endure a knock out stage. The closest Zambia ever got to World cup qualification really must be USA 94 when we just needed a draw in Morocco. This time around, it was disaster.

Looking at the games (competitive) the Chipolopolo have played post 2012 AfCON, it has been one heart break after another.

Sudan 2(0) vs 0(3) Zambia:

In this game the stand out performers were Stophira Sunzu and Nathan Sinkala. The flops were Thomas Nyirenda, Isaac Chansa and Emmanuel Mayuka. The rest were all below average. Chisamba Lungu may have shown some individual brilliance but it was nothing of note when the whole team performance was so disjointed. The result was that Zambia was beaten pants down 2-0. Thanks to Sudan not following the rules the result was overturned and a 3-0 score line awarded to Zambia.

Zambia 1 vs 0 Ghana

This game played on 9 June 2012 was probably the best Zambia has ever played post 2012 AFCON. There was concentration at the back and the midfield was well marshaled and captain fantastic Christopher Katongo was excellent on the day. Even though Ghana tried to come back in the last 10 minutes, the lads were resolute and they held their own and got the points. My man of the match was Sunzu and the other top performers included Hichaani Himonde, Rainford Kalaba, Emmanuel Mbola, and Kennedy Mweene. My flops of the game were Emmanuel Mayuka and Felix Katongo.

Zambia 1 vs 0 Uganda

The big news on this hot sunny afternoon of September 8^th 2012 was that striker Jacob Mulenga of Dutch side FC Utrecht had failed to make the final 18 for the game. Jacob was due to end his 10 month absence from the team after a long injury spell. However, Skipper Chris Katongo made light of the exclusion of the Utrecht star man by tapping in from close range in the 21^st minute and having another effort ruled out later. However this 2013 AFCON qualifier ended with Uganda searching for an equalizer and Zambia thanking Sunzu and Mweene for staying in the game. The obvious flop in this game was Felix Katongo who was even booed by the crowd. The other flop was James Chamanga who missed some chances a national team player worth his salt must not be guilty of wasting. Chris Katongo also seemed to have disappeared from the game the whole of the 2^nd half. Mweene and Sunzu again proved crucial and Chisamba lungu and Jonas Sakuwaha showed a lot of promise in the few minutes they were accorded on the pitch.

Uganda 1 vs 0 Zambia

This is the match that made everyone to sit back and realize something was wrong in the Chipolopolo. Uganda was the better side on the day and probably on the two legs. Zambia’s lack of goal scoring prowess was laid bare in this game. Captain Katongo again did not turn up, and a host of other offensive players. Surprisingly, even Nathan didn’t turn up in this game. My flops of the game though were Isaac Chansa and Nkausu. Top performers were Mwene, Hichani Himondee and Sunzu.

Ethiopia 1 vs 1 Zambia

Despite being the under dogs, being a man down, being a goal down, the Walya Antelopes showed more hunger more skill and more determination than did the chipolopolo. This was Herve Renard's 11th game in charge of Zambia at a Cup of Nations, and had lost only 1 Of the previous 10 (v Cameroon in 2010), the only game when he wore a blue shirt. As early as the 17^th minute, Zambia escaped a scare when Sunzu and Hichanni were caught napping by a long ball which came to Saladin Seid on the edge of the box, with Mweene flying towards him. Luckily he lobbed it over the bar besides bouncing inside the six yard box. Thanks to the poor pitch it went over.

The flops of this game were Stophira Sunzu, Hichani Himonde, Joseph Musonda Rainford Kalaba, Isaac Chansa, Chris Katongo and Jacob Mulenga for the few minutes he was on the pitch. Chisamba was the most outstanding Zambian on the pitch. Mweene was excellent, even saving a penalty and Mukuka Mulenga was superb after coming on as a sub.

Zambia 1 vs 1 Nigeria

I have been one of the loudest supporters of Herve Renard, but on this day I joined the band wagon for those calling for his dismissal. Only difference is i don't want him fired immediately but to let him wind down his contract which expires in 2014 I am made to believe. 

Reasons:
1. In as much as most players loss of form was to Blame for Zambia's lost WC dream, Renard should bear the brunt as he kept using the same players. It seems some players have personal to holder slots in the team. This even upset Jacob who almost retired.

2. Zambia's footballing strength has always been in fluent attacking football, but Renard is a very cautious coach all the time hence sets his teams to avoid losing rather than to win games. This explain the string of nil-nil draws and at most 1-1.

3. Renard's away record is nothing to write home about. With that record and the ‘Fox’ still at the helm of Chipolopolo, Zambia may not qualify to AFCON 2015.

4. With Renard's percentage win of 36.5%, this does not look good in any way and cannot be a basis for him to be given another hefty contract.

5. Zambia has never struggled against sides like Botswana, Lesotho, Uganda, Ethiopia, Burkinafaso and even Sudan whom Lesotho walloped in the last WC qualifier. Under Renard, all these teams have proved to be a thorn in Zambia's flesh. Even Malawi has beaten Zambia.

6. For a long time now the chipolopolo have failed lamentably to find a scoring formula thus ending most matches either goalless or scoring the odd goal. Oddly enough, Renard seems to be out of sorts as regards solutions to this. The problem will most likely persist.

7. Winning AFCON has left Renard with little hunger within himself to do more. Or it could be the hunger lost within the players, hence they may need a new face to kickstart that hunger.

8. There are players who should no longer be the mainstay of Chipolopolo senior national team, unless at the most just playing supporting roles. Among them should be Christopher Katongo, Rainford Kalaba and Collins Mbesuma. These are not small players by any means, hence there must be a systematic way to move from a dependence on them as they have really contributed little in their recent appearances.

9. In view of point 8, a very courageous coach should make Chisamba Lungu, as the main creative force for Chipolopolo even though other people argue that Chisamba does not score too often and rarely assists too. There must be a very competent understudy to Kennedy Mweene too.

10. All in all, there should be a plan for the next 5 – 10 years so that we can have a competent team to qualify Zambia to the next possible 5 international tournaments, starting with AFCON 2015, AFCON 2017, World cup 2018, AFCON 2019, AFCON 2021 and World cup 2022.

If this is not done and we expect the current crop of players to deliver for us then we may be doomed. Zambia may not qualify even for AFCON 2015 and AFCON 2017. Qualification for AFCON has always been a minimum requirement for Zambia, but going by recent performances, we will miss a couple of tournaments before we are eventually forgotten by the global football world.

One thing is certain, the glory from 2012 AFCON is gone and gone too quick and we must face our inner demons and exorcise them. We can only move forward if we did an extensive audit and a SWOT analysis.

Just a foreword from me if we are ever to do a SWOT analysis; our players’ careers have a very short lifespan, 3-4 years at their peak for most of them. Whatever causes this, should be the first thing that must be purged!

For now eyes on Libya and Russia.