REMOVE ‘CHIEFS’ TITLE AND RENAME OUR KINGS PROPERLY
Dear Editor, WITHOUT any further delay, measures should be taken to remove this 'Chief' or ‘Paramount Chief’ or ‘Headman’ titles from our lexicon.
These so-called designations are pejorative.
They were imposed on the conquered African people by European colonialists to essentially, distinguish our monarchs from those in Buckingham Palace.
For example, we could retain the Mwine Lubemba designation for the 'Sovereign of the Bemba Kingdom'.
This title is equal to Mwene Mutapa, the historically acknowledged King who dominated the areas now known as Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique and parts of Namibia and Botswana from around the 15th Century.
The title Mwene Mutapa was deformed and distorted as Monomutapa by the Portuguese.
Another illustration is that of Petauke where we have Kalinda Bwalo, a sovereign status that means one who oversees an area, or just an overseer of a part of the King’s realm.
This title has over time been deformed into Kalindawalo.
Kalinda (b)walo is in fact a sub-ruler left behind and anointed by the conquering Kalonga Gawa Undi, the King of the Chewa Kingdom.
Kalinda Bwalo was given a portion of Undi’s Kingdom to 'look over’ us, the Nsenga people in mostly what is today called Petauke district.
The Ministry of National Guidance, or the Ministry of Culture may need to refocus their attention and delve deeply into these things so as to re-evaluate our nation's cultural standings.
Only then, shall we ever hope to regain the dignity lost during the European occupation!
Dr Sam Phiri (UNZA)