POSTBAG WE ARE ALL ‘FOREIGNERS’ Editor, First of all, I am amazed thatsome people are making noise about Guy Scott’s ancestry. I ask: what did your parents or grandparent do to free Zambia from colonial rule ? Guy Scott’s father was honoured for his part in the liberation struggle. His newspaper, the African Mail, now Daily Mail, was pro-African, pro-Independence. Guy Scott’s father even became an outcast in the European community. When Zambia got independence, he was honoured by his adopted country, and UNIP even took over the newspaper to save his financial position. Apart from the Tonga and Ila, the Shila, Mambwe-Namwanga group, just about every tribe in Zambia actually hails from Congo and displaced the local population. When Jan van Riebeck was settling at the Cape in 1652, the Bemba were still in South Western Congo, the Ngonis were in KwaZulu Natal and the Lozis in the Cabinda area of Congo/Angola and so on. In fact, the Ngoni only arrived in Zambia just about the time David Livingstone was tramping around Zambia. The Bemba were so recent; they claim that in their travels, they linked up with De Lacerda the Portuguese traveller, who gave the first written description of Zambia, including Mwata Kazembe’s court, which also only got established in 1750-1760. To cut the long story short, we are all ‘foreigners’. If we want to be very strict about this, then let us all leave the country to the Tonga, Ila, Shila, the San, who we pushed aside and colonised and eventually even started calling their land ours. Most of the people making noise about Scott lack of Zambianess can’t even trace their own family history. Let us focus on better things such as how to move Zambia forward. I think Scott is a patriot. One Zambia, One Nation. James - See more at: postzambia/news.php?id=3660
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:01:51 +0000
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