‘We are one people’

Paramount Chief Inkosi Ya Makosi Mpezeni IV of Zambia says Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique are one and that the three countries must not let their enemies to split them.

Inkosi ya Makosi Mpezeni, the Paramount Chief of the Ngoni people of Zambia’s Eastern Province, said that besides sharing common borders, the three countries had a lot of things in common.

“We are one people because the borders we share were created by Europeans,” Inkosi ya Makosi Mpezeni said. “For this reason, let us be united and shame those who do not wish us well.”

He was speaking when presidents Edgar Lungu and Peter Mutharika of Zambia and Malawi respectively, paid a courtesy call on him at Mtenguleni in Chipata, Zambia on Saturday.

The two leaders paid the courtesy call on arrival from Chipata Town just before the start of the Ngoni’s Nc’wala Ceremony at the village of Mtenguleni, about 25 Km from the town along the Great East Road.

The Nc’wala is both a harvest and ritual ceremony held every last Saturday of the month of February. Zambia’s new President, Edgar Lungu had invited Mutharika to the popular annual cultural event.

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi was also invited to the celebrations, but failed to show up because of floods in his country. He instead sent a representative.

The event allows the Ngoni people to thank God for the fresh crops in the fields, and that is why it is called a ‘first fruits ceremony’.

It is also a time when the Ngoni pay homage to their ancestral spirits, and also commemorate their victories of their tribal wars during their migration from current day South Africa.

The Ncwala Ceremony was banned by the British Colonial Government in 1898 after a battle between British troops and Ngoni warriors led by Nsingo, a son of Mpezeni at Fort Jameson, now Chipata.

It was revived in 1980 by Paramount Chief Mpezeni III, Pontino Jere.

Inkosi Ya Makosi Mpezeni IV, reportedly Zambia’s longest reigning Paramount Chief having been on the throne for 33 years now, called on President Lungu to work closely with his Malawian counterpart.

“I thank you for bringing the President of Malawi to this year’s Nc’wala celebrations,” the Paramount Chief said. “We are one and have to work together for the good of the peoples of the two countries.”

“The boundaries are artificial, created by Europeans. We speak the same languages. I was surprised when I went to Tete [in Mozambique] I found people speaking Chewa. “

In his remarks, President Mutharika, who was accompanied by First Lady Gertrude Mutharika, said he was happy to be in Zambia, calling the country “my home”.

Mutharika said when he was invited to the Nc’wala celebrations, he accepted as he also wanted to thank Lungu for the peaceful elections and to condole him on the death of his predecessor Michael Sata.

Lungu was sworn in as Zambia’s sixth president in January this year after a presidential poll following the death last October of Sata in a London hospital.

Mutharika said President Nyusi would have been present at the ceremony, but had failed because of floods in his country. He stressed the need for leaders of the three countries to work together.

“We want people of our countries to move freely,” he said, and concurred with Inkosi Ya Makosi Mpezeni IV, saying “we are one people” as evidenced by the intermarriages across borders.

Mutharika pledged to work and share ideas with President Lungu in various spheres of development such as trade to improve lives of their peoples.

“We want people in the SADC [Southern African Development Community] to work together and move forward,” he told Lungu and Paramount Chief Inkosi Ya Makosi Mpezeni IV.

Lungu thanked Mutharika for accepting his invitation to the Nc’wala ceremony, saying “as you said, we are all one people and I promise to work together to make sure there is prosperity in the region.”

The Zambian president said he would learn a lot from his Malawian counterpart.

The Nc’wala ceremony dates back before the reign of Shaka when independent chiefs in Zululand would conduct their first fruits ceremonies known as the Ukunyatela, or stepping into the New Year.

The event is characterised by dancers wearing animal skin and wielding shields, knobkerries and spears.  The costume is worn as semblance of the military attire ancestors wore during their tribal wars.

The ceremony climaxed when a warrior speared to death a black bull, which was selected for the purpose. It was the moment everyone wanted to witness and is not for the faint-hearted.

A warrior stepped forward and speared the bull with a single stab. In the old days if the warrior failed the task, drastic action was taken against him. But these days, he is severely reprimanded by the chief.

After the bull was killed through a process called Mnikelo, another warrior quickly slit its throat before collecting the blood. The blood was taken to Inkosi Ya Makosi Mpezeni IV, in a leopard skin, to drink.

Then the warriors cut the bull’s carcass and in no time, some of it, including the liver, was given to the Paramount Chief and some of his guests to taste.

Mutharika, who drove from Lilongwe to the ceremony and back, said during the courtesy call on Inkosi Ya Makosi Mpezeni IV that he had opted to travel by road so he could see and greet people on the way.

During the Nc’wala ceremony, which saw an estimated half a million people converge on Mtenguleni Village, the Malawi leader presented a gift to the chief, as did Lungu and many other people.