Jack Zimba

  JACK ZIMBA Kafue National Park WE ARRIVED at camp as the sun was going to sleep, giving its last kiss to this vast wildness, and were welcomed by a pod of resident hippos with their deep honking. Mozhi bush camp was our destination. It sits on the confluence of the Moshi and Lufupa rivers, which both flow into the Kafue River, the lifeblood of Kafue National Park. Moshi River has an interesting beginning, spouting out of a rocky mountain as a spring of warm, crystal-clear water, then flowing eastwards, hugged by water berry trees that line its edge, adding to its beauty and serenity. The water berry trees defy gravity as they have developed roots that grab onto the edge of the river like a giant octopus. It is nature’s ingenuity that allows some of the trees to grow vertically over the river, and to remain standing even when the river grabs some of the land on which they stand. But, clearly, they are also guardians of the river, ensuring its life. We were at the wes...

  RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin with African Union c hairperson and president of the Union of Comoros Azali Assouman at the Russia-Africa Summit recently. JACK ZIMBA THE Russia-Africa Summit held in St. Petersburg recently had one overarching message – a push by Vladimir Putin for a multipolar economic world, and the de-dollarisation of the world economy (which basically means promoting international trade in other currencies other than the dollar). A multipolar economic world refers to a system where there is more than one central power or the domination of more than one nation or region. In other words, the push is to end America’s hegemonic domination in the world. During a plenary session, Mr Putin was unequivocal in his quest to win Africa over to his side of the geopolitical divide, which has only widened with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on one hand, and the cold war between the US and China, on the other. And the Russian leader had a strong bait to woo African nation...

  The Queen Mother says there is no closure until she know who killed her father, and why. The Queen Mother hold vigil at the site of her father's killing. Sylvester Kofi Williams was a distinguished lawyer and politician.   JACK ZIMBA Lusaka                            “THIS is the exact spot where my father’s body lay when he was shot dead. It was lying in its blood for three hours,” said Sylvia Golden Hope quietly, almost meditatively as if the body was still lying there. She was wearing an ankle-length peach dress and a headdress sequinned with cowries, and a tingling miniature bell dangling on her chest, giving her an enigmatic look like a goddess. She also insisted on her official title: Saa Pog’Naa Yaa Asantewaa Ababio II or, simply, Queen Mother. She sees herself as the reincarnation of a venerated and fearless ancient Ghanaian ma...

Alice Lenshina. Alice Lenshina built one of the biggest church buildings in 1956, and attracted thousands of worshippers every week.   A young girl recites scriptures at a church in Ndola. It is one of the most vibrant congregations in the country. A shrines stands on the spot where Lenshina is said to have met God, and where she was handed instructions and powers as a prophetess. In the foreground, objects surrendered by witches and wizards to Lenshina. The church has a few thousand followers. A woman drums to call people for prayers. A worshipper during Sunday service in Chinsali. JACK ZIMBA IT IS 10:00 hours in Kasomo village in Chinsali District, and an elderly woman is repeatedly beating a big drum with a stick. It is a call to prayer. It is the same drum that was used to call people to prayer when Alice Lenshina, a powerful self-proclaimed prophetess and leader of the Lumpa Church, walked these grounds over five decades ago. As the sound of the drum reverberates ...

    Economist Mwanda Phiri is a firm proponent of charter cities.   JACK ZIMBA Lusaka   AFRICA will have the fastest urban growth rate in the world, with its cities taking up an additional 950 million new residents by 2050 through urbanisation, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Cities across the continent are growing at an alarming rate of 70 million new residents annually, with already densely-populated ones such as Cairo, Egypt, and Kinshasa, DRC, expected to double their tallies in three decades. Even Lusaka, which was initially designed as a Garden City for 100,000 residents, is now swelling with three million dwellers, and growing at over four percent annually. And so what is preoccupying the minds of many development experts and economists now is how to match that population growth with industrialisation that can guarantee decent incomes, jobs and decent housing for city dwellers so that they do not have to l...