Lusaka city to clock 100 years however July 1st centenary celebrations deferred

The Lusaka City Council has deferred the 100 years centenary official launch to a date to be advised.Lusaka was established as a settlement in 1913.

Lusaka was the site of a relatively sizeable village of the Soli people named after its headman Lusaaka, which, according to history, was located at Manda Hill, near where the Zambia’s National Assembly building now stands. This Soli village was discovered in the early 1960s during the construction of the National Assembly building and the residential houses in Olympia Park.What has remained of the old village settlement is Chakeluka Archaeological site, declared as a protected national monument under statutory instrument number 37 of 1972.

In Nyanja, Manda means graveyard. The area was expanded by European (mainly British) settlers in 1905 with the building of the railway.
In 1935, due to its fairly central location, its situation on the railway and at the crossroads of the Great North Road and Great East Road, it was chosen to replace Livingstone as the capital of the British colony of Northern Rhodesia.

As the city clocks 100 years this July, there is no better way to celebrate Lusaka’s centenary, than appreciating the city’s historic heritage.

Public Relations Manager, Chanda Makanta, told ZANIS in Lusaka that the 100 years Centenary, which is scheduled to come under a theme ‘100 Lusaka, let’s celebrate’, was to be launched on July 1 this year.
Ms Makanta explained that the deferring of the launch of the centenary has been triggered by the poor financial response that the event has received from the public.

She said the local authority has since written to stakeholders and business houses seeking financial support but that the response has been bad.

Ms Makanta has since called on Lusaka residents and business houses to join in the city’s 100 years centenary celebrations to be held this year.

She has reminded all residents of Lusaka that the celebration is important as it is not a political issue but an event to remind each other of where the city began from and celebrate the achievements and developments that have taken place.

She added that Lusaka is the indigenous land for the Soli and Lenje speaking people but that it has accommodated all tribes because of the developments that have taken place since its establishment.

Ms Makanta said despite being colonised by the British, residents of Lusaka today have something to smile about.

She noted that the event needed the support of everyone, adding that the local council alone cannot manage because of some financial constraints and a wide range of programs that also require financial attention.

Heritage sites in Lusaka

-The former Charter House, located at the junction of Independence Avenue and Haile Salaissie Road was constructed by the British South African Company (BSAC), a company responsible for the management and administration of Northern Rhodesia up to 1924 when the territory became a British Protectorate, and currently houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

-Old Freedom House, which was a launching place of the party activities during the struggle for independence, and it is from this same building that the United National Independence Party (UNIP) manifesto of 1962 was launched House located along Freedom Way.The building is not only an important national monument for the important activities that took place, but also as remembrance for that heroic period.

-1909 Njanji Commuter building located on Heroes Square opposite the Main Railway Station.

-Old National Assembly building,built in 1932 and designed by John Hoogterp currently houses the Ministry of Defence and the House of Chiefs.Its foundation stone was laid by His Royal Highness Prince George of the United Kingdom.Before independence, the Legislature popularly known as the Legico used to meet in this building to make laws for the protectorate.

-The Old Post Office Building, constructed in 1933, was the first Post office in Lusaka, and is located at the junction of Katondo and Freedom Way.

-Former Dutch Reformed Church, built in 1926, and it depicts Dutch architecture.This building is now under the ownership of the Salvation Army Church, and is located in Villa Elizabetha

-the building is that houses the Reformed Church of Zambia in Kamwala Township.

-The 1932 House Number 110D located along the Great North Road opposite Impala Service Station, and is currently being used as a private residence.

-Kabwata Roundavelles(named after Chief Lusaaka’s son), are grass thatched one-roomed Roundavelles, are remnants of a total of 500 houses built in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.These represent the colonial concept of what African accommodation in town ought to have been.

-The Old Lusaka Boys School was the first government school for children of Europeans farmers in the surrounding areas established.This school, located on a site originally founded as a European school by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1908, began its operations as a school in 1916. Today, the structure is used as offices for the National Heritage Conservation Commission’s East Central Region.

-the Marapodi House,
-Lusaka Millers House (the current location of the National Milling Company premises)
-the Old Fisher’s House
-the E.W tarry’s buildings.
– the Alymer May Cemetery ,named in honour of a South African medical officer who came to Northern Rhodesia in 1908.It has graves dating as far back as 1922 and was a burial site for the English, Jews and members of the Dutch Reformed and Roman Catholic Churches.This is the country’s only known site where one of the former British governors Sir John Maybin’s, are remains are rested.Sir Maybin was also commander-in-chief of Northern Rhodesia from 1938 to 1939.
This site is also the only public cemetery in the country with a chapel of gothic architecture erected in 1928 on a grave of a loved one-Audrey Mary Elizabeth Murray.The construction of the buildings on the graves is similar to the African practice at chiefs’ or religious leaders’ graves.

-Another one of the country’s most significant heritage sites is the Chakeluka, the site of the earliest Bantu or first farmers to have settled in what is today called Lusaka.Archaeological investigations at Kapwirimbwe site in Chelstone area showed evidence of Early Iron Age farmers; the remains of hunted game, cultivated crops and iron objects being prominent.
This was replaced or subsumed by Later Iron Age group in the 11th century. Evidence of this transition comes from Twickenham (now called Chakeluka) site.