By Dr Vernon J. Mwaanga, GOEZ
It is hard to believe that has Zambia turned 60 years.
I still have vivid recollections of midnight on October 23, 1964 at the then Independence Stadium, as the Union Jack came down and the Zambian Flag was hoisted, tears ran down from my eyes.
It was the end of the struggle for independence from Britain.
It was a long journey of self sacrifice and commitment.
I pay tribute to all those who sacrificed their lives for Zambia to be free. Generous tribute goes to the people of Zambia, men,women and youth, for the unrelenting and uncompromising support they gave to the freedom struggle.
A lot of things have happened in the last 60 years, most of them positive, others less so.
The population has grown from under three million in 1964 to over 20 million in 2024.
We were at multi-party state from 1964 to 1973, a one party state from 1973 to 1991, when we reverted to multi-partyism.
We now have our seventh President, elected by the people of Zambia through peaceful democratic elections.
We have witnessed a peaceful handover of power from UNIP to MMD in 1991, from MMD to PF in 2011 and from PF to UPND in 2021.
This peaceful transfer of power, is the envy of many countries.
The national motto “One Zambia, One Nation”, has kept our country peaceful. Every country has got challenges and Zambia is no exception.
We have had challenges of nation building, and maturing our politics, which have become toxic.
There is an unfortunate tendency for some politicians to treat each other as enemies, which is not right.
We have seen and heard about horrifying cases of corruption, by people holding public offices.
Democratic rule is being interpreted by some as meaning unlimited freedom to say and do anything.
Yes in a democratic environment, the views of the minority must always be heard.
But the views and wishes of the majority must always have their way.0
Great nations and great people always get together in times of hardship, like the severe drought we are experiencing as a result of El Nino, which is part of climate change and come up with viable solutions, regardless of political party affiliation.
Going forward, it is my prayer and fervent hope that our politics will mature, for the sake of mother Zambia.
I wish you all my fellow citizens,a happy 60th birthday.
The author is a freedom fighter.
The current crop of politicians would never have achieved independence owing to their greed. Accordingly, we salute our freedom fighters and owe them too great a debt to pay back.
Freedom fighters ??? or do you mean Placard carriers
Thanks Mr. Mwaanga. Unfortunately those that never witnessed the struggle always view things differently, my wish is if we Zambians can get involved in the development of this country especially the economy. We have given up our grocery businesses to foreigners we have become consumers because we love mulomo and hand outs more than work. Salute to hardworking Zambians may you achieve all that you want through your hard-work. Happy 60th Birthday Mother Zambia.
What good really have we enjoyed since 1964? The country is worse than it was, have you checked Ndola now & Ndola before.. check the photos on internet & you will cry. We do not even have a highway / freeway nothing & how many presidents has Zambia produced? So please give us ZEDIANS a break man.
We Zambians love modern good things but we are always let done by our un-exposed leaders, ubututu fulu fulu. You hear them talk like muzadya ma highjways, na airpot? See how low Zambian leadership standards are. We Zambians are smart pipo who can compete with anyone in the world but we lack modern infrastructure. You cannot compare us in-terms of IQ with for example with pipo from that violent crime RSA there in Africa. But our leaders are so backward
Ifwe abena Zambians love modern good things but we are always let done by our un-exposed leaders, ubututu fulu fulu. You hear them talk like muzadya ma highways, na airpot?
See how low Zambian leadership standards are. We Zambians are smart pipo who can compete with anyone in the world but we lack modern infrastructure.
Moneni ama standards ubunono ya ntungulushi. Fwebena Zambia twaliba smart who can compete with anyone in the world but we lack modern infrastructure.
Everywhere in diaspora Zambians are, we prosper & succeed that should tell us that we are smart pipo
You cannot compare us in-terms of IQ with for example with pipo from that violent crime RSA there in Africa. But our leaders are so backward
That is why the only pipo who can change Zambia are us in the diaspora, whether you like it or not, but you see, folks home will not allow us coz most of em are……. Truth hurts. You must see how successful we are in diaspora
I congratulate Zambian for attaining sixty years of independence. This should not be a time of enjoyment but also reflection on what we should have performed in a better way. In order to help Zambian reflect I will take a negative stand and point out to some of failures as a country. We have during the sixty years failed to keep the independence in power. Zambia is also not able to pay terminal benefits to its former public employees. During the last sixty years we have failed to start an indigenous Zambian company. We have even failed to host an African football tournament. Zambia is an example of a failing country.
Kainde the hard working presido we have ever had since 1964. Busy at work, he just completed the LSK-Ndola dual carriage way, the new city Sata proposed to build… mmmm eeeh yeah… kikikiki yaba, wina azalila.. just saying so that upnd ba mveleko mushe.. kikikikiki
………
The most destructive attitude we have as a nation holding back our development is………….
Not giving a sitting president the 5 year mandate he won to prove himself……….
Even just after a president takes office , we are divided on tribal grounds……..
By mid term there is a full divide, with some opposing everything, with determination to have their man or party lead the nation, forgetting about developing………
Everything becomes about politics, everything……especially with our poor work ethic, any excuse to blame or pass on failure is blamed on politics……
With this mindset , African countries will need a lead time of atleast 300 years to catch up with developt countries, hand that is if only developed vountrires stop developing…….
60 years of what??? mismanagement , corruption, we are the same age as Singapore both poor and uneducated in 1964 now look at Singapore, banking capitol of Asia no resources but biggest trading port today and best standard of living, Us we are worse off, at 50 we were living better, today no power, limited food due to high cost, worse exchange rate of Kwacha and the list goes on. in 1964 we thought we got independence from the UK instead we are now under Chinese rule. how will most Zambians celebrate Independence day by getting drunk, very sad but true
You need to put things in perspective
Land size: Zambia =752,614 km² ….Singapore=734.3 km²(less than 1% of Zambia)
Population: Zambia=21,314,956 …. Singapore=5,844,644
Natural resources: Zambia =Copper, Nickel ….Singapore =arable land, beautiful scenery, and fish
@Independent your “perspective” doesn’t make a lick of sense. What size are Brazil ,Russia or Taiwan / Monaco and their development despite their sizes?
Partly mismanagement and we were surrounded by chained neighborhood. Zambia continued fighting indirectly. The UDI in South Rhodesia increased the cost of doing business in Zambia for we had to open new routes at a very high cost. The Lobito Corridor became impassable.
now is the time to stick together for mother Zambia to move forward. Politics without boozo are useless. Wavela PF.
Mutuu moga Ian Smith.
All the stuff you bring up was in the 1960s to 1994 that was 30 yrs plus ago stop living in the past , stop using excuses corruption and incompetence is what bring downs the country, fix that and we will be on the road of progress
Blame those same so called freedom fighters for where zambia is today. If we never broke away from Britain today we would have been a marvel in Southern Africa the envy of all including south africa.
I tend to agree. Running a country is different compared to mobilizing a party to get to power. We should have continued a good relationship with UK just to learn how to manage a country and do simple things like paying retiring public servants their dues on time. Instead we continued to denounce them as racist when some Zambian Governments have even been tribal and are not ashamed about it.