By ALEX NJOVU
Kwilimuna Ceremony
With 120 indunas, 500 headmen and 10,000 subjects under her charge, Chieftainess Malembeka is truly a woman of authority. Her influence, however, is not in name only, but also in her encouraging everyone in the chiefdom to be self-reliant. ALEX NJOVU reports.
WOMEN OF INFLUENCE: Chieftainess Malembeka
CHIEFTAINESS Malembeka of the Lamba people in Mpongwe district wants to be remembered for encouraging her subjects to be self-reliant and to avoid dependence on handouts such as relief food from Government.The traditional ruler, whose paternal roots are traced to the Eastern Province district of Petauke, says that she does not condone laziness in her chiefdom.
Chieftainess Malembeka is liberal in giving out pieces of farmland to her subjects for them to grow their own food crops.
She constantly tells her people to be actively involved in food production and to diversify from maize to other crops like cassava, sorghum and sweet potatoes as one way of being self-reliant.
“After my death, the day I will be called by my creator, God himself, I want to be remembered for being hardworking, as a person or a chieftainess who encouraged her people to be self-reliant and not to depend on Government for relief food,” Chieftainess Malembeka said in an interview at her palace in Mpongwe last week.
“I want children in my chiefdom to be educated… to go very far in their education. This is my dream and I thank the Government for bringing schools close to our doorsteps in Malembeka chiefdom.
“My only worry is that Ibenga Secondary School which was built for the indigenous people in this area has become too expensive for our children. The school fees are too high. Only children of well-to-do people from other parts of the country are able to afford the fees. Government must do something over this matter.
It is very serious to us because we want our children to attend secondary education at a school near them,” she said.
Chieftainess Malembeka vows to continue leading by example in various ways, including farming activities.
She often joins her family in cultivating the land.
“Personally, I don’t like lazy people. I don’t like unproductive people. I don’t want my people to beg for food when we have enough land that God, the creator of heavens and earth, gave us. We tell our people to not only grow maize but also other crops such as cassava and sorghum which our forefathers used to feed on,” she said.
“Those people that marry young girls and the defilers are first punished here (chiefdom) before they are taken to the police for further punishment,” she said.
She has held several meetings with pastors and other men of God in her chiefdom, warning them against wedding underage children.
The soft-spoken but tough-looking traditional leader encourages her subjects to send their children to school because she strongly believes that education is key to success.
Despite being a female traditional leader and with roots in the Eastern Province, Chieftainess Malembeka is well respected among her subjects, who include 120 indunas (traditional councillors) and over 500 headmen.
“My full names are Rhoda Mwanza Mutembo from Petauke district in Eastern province under Chief Ndake, village Kamenze. I have my grandmother and other relatives in Petauke district. My chiefdom is very big. There are more than 10,000 people who are very loyal and hardworking people for that matter,” she said.
Her ascendance to the throne is through her mother’s lineage.
“I become chieftainess after five men had ruled this kingdom. In fact when I was growing up, I never thought that I would be a chieftainess, especially because I am a woman,” she said.
Indications of her ascending to the throne began to unfold when her brother, Davison Shifumbe, who was the chief then, asked her and her sister to succeed him.
“We both refused, but it happened that while he was sick I started acting as Chieftainess Malembeka. He gave me all the instruments of power and he asked me to tour the whole chiefdom which I did and I remember presiding over several cases which included witchcraft and adultery,” she said.
Before her brother died, he informed other neighbouring chiefs, traditional councillors and Government that he wanted Rhoda Mwanza to become the next traditional leader. He did so without telling her.
Despite her refusal to succeed her brother, she was eventually crowned Chieftainess Malembeka in May 2001. She has since taken the mantle with dignity and determination to improve the standards of living of her subjects.
She has helped her subjects to excel in various fields and encourages them to have faith in Jesus Christ.
“When my brother died I was surprised that our neighbouring chiefs, traditional leaders and Government officials called me and told me that I should take over from my brother. In our chiefdom, we don’t fight over who becomes the next chief or chieftainess. We follow the royal family or the family tree. My leadership came from God and I thank him very much for what He has continued to do in my life and in the lives of my subjects,” she said.
“I am a member of the Union Baptist Church, I love my God. I give tithe and offering because every Christian is required to do this,” she said.
Since she came to the throne over a decade ago, she has experienced few challenges mainly because of the support that she receives from her subjects.
Presiding over the chiefdom, however, has its own challenges but she endeavours to inculcate in her subjects respect for the law.
“I always advise people to iron out their differences through established channels. To use dialogue and to seek legal redress if one of them is not satisfied and not to take the law into their own hands,” she said.
The traditional leader, who is married to Copperbelt deputy permanent secretary Christopher Mutembo, does not have much of a problem, however, in combining her daily duties as a mother, wife and chieftainess.
She says that when she is in public her husband knows that she is a chieftainess but that when she is inside her house she is a fulltime housewife who accords Mr Mutembo (husband) all the respect he deserves.
“In public I am a chieftainess and my lovely husband knows that, but when I am inside the house, away from people I am a wife and I cook food that he enjoys. We love each other – I love him very much and he loves me very much,” she said.
She says that even her own children accord her the due respect as other members of the community by kneeling and sometimes clapping before talking to her.
To prove this, Chieftainess Malembeka summoned her daughter to the room where the interview was being conducted. The young and beautiful princess walked in respectfully while clapping her hands, a mark of respect, before kneeling near her mother, who asked if she knew where she had put her cell phone.
When the princess, who was clad in a chitenge wrapper and a T-shirt, left the somewhat intimidating room, everyone, including the traditional councillors and security officers, burst into laughter.
The demonstration had proved that even her children have to accord her due respect.
Chieftainess Malembeka is, however, concerned about the environment.
She is disappointed that some of her subjects are cutting down trees indiscriminately and fears that if this is not stopped, the chiefdom could turn into a desert.
“I want officers from the forestry department to help me because there is too much cutting of trees for charcoal. These people at the forestry department just give licences anyhow without knowing that people are cutting trees indiscriminately. These trees will finish. We don’t want to experience any drought. I have since started confiscating charcoal from the charcoal burners,” she said.
Chieftainess Malembeka believes that women are key partners in development of communities and advises that they continue working hard in order to achieve their goals.
She also says that chiefs’ spouses should be empowered to avoid being destitute in the event that their partners die.
Twenty chiefs’ spouses on the Copperbelt have since formed an organisation to empower themselves in various ways in order to avoid destitution when their partners die.
The Chiefs’ Spouses Empowerment (CSE) aims at addressing the problems that they face in daily life.
“Chiefs spouses are among the most vulnerable people in society, especially when a chief or chieftainess dies. This is why we have come up with this programme so that we can empower our partners,” she said.
She says that it is unfortunate that chiefs’ spouses are not recognised by various stakeholders in communities.
“What people forget is that chiefs’ spouses are key advisors for traditional leaders. They need to be recognised. It is sad that chiefs’ spouses are subjected to poverty after the death of their partners,” Chieftainess Malembeka said.
She has given her husband enough land on which to built a house and he is already engaged in various farming activities.
“Title deeds are there. In this way our children are assured that they have land of their own. The problem is that when another chief comes in, the family of the previous chief is not recognised and they become destitute. This is what we are fighting. We don’t want this to happen. We have started this programme on the Copperbelt and very soon we will take it to other parts of the country,” she said.
Chieftainess Malembeka was born in Chandalala within Lambaland “many years ago”.
She went to Zikomo Primary School in Ndola before trekking to Hillside Secondary School in Eastern Province for her senior secondary school.
Today she is the mother figure of the Lamba people and she is effectively and positively influencing social and economic development in her realm as Chieftainess Malembeka.
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