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I. Kapinga: Address to Africa Summit
Written by Chief Isaac Kapinga, Traditional Chief, Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs, Zambia
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Address to Africa Summit 2018, Cape Town, South Africa, Nov. 21–25, 2018
Good afternoon. I want to start by saying, before the colonizers came to Africa, as traditional rulers we were very happy and proud that we had a very good centralized governance system, so the colonizers actually copied the governance system from us, the traditional leaders.
Dear True Mother, Dr. Thomas Walsh, Chief Mandela, your majesties present here, the royal house of Mandela, the Universal Peace Federation, invited delegates and guests, ladies and gentlemen. I bring you royal greetings and also greetings from the president of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and the people of Zambia.
Zambia is a beacon of peace and democracy. Zambia is a Christian nation, though we appreciate and welcome all religious faiths. That is why in our delegation, which is led by our able minister of community development and social services, Honorable Olipa Mwansa Phiri, we have even the Muslim grand mufti, and that is the highest order in the Muslim fraternity.
You have also seen that we have bishops who have not come with their deacons or elders, to show to you how we very much appreciate the legacy of Nelson Mandela. As chiefs we also have come to be part of this wonderful summit.
We are extremely delighted to be part of this wonderful and powerful world Africa summit in Cape Town in honoring the legacy of Nelson Mandela. In Zambia Nelson Mandela is a well-known household name, known not only for his wisdom, courage, reverence, enduring suffering to liberate the world’s suffering, but also as a promoter of world peace.
As Zambians we sacrificed to give shelter to the South African comrades of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulus and Thabo Mbeki. We ate, danced and played with our South African colleagues, our Angolan brothers, our Congo brothers and Burundians.
In Zambia we have never, ever gone to any war. We want to maintain that record.
We are extremely proud that we accepted as our comrades, our brothers and sisters, from those who wanted to hinder the liberation of not only South Africa but the neighboring country of Zambia. We provided them with clothes, shelter and other needs. Our enemies tried to scare us but they didn’t succeed.
As Zambians it is our strong belief that there was not going to be a liberated South Africa today without the liberation and struggle that Zambia fearlessly undertook. Today in Zambia we have schools, hospitals, streets and buildings that are named after this world-celebrated peacemaker. After his release, Nelson Mandela first visited Zambia. This is on record, and as Zambians we are very proud and we are shamelessly boasting about this great iconic world leader because Nelson Mandela and his colleagues are part of us. Being asked to come to South Africa we feel very, very much at home here.
As the International Association of Traditional Rulers for Peace (IATP), we thank the Universal Peace Federation. We are happy that UPF has engaged us as traditional leaders because we have been demonized by society, especially by traditional powers.
We are able to express ourselves in English because many of us are university graduates. So please stop demonizing us as people who are backward and not educated, not traveled. We thank the UPF and the organizers for recognizing us. As chiefs we want to be at the forefront of development and change in promoting the legacy of Nelson Mandela for peace and development.
I thank you.
To go to the 2018 Africa Summit Schedule page, click here.