An Analogue of a Nation
by Musali Sakata
The story of Zambia and Barotseland can best be understood if explained through an analogue. This is a brief story of a step sister who tries to take the position of her step sister who died at childbirth with a view to gain access to her inheritance. She slowly wins over her late step sister’s small children by pretending to have their best interests at heart while grossly depriving them of their basic means of subsistence. She works at convincing them that she was their biological mother. In their innocence, the children while still growing up never suspected that this apparently loving “mother figure” nurtured deep hatred for them as she considered them an obstacle to her ambitions. Instead she had her own hidden agenda best known only to herself. Any attempt of the children especially the older ones; to get information or clarify any doubt on their family history was harshly thwarted by the “evil mother”. All hope depended on the children themselves that one day when they become older; they would legally claim their inheritance and put their “evil step mother” in her rightful place. That is, without any right of access to what was lawfully theirs. The step sister with evil intentions is Zambia and the sister who died at childbirth leaving her young children at the mercy of an evil step sister is Barotseland. The children are now older and the process for Malozi to legally claim their inheritance is in already in motion. Yaka shwa kiyena ya ka waya.