Barotseland struggle will not die a natural death—Remainder of Zambia be warned
by Muyunda Makala
Let no one think or even imagine that the Barotseland struggle will die a natural death or that the Barotse people will be deceived by piecemeal construction of substandard infrastructure, which is being misrepresented as development by the Zambian regime and people who don’t know what development is. In their wishful thinking, it is designed to blindfold people from seeing and demanding the actualization of Barotseland statehood following the Zambian government’s unilateral abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement 1964 (BA’64) and the peoples of Barotseland acceptance thereof and subsequent declaration of self-rule. The Barotse self-government can neither be suppressed by intimidations nor threats of terminologies like "treason", for it is an ideal whose time has come. The Zambian government may ignore the Barotseland issue at their own peril, because it is like ignoring a virus wasting your body, thinking that it will one day change its mind and go to sleep or retire. The issue of Barotseland statehood precedes the existence of both Zambia in 1964 and Northern Rhodesia in 1911. If anything, it has only been gaining momentum over the recent past. The remainder of Zambia (or whatever they will call themselves) should not think that the peoples of Barotseland and the international community went to sleep over the Zambian government’s unilateral abrogation of the BA’64, which set in motion the separation of the two territories comprised in Zambia that was only delayed by Barotseland’s futile attempts to restore the Agreement for the past 47 years. The process to actualize Barotseland statehood continue to unfold and soon, may be sooner than we expect, it will be realized. No one ever thought that the Great Titanic could sink, but it did. Martin Luther King Jr, conquered the Great United States of America after he was assassinated. The white colonialists thought it was impossible for blacks in South Africa to free themselves. Nelson Mandela conquered apartheid in South Africa while in Jail. When fire started in Benghazi, Libya, might President Muammaur Gaddafi thought it was a click of rats and cockroaches, not realizing that one day the rats and cockroaches would reorganize themselves and turn up into formable militia that could eat him, until he was captured and swallowed alive. Where is Gaddafi today? The results were seen and the world has its own story, which deserves no elaboration. Barotseland shall free herself from the black oppression of West Nyasa (remainder of Zambia or remainder of Northern Rhodesia or North Eastern Rhodesia). Our call for self-determination is a human and democratic right enshrined in the United Nations Charter and legally binding since the contract between Zambia and Barotseland was long terminated by the Zambian regime itself. Barotseland’s human and democratic rights have been stifled for a long time and this is now coming to an end. We shall exercise our God given right and will power to redeem ourselves. We call on the international community to recognize Barotseland's inherent right to self-determination and self-rule, which is long over-due as Barotseland sets to re-organize its governance institutions. We warn the Zambian regime to stay clear from this process as they will be made to account for their actions before international courts.