TRIBUTE TO A FALLEN TRUE HERO—EVANS SITUMBEKO MUSIALELA

by the BNFA Chairperson General Wainyae C. Sinyinda

Today, Saturday 26th September in the year of our Lord 2015, we put to rest a gallant son of the soil and a true hero in every sense of the word, Mutompehi Evans Situmbeko Musialela. He was strong, courageous, forthright, outspoken and sometimes controversial to say the least. He meant many different things to different people. To the wife he was a loving and caring husband, to the children a dependable and providing farther, to other family members and relatives a pillar and stronghold. Yet to the Barotse National Freedom Alliance (BNFA) and indeed to the people of Barotseland as a whole, the firebrand Publicity and Information Secretary was a key piece in the whole jigsaw of the noble struggle to actualize Barotseland statehood. He is an irreplaceable loss.

Mutophehi Musialela stood without fear or favour for the right. He stood for Barotseland’s RIGHT to self-determination. In speech and in deed, he did not falter or weaver in his belief that the people of Barotseland had a RIGHT to self-determination and self-rule like any other people or nation on the surface of this earth. He knew what he believed and believed what he knew. Like Nelson Madhiba Mandela, He committed himself to these ideals and was committed to hold on to them for as long as he lived and if need be, he was prepared to die for the ideals because he believed with every ounce within himself the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. that “If you have nothing to die for, then you have nothing to live for”.

Mutompehi Musialela is one of those that helped to bring the Barotseland struggle from the closet and dark corners it had been confined to for well over four decades to the byways and highways, to rooftops, hilltops and even mountaintops where it is today. Due to his efforts combined with the efforts of other compatriots in the just and noble struggle for Barotseland’s RIGHT to self-determination and self-rule, we can safely say that the finishing line in this struggle is well in sight. From a distance we can see the end with our naked eyes.

That is why it is so heartbreaking that we have to put to rest this weary soldier when the haven of rest from our struggle is in sight!

Gone Musialela! Gone too soon,

Gone Mwanahesu! Gone too close to the finishing line,

No words can explain or quantify the sense of loss you’ve left

Rest in peace, and be rest assured that what you stood for,

We will stand for to the finishing line!

We can only say rest in peace weary soldier of the struggle for the right. Rest assured that we are not giving up the ideals for which you together with us stood for until we cross the finishing line because like you, we too strongly believe that Freedom is coming tomorrow. When we receive the sweet for our sweat it will be for you also and we are well assured that you will be turning in your grave when that great ‘uhuru’ day finally comes. It will be so gratifying then for each of us to celebrate our victory with the full assurance that it is also for you and because of you and other fallen heroes of this struggle that it shall be possible to eat the fruits of our toil.

May the great soul of this gallant soldier of Barotseland rest in peace together with those like him that have gone before. Let all the compatriots in this struggle double their efforts knowing that it is also for our departed brothers and sisters that we struggle. Let all the enemies of the struggle not for once think that because of our irreparable loss we will relent or slowdown in any slightest way. Let the whole world know that our loss notwithstanding, it is ALUTA CONTINUA until we get to the finishing line.

REST IN ETERNAL PEACE MUSIALELA MWANAHESU.