Kenneth Kaunda was Zambia's first president from 1964 to 1991. While he initially promoted ideals of humanism and socialism, he later consolidated power as a dictator through establishing a one-party state. His economic policies led to nationalization of industries and economic collapse in Zambia. Under his rule, political opposition was suppressed and human rights abuses increased, as evidenced by the author's experience being imprisoned in Zambia's overcrowded and unsanitary prisons in 1987. Overall, Kaunda's legacy is mixed, as his early ideals transitioned into authoritarian rule that negatively impacted Zambia.

1. EVALUATING the LEGACY of KENNETH KAUNDA
By Dr. Peter Hammond

2. The First President of
Zambia has Died

3. Kenneth David Kaunda, the first president of Zambia, died 17
June 2021 aged 97. As he was Zambia’s first president, in office
from 24 October 1964 to 2 November 1991, many are seeking to
evaluate his legacy.

4. The Family of Kaunda

5. Kenneth Kaunda, or KK, as he was generally referred to, was
born in Chinsali, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), 28 April 1924.
His wife, Betty, who he married in 1946, died in 2012. They had
eight children. Before entering politics, KK was a teacher.

6. He was the youngest of eight children. His father was Reverend
David Kaunda, a Church of Scotland missionary and teacher, who
was born in Nyasaland (now Malawi).

7. A Humanist in Africa

8. KK wrote in his book A
Humanist in Africa, that he
could never agree with the
Calvinist religion of his parents
who believed in the depravity of
man. KK asserted that he
believed in the
“goodness of man”.

9. Socialist Humanism

10. When he became president of Zambia,

11. KK worked to promote
socialist humanism
as the ruling ideology
of the country.
Kaunda also used terms
such as
“Zambian Humanism”
and
“African Socialism”.

12. One Party State

13. After protests of corruption and vote rigging in the 1968 elections,
Kaunda banned all political parties except UNIP
(United National Independence Party).

14. When there was a break away from UNIP by one of his members,
Simon Kapwepwe, in 1972, to form the United Progressive Party,

15. Kaunda moved to suppress it and changed the constitution to
reduce Zambia to a one-party state.

16. Dictatorship

17. Thereafter Kenneth Kaunda was the sole candidate in future
elections. All opposition was eliminated and a personality cult was
built around Kenneth Kaunda.

18. All internal dissention was suppressed, particularly in Western
Zambia, in Loziland, formally known as Barotseland.

19. The Suppression of the Lozi in Western Zambia

20. The Lozi king had requested Britain to make it a protectorate,

21. with the stipulation that if the British ever left Northern Rhodesia,
they would grant Loziland/Barotseland independence,
separate from the rest of the country.

22. The king of the Lozi was presented a black and gold British
admiral’s uniform by King Edward VII in recognition of a treaty that
have been signed between the Lozis and Queen Victoria.

30. Unfortunately, however, the Lozi people were denied their
independence and all attempts at self-determination by its peoples
were suppressed by Kenneth Kaunda. KK suppressed the Lozi
and placed Western Zambia under martial law.

32. In The
Frontline of
The Cold War

33. During the Cold War, Kenneth Kaunda maintained open, close
friendships with Marxist dictators such as Josip Broz Tito of
Yugoslavia, Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania,

34. Fidel Castro of Cuba and with Brezhnev of the Soviet Union.

35. With Red Chinese Dictator Mao Tse Tung

36. and with Brezhnev of the Soviet Union.

37. Many of the streets of Lusaka were named after famous Marxist
dictators, revolutionaries and terrorists.

38. Autocratic Dictator of a One-Party State

39. Kenneth Kaunda was autocratic. He personally appointed the
Central Committee of UNIP. The Central Committee in turn
nominated the sole candidate for the party presidency.

40. Since all the members of the Central Committee had been
appointed by Kaunda, he was always the sole candidate.
All dissent was suppressed.

42. Making Zambia a Launching Pad
for Revolutionary Insurgents

43. KK was also famous for his hosting and active support of
revolutionary guerilla movements

44. aimed at overthrowing the
neighbours of Zambia,
including the FNLA, MPLA
and UNITA targeting
Portuguese West Africa
(Angola),

46. Frelimo, targeting
Portuguese East Africa
(Mozambique),

48. ZANU and ZAPU, targeting Rhodesia

54. and SWAPO, targeting South West Africa (Namibia).

64. Escalating Conflicts

65. As vast quantities of Soviet weaponry poured into Zambia to equip
these insurgents, pre-emptative strikes brought suffering and
disruption of roads, railways and bridges in Zambia.

66. Murdering Canadian Tourists at Victoria Falls

67. 16 May 1973, after KK had particularly worked up anti-white
Rhodesian hysteria on state radio and TV, Zambian security
forces shot two Canadian women dead across the Zambezi River
at Victoria Falls.

68. Christine Sinclair (20
years old) and Marion
Drijber (19) both from
Ontario, were tourists
from Canada and it is not
known what was done to
deal with the individuals
responsible.

69. Aggressive Foreign Policy

71. Kenneth Kaunda obtained sixteen MiG-21 jet fighter bombers
from the Soviet Union. Kaunda pursued an aggressive foreign
policy, promoting sanctions on Rhodesia (even while receiving
electricity from the Rhodesian hydroelectric plant at Kariba).

74. Hypocrisy and Counter Productive Economic
Policies

75. KK also campaigned for sanctions against South Africa
(even while receiving vast benefits from South Africa

76. including the maintenance of Zambian Airways

77. and Zambian Railways. The migrant labourers from Zambia to
South Africa also brought back hundreds of millions of dollars’
worth of income to the failing economy of Zambia).

78. Even when Zambians needed snake bite serum,
it came from South Africa.

79. Yet, while Zambians ate mielie-meal grown in the Orange Free
State, Kenneth Kaunda ranted against South Africa and against
anyone who sought to trade with South Africa.

80. Economic Collapse

81. The media and industry was
nationalized under Kaunda’s
leadership and the economy
collapsed.

82. In Zambia at independence,
one kwacha equalled one British pound.

83. At the end of Kaunda’s reign,
one pound equalled over 8,000 kwachas.

84. At independence in 1964, you could buy a car for about K140.
By the end of Kenneth Kaunda’s reign, a bottle of Coca-Cola
could cost over 1,000 kwachas!

85. Bankrupting the Richest State in Central Africa

86. The British left two Billion pounds in the state reserve bank at
independence. It was not long before Kaunda’s socialist policies
had bankrupted the country. Zambia became dependent on
foreign aid and the importation of food.

97. A Missionary Perspective on Zambia Under KK from Prison

98. My first exposure to Zambia came on a mission in 1987

99. when I and three other Frontline missionaries were arrested for
refusing to pay a bribe at Kazangulu Ferry. We travelled over
pothole-ridden roads which had evidently not been maintained, or
repaired, since independence 23 years before.

100. We were imprisoned in filthy cells crawling with hoards
of insects and myriads of cockroaches. The swarms of
mosquitos soon brought us down with malaria.

101. Those Who Profess Belief in the Goodness of Man
Can Be Guilty of Much Inhumanity

102. It was interesting that
Kenneth Kaunda believed in
“the goodness of man”,
because much evil seems
to be done by those who
believe in
the goodness of man.

103. After a sleepless night in filthy cells in Livingstone, we were
hooded, shackled, dragged at bayonet point and guided with rifle
butts the over 580 km to Lusaka. There we were paraded through
the streets and thrown into Lusaka Central Prison.

104. Contrasts with the Colonial Conditions

105. The British built Lusaka Central Prison for 80 people. There were
over 1,200 crammed in there by Kaunda’s government in 1987.

106. When the British imprisoned Kaunda for nine months in Lusaka
Central Prison back in 1955, he had a cell of his own, with a bed,
sheets, desk, chair, couch, gramophone and three cooked meals
a day brought to him. He also had electricity and plumbing as well
as access to a library.

107. Lusaka Central Prison

108. When we were incarcerated in Lusaka Central Prison in 1987,
there was no electricity, no plumbing, no sanitation and each cell
had 55 to 65 prisoners crammed into 15 feet by 25 feet rooms.
There was no air flow. The corrugated iron roofs made the heat
stifling. The only ventilation came from a 1-foot square hole in the
barred door.

109. There were no beds or furniture. Prisoners simply had to lie on
their side stacked in line like sardines. People died in the cells and
were dragged out in the day time. The whole prison was a stinking
disease factory. Disease and death were a constant reality in
prison. We saw corpses being carried out of the cells.

110. We were locked in our cells from sunset to sunrise, but were
allowed to walk around the dirty, overcrowded yard during the
daylight hours.

111. Most Were Remand
– Still Waiting for Their Day in Court

112. Most of the prisoners were not convicts, but were remand,
awaiting trial. Some claimed to be awaiting trial since 1984 and
even before that.

113. Detained at the President’s Pleasure

114. We were placed in cell eleven, the presidential detainee’s cell. In our cell
were people literally from around the world. There was a tall Muslim
from Timbuktu in Mali, a man from Zaire, another from Kenya and one
from Zimbabwe. There was a young man from Malawi, accused of
spying for South Africa. There was also a highly-educated engineer who
used to be a major in the Zambian army.

115. A 62-year-old Indian citizen was also in detention without trial.
This father of five, was in jail in spite of being a millionaire, or
maybe because of that. Officials were greedy for his mining
company and so he sat in the presidential detainee cell.

116. "Condemning the innocent or letting the wicked go,
both are hateful to the Lord.”
Proverbs 17:15

117. Detained Without Charge or Trial

118. A young Black South African, Isaiah Moyo, had been jailed for 18
months. He was a truck-driver, with a wife and two children in
Soweto. Isaiah had been framed by some ANC members(exiles)
who owed him money.

119. Rather than paying him back, it seemed to have been easier for
them to accuse him of being a spy. No evidence was necessary at
that time of the one-party dictatorship of Kaunda.

120. Tortured

121. Isaiah had been severely tortured at Lilayi Police Training Centre.
He had been hung upside down with his head in a bucket of water
whilst being sadistically beaten. He had been burnt with red-hot
pokers and his body was covered with sores that swelled up with
pus and burst. He had also been electrocuted.

122. Singing in the Cells

123. We had good fellowship with this fine Christian and spent hours
each day on our knees in fervent prayer and in Bible study with
him. At nights we would sing Christian hymns together.
One night when we sang “Amazing Grace”, we heard choruses of
singing coming from several of the other cells.

124. “The Lord knows when our spirits
are crushed in prison;
He knows when we are denied
the rights He gave us;
When justice is perverted in court,
He knows.”
Lamentations 3:34-36

125. Interrogation

126. Over the next two weeks incarcerated in this grossly overcrowded
Lusaka Central Prison I went through 6 intense interrogations by
officials of the Zambian Special Branch, Military Intelligence and
the President’s Office.

127. Prayer and Pressure Mobilised Internationally

128. Thankfully,
prayer and pressure
was being mobilized
worldwide on our behalf.
Over a thousand calls
were made to the
Zambian embassy
in Washington D.C.
by concerned Christian
supporters of our Mission.
Representations were
made to the Zambian
embassy personally by
related missions protesting
our detentions.

129. Over five hundred letters were sent to the British Foreign Office in
London and the issue was taken to the Vancouver Commonwealth
Conference and personally raised with the Zambian president by
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

130. The Iron Lady Intervenes

131. Friends of ours ensured that the British Prime Minister was
informed of our plight just before her departure for the
Commonwealth Conference in Canada (13-17 October, 1987).

132. There, Zambian dictator, Kenneth Kaunda, chairman of the
Frontline States, subjected Margaret Thatcher to haranguing over
Britain refusing to place economic sanctions on South Africa.

133. Margaret Thatcher Confronts Kaunda

134. Margaret Thatcher
responded by asking
why Zambia did not herself
place sanctions
on South Africa?

135. KK responded that,
that would place
many people
out of work.

136. "Exactly", responded the Margaret Thatcher, "and as South Africa
is one of our most important trading partners, many British citizens
would be placed out of work if I were to impose sanctions on
South Africa.

137. Quite aside from the many South Africans themselves who would
be placed out of work."

138. Exposing Double Standards

139. Margaret Thatcher then went on to relate how Zambians were
dependent on South African maize grown in the Orange Free State, how
Zambian Airways was maintained by South African Airways, how
Zambian Railways was maintained by South African Railways,

140. how South African veterinarians cared for Zambia’s cattle and how
many Zambians were migrant workers in South Africa and a vital
part of Zambia’s ailing economy.

141. The Iron Lady Silences Kaunda
and Secures Our Release

142. KK then declared that because of South Africa’s human rights
abuses, Britain should impose sanctions

143. It was at this point that Margaret
Thatcher produced our information.
"Who are you to
speak about human
rights abuses?
You are the
unelected dictator
of
a one-party state!"

144. She challenged Kaunda:
Four British missionaries
are being held,
without trial,
as presidential detainees,
in your overcrowded
Lusaka Central Prison,
tortured and abused by
your own security forces!
Kaunda was dumbstruck
and humiliated.

145. He ordered our immediate release.

146. Overwhelming Opposition Forces Kaunda From Power

147. By 1987 Zambia had the
second highest debt of any
nation in the world relative
to its Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).

148. Rising opposition forced KK
to allow a multi-party
election in September,1991.

149. Despite complete control of the mass media and massive
propaganda campaigns, Kaunda’s UNIP was delivered a crushing
defeat. Frederick Chiluba’s Movement for Multi-Party Democracy
(MMD) won in a landslide with 75% of the vote.

151. The Movement for Multi- Party Democracy

152. The new president, Frederick Chiluba, had also been imprisoned
in Lusaka Central Prison.

153. His Vice President and later Minister of Education, General
Godfrey Miyanda, became a friend of ours as a result of his
incarceration in Lusaka Central Prison as a presidential detainee.

154. It was General Miyanda who encouraged me to write the book
“Biblical Principals for Africa”.

155. From Communism to Christianity

156. Since 1991 I have been frequently invited to minister in churches
and conferences, on radio and television throughout Zambia.

157. The transformation from Kaunda’s socialist dictatorship to the free
market, multi-party democracy, freedom of the press and freedom
of religion of the MMD government was dramatic.

158. President Chiluba committed Zambia to becoming a Christian
country and entered an amendment to the constitution to that
effect. Abortion was banned. Pornography prohibited. The Bible
returned to the school classrooms. Chaplains replaced political
officers in the armed forces.

159. National days of prayer, repentance and thanksgiving were
observed.

160. Separating Myth from Reality in Eulogies for Dictators

161. At this time, while many will seek to sing the praises of the
previous dictator Kenneth Kaunda, some thought needs to be
given for the long-suffering people of Zambia who endured 26
years of Kaunda’s misrule and oppression and the many victims
of his autocratic rule.

162. Remember the Many Victims

163. One should also remember the many civilians killed by Marxist
revolutionary terrorists hosted and supported by Kenneth Kaunda
for their incursions into Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia, South
West Africa and South Africa.

164. We All Have an Appointment

165. It should also remind us that it is appointed unto man once
to die and after that to face Judgement (Hebrews 9:27).

166. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father.

167. When Will You Bow to Christ?

168. The question is not whether we will bow to Christ,
but when we will bow to Christ.
We can bow to Christ as Saviour and Lord today, in the day of
grace, when the gates to Salvation are wide open.

169. Or we can bow on the Day of Judgement,
when the door to Heaven is firmly closed,
when the day of grace is ended, to the eternal Judge.

170. Is Jesus Your Saviour or Your Judge?

171. Is Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord?

172. Or is He your eternal Judge?

173. www.FrontlineMissionSA.org