Alice Lenshina

Alice Lenshina was born Alice Mulenga Mubisha (1920, Kasomo, Northern Rhodesia – 1978) in the Chinsali district of the northern province of Northern Rhodesia. Alice was the name she was given at baptism, while Mulenga was her traditional African name. The name "Lenshina" was a Bemba form of the Latin word "regina" (which means "queen").

Although Chinsali district was in a remote part of Northern Rhodesia, it was a battleground for two Christian missions: the Roman Catholic Missionaries of Africa (also known as the White Fathers) based at Ilondola from 1934, and the United Free Church of Scotland, based at Lubwa from 1905. One of the missionaries at Lubwa was David Kaunda, the father of Kenneth Kaunda (who was to become the first president of Zambia).

Lenshina became very ill with cerebral malaria in September 1953 and fell into a deep coma. She eventually regained consciousness and claimed to have met Jesus Christ during her coma. She said he had given her the task of spreading a special message and she became the focus of a revival movement at Lubwa mission, where she was baptized. Lenshina preached a Christian doctrine with baptism as the only observance. She attacked witchcraft and sorcery, and condemned the consumption of alcohol and the practice of polygamy. A grand temple was built at Zion (the name given to her home village) in 1958. Gradually the revival became a witchcraft eradication movement and evolved into an independent church called the Lumpa Church in 1955. The new church rapidly joined the competition for souls against the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland. Lumpa was so successful that by the late 1950s it may have had up to 150,000 members in the northern and eastern provinces of Northern Rhodesia. The church's drive for membership was so aggressive that it was seen as a political threat by the colonial Northern Rhodesia government.

At first the Lumpa Church was close to the main Black organization fighting for independence, the Northern Rhodesia African National Congress (ANC). However, when Kenneth Kaunda left the ANC in 1958 and formed the more militant United National Independence Party (UNIP) there arose a competition for members between the new church and the new party. Villages were split as Lumpa leaders ordered their members to establish separate villages by moving out of villages where they lived alongside UNIP's members. The conflict between UNIP and the Lumpa Church reached a climax in July to October in 1964, just before Northern Rhodesia's independence. On July 24 1964 a gunbattle broke out between UNIP and Lumpa Church members. The resulting riots were only quelled by the intervention of State troops, and the proclamation of a state of emergency by the new pre-independence Prime Minister, Kenneth Kaunda. About a thousand people died in the clashes between Lumpa Church adherents, UNIP's members and the security forces. Approximately 15,000 Lumpa Church members fled and took refuge in Congo; some of them never returned to Zambia. The Lumpa Church was banned on 3 August 1964 and Lenshina surrendered to police a few days later.

Alice Lenshina herself played no significant role in the Lumpa Church's political activities. She regretted the fact that the political actions weakened the religious impact of her message, which stressed the sanctity of marriage, opposed both polygamy and traditional African folk magic and promoted the upliftment of common people, especially women. Lenshina never faced a trial but was detained by Kenneth Kaunda in Mumbwa district, beginning in August 1964. Her husband, Petros Chintankwa (who died in 1972), was detained with her. In 1965 they were moved to Kalabo district, near the Angolan border, but they escaped in October 1967. They were caught, jailed for 6 months and restricted in Mkushi district. In May 1970 Kaunda placed her in detention and ordered the destruction of her temple church in her home village of Kasomo. Finally she was released from detention in December 1975 but was put under house arrest in Lusaka's New Chilenje compound. She died on 7 December 1978 while under house arrest and was eventually buried at Kasomo village.

The Lumpa Church continues to exist as an underground movement to this day, though it is suppressed by the Zambian government as a threat to national security.

References

*Hugh Macmillan, "Lenshina, Alice Mulenga (1920–1978)", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford UP, Sept 2004; online ed., May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/75927, accessed 24 May 2006]
*H. F. Hinfelaar, "Bemba-speaking women of Zambia in a century of religious change" (1994)
*J. Hudson, "A time to mourn: a personal account of the 1964 Lumpa Church in Zambia" (Lusaka, 1999)
*F. Macpherson, "Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia: the times and the man" (Lusaka, 1974)
*J. J. Grotpeter, B. V. Siegel, and J. R. Pletcher, "Historical dictionary of Zambia", 2nd ed. (1998)

External links

* [http://www.dacb.org/stories/zambia/lenshina1_alice.html A biography of A. Lenshina]
* [http://www.geocities.com/maiddie/lenshina.html Famous Zambians - Alice Lenshina]