Mulungushi

Mulungushi is the name of a river (and a small town nearby) in central Zambia which has taken on a symbolic and historical meaning synonymous with the independence and identity of the nation, and has been given to a number of events, localities, buildings and organisations, including:

• the Mulungushi Rock of Authority (see below);
• the Mulungushi Declaration, a policy statement made by President Kenneth Kaunda in 1968 on the nationalisation of the means of production;
• Mulungushi Village, a suburb of Lusaka;
• Mulungushi Hall, an international conference and convention centre, used also as an official reception centre by the Zambian government, and the site of several conferences and negotiations of the independence and anti-apartheid movements in southern Africa;
• Mulungushi House, a large office building in Lusaka, home to government departments and businesses;
• Mulungushi College in Kabwe;
• a number of businesses, such as Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles Ltd;
• several roads.

Other uses and links

• Mulungushi River, the origin of the name
• Mulungushi Dam, a dam on that river
• The Mulungushi River area was also the site of a training camp for Zimbabwean (ZIPRA) freedom fighters in the 1970s sometimes referred to as the 'Mulungushi camp' but this was not an official name and it was not related to the Zambian use of the name.

Mulungushi Rock

In 1960 in the then Northern Rhodesia, nationalists who had broken away from the Zambian African National Congress wanted to convene a conference under the banner of a new party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) on future directions and how to achieve independence, in a place where they would not be under the eye of the colonial authorities. A site was chosen on a rocky area by the Mulungushi River north of Broken Hill (Kabwe) where up to 2000 participants could meet in the open air and camp in temporary shelters, where there was a good supply of water. The conference led to the UNIP under the leadership of Kenneth Kaunda becoming the major party of independence, and thereafter the Mulungushi Rock was used for UNIP party conferences and for major policy speeches such as the Mulungushi Declaration or Mulungushi Reforms in 1968. Later it became known as the 'Mulungushi Rock of Authority' and it has been used by other political parties for their party conferences and major speeches.

References

Times of Zambia website accessed 19 February 2007.

Coordinates: 14°40′S 28°50′E / 14.667°S 28.833°E / -14.667; 28.833