Senior Chief Mukumbi Ibaloli XV: A biography of Benson Kabanya Mulota Mukomo Muluka of Solwezi West, 1932-2015

Thumbnail Image
Date
2015
Authors
Lungu, Edina
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
This study explores the life and career of Beston Muluka Kabanya Mulota, more popularly known as Senior Chief Mukumbi Ibaloli XV of Zambia’s Solwezi district. The study investigates his upbringing, education and career. It demonstrates that Senior Chief Mukumbi’s upbringing in the Kaonde society in Solwezi inculcated in him an appreciation for local cultural norms, values, beliefs and customs, a situation that his predecessor Chief Mangala Mukumbi Lubinga XIV and parents encouraged. The study shows that Beston Mukumbi’s devotion to the Kaonde culture shaped both his beliefs and how he ruled his chiefdom after he became chief in 1962. It also demonstrates that his upbringing was equally influenced by both modern education which laid the solid foundation of his later pursuits as a chief, nationalist, and politician. During his school days at a mission school at Mutanda in Solwezi, the future chief suffered racial discrimination from European teachers. This experience informed his attitude towards colonialism and later contributed to his involvement in the struggle for independence. This study explores the various roles the chief played after he left school. It highlights his political activism once he settled in Chingola on the Copperbelt in the early 1950s, showing the roles Beston Mukumbi played in various organizations. These included the Chiwempala Housing Area Board, the African National Congress, the General Workers Union and other organs. In serving on these bodies, the future traditional ruler sought to improve the social and political welfare of his fellow Africans. His interest in uplifting African welfare continued even after he relocated to Solwezi in 1957 and ascended the throne in 1962. This study also shows that the Kaonde chief was instrumental in preserving his culture and in the construction of Zambia after independence in 1964. A patriot, Chief Beston Mukumbi used the various positions he occupied in the post-colonial government to contribute towards the birth of the One-party State in the early 1970s and to improve the socio-economic welfare of not only his subject but also and other people in Solwezi and beyond.
Description
Thesis(MA)-University of Zambia,2015
Keywords
Muluka, Mukomo Mulota Kabanya Benson,1932-2015 , BLacks-Africa, Sub-Saharan-Biography , Africa, Sub-Saharan-Biography , Local Government-Zambia
Citation