BEHIND LUSAKA TOWNISHIP NAMES – PART ONE
LUSAKA was named after ‘Lusaaka’, a Soli village located where the National Assembly stands today and Manda Hill was their grave yard.
Lusaka’s residential areas with English names also do have local ones;
CHELSTONE is ‘Chakunkula’
RHODES PARK is ‘Maluba’.
NORTHMEAD is ‘Mutambe’
VILLA ELIZABETHA is ‘Namununga’
OLYMPIA PARK is ‘Chiwalamabwe’
JOHN LAING, JOHN HOWARD and JACK compounds were farm blocks belonging to the said individuals and ‘KUKU’ was a common shared plot known as cooks’ quarters, hence the name.
LIBALA, derived from the Soli phrase, ‘libala lya kame’, meaning my field.
LILAYI, very well known for its police training college originated from the Soli expression ‘lilayi lisuba’, meaning the sun is setting
CHILENJE, was a village in which Lenje was spoken and Soli people called it ‘Chilenje’, hence the name.
KABULONGA, there lived a man called ‘Buloongo’ and people used to refer to his wife as ‘Mukabuloongo’ meaning Mrs Buloongo but the British settlers had a hard time pronouncing the name ‘Mukabulongo’ and ended up been called Kabulonga.
Credit: Paul Jeremiah Nkowani