By Kasebamashila Kaseba
THE POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY OF THE MUKUNI ROYAL DYNASTY AMONG THE LENJE, LALA, SOLI, SALA AND NSENGA CHIEFTAINS
After taking over the Lenje, Lala, Soli/Lala/Goba and Sala countries, Mukuni went on to assimilate these peoples into his dynasty and went on to establish his kingship over them and appoint his tributary chiefs for them (H.W. Langworthy (1972), p22-25 and P.C. Manchishi and E.T. Musona, p2):
Chaamuka, his trusted courtier, was elevated to a Bene Mukuni subordinate chief of the Lenje with his headquarters at Chisamba, covering todays’ Chisamba district and east of today’s Lusaka district, while he (Mukuni) retained central control of all the Lenje country (S. Douglas Gray (1961), p19).
He appointed his son Mpanswe as a Bene Mukuni princely chief of the Lala of Luano by the Mulungushi river to grow tobacco and castor oil beans for him, for oil, because there was no frost in Luano to burn the plants, but later Mpanswe, after amassing wealth, delinked himself from his father, Mukuni, praising himself thus: “I am Chilubakwabo” (the one who forgets from where he came). For this, Mukuni sent Mukuluma to kill him and replace him with his other son, Liteta. Liteta was later relegated by the colonial administration to a position of a headman under Chief Cheembe of today’s Luano district (S. Douglas Gray (1961), p19).
Cheembe, another son, was appointed a Bene Mukuni princely chief of the Lala of Luano, west of the upper Lunsemfwa river (S. Douglas Gray (1961), p19).
Kapalamoto was made a Bene Mukuni subordinate chief of the Lala, but was later relegated to headman under Cheembe in colonial Northern Rhodesia (S. Douglas Gray (1961), p19).
For the overall Soli/Lala/Goba country below, starting from lower Lunsemfwa river through Chongwe district today and up to some parts of today’s Lusaka district, he appointed his son Bimbe as a princely chief, today styled Senior Chief Nkomeshya, to superintend over the conquered Soli/ Lala/Goba Chieftains of Shikabeta, Mpasha, Bundabunda and Chiyaba, all of whom belonged to the Bene Nyangu clan and whose Senior Chief before then was Bundabunda (S. Douglas Gray (1961), p3 and P.C. Manchishi and E.T. Musona on Soli People, p8, 41 & 48)
When Bimbe died he was succeeded by his young brother Chinyama. Because Bimbe was son to Mukuni, who had been called Mukuni Ngo’mbe after washing clay off his legs with oxen blood before leaving Mulopwe’s country, Bimbe was mistakenly assigned the Bene Ng’ombe (Cattle) clan by the Soli. Bimbe’s headquarters as Senior Chief of the Soli/Lala/Goba were located at Chongwe, an area named after and in honour of Mukuni’s nephew, Chongwe, by his sister Lubona Tunchite. This Chongwe was a brother to Nkanga, the mother of the current Bene Mukuni Lenje Chieftains, and it is for this reason that today the Soli language at Chongwe and Nkomeshya has some Lenje words in it. (Manchishi and Musona, on Soli language, p10 and W. V. Brelsford (1965), p77).
It is no wonder that Royal Highness Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya’s middle name is “Mulenje”. By adopting the title Mukamambo II, and considering also that she organizes the annual Chakwela Makumbi, a rain cult prayer ceremony, Senior Chieftainess Elizabeth Mulenje Nkomeshya has not only assumed the title of Mukuni’s wife, but has also reincarnated her works.
Loongo was appointed a Bene Mukuni tributary chief, today styled Senior Chief Shakumbila, and was given the overall responsibility of taking charge of the Bambala and Sala areas of Mumbwa and Lusaka Districts to oversee subordinate chiefs Mumba, Moono and Chibuluma, who were given to rule the specific areas of Bambala for Mumba and Moono and the Sala area of Kabile for Chibuluma. The other Chibuluma was appointed subordinate chief of the Sala of today’s Lusaka central district (S. Douglas Gray (1961), p19). However, this Chibuluma was later relegated to the position of a headman by the colonial administration and placed under Senior Chief Shakumbila of today’s Lusaka, Shibuyunji and Mumbwa districts.
Thus, when Paramount Chief Undi of the Cewa and Senior Chief Kalindawalo of the Nsenga visited and stayed for some years with Mukuni, early in the 18th century (Apthorpe R. (1960) – Rhodes-Livingstone Journal Number 28, p58) it is appropriately recorded in Lane Poole’s book (1958), on page 45, that the Lala/Lenje region was under Mukuni’s Paramount Chieftain.
When Paramount Chief Undi left Paramount Chief Mukuni’s country for his home in Mano–Kapoche, Mozambique, he took with him a significant number of the Bene Mukuni. Princess Chief Nyanje, a sister to Mukuni, went with him as his wife, with specific instructions to at all costs maintain her chiefly status, and she thus ended up as a chieftainess of the Nsenga of Petauke bordering with Mano in Mozambique (Paramount Chief Chivunga Kalonga Gawa Undi and Chieftainess Letiya Banda, 1970). Thus, today, all Munokalya Mukuni successors in spirit and title to Mukuni, the founder, stand in a mulamu (brother–in-law) relationship with Paramount Chief Undi’s successors in title.
*I have booklifted this from the book, “The Mukuni Royal Dynasty’s Short History and the Munokalya Mukuni Royal Establishment’s Ritual and Political Sovereignty” (2013) by Munokalya Mukuni.