HOW KUOMBOKA ALMOST RUINED MY EDUCATION – SIKOTA WINA
An excerpt from the book: Conversations with Memorable Personalities (2022), By Amos Malupenga, Pages 489 – 491.
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Amos Malupenga: I will start with my usual opening question, so I will ask you to summarise your background.
Sikota Wina: Well, I was born in Lealui in Mongu district in 1931. My late father, Namakando Wina, was an induna to Paramount Chief Yeta III and in 1936, my father was appointed by the Litunga to accompany his son who was to be chief Kufuna Yeta of Baluvale.
By that time the Baluvale district [now Zambezi in North-Western Province] was under the jurisdiction of the Litunga. So, my father went with the Litunga’s son, chief Kufuna, as the prime minister there in Baluvale. I went along with my father together with Arthur Wina. We were there from 1936 to 1941 when a combination of factors made it necessary for us to evacuate the district.
There was an upsurge in Luvale nationalism which resented the continued rule by the Lozi chiefs there and also the influence of missionaries was very emphatic in influencing the Luvale teachers and intellectuals to kick out the Lozi imperialists.
So, we evacuated Baluvale and the Lozi chieftainship was abolished. We went back to Mongu.
Upon return to Mongu, my father was appointed prime minister Ngambela to Paramount Chief Yeta III. In 1945 or thereabout, I was in Standard One and I failed my examinations.
My father was absolutely furious with me. He called the headmaster and told him that the boy had to pass. The headmaster told my father bluntly that it will be very unfair to the child because the child had not been going to school.
I confessed to my father that as a matter of fact I had not been attending school. I was playing the Kuomboka every day – paddling some canoes along the canals and beating drums
My father was very upset but the headmaster told my father that this is a bright boy but for as long as he stays here, he will not be able to make it.
He said kick him out of this province. Send him somewhere where he will be able to be on his own. It was with that background that my father found me school at Kafue Training Institute as it was called at that time. So, I left Mongu at a very young age and continued my Standard One at Kafue where I met people like Justin Chimba and various other groups from various tribes.
And in a way I think that broke my tribal linkage. I began to identify with everybody irrespective of tribe. That influenced my life to a very great extent.
So, I was there and we found Mr. Robinson Nabulyato as the headmaster. He took a special liking for me and looked after me very well until I passed Standard Six after which I was selected to go to Munali Secondary School.
There again, having been the only secondary school at the time in Northern Rhodesia, it was a ground for people from all provinces and districts – the best selected brains from all these areas. In another way, Munali at that time played a very pivotal role in fostering nationalism because it broke tribalism and provincialism. I met friends from various parts
of the country irrespective of tribe.
In a way I deplore, despite the fact that it is development, the establishment of schools in districts because really, secondary schools in districts do not give them an opportunity to meet and brush brains with pupils from other provinces.
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