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Battle for Kavalamanja … In defense of the NationPress Release Contact Person: Re: Documentary: “Battle for Kavalamanja … In defense of the Nation” Yezi-Arts Promotions and Productions, producers of the impending feature film depicting Zambia’s contribution to the liberation struggles in Southern Africa, will in the next two weeks make available a 45-minute documentary which captures the experiences of local citizens of Kavalamanja in Luangwa district at the height of the liberation struggles. “Our people may wish to know that between March 6-9, 1978 Luangwa district (then called Feira) was under siege by Ian Smith’s Southern Rhodesia. The most intensified aerial and ground bombardment, resulting in unaccounted deaths, internal displacement of people took place in this remote village of Kavalamanja”. The documentary captures first hand experiences, diverse testimonies of people who experienced the lethal and wanton air and ground force attacks over a period of 72 hours in the battle for Kavalamanja, in what the Southern Rhodesian military code-named “Operation Turmoil” – in pursuit of freedom fighters from late Nkhomo’s ZIPRA forces and the quest by the Smith regime to take over the district of Luangwa. This documentary is one of the four documentaries Yezi-Arts planned to produce this year together with the feature film as a way of documenting the practical impacts and implications of this important contribution and era in our political history. It transcends Zambia’s borders and it is even more relevant now for the country to document these happenings as it chairs SADC – which is a product of the fore-runner, the Frontline Movement, under whose auspices Zambia obliged to contribute to the liberation of countries in the sub-region from the colonialism and imperialism. “It is our hope many Zambians will take a personal responsibility to access and have this information for posterity’s sake. We also hope historians, educationists and other citizens will take keen interest in the subject, and rally behind us as we explore ways of starting debate on the necessity of this information, like many experiences on the liberation struggles to become part of our curriculum. The current and future generations need to know what happened during this period.” Meanwhile, work on the feature film Nkhondo Ya Mkwezalamba has experienced delays and the producers have expressed anxiety over the whole development. “We are behind schedule on the production of this important feature film. It is an expensive venture but we are committed to ensuring that the film is available for the Zambians before the end of the year. However, we have had problems in accessing bridging finances, especially the shortfall of approximately K80million (from the total budget of K270million) to enable us complete this work on schedule. Nevertheless, we have done much of the field work except for getting on location in Luangwa where other scenes for the film will be completed from”. Currently, the institution is selling coupons to individuals and institutions at K1million and K5million, respectively, as a way of raising this shortfall. Individuals, business houses are encouraged to contribute to the production of the film. Ends/
Editor’s Note: Brief Summary of the Project: Zambia was a home for many liberation movements in the region. FRELIMO (was active in Tete Province (in the north western Mozambique) which bordered on Zambia’s Eastern and Lusaka Provinces. The Zambezi, as a boundary between Zambia and Zimbabwe was not an insurmountable obstacle for the liberation movement in Zimbabwe. SWAPO was active on Zambia’s border along the Caprivi Strip. Finally, the boundary with Angola in the northwest had many groups of liberation movements operating there. Thus, Zambia was strategically and dangerously positioned for the liberation struggle in Zambia. Zambia’s involvement with the liberation movements in the neighbouring countries and the anti-apartheid movement in South was not a dictation of geography. The support was a deliberate decision of the founding leadership of independent Zambia. The strides to document Zambia’s role in the liberation struggles of Southern Africa is part of efforts to communicate and educate Zambians, and people beyond its borders on this important era in our political history, which spans over the years 1964-1993. It explores the various dimensions of Zambia’s commitments and resolves to contribute to the emancipation of the people of the region, then, from the yokes of colonialism and imperialism – noting, in the process that some of these efforts still impact on the country, post the liberation struggles era which still have a bearing on the perceptions, development trends and other manifestations on the people of Zambia. The overall goal is to increase awareness on the subject, which hopefully will be the basis for understanding, appreciating and embracing the role the country played in this important era - ultimately influencing awareness and action concretized through public policy on the need to document and in integrate this aspect into the curriculum in the mainstream educational system (to the benefit of current and future generations).The motivation behind the programme takes into account the absence of recorded, accessible and easy to consume documentation of experiences on the role played by this country, especially within Zambia for its citizens, now and in the future.
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