President Edgar Chagwa Lungu mourns Salome Chilufya Besa Kapwepwe

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SPEECH BY, HIS EXCELLENCY MR. EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES

AT THE STATE FUNERAL

OF THE LATE MRS SALOME CHILUFYA BESA KAPWEPWE

WIDOW OF THE LATE MR SIMON MWANSA KAPWEPWE

FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA

 SATURDAY, 13^TH MAY, 2017

• THE BEREAVED FAMILY;
• YOUR EXCELLENCY THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA, DR KENNETH DAVID KAUNDA;
• YOUR EXCELLENCY THE FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA, MR RUPIAH BWEZANI BANDA;
• YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESSES;
• MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE;
• CABINET AND PROVINCIAL MINISTERS PRESENT;
• LEADERS OF POLITICAL PARTIES;
• RELIGIOUS AND CIVIC LEADERS;
• FREEDOM FIGHTERS PRESENT;
• DISTINGUISHED MOURNERS

IT IS WITH PROFOUND SORROW THAT I STAND BEFORE YOU AT THIS SOLEMN OCCASION TO BID FAREWELL TO MAMA SALOME KAPWEPWE. FOR MANY OF US, ESPECIALLY THE BEREAVED FAMILY, NO WORDS CAN FULLY CAPTURE OUR SENSE OF LOSS.

FELLOW MOURNERS,

LET ME FROM THE ONSET, CONVEY MY DEEPEST AND SINCERE CONDOLENCES, ON BEHALF OF MY FAMILY, THE GOVERNMENT AND INDEED THE PEOPLE OF ZAMBIA, TO THE ENTIRE KAPWEPWE FAMILY ON THE DEATH OF MAMA SALOME.

BORN 90 YEARS AGO ON 8^TH AUGUST, 1926, OUR MOTHER WILL BE REMEMBERED BY MANY, ACROSS THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF ZAMBIA, AS A TRUE PATRIOT WHO SERVED HER FAMILY AND COUNTRY WITH A DEEP SENSE OF COMMITMENT, PASSION AND ABOVE ALL, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. THAT IS THE KIND OF HERITAGE WE MUST CELEBRATE AS YOUNGER GENERATIONS.

MAMA SALOME AND THE GALLANT WOMEN AND MEN OF HER GENERATION HAVE LEFT US THIS GOOD EXAMPLE THAT PUBLIC SERVICE MUST BE ABOUT A COMMITMENT TO GOD, FAMILY AND COUNTRY!

MAMA SALOME BELONGED TO THIS GREAT GENERATION, A GOLDEN GENERATION OF SELFLESS INDIVIDUALS WHO GAVE THEIR WHOLE TO THE CAUSE OF MOTHER ZAMBIA. AS WE MOURN HER AND OTHERS BEFORE AND AFTER HER, WE ALSO CELEBRATE THE EXTRAODINARY ACHIEVEMENTS AND GIFTS THEY HAVE BEQUEATHED US!

FELLOW MOURNERS,

ALLOW ME TO SHARE WITH YOU MY REFLECTIONS ON THE TIME I SPENT WITH MAMA SALOME WHEN I VISITED HER RECENTLY.  THE VISIT GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO APPRECIATE HOW MUCH SHE CARED ABOUT THIS COUNTRY AND WHAT SHE STOOD FOR. SHE IS INDEED AN EASY PERSON TO DESCRIBE, BECAUSE HER VALUES AND BELIEFS WERE IN EVERYTHING SHE DID.

THROUGH OUR BRIEF INTERACTION, I LEARNT THAT MAMA SALOME’S INTEREST IN THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE OF THIS COUNTRY ACTUALLY BEGUN ON A NON-POLITICAL NOTE.  THIS WAS WHEN SHE JOINED THE AFRICAN SOCIAL WELFARE SOCIETY, WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED TO RAISE ISSUES OF AFRICAN WELFARE WITH THE COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION.

FELLOW MOURNERS,

IT WAS DURING THIS TIME THAT MAMA SALOME BECAME DEEPLY COMMITTED TO THE IDEA OF A FREE PEOPLE UNDER THEIR OWN RULE. INSPIRED BY THIS IDEAL, ALONGSIDE HER HUSBAND, SIMON MWANSA KAPWEPWE, SHE BECAME TOTALLY COMMITTED TO THE RISING NEED OF ATTAININIG FREEDOM FROM THE COLONIAL POWERS.

DURING THE ENSUING LIBERATION STRUGGLE, MAMA SALOME SHOWED DEEP DEVOTION, SACRIFICE AND ENDURED PAIN, PERFORMED ENDLESS AND SELFLESS ACTS TOWARDS OTHERS AND EXIHIBITED GREAT FORTITUDE IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP.

THEREFORE, MAMA SALOME KAPWEPWE OCCUPIES A SPECIAL PLACE IN THE POLITICS OF ZAMBIA. IN RECOGNITION OF HER IMMENSE SACRIFICE AND CONTRIBUTION TO THE INDEPENDENCE STRUGGLE OF OUR COUNTRY, IN 2014, GOVERNMENT HONOURED HER WITH THE ORDER OF THE GRAND COMPANION OF FREEDOM, FIRST DIVISION.

FELLOW MOURNERS,

THE LIFE OF MAMA SALOME WAS EXEMPLIFIED BY HER SELFLESS GENEROSITY AND UNCOMPROMISING BELIEF AND COMMITMENT TO HER FAMILY, FRIENDS, NEIGHBOURS, COMMUNITY AND THE COUNTRY. TO MANY, THE YOUNG AND OLD, SHE WAS A MOTHER, MENTOR AND COUNSELLOR.

THE MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME TO BID FAREWELL TO THIS GREAT DAUGHTER OF OUR NATION IS A TESTIMONY TO WHAT SHE STOOD FOR AND SHARED WITH ALL OF US GATHERED HERE.

FELLOW MOURNERS,

IN OUR MIDST, WE ARE HONOURED BY THE PRESENCE OF OUR FOUNDING FATHER, DR KENNETH DAVID KAUNDA, THE FOURTH PRESIDENT, MR RUPIAH BWEZANI BANDA AND OTHER FREEDOM FIGHTERS WHO HAVE TRAVELLED FROM DIFFERENT PLACES TO BE PART OF THE CELEBRATION OF THIS GREAT LIFE WE ARE BIDDING FAREWELL TO!

FELLOW MOURNERS,

THE LESSONS THAT WE DRAW FROM THE LIFE OF MAMA SALOME POINTS TO ALL OF US TO ASPIRE TO BE PATRIOTIC AND SELFLESS AS EXHIBITED BY HER GENERATION.  HERS WAS A GENERATION OF STRUGGLE, SACRIFICE AND FLAWLESS COMMITMENT TO PATRIOTISM.  LET US EMULATE THEM!

AS A WIFE TO THE LATE MR. KAPWEPWE, MAMA SALOME STOOD THE TEST TIME AND HAS HONOURED THE PROMISE SHE MADE TO HER HUSBAND. SINCE 1980 WHEN HER HUSBAND DIED, SHE HAS CONTINUED TO LIVE AMONG HER PEOPLE.

THIS IS A RARE MARK OF STRENGTH, HUMILITY AND A DEEP SENSE OF COMMITMENT TO FRIENDSHIP, LOYALTY TO PRINCIPLE, AND CLEAR DEMONSTRATION OF THE RARE HUMAN FELLOWSHIP THIS COUNTRY NEEDS, TO MOVE FORWARD.

FELLOW MOURNERS,

AS WE PUT TO REST THIS GALLANT FREEDOM FIGHTER, LET US HONOUR HER BY EMULATING HER LIFE AND THE LIVES OF OTHER FOUNDING MOTHERS AND FATHERS OF THIS NATION.

LET THOSE OF US WHO TODAY LIVE ON THE SACRIFICES OF THIS EVER SHRINKING GOLDEN GENERATION, NOT FORGET THE IDEALS THEY LIVED AND DIED FOR. LET US NOT TAKE OUR FREEDOMS AND CIVIL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR GRANTED, THAT WOULD BE A BETRAYAL OF THE ENORMOUS SACRIFICES THEY MADE SO WE CAN BE A FREE PEOPLE.

 FELLOW MOURNERS,

WE HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE LEGACY OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING PERSONALITIES OF PRE-INDEPENDNECE ZAMBIA, TWO OF WHOM LIE BEFORE US TODAY, MAMA SALOME, AND SIMON KAPWEPWE. THEY MADE SUCH PROFOUND AND REMARKABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR NATION.

IN HONOURING THESE TWO GREAT ICONS, LET US DEPART FROM THIS PLACE, THEIR FINAL RESTING PLACE, ASSIGNING OURSELVES OUR DUE SHARE IN THE REALISATION OF THE IDEALS THEY ASPIRED TO SEE. BY DOING SO, WE WILL BE HONOURING THEIR LEGACY OF FREEDOM UNDER A UNITED ONE ZAMBIA, ONE NATION.

MAMA SALOME LEFT US THAT EXAMPLE; A VERY ORDINARY LIFE THAT BLOSSOMED INTO AN EXTRAORDINARY EXAMPLE OF COMMITMENT TO PATRIOTISM AND NATION-BUILDING; A VERY GOOD EXAMPLE FOR THOSE SEEKING TO BUILD A FREE, DEMOCRATIC AND PROSPEROUS NATION!

AND WHEN SHE JOINED THE STRUGGLE, SHE, AND THIS GOLDEN GENERATION OF FREEDOM FIGHTERS, ALSO FOUGHT FOR NON-SEXIST SOCIETY, SO SHE IS A SHINING EXAMPLE FOR THOSE SEEKING GENDER EQUITY.

GO WELL MAMA SALOME, YOU RAN A GOOD RACE; YOU SHOWED US A GOOD EXAMPLE; YOU HAVE LEFT US A GOOD EXAMPLE AMONG THE MANY GIFTS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US, HUMAN FELLOWSHIP IS AMONG THE GREATEST, YOU GAVE US LOVE, WE LOVE YOU TOO; GO WELL, MAMA, WE CELEBRATE YOUR GREAT LIFE. GO WELL!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.  I THANK YOU!- President Edgar Chagwa Lungu