Alice Lenshina
Alice Lenshina | |
---|---|
Born | Alice Mulenga Lubusha 1920 Kasama, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) |
Died | 1978 New Chilenje compound, Lusaka | (aged 57–58)
Nationality | Zambian |
Occupation | Leader of a religious sect |
Spouse | Petros Chintankwa |
Children | 5 |
Alice Lenshina (1920–1978) was a
Lenshina founded and led the
Origins
She was born Alice Mulenga Lubusha in 1920 in Chinsali district of the northern province of Northern Rhodesia. Alice was her baptismal name, while Mulenga was her traditional African name. Much information about her upbringing remains unknown. There are no further details on her mother beside her name, Musungu Chimba. Lubusha, her father, was a village policeman who fought for the British during World War I and was a messenger for the colonial administration. They were members of the Crocodile Clan, which was a distinguished clan of the Bemba kingdom.[1]
The name "Lenshina" was a Bemba form of the Latin word "regina" ("queen"). She married Gibson Nkwale. After he died, she married Petros Chintankwa with whom she had five children.
Situated in a remote part of Northern Rhodesia, Chinsali district was a battleground for two competing Christian missions: the Roman Catholic Missionaries of Africa (the "White Fathers"), based at Llondola from 1934, and the United Free Church of Scotland, based at Lubwa from 1905. One of the Lubwa missionaries was David Kaunda, father of Kenneth Kaunda who became the first president of Zambia and who was a firm opponent of the Lumpa sect.
1953–1955
Lenshina was a member of the Church of Scotland until she became very ill with cerebral
The new church rapidly joined the competition for souls against the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland. Lumpa was so successful that by the late 1950s it may have had up to 150,000 members in the northern and eastern provinces of Northern Rhodesia. The church's drive for membership was so aggressive that it was seen as a political threat by the colonial Northern Rhodesia government.
1958–1964
At first the Lumpa Church was close to the main Black organization fighting for independence, the Northern Rhodesia African National Congress (ANC). However, when Kenneth Kaunda left the ANC in 1958 and formed the more militant United National Independence Party (UNIP) there arose a competition for members between the new church and the new party. Villages were split as Lumpa leaders ordered their members to establish separate villages by moving out of villages where they lived alongside UNIP's members. The conflict between UNIP and the Lumpa Church reached a climax in July to October in 1964, just before Northern Rhodesia's independence. On July 24, 1964, a gunbattle broke out between UNIP and Lumpa Church members.[where?] The resulting riots were only quelled by the intervention of State troops, and the proclamation of a state of emergency by the new pre-independence Prime Minister, Kenneth Kaunda.
About a thousand people died in the clashes between Lumpa Church adherents, UNIP's members and the security forces. Approximately 15,000 Lumpa Church members fled and took refuge in Congo; some of them never returned to Zambia. The Lumpa Church was banned on 3 August 1964 and Lenshina surrendered to police a few days later.[6] Hardly anyone faulted Lenshina for the violence that took place. This was evident when her biggest critic, Kaunda, never called for her trial in court. Even though she was the symbol for the Lumpa Church, she adamantly denied any involvement in the political disturbances. The political aspirations of her contemporaries took precedent over Lenshina's desire for a religious and cultural revival.[5]
1964–1978
Alice Lenshina herself played no significant role in the Lumpa Church's political activities. She regretted the fact that the political actions weakened the religious impact of her message, which stressed the sanctity of marriage, opposed both
Death
[7] Lenshina died on 7 December 1978 while under house arrest and was eventually buried at Kasomo village where the Kamutola Church stood.
The Lumpa Church continues to exist to this day, though it is split and called by various names, the most prominent of which are Uluse Kamutola Church, under Chilemweni Nkonde (the biggest), Jerusalem Church, under Bubile (Daughter to Lenshina) and New Jerusalem Church, under Nkaya, in Kitwe's Chimwemwe Township.
References
- ^ JSTOR 1580801.
- ^ "ALICE MULENGA LENSHINA AND THE LUMPA CHURCH (cult)". dagolo.blogspot.co.uk. 13 November 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "Retracing the Lumpa Church". maravi.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "LENSHINA Mulenga Mubisha, Alice, Zambia, Lumpa Church". www.dacb.org. Archived from the original on 2006-09-25.
- ^ OCLC 936724316.
- ^ Luscombe, Stephen. "Alice Lenshina and her Lumpa Church". www.britishempire.co.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "The Lowdown Magazine". 31 March 2013.
Further reading
- Hugh Macmillan, "Lenshina, Alice Mulenga (1920–1978)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford UP, September 2004; online ed., May 2006 accessed 24 May 2006
- Should Kaunda and UNIP militia be tried at The Hague for Crimes against Humanity? by Malama Katulwende The Lumpa Massacre
- H. F. Hinfelaar, Bemba-speaking women of Zambia in a century of religious change (1994)
- J. Hudson, A time to mourn: a personal account of the 1964 Lumpa Church in Zambia (Lusaka, 1999)
- F. Macpherson, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia: the times and the man (Lusaka, 1974)
- J. J. Grotpeter, B. V. Siegel, and J. R. Pletcher, Historical dictionary of Zambia, 2nd ed. (1998)
- Margaret Buter, Prophetess Alice Lenshina, God's African Commander, Tremendous Wealth Publishers
External links
- Biography of A. Lenshina, Dictionary of African Christian Biography
- Famous Zambians – Alice Lenshina (Archived 2009-10-25)