Opinion Opinion
Zambia at 62: Freedom, faith, future
Zambia marks 62 years of independence, reflecting on the country’s political evolution, its democratic journey and the changes that have shaped the nation since 1964.
Picture: Times of Zambia
Sixty-Two years ago, under a star-swept October sky, a flag of green, red, black, and orange rose to greet the crisp air of freedom.
The Union Jack fell, a republic was born, and an expectant nation dared to dream.
Today, as the drums of independence echo across the nation, Zambia does not merely celebrate the passage of time.
We celebrate the survival of an ideal. We stand as a testament to the enduring truth that democracy is not a quiet destination, but a living journey.
For 62 years, this nation has been an oasis of peace in a Southern African region once torn by conflict.
Yet, to look back is to realise that our peace was never a product of passivity.
It was forged in the fires of political experimentation, lost in the shadows of single-party hegemony, and fiercely reclaimed by the unyielding will of the ordinary Zambian.
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As we mark this milestone, we look beyond the speeches and the pageantry to trace the deep, indelible rivers of our political evolution, the structural renewal of the New Dawn, and the remarkable metamorphosis of the city that holds our national heart.
The Zambia of 1964 was a land of staggering contradictions.
It possessed a treasury buoyed by booming global copper prices, yet it inherited an indigenous population systematically denied higher education by colonial design.
Politically, however, the young nation was alive with a fierce, intoxicating pluralism.
The early political arena was a theatre of giants. The ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP), anchored by the charisma of Dr Kenneth Kaunda, found itself perpetually locked in combat with the veteran nationalist Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula and his African National Congress (ANC).
Source: Times of Zambia — Read more
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