Yuyi Libakeni
8 May 2003
NOW that festivities of the Kuomboka ceremony of the Litunga are over, a date has been announced for the Kuomboka of the Mulena Mboanjikana of Libonda, the Senior Chief superintending Kalabo district.
The ceremony will take place on Friday, May 9, 2003 when she moves from her capital, Libonda, through the Zambezi river to her winter capital, Mulundumano, and later the Luanginga river which lies at the foot of the western forest edge in Mapungu area, some 20km south of Kalabo Boma.
According to the programme released by the Barotse Royal Establishment at Libonda, the event will kick off at 08:30 hours, and proceed to the Zambezi past Imwambo village, the burial ground for Mboo Mwanasilundu, the first male Litunga.
Imwambo plays a less publicised but crucial role in the installation of the Litunga and Ngambela.
Visitors are advised that no pictures of this village may be taken without authority.
After branching off the Zambezi at Ikatulamwa which was Mboo's capital, the travelling parties take the Ikatulamwa canal that joins the Luanginga River at Mwandi-wa-Kufuna, which was the headquarters of the third Litunga Yeta.
The detour through Ikatulamwa canal that avoids the Zambezi/Luanginga confluence provides a shortcut that leads to Nondi where the entourage rests for lunch.
Thereafter, they will follow the Luanginga river down to Mulundumano, the final destination at about 15:00 hours.
There, excited multitudes of the chief's subjects will be gathered in readiness to receive the chieftainess.
To get to Libonda or the final destination in Kalabo, hired boats are available both in Mongu and Libonda.
Mulena Mboanjikana is third in royal hierarchy to the Litunga after the Mulena Mukwae (otherwise known as Litunga la Mboela) of Nalolo in Senanga, the only other female chieftainship in Western Province.
On the mini-Kuomboka voyage, tourists will see historical villages like Makono where all the Litungas are crowned.
There will also be Namanda, the burial ground for Yeta I, and at a distance Makululalo, the village of Inyambo, the second Litunga.
The flotilla of boats that accompanies Mboanjikana on the voyage is, as might be expected, much smaller, comprising three main barges that include her own official vessel, Indila, the Matende which carries royal property and Luwabelwa for the Prince Consort.
Nevertheless what lacks in numbers is more than made up in the paddling expertise displayed by men whose daily lives are governed by water and the boat.
The royal barge Indila (the way) has a history behind it, said by many to be the first royal barge (before Mboo built the Nalikwanda) of the Aluyi in Bulozi.
It is the name of the boat that Mwambwa Njemakati, the leader of the Lozi from Congo, used on the trek.
Legend has it that it was a gift from Lunda Chief Kapinga, who later married her daughter, Mbuywana.
Accepting the barge, Queen Mwambwa is reported to have said in Siluyana 'litina lya wato wange Indila' (the name of my boat is Indila - the way.)
The royal emblem is the hippo, or Mbu in Siluyana, whose story is told in the royal song 'kanuwe mbu wa Libonda'.
Although Libonda had been a Muleneni from the earliest times, it had no royal drums until 1975 when Imutakwandu Mbikusita authorised the issue of a full (less the Maoma) set of the Siluyana ensemble to mulena Mboankikana, and then to the late Lundambuyu.
Visitors to Libonda will still enjoy the music from the royal band. But they will miss, as we so dearly do, the ancient royal dance Lishemba which was a standard bearer of this chiefdom.
It was based on the crested crane, Liowanyi, which the Lozi admire for its beauty and gender sensitiveness, both sexes wearing the same plumage.
The dance died long ago but the writer recalls getting up one night at midnight and, with a friend beginning to practise the dance to the tune of 'Namucoko sikwa na mulungu' - much to the annoyance of the grandfather.
The present ruler at Liibonda is Mulena Mboanjikana Kandundu, a daughter of the late Litunga Yeta III and sister of the late Ilute Yeta IV. She ascended to the throne in 1995 after the death of Lundambuyu Lewanika (1959-95) who took over from Makwibi (1951-59) who is now Mulena Mukwae of Nalolo.
Makwibi succeeded the aging Akatoka Namuchoko, Lewanika's younger sister who ruled from 1878 to 1950 when she died.
She was the one that formally resurrected this chiefdom that lay in limbo since the demise of Njikana, the younger sister of Mboo, who is said to have been the first chieftainess at Libonda.
'Other Kuombokas?' Ask many people when told of Nalolo and Libonda Kuomboka ceremonies, so soon after Litunga's pageant. The simple answer to this is that Kuomboka is essentially a way of life, a fight for survival against nature.
There is a Nsenga saying which probably tells it all (in its literal meaning) 'Tipandire madzi mbali m'madondo, angadzafika m'chuno hanadzakuanisika bi' (let us wade through while the water goes up only as far as the knees, for when it reaches the waist it will be impossible'.
You may have seen the rest but not yet the best. So why not venture there?
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