From political life to a gardening supremo

This Week in The Bulletin & Record Archives

By Moses Walubita

On a wall by the verandah of Mrs Edna Kamanga’s farm in Lusaka South is a map of Africa and two small plaques. They read:  No-one replaces a mother. Simply Do Your Best Then God Will Do The Rest, and God bless this home.

Says Mrs Kamanga, who is the widow of Zambia’s first Vice President, Reuben Chitandika Kamanga: “I believe in all of them, especially the one reading: Simply Do Your Best Then God Will Do The Rest.

 In her kitchen is a picture of former US President George Bush shaking hands with Reuben. On it President Bush had written: “I so enjoyed our meeting. With best wishes.” On a wall in the television room is a photograph taken on the Kamanga’s wedding day on September 7, 1963. It includes founding President Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe and the bride’s father, Oliver Kabungo.

A tribute to the late Reuben Kamanga, pinned to the wall from former Inspector-General of Police, Henry Mtonga, reads: U Kaziputa Limba (if you cause something to happen don’t chicken out”). Mr Kamanga was born in August 1928 in Fort Jameson (now Chipata), and died in September 1996.

Outside, Mrs Kamanga’s vast fertile garden spreads out, and it is the tending of the garden to which Mrs Kamanga devotes much of her time and skill. It is not difficult to imagine it as a version of the Garden of Eden.

“I am coming from a family of keen gardeners as evidenced by my late mother’s trophy in 1958 for the Home and Garden competition in Chifubu (Ndola) township,” she said. Like her mother, Edna Kamanga is an accomplished gardener, as evidenced by her election in June as chairperson of the Lusaka Garden Club. She has helped landscape many gardens and her younger sister Vida still does a lot of landscaping.

Not surprisingly, Mrs Kamanga’s favourite book, which occupies pride of place in the kitchen, is the Royal Horticultural Society Gardener’s Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers, which contains over 8,000 plants and 4,000 photographs. It is the definitive reference work for serious gardeners.

“You walk round and admire your plants and talk to them. There are times when I feel low and lonesome,” she explained. “I find solace when walking in my garden. It is a mature garden with plants collected from all over the world. Some of them were brought by my late husband from his many trips. Most of them have a story and they are hence a therapy because they bring sweet memories.” One of the plants is a 35-year-old Staghorn fern, possibly the biggest in Lusaka.

Edna Kamanga was born in Kitwe in March 1946. Her father, Oliver Kabungo, was a miner from Munkanta Village in Kawambwa District, and her mother was Eunice Damli Kabungo, from Transkei in South Africa.

Edna is the second born in a family of three children, while her own family is of six siblings and one stepdaughter. The children are daughters Chimwemwe and Chansa, sons Kabungo, Chitandika, Madalitso and Mtumba, and stepdaughter Misozi.

Mrs Kamanga disclosed that many women had asked how her stepdaughter had become her best friend when the trend was to subject stepchildren to a harsh life. She and her stepdaughter became best friends “because it takes two people to tango. If you show her love she will do the same”. The stepdaughter is Anna Misozi Zulu, a laboratory technician at Mpelembe Secondary School in Kitwe.

Young Edna started her primary school education at Twapia in Ndola before moving to Keembe in the Central Province and then completing Grade seven at Chimpempe in Kawambwa. She got married before secondary school education but in 1966 she attended Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka where she studied home economics. “This helped me a lot with my public life. Being an introvert, I was on the shy side. The course helped me gather confidence in public life,” she said.

In 2005 Mrs Kamanga obtained a diploma in social work, and in 2011 a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies, both from the University of Zambia. Next month she is destined to graduate with a master’s degree in sociology from the Zambia Open University (ZOU).

In sports, Edna participated in netball at Keembe and Chimpempe boarding schools. One of her best friends while at primary school included Charity Ngondo, widow of prominent Chipata and Lusaka businessman Ken Ngondo.

Edna’s first met with her late husband when her father drove to Reuben Kamanga’s house where the two men had a short meeting. As they bade farewell, Reuben saw Edna and her younger sister Vida seated in the car. He asked Mr. Kabungo why he had left some people in the car because both girls were also welcome. So they met.

Edna then started receiving letters at boarding school and eventually her parents approved the marriage to Reuben although they came from different provinces. Today, 52 years later, she has 15 grandchildren.

Although her husband rose to the second highest office in the land, Edna has not been involved in politics, although she discusses them. “I do follow current affairs both at home and abroad,” she said. “One of my sons is involved.”

Asked if she was happy with what is going on in politics and how Zambia could regain or maintain its status as a united nation, Mrs. Kamanga answered: “One Zambia One Nation is a slogan that says it all. It speaks volumes”, although she believes more development and progress are long overdue.

First published in the August 2015 edition of The Bulletin & Record.