Betty Kaunda to be buried in Lusaka

ARTHUR SIMUCHOBA
Correspondent | Wednesday October 3, 2012 00:00

But there is still strong resistance to the change from their volatile eldest son, Lieutenant Colonel Panji Kaunda, who continues to insist that burial should be at Lubwa Mission in Chinsali District.

Mama Betty, as she was affectionately known, died in Harare on September 19 and was due to be buried in Chinsali last Sunday. Her body was already in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for a requiem service on Saturday when Dr Kaunda was taken ill and hospitalised.

The service had to be called off and the body returned to the funeral parlour.Dr Kaunda was formally discharged from hospital on Monday but he remained there while his doctors and the family agreed on 'terms' of the discharge.

The hospital said Dr Kaunda was brought in with a high temperature and was weak from suspected dehydration and a respiratory infection.  Said Dr Luckson Kasonka, the managing director of the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) where Kaunda is hospitalised. 'We want to ensure that he is stable so that he attends his wife's funeral.

'He is very stable for now and we should be discharging him any time. I want to reassure the nation that we will restore him to good health and I thank the medical staff for making him stable.'

Following the discharge, the Secretary to the Cabinet Rowland Msiska said the government and the family had resolved to bury Mama Betty at their farm in Lusaka East and confirmed that the burial would be preceded by a church service on Friday.  'Guided by the Kaunda family and Dr Kaunda, a decision has been made to bury Mama Betty at the farm in Lusaka,' Msiska said.

But Dr Kaunda's first son, retired army officer Panji, immediately declared that his mother would be buried in Chinsali and nowhere else. 'You must ignore any statement about burying my mother anywhere else other than Chinsali,' Panji said. 'That is where the Kaunda roots are.'

Lt. Col. Kaunda, who is Deputy Minister of Works and Supply, said his relatives were buried at Chinsali and no one would change that now. He said the tradition was set by his grandfather who had refused to be buried in Malawi, then Nyasaland.

'When my grandfather was asked where he wanted to be buried, he said, 'Bury me here,' this is my home, not Malawi. 'Why should we change that now?' he asked.But the day before Dr Kaunda's fifth son, Kaweche, had said Dr Kaunda had decided that his late wife would be buried in Lusaka.

'We expressed (our) concerns regarding our mother resting in Chinsali,' he said but did not elaborate. 'I can now tell you that after a comprehensive look into the matter and serious discussions,' the old man consented to one thing: that his beloved wife be buried here in Lusaka.' Dr Kaunda must have always wanted it that way but may not have failed to prevail over his volatile and forceful eldest son.