Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:32:54 +0000
By Jackson Mapapayi
ALL roads in North Western Province and other parts of Zambia leads to Zambezi district for the famous Likumbi lya Mize traditional ceremony for the Luvale-speaking people of Senior Chief Ndungu slated for this weekend.
Meanwhile, the district has reportedly run out of accommodation with lodge owners doubling boardng fees with the cheapest room fetching K450.
And landlords have taken advantage of the situation and are now renting out their houses to stranded patrons.
Likumbi lya Mize is one of the ceremonies recognised by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Initially, the ceremony started on Wednesday with the rising of the Makishi from the graveyard in the East bank which is called in the local dialect as “Kuvumbuka.”
This year, about 150 Makishis rose from the graveyard led by Kahipu (the King of the Makishi) and proceeded to the beaches of the Zambezi River in the West bank for a dance performance called “Chilende.” And organising committee chairperson Charles Moono said all is set for this year’s ceremony. He said over 50 traditional leaders from Zambia and Angola were expected to attend the ceremony.
“On behalf of the organising committee I can confirm that all logistics have been put in place for this year’s ceremony and from the observation, we are going to have a lot of people this year compared to last year,” he said.
And Zambezi District Commissioner Lawrence Kayumba has appealed to the people attending the ceremony to take caution and behave well.
“I don’t want to hear of any accident, they should be very careful because the river has crocodiles,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health working in collaboration with Young Women Christian Association and Kansanshi Mine are distributing condoms to avoid the spread of HIV/AIDS.
