I did not warm up to a visit to this park when I heard my host tell the driver to take us there, until we got there. An elderly man wearing blue overalls walked towards us to collect $15 (about Shs 52,500) from each of us, before we could be let in.
Being a student of history, I did not hesitate to pay for the park that is fast-turning into one of Zambia’s major tourist attractions – it is most of Zambian history in one place.The national heritage and conservation commission started developing this park in 2008 with the death of Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, the country’s third president.
Mwanawasa collapsed at an African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in June 2008, and died about two months later at a military hospital in Paris, France. Being the first Zambian president to die in power, architects designed his mausoleum in the shape of a traditional African stool.
Our guide said, “It’s a symbol of authority for African chiefs; it represents the presidential seat that he was holding at the time of his death.”
The Mwanawasa mausoleum has four pillars around it that are boot-shaped to denote “the commitment Mwanawasa had towards stamping out corruption.”
Mwanawasa was in power from February 2002 to August 2008, making it one and a half presidential terms. On his mausoleum, this time is depicted by eight steps leading to its entrance. The first five steps are wide to represent the five years of the first full term he served, while the next three steps are narrow to represent the two and a half years of the second term.
It is interesting how the mausoleums narrate the story of their famous inhabitants. The second to be buried here was Frederick Titus Chiluba, who, coincidentally, was also Zambia’s second president. He led the country from November 1991 to January 2002, handing over power to Mwanawasa, who had served as his vice president. He died in June 2011. His mausoleum is in the design of a chapel, complete with a cross on top, to remember his December 1991 declaration of Zambia as a Christian country.
The mausoleum also has 10 pillars around it to represent the number of years that Chiluba served as president. The pillars also denote the commitment to unite the southern African region.
On the roof of the mausoleum is also a small structure styled like a traditional African hut. This represents Chiluba’s commitment to empowering Zambians with decent and affordable housing.
The walkway into the Chiluba mausoleum has the design of a necktie, reflecting the former president’s sense of fashion and elegance. Overlooking the site’s main entrance is Michael Chilufya Sata, the country’s fifth president, and the second to die in power, having led the country for about three years. He was buried here in November 2014.
The architects who designed his mausoleum attempted to bring out the style of King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Inside, there are also 10 pillars representing the 10 provinces of Zambia; Sata created the 10th province of the country.
On the walls are inscriptions of the 10 Commandments from the Bible, written in English and Hebrew to show Sata’s pronouncement that he would rule Zambia using the 10 Commandments. A painting of him inside St Ignatius Catholic church on the day, he made the pronouncement hangs on one of the walls.
The mausoleum also has a staircase to represent the new administrative units and projects that he introduced during his short time as president. The country’s founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, is the only one without a mausoleum, but there are all indications that he will soon get one, in line with a 2015 Zambian cabinet resolution to bury “all departed republican presidents in a dignified manner and in properly designated places by establishing mausoleums and creating supporting facilities matching such burial sites, for visitors to learn about their individual and collective contributions to the nation.”
Kaunda was buried here in July 2021 after the High court dismissed a petition by one of his sons who wanted to have him buried at his farm next to his late wife. The son had argued that his father had wished to be buried next to his wife.
Kaunda, much beloved by Zambians and considered the father of the nation because of his position as Zambia’s first post-independence president, will probably get the grandest of all the mausoleums.
Architects must be working round the clock to summarize his illustrious career and legacy, first as president (1964-1991) and later as statesman to his dying day at 97 years, in one concrete structure. Not a walk in the park!
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