Mainza Chona

Mainza Mathias Chona (21 January 1930 – 11 December 2001) was a Zambian politician and founder of UNIP who served as the third vice-president of Zambia from 1970 to 1973 and Prime Minister on two occasions: from 25 August 1973 to 27 May 1975 and from 20 July 1977 to 15 June 1978.

Chona was born Sikaye Chingula Namukamba on 21 January 1930 at Nampeyo, near Monze in the Batoka Province of the British colony of Northern Rhodesia (which later became Southern Province, Zambia).

His father was Hameja Chilala (also known as Chief Chona).

His mother, Nhandu (Chinyama), was one of his father's five wives.

Chona received his primary education at Chona out-school in Nampeyo (established by the Jesuit mission at his father's request), and at Chikuni (the Jesuit headquarters).

It was at Chikuni that Chona converted to Catholicism.

He completed his secondary education at Munali Secondary School in Lusaka in 1951 and then worked as an interpreter at the High Court in Livingstone.

However, his ambition was to become a lawyer.

The White-dominated Central African Federation (CAF) had been established on 1 August 1953, in spite of feeble opposition from the Black population through the African National Congress (ANC), led by Nkumbula and Kaunda.

The two leaders drifted apart as Nkumbula became increasingly influenced by White liberals and was seen as being willing to compromise on the issue of Black majority rule.

In pursuit of his goal, Chona secured a scholarship that took him to London in 1955, where he studied at Gray's Inn.

He was called to the bar in 1958.

While in England, he met other African nationalists, including Harry Nkumbula and Kenneth Kaunda.

He also made contact with London-based White supporters of the nationalist cause, such as Simon Zukas and Doris Lessing.

This was also when he adopted the name Mathias Mainza Chona by deed poll.

Chona returned to Northern Rhodesia in December 1958.

During his absence from Northern Rhodesia, politics had moved forward on several fronts.

Eventually Kaunda broke from the ANC in October 1958 and formed the Zambia African National Congress (ZANC), with Nkumbula remaining as leader of the ANC.

Chona had been a member of ANC while in London and he had not made a choice between the two factions.

Due to ZANC's militancy and its unwillingness to compromise on the issue of "independence now", Kaunda and other leaders of the new party were detained by the CAF authorities, and ZANC was banned in March 1959.

Chona decided to take active part in the operations of the still-legal ANC, but his challenge to Nkumbula's cautious leadership of the party resulted in a further split.

Chona and other nationalists broke away from the ANC and, in October 1959, Chona became the first president of the United National Independence Party (UNIP), the successor to ZANC.

However, he did not see himself as the party's main founder and he stepped down when Kaunda was released from prison in January 1960.

As Kaunda's loyal lieutenant, Chona was elected deputy president of UNIP, but he had to leave Northern Rhodesia to avoid a charge of sedition brought by the increasingly rattled CAF authorities.

He remained in London as UNIP's overseas representative for more than a year.

He also served as a UNIP delegate to the Federal Review Conference in London in December 1960 and returned home in February 1961.

In June 1961, Chona was elected National Secretary of UNIP and he remained in that post for eight years.

He was instrumental in securing the short-lived coalition between UNIP and the ANC in January 1963.

He also held various government positions, including Justice Minister (1964–1968), Home Affairs Minister (1968–1969) and Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney-General (1975–1978).

In January 1964, Kaunda formed Northern Rhodesia's first Black cabinet, and gave Chona the post of Minister of Justice in UNIP's pre-independence government.

At independence in October 1964, Kaunda gave Chona the post of Minister of Home Affairs.

Between 1966 and 1969, Chona held no less than five different ministerial appointments, including minister without portfolio.

He was sent to the United States as ambassador in 1969.

In November 1970, he was returned to Zambia and appointed as the country's Vice-President.

Chona's lasting contribution to Zambia's constitutional development was the famous Chona Commission, which was set up under his chairmanship in February 1972 to make recommendations for the constitution of a 'one-party participatory democracy' (i.e. a one-party state).

The Commission's terms of reference did not permit it to discuss the pros and cons of Kaunda's decision.

This position was the de facto second in command in the hierarchy of Zambian politics during the period of the One Party Participatory State (1973–1991).

He was Secretary General of the United National Independence Party (UNIP), the ruling party, from 1978 to 1981.

He was Secretary-General of UNIP from 1978 to 1981 and Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1984 to 1989.

He later served as Ambassador to France until