By NDUBI MVULA –
THE National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC) has been challenged to authenticate and protect the reported writings of explorer Dr David Livingstone recently discovered on the walls of caves on Kilwa Island.
Former Nchelenge District Commissioner Derrick Mwewa has reiterated his call for the NHCC to take a proactive role in helping to validate the writings so that they are protected.
Mr Mwelwa who has since been transferred to Mansa said he is still on the case and would like to see the work he started with the Nchelenge administration concluded.
“When I was in Nchelenge, I started the process of having the Island gazetted together with the discovered writings. Despite my being transferred to Mansa, I will still impress upon the provincial administration so that we have the area gazetted,” he says.
Mr Mwelwa also disclosed that at one moment he even approached the Zambia Tourism Agency to visit the place and help document the findings and many others but the response had been lukewarm.
He wondered why the two institutions mandated to safe guard and market the tourism sites are not talking up the matter even after being informed several times.
He said the province was endowed with a lot of rich heritage sites that could be harnessed and marketed for tourism purposes to the benefit of the nation.
Recently, Mr Mwelwa disclosed that David Livingstone’s writings have been seen in the slave caves of Kilwa Island in Nchelenge District.
He disclosed this during a meeting of all Luapula-based District Commissioners, council council chiefs in Mansa a week ago.
Mr Mwelwa said the writings of David Livingstone, in his own handwriting, are engraved on the walls of the caves of the Kilwa Island which should make a good case as a tourist attraction.
He added that the writings indicate that David Livingstone, after parting company with Henry Stanley in what is now the Congo DR, came to Kilwa Island and spent a night in the caves where he left the writings on the walls indicating that he had enjoyed a peaceful night sleep in the natural caves moulded by mother nature.
The District Commissioner further explained that the Kilwa caves are referred to as slave caves because they were used as a slave trading area where some traditional leaders sold their subjects to Arab slave traders.
Mr Mwelwa said slave trade at the time was a normal and human beings were sold just like any other commodity and Kilwa Island was a hive of such activity.
He appealed to the Heritage Conservation Authority to take interest in the Kilwa caves and document the writings properly for historical purposes.
But Former Nchelenge District Commissioner Royd Chakaba disclosed that the Kilwa caves were steeped in myth and required further research for proper documentation.