LAST Monday, Times Printpak Deputy Managing Director Chishimba Chishimba emailed me a copy of the story the paper published on the death and burial of former colleague and ex-Times Printpak Zambia Limited managing director Arnold Kapelembi.
In actual fact the story served to confirmed what my wife, Ethel, had mentioned in the sms she had sent me on Sunday at 13:33, saying: ‘Husband, your ex-colleague Arnold Kapelembi has died; just been told by Bishop Mibenge’. (Kapelembi was Bishop and Commissioner Mibenge’s co-worker on the Zambia Human Rights Commission).
For the benefit of followers of the ‘I Remember’ column who might have missed the story, I hereby present the report in its entirety. It said: “Former Times Printpak managing director Arnold Kapelembi was yesterday put to rest at Lusaka’s Leopard’s Hill Memorial Park.
Mr Kapelembi’s burial was attended by Government officials that included Lands Minister Mwansa Kapeya, Information and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Bert Mushala, heads of media institutions and media practitioners from both the public and private sectors.
Speaking during the burial, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) vice board chairperson Inonge Wambulawae described Mr Kapelembi as a man who had a warm personality and an in depth understanding of the media terrain and professional demeanour.
Ms Wambulawae said the Corporation was going to miss Mr Kapelembi because he had quickly gained the respect and friendship of fellow board members and members of staff at ZNBC during the last seven
months he worked as a board member.
“Mr Kapelembi had been an invaluable member of the ZNBC family since the time he was appointed a member of the board in December 2013.
“His warm personality, in depth understanding of the media terrain and professional demeanor were a vivid reminder of a man that had held various notable portfolios, such as managing director of the Times of Zambia and Sunday Times of Zambia and a Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission,” said Ms Wambulawae.
She said that Mr Kapelembi had for the first time sent apologies for his absence from the meeting last week on Wednesday as he was attending the funeral of his father-in-law in Solwezi, not knowing that it would be his first and last apology.
Yilung’a, who is first-born daughter of late Mr Kapelembi, described her father as a caring person who was there to render support to all family members without segregation.
Veteran Journalist and former Zambia Daily Mail managing director Leonard Kantumoya paid tribute to the late Mr Kapelembi, describing him as a person who stood for good morals and professionalism.
Mr Kapelembi started his career as a Zambia Mail reporter in 1971 and later moved to the Times/Printpak Zambia Limited, where he rose through the ranks to become managing director in 2002, a position he held until he retired in 2008.
He thereafter offered media consultancy services and served as Commissioner for the Human Rights Commission from 2011 to February 2014.
At the time of his death, Mr Kapelembi was serving as a member of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) board, a position to which he was appointed in December 2013.
Mr Kapelembi is survived by a wife, Musompa and four children.”
What shocked me most about Arnold’s death dear reader is that on July 3,2014 while working on the ‘Samu Zulu was a Jolly good fellow’ draft, I had sent a texted message to Arnold, asking him whether he knew of any other columns that Zulu may have written that I was probably unaware of.
This was his reply:
“Hi I can only remember the one which he called who owns the shop next door which highlighted Indian dominance of businesses.”
Sender: Arnold Kapelembi 0966905313. Sent: 3-July-2014. Time:16:20:45.
Arnold was a keen follower of my column and would either phone or sms, as he did on May 20, on ‘My Lusaka trip by train,” during which the late Robinson Makayi and I met for the first time.
Still on July 3, I sent Arnold yet another sms, inviting him to contribute at least four or six paragraphs to the article I planned to write, this time on our former colleague, senior sports reporter Sam Kampodza.
I thought he would do a better job because he and Kampodza had been particularly close, especially when they were operating from the Times of Zambia offices in Kitwe.
Again Arnold replied almost instantly, but little did I realise it would be the last time for us to communicate. These were his final words:
“Alf thanks for the suggestion unfortunately I am tide (sic) up running up and down.”
Sent: 3 July-2014; 17:35:01. Sender: Arnold Kapelembi 260966905315
.
I knew what he was talking about and did not want to put him under undue pressure because as a human rights commissioner, his mandate entailed much travel both locally and internationally.
Like most people, especially former workmates on the Times and the media fraternity in general, were extremely alarmed by reports from East Africa that commissioner Kapelembi had to be hospitalised in a Nairobi hospital in Kenya on his way home from a human rights conference in Europe.
When I spoke to him about his hospitalisation by phone, he told me from Lusaka that he had been “too exhausted” after two days of flying to Europe. To make matters worse – without much sleep and rest – he had to deliver a speech at the global conference immediately upon arrival in the host country, Germany, if my memory serves me right.
“I think I was just too exhausted and my BP (blood pressure) shot up as we returned to Africa I had to be evacuated and hospitalised in Nairobi until my situation had stabilised.
But I am fine now,” he explained in a voice that one would not expect from a sickly man.
I first came into contact with Arnold Kapelembi in the Ndola Newsroom when he was transferred on promotion from Kitwe where he was the chief reporter. He was elevated to the post of deputy news editor to Dennis Kapata.
But while in Kitwe, the hot bed of Zambia’s militant trade unions affiliated to the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTC), Kapelembi found himself having to write news reports that the UNIP administration found to be decidedly unpalatable.
I remember one incident when at night former party secretary-general Humphrey Mulemba and a small band of fuming UNIP cadres allegedly tried to break into the locked Times of Zambia offices, a move that was reminiscent of the famous Watergate Scandal in America that brought down former Republican president Richard Nixon in the early 1970s.
It was alleged that members of the Party central committee and regional authorities were furious over certain portions of the report which they regarded as a fabrication; so Mr Mulemba and his team wanted to retrieve the original copy of the typed story that had been transmitted to Ndola by telex and published in the newspaper the next day.
Zambia was in a state of unprecedented political ferment; many trade unionists, viewed as agitators, including ZCTU chairman-general, Frederick Chiluba, then credit controller at Swedish multinational company Atlas Cop-co, and secretary-general Newstead Zimba, were overnight rounded up and detained in a police blitz on the Copperbelt.
Given the political pressure under which the weak-kneed would have easily caved in, Kapelembi took full responsibility and remained faithful to his journalism ethics by protecting the identities of the sources of the story, the so-called ‘whistleblowers’.
When he assumed more responsibilities as the anchorman in the Ndola bureau, the nerve centre Times/Printpak operations in Zambia, Kapelembi demonstrated beyond doubt that he was indeed every editor-in-chief’s ideal news editor who had essential facts and figures on his finger tips.
He was efficient in the preparation of news line-ups for morning (10 hours) and afternoon (16 hours) editorials conferences.
As a result, he ensured his reporters across Zambia wrote and submitted their assigned stories on deadline.
Of course, he had some obvious flaws, but who hasn’t?
As chief sub-editor, I always found it a delight to work with Arnold Kapelembi with whom I served on the Ndola Club Main Management Committee for a long time.
Others included, among others, former Republican vice president George Kunda (legal advisor), Fred Zama, ex-Indeni Oil Refinery general manager (president), Kingsley Lungu, Michael Miti (Colwyn Law and Bonar), Felix Nkhata (PTC), Joseph Sumaili (Colgate Palmolive) and Major John Morton (club manager/treasurer).
Eulogies delivered by various speakers during his burial at Lusaka’s Leopard’s Hill Memorial Park, encapsulate what type of a man Arnold Kepelembi was – a newsman and man for all seasons. He served his country well. MHSRIP.
Meanwhile, the following are some of the readers’ comments about the ‘I remember’ column:
“Alf hope you fine the weekend article was refreshing.” – Arnold Kapelembi. Sent: 20-May-2014. Time:15:24:40
‘On 1 July 2014, I read your story which appeared in your Zambia column. It made some
interesting and truthful presentation of the current state of affairs. Having been away (outside the
country) for a long time, I have been faced with the same problem of finding out who is where.
I have decided to let the few old friends I meet reveal as ‘a by-the-way’ information that so-and-
so is no more.
By the way I still remember the stories you and my old man Mr Terence Musuku
used to write during his short stints in Gaborone and at times from my residence office in Block
V in Gaborone. Thank God that you and Terence have survived the holocaust I have done so too. –
Fairs Kasakula.
Dear Sir,
I enjoy reading your article because it makes me remember. Your article on Masuzyo Kaunda made me excited, laugh and sad at the time. A lot of stories were said about Masuzyo being a womaniser from people who did not even know him, yours was the second article I read that depicts him as a people person.
The other was by Samu Zulu who was convinced that of all Kaunda’s children Masuzyo was the one who had his father’s charisma.
Thanks for your articles; I panicked the last two weeks thought you had stopped writing and thanks for shedding more light on Masuzyo Kaunda.
Regards, Nasilele
