The Sunday Mail
SINCE the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit in July 1964 to represent the British monarch at the Independence Day celebrations on July 6 1964, Malawi welcomed its most distinguished guest of honour ever, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie who jetted in the country on August 2 1965 for a three-day state visit.
The Emperor entered into the annals of post Independent Malawian history as the first head of state to pay an official visit to Malawi. Speaking to the press after inspecting a military parade by the 1st Battalion of the Malawi Rifles, the Emperor said, “We are extremely pleased to be here in Malawi for the first time because it really signifies that African Unity is not merely a matter of words but of deeds.”
There after the Emperor was taken on a state drive to Blantyre City en-route to the Government House in the then capital city, Zomba.
One eye witness who is now late, Mrs Derby Mbwana, was among those who lined up along the streets to welcome The Emperor in Blantyre. She vividly remembered having been filled with awe after catching a glimpse of the Lion of Judah majestically waving and smiling while holding a lion-cub with the other hand.
About the arrival of the Emperor, The Times of August 3 1965 reported “There were scenes of wild enthusiasm at Chileka Airport when thousands of cheering and ululating Africans greeted the Emperor…The route was lined with cheering Malawians including hundreds of school children who provided a brave ‘reception committee’ of their own as they shouted their greetings…”
In honour of the Emperor’s visit to the City of Blantyre, a street formerly called Sclaters Road was renamed Haile Selassie Road.
In the after-noon of the same day, accompanied by the Prime Minister, the Governor General, cabinet ministers and his entourage, the Emperor was driven up the Zomba mountain plateau to a spot 6000 feet above sea level where they viewed a panoramic model of Phalombe plain and the Shire Highlands.
This is the very same spot which up to this day is called “The Emperor View” in honour of the Emperor’s visit to the capital.
To fully grasp how Selassie immensely contributed in decolonising and uniting Africa, no one says it better than his peer and primary witness, Dr Kamuzu Banda, in a speech delivered from his heart during HIM’s first and historical visit to post independent Malawi:
“His Imperial Majesty, my lord, ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I did not come here to speak. In fact I did not even know that I was going to be asked to speak.
“It is no exaggeration for me to say that this week, these three days that His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia has honoured us with His presence in our country, in our city, marks the greatest day of my life, of my country and of my people.
“Why do I say this? For more reasons than one. And the most important of these reasons is that His Imperial Majesty represents one of the oldest ruling houses not only in our own continent but all over this world (Applause).
“Read your books, your Bibles, your history books where do you find any country mentioned in this continent or on the continent of Europe. Go anywhere in the Bible… coming to only Ethiopia, yes I read Ethiopia again in Sunday School.
“The Queen of Sheba you know and the King Solomon. Yes the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, here is the direct descendant of Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Ethiopia represents on our continent something that means so much to the people in my position.
“That is why in 1935 when Mussolini’s fascist raped Ethiopia, because rape is the word, it was not even invasion!
“But a rape on innocent women, children, old men and women simply because they were defenceless, they had no airplanes, no machine guns, no mustard gas. And all these things, airplanes machine guns, mustard gas Mussolini had.
“He abused his power. I was a student then at Meharry Medical College in America. I am not going to narrate the whole story. But I can tell Your Imperial Majesty, all of you distinguished guests that I read everything!
“And if I may say so, the Ethiopian invasion by Italy marked what is now becoming more even open to everyone the beginning of African Unity because the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy aroused people of African descendants, blacks!
“Not only here on the continent when you had the Zulus of South Africa offering their men to go and fight Mussolini in Ethiopia but also in USA, in West Indies, Jamaica, Trinidad, everywhere!
“Whereas before that time, before 1935 my cousins in America used to say I lost nothing in Africa. Yes! I lost nothing in Africa! And I used to say to them. Yes! There in Africa! You have lost everything! Your honour! Your dignity! Your respectability! Until Africa is free! You American Negro here, you may be rich, you may have universities, and nobody will think anything about you! (Applause).”
The beautiful words spoken by Dr Kamuzu Banda do not end here; the same speech is to be continued next week as we shall proceed to reveal Selassie’s everlasting cornerstone achievements towards liberating and uniting Africa.
References
Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, Haile Selassie’s speeches (2nd August 1965).
Mark D:From Babylon to Rastafari
Cooper M and Manning J: Members of A New Race, Blantyre. Malawi. 2000.
Mbwana D: Interview: 1998.
Paliani Gomani Chinguwo:A historical account on Haile Selassie’s 1965 visit to Malawi and the Crown Prince’s Subsequent visit in 1966.
