DOREEN NAWA
JUST at the mention of the name Munali Hills, what comes to mind is the stealing of goods from vehicles which plunge in the gullies around the area.
Not long ago, stories of motorists and travellers losing their goods in this area were so common.
Worse still, having a breakdown in the night was dreadful for many motorists because of attacks by hooligans who always lay in wait for any misfortune to occur.
But residents now speak of youths who perpetrated the vice at Munali Hills as a changed lot, attributing every ounce of their past misdeeds as the work of poverty.
“In an area like Munali Hills, meeting daily needs is a challenge if one does not have any means of survival. The stories of people stealing from trucks were very common then, but not anymore. I think people are now appreciating the goodness in working for what you eat,” Roddy Siabutuba says.
What has triggered a shift in the minds of people is the opening of Nickel Mine and the goat meat trade by some youths near the mine.
“Here, because it is a dry area, we have a lot of goats and with the re-opening of the mine a lot of boys have found something to do. They braai goat meat and sell to mine employees and visitors who come to Nickel Mine. Before the mine re-opened, the situation was so bad. There were a lot of delinquencies among young people here,” Mr Siabutuba says.
Meat processing, especially for goats, seems to be the only sustainable way out of poverty among some people at Munali Hills.
Edwin Kaulu says keeping goats has reduced his vulnerability to dry weather conditions in the area.
For him, goat rearing holds special hope for Munali Hills because goats are disease resistant and can survive with little water available.
Mr Kaulu says the returns from goat rearing are massive when carefully managed.
He says goat meat is on high demand within Munali Hills and mostly Lusaka.
Sale of Goat meat at Munali Nickel Mine has kept many youths away from grabbing items from transiting trucks at Munali Hills.
Gibson Kabuku, one of the youths trading in smoked goat meat at the Munali Nickel Mine junction in Chikankata said the re-opening of the mine has created an opportunity for the youth in the area to team up and start selling goat meat.
“We call it ‘Shokazi’ (Braai) here; it has market around this area. We are a group of youths, we are eleven of us. We do buy goats from here and slaughter, and this trend has helped keep me and other youth busy,” Mr Kabuku says.
Petty thefts were common among young people not only from transiting trucks but also vehicles that get involved in accidents.
“Since the coming of Nickel Mine again, such cases have reduced. Youth have regrouped to venture into goat meat and the commodity is a hot cake even among travellers. People stop by to just have a bite,” Mr Kabuku says
Entrepreneurial culture around Munali Hills youth is almost like a big family adding that the trend is also providing readily available market for goat farmers around the area.
And another youth Felix Mwandenge says the goat meat business at Munali Nickel Mine has given youth in the area a hope of bettering their lives.
Mr Mwandenge says on a daily basis, a team of five youth do make between K600-K800.
“The money we get out of this business is shared at the end of the day among the group. So if on that day, five youth were working, then whatever the daily earnings then we share amongst us,” Mr Mwandenge says.
In April 2019, President Lungu re-opened of Munali Nickel Mine in Mazabuka District.
Munali Nickel Mine had been off operations for the last eight years since being placed under care and maintenance.
Consolidated Nickel Mines (CNM), a UK based firm acquired the rights to operate the mine from the owners Jinchuan Group out of China in 2014 and invested more than US$55 million to revive the nickel mine.
Apart from venturing into goat rearing, some people in Munali Hills engage in charcoal production to make ends meet.
Purity Banda says the dry weather conditions in the area has forced her to concentrate on charcoal production although she has a field where she grows some maize.
“We cannot farm here or cultivate any meaningful crops; all we do is produce charcoal from the available trees and sell to travellers,” Mrs Banda says.
She has been trading in charcoal for many years and says charcoal production is the only means of survival in Munali Hills.
“I have a small field eight kilometres from here and quite close to Dallas Farms where we grow maize and beans. It is quite a distance but there is nothing I can do. Because of distance I spend nights there during planting, weeding and harvesting season,” Mrs Banda says.
Mrs Banda adds, “We are not the only ones having a feel of hardship in this dry land here selling charcoal. There are other women left at home who toil trying to get water because water here is another challenge.”
Driving through the stretch one is able to see that no crop can grow because the area is mountainous and dry. It has quite a number of baobab trees.
There are gullies on both sides of the road and the road is narrow. This makes the place prone to road traffic accidents.
The search for a better life is not exactly easy here. The residents of Munali Hills travel great distances to get to Nickel Mine junction or indeed areas where they can farm.
Vince Mwakasungula, a resident of Munali Hills, says the future is uncertain as he expects more challenging times.
“The population is growing and this area is expanding and yet there is no show of infrastructure from Government or the private sector. This will increase the number of people living here to continue in abject poverty leading others to stealing,” Mr Mwakasungula says.
Asked if he is willing to relocate, Mr Mwakasungula says Munali Hills is where his ancestors are buried and relocating will mean displacing him forever.
“I cannot go anywhere; I don’t want to live like a refugee in a foreign land. This is the land of my birth. Yes it is a dry land but it has supported my life and that of my family for years, all that is needed here is support in terms of infrastructure like skills training facilities,” Mr Mwakasungula says.
The women walk long distances to fetch water from the nearest source and carry it home on their heads often with their babies strapped on their backs.
“We are not the only ones having a feel of hardship in this dry land here selling charcoal. There are other women left at home who toil trying to get water because water here is another challenge,” Mrs Banda says.
Unity Kandyata, another resident of Munali Hills, feels life around the hills is redeemable if empowerment schemes available in urban areas spill over to their area.
“I have lived here for my whole life and I have not seen meaningful flow of development here apart from the Nickel Mine. The mine is a blessing because it has employed some of the youths who were jobless for years,” she says.
Mrs Kandyata has asked for a piece of land close to Dallas Farm where she has managed to harvest some maize.
“Life without anywhere to farm is too difficult. So I had to ask for some piece of land close to Dallas Farm. Like now, I managed to harvest some maize and this is what we will be eating until it finishes,” she says.
When she runs out of maize Mrs Kandyata joins the bandwagon of charcoal produsers.
“The common food around this season is Chidyobbo, this is cooked dry maize mixed with pumpkin. Life around Munali Hills is not easy but we are used,” she says.
Munali Hill lies about 56km north of Mazabuka.
The name Munali is historical. There is a sign to Munali Hills historic site, a stone cairn.
It lies one kilometre on the Munali Pass road commemorating David Livingstone's passage through the hill pass that separates the Lusaka high plateau from the Kafue Flats.
It is believed that the Scottish explorer went up the Munali Hills to catch a perfect view of the Kafue River.
From the locals around the hills, the name Munali means 'you have been' or 'you have passed through.' Munali was the nickname given to Dr Livingstone, reminding the locals of his memorable visit.
Originally, Munali Hill was called Kunanalika in Ila.
However, though motorists and travellers may still have bad memories of Munali Hills, they have a chance to stopover for soup “ya mbuzi (goat soup)” or tasty roasted goat meat.
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