 |
To further his education, Chona applied to study Law at Gray’s Inn Law School in England . Initially there was opposition from the Chief Justice as he wanted to offer the scholarship to a senior citizen. In good time, this Chief Justice was transferred and another more lenient Chief Justice came. Without hesitation, Chona’s scholarship was granted. It was in late 1955 that Chona departed for England. Together with Munalula Sikatana a fellow countryman (elder brother to Mr Mundia Sikatana MP) they travelled by sea via Cape Town in South Africa to Southampton, England. England fascinated Chona although he found it difficult to adapt to the way of life. Occasionally he was hungry and the cold winter weather was most unpleasant. The course too was hard. Despite all this, he was a determined studious student who took his studies seriously. Chona too had a keen interest regarding Northern Rhodesia’s situation and he met fellow countrymen who were involved in the freedom struggle. However Chona kept aloof in political issues during his studies not allowing himself to lose sight of his objective Chona passed his law degree and it was then that his name formerly Matthias Chona Mainza became MATTHIAS MAINZA CHONA by deed pool after all examinations. He returned to Northern Rhodesia in December 1958 hoping to get a lucrative job. He wanted to join the Civil Service particularly the Native Court Adviser’s Department. He applied to be a Magistrate Crown Counsel or District Commissioner, but he was turned down and told that these positions were promotion posts except for the position of Assistant Executive Officer in the Native Courts Adviser’s Department. He refused this position. Subsequently the Legislative Council passed a law that stipulated that for one to practice, one must have served in the office of a lawyer in Northern Rhodesia for eight months and should pass a local examination. He sat his first local examination but failed. He learned that many other people had also attempted and failed the same. This surprised him greatly. He made no further attempts since the result was going to be obvious. Unsuccessful in finding a job, he tried a door to door campaign in the firms of white lawyers. They turned him down because they were afraid of loosing clients on account of Chona. Eventually, Arthur Johnson offered him a job that involved only typing conveyances and mortgages. It was round about this time in early 1959 that his interest in politics was gaining momentum. By March, he had been drawn into the struggle for independence and his vision to practice law was overshadowed. It was in January 1964 that Mainza Chona came close to practising what he had learned. He was elected the first Minister of Justice for a period of only ten months after which he moved to a series of ministerial positions. No other politician in the Kaunda government held so many positions like Chona. After resigning as Prime Minister of Zambia in 1975, Mainza Chona served as Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General. Here he seemed to truly enjoy working with those in the legal field. He discovered that this Ministry was the Government and the post of Attorney General was the heart of Zambia. He met with challenging situations that he addressed. He met all the scandals he had run from and found that Kaunda was really determined to bring to justice anyone who was in the wrong without discrimination. Kaunda never sheltered anyone in the wrong. Chona and his colleagues rushed in the laws envisaged by the Watershed speech including the constitutional amendments to reflect the supremacy of the Party. The necessary laws were presented to and enacted by Parliament. He worked hard on Government cases including those relating to the defamation of the President by overseas newspapers and against sanctions breaking oil companies. He represented the State in the High Court and Supreme Court in a delicate habeas corpus case of a SWAPO dissident Andreas Shipanga, which ended in a settlement. The excellent work as Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General was shown by his re-appointment as Prime Minister in July 1977 and then Secretary General of the Party in 1978. He held this position until 18 February 1981 when he was appointed as Zambia’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. Mainza Chona accepted the position as Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and served for a period of six years. He gave up ownership of Namukamba Chambers to his colleague Matthias Michelo. From China he was posted to France for two years and then finally back to Zambia after the opposition party Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) won the elections in 1992. Mainza Chona immediately opened another law firm, Mahachi Chambers. This time he dedicated his time to his job. Although he was still involved in politics, he put great importance in his work as a lawyer and he immensely enjoyed practising his true profession. His law firm was a place flooded by clients, friends, and those who were needy also visited him over their troubles. Mainza Chona knew well of people’s sufferings, and was an approachable lawyer. Mainza Chona was a very good friend of the Chinese people, and he assisted the Chinese living in Zambia in cases involving disputes. In 1999, Dr Kaunda was stripped of his Zambian nationality after the High Court in Ndola upheld a petition filed against him by prominent members of the ruling MMD. Kaunda was declared Stateless. Chona stepped in and worked tirelessly together with other lawyers, Daniel Lisulo (a former Prime Minister also State Counsel), Mwangala Zaloumis, Mrs Daka, Nelly Mutti and Sakwiba Sikota to help Kaunda. Eventually, Kaunda received his citizenship. Mainza Chona was a hardworking and dedicated lawyer. A lot of the under-privileged turned to him for help and he never turned them away. There were those whom he helped without receiving payment. As a veteran leader, he had a sense of duty to help the people of Zambia. Soon after Mainza Chona passed away on 11th December 2001, Mahachi Chambers shut down. |
||
|
Related materials
|
|||
 |