09/06/2025
ADAMSON MUSHALA: AS TOLD BY HIS WIFE
By Jack Zimba
In December 1972, Adamson Mushala bundled his wife and five children including a two-week-old baby into a brand-new Land Rover 109 station wagon and drove away from their home in Mufumbwe.
He told his wife they were heading to Mongu, Western Province, to attend a friend’s wedding. But instead, they soon found themselves crossing the border into Angola.
This was Mushala’s escape from Zambia, marking the beginning of an armed rebellion against the Kaunda government that would last from 1976 to 1982.
Before being killed by government soldiers, Mushala had become an enigmatic figure, inspiring both fear and admiration.
Thirty-six years after his death, his widow, Rejoice, remembers him as a smartly dressed gentleman with a beautiful smile. A black-and-white studio portrait of him still hangs on the wall of her modest living room.
“He took that picture when we were in Angola,” she says calmly, noticing my curiosity.
Rejoice now lives in Kivuku, a small settlement in Kasempa, North-Western Province – just a few hundred metres from where she first met Mushala in the 1950s at Mukinge Mission School.
After completing Standard Six Upper, Mushala trained as a game ranger, while Rejoice moved to Chizela (now Mufumbwe) to work as a community school teacher. They met again and fell in love.
Rejoice had many suitors before Mushala, including the late Emmanuel Mulemena, who would later become a celebrated kalindula musician.
“There were many who wanted to marry me, but I believe God chose Adamson for me,” she says, her eyes glinting. “I don’t know exactly what attracted me to him. Yes, he was tall, very smart, and looked good in suits – but I think it was simply God’s plan.”
She smiles. “I liked the way he walked, and he had a beautiful smile. I also liked his complexion.” She still calls him my black shine.
In 1959, they married at Chizela Bible School, with European missionaries helping to arrange and sponsor the c
