ALICE MULENGA LENSHINA

FOUNDER OF LUMPA CHURCH:

Alice Mulenga Lenshina, the Founder of the Lumpa Church, said she had received a calling as prophetess from Jesus Christ himself. She said she met Jesus near a river and gave her a sign and she had "died four times and rising again each time." During one of those "deaths," she said she had a long talk with God who instructed her to go back to Earth and get rid of all those people who were practising witchcraft and magic. God, she said, also gave her a true Bible to use in preaching.

Membership in her church, started at Kasomo (later renamed Sioni for Zion), grew quickly and was estimated to be about 100,000 at one time. Lenshina's church preached a strict morality forbidding drinking, smoking, adultery and even dancing. Members were required to renounce witchcraft and sorcery in order to be accepted. Members were told that a baptism by Lenshina would protect them against all evils including witchcraft.

Although the church began as a religious organization, it was seen as political by both the colonial government and the emerging black nationalists groups, especially United Nation Independence Party, because Lenshina had instructed her followers not to belong to any political party or even to vote. Conflicts with UNIP turned bloody on July 24, 1964 when a gunbattle fight erupted between UNIP and Lumpa Church members. Two policemen were killed in the ensuing battle and forcing the government to bring in soldiers. It is believed about 500 people died in the battles between armed Lumpa Church members and the government forces, with the most casualties being the Lumpa side. Some of the Lumpas believed that there would be invincible to bullets because of being baptised by Lenshina.

The church was formally banned on August 3, 1964 and Lenshina surrended to police a few days later. Most of her members fled to neighboring Malawi and Congol and did not return even when the government announced an amnesty for them in 1968. Lenshin was released from detention in 1975 and her movements were restricted. She died a few years later.