How Gujarati merchants helped Zambia attain independence

This Article First Appeared In The Scroll On July 04, 2023

In the 1950s, as the sun was setting on the British Empire and the winds of freedom were blowing across the African continent, a shop owned by Indian merchant Narain Bhagga on Livingstone Road (now Cha Cha Cha Road) in central Lusaka became a focal point in the Zambian independence struggle. A host of freedom fighters would meet at the shop, among them Kenneth Kaunda, who went on to become independent Zambia’s first president and was called “Africa’s Gandhi”.

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