Luchazes municipality in Angola

Luchazes (or Lucazi) is a municipality located in the southeastern part of Moxico Province, Angola. It is situated 347 km from Luena. The Google map of Angola below shows the Luchazes municipality:

Luchazes municipality in Moxico province of Angola 

Key Aspects of Luchazes municipality

The Luchazes municipality is known for its preserved traditional, rich cultural, and historical significance. The area has been a focus for humanitarian demining and agricultural development, particularly in the locality of Cassamba (Kasamba).

Geography and Location of Luchazes municipality

It is situated in the southeast/southwest of Moxico Province, bordering areas in Cuando Cubango province. It is part of the largest province in Angola, known for its vast, often remote, territory.

Administration of the Luchazes municipality

The administrative center is often associated with Cangamba (Kangamba), where regional government, including the municipality administration, operates.

Development and Infrastructure

Demining: The area has seen significant investment in landmine clearance, with projects funded by international partners like Japan to ensure the safety of its residents.

Agriculture: The local economy relies on agriculture, with initiatives aimed at increasing production of maize, beans, cassava, and soybeans.

Health and Education: Efforts have been made to improve social infrastructure, including the construction of schools and hospitals.

Demographics: The Luchazes region is home to the Luchazi people. 

The municipality has been working to improve basic services for its population, including water supply and public lighting.

It has been noted that some sources are trying to erase the history of Luchazes municipality. The history of Luchazes municipality dates back to 17 century and 18 century during the Portuguese colonial expansion. Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto was a Portuguese military officer, explorer and colonial administrator who crossed southern and central Africa on a difficult expedition and mapped the interior of the continent. Below is a 1878 map by Alexander de Serpa Pinto.

Luchazes resistance to colonial occupation

History records at the National Historical Archive of Angola states that since 1880s the Portuguese colonial officials found it very difficult to move into the interior especially the Luchazes region (municipality) and take control. According to oral accounts, the Luchazi resistance challenged the Portuguese rule from the beginning, and resisted the occupation of their territories, the Luchazi warriors used traditional tactics of wearing terrifying masks to scare off white settlers, witchcraft to scare off the black servants and burning camps for pombeiros or commercial agents (Vimbali). There is a Luchazi proverb what says: ku ta vimbali, ku va tsimikila cilombo cavo (to drive away the Portuguese commercial agents, burn their camp).

The Portuguese officers and a band of African soldiers launched the first attack on Luchazes municipality in 1882 and terribly failed. The following year, in 1883, they carried out an attack on Luzo and the Luchazi warriors repelled the attack too. The Luchazi warrior’s strategy was complex that the Portuguese could not understand. Unfortunately, some of the locals betrayed the Luchazi warriors and disclosed the strategy that the Luchazi warriors were using "Vambongo" (high stilt warriors) to confuse the Portuguese military.

Later in 1883, the Portuguese officers and their African soldiers launched another massive offensive and attacked Luchazi municipality which resulted in huge Luchazi military losses. Eventually, they took over control of the Luchazi municipality. Some Luchazi people left and sought refuge into what is now Zambia. The following year, 1884, they carried out another attack on Luzo. This was the heaviest loss that Luchazi people suffered. This was a destructive war which resulted in massive refugee movement in Luchazi history. The ruins of the chiefdom’s palace still stands in Luzo, Luena about 10 kilometres from the provincial capital city.

To those who know Moxico province in Angola, they can verify this by the names of the rivers and streams including community names from Kampemba (now Luena city) to Luanginga River along Luena - Lumbala Nguimbo road, and from Luzi stream junction to Cangamba (Kangamba), Luchazes municipality.

By the late 1800s Portuguese encroachments and the imposition of Portuguese rule limited the commercial freedom of these Africans and diminished their prosperity.

Colonial administration of Angola

Portuguese colonial civil administration policies were first formulated in 1890s by António Enés, a former minister of colonies, who advocated close control and full use of African labour, administrative reorganization, and colonization schemes. In 1899 Henrique de Paiva Couceiro, published a volume in which he advocated white colonization, decentralization of administration from Portuguese government in Lisbon, and the necessity of inculcating in the Africans the 'habit of work."

Henrique de Paiva Couceiro assumed the Governorship of Angola in June 1907, after the death of Eduardo Costa. As governor general of Angola between 1907 and 1910, Couceiro prepared the basis of civil administration in the colony of Angola. Military officers were to oversee administrative divisions, and through them, European civilization was to be brought to the Africans at all cost especially the interior tribes.

Henrique de  Paiva Couceiro laid down the general criterion for occupancy:

"Laborare est orare" is the motto of the Trappists, and the apostle will evangelize when he teaches how to work.

"Laborare est vincere," "Laborare est regere" let us paraphrase it here, for the soldier will conquer and pacify, and the magistrate will organize and administer, when both teach how to Work. And, in reality, for natives afflicted with innate indolence, the entry into the habit of work can well be considered as their most significant tribute to the dictates of Christian morality, their most evident vassalage before the dominant authorities, their most difficult adaptation to the norms of the new social state that sovereignty intends to instill in them. Council chiefs, post commanders, and missionaries-all with distinct professional mindsets - will nevertheless find common ground in their designs and methods, which can and should unite them in the solidarity of a great work that is as patriotic as it is humanitarian...

Following the attacks in Luchazes region, A report was released dated April 5, 1909, which stated that: "From the communications and investigation reports, originating from the Captaincy-General of Moxico, presented to this General Government by the Government of the District of Benguela, it is concluded that the Luchazes region and its surroundings are serving as a theater of operations for outlaws, both European and non-European, foreigners to the country, but exercising within it a clearly reprehensible way of life, in which extortion, arson, and armed robbery represent commonly used methods of action, and whose excesses, some murders, and acts of savagery have been investigated, clearly indicate and corroborate this without leaving room for doubt..."

Henrique de Paiva Couceiro further ordered that: "As soon as he assumes office in his jurisdiction, the Captain-Major of the Luchazes will initiate investigations into the attacks, violence, and crimes mentioned in previous reports, as well as others he learns about on the ground. He will adopt—both in terms of applying the sanctions due to past offences and in terms of preventing the repetition of similar acts—all measures and procedures within his normal competence as administrative head and investigating judge, and also within the extraordinary competence implied by the situation of suspended guarantees, the free and responsible use of which this government entrusts to him, so that, in the shortest time compatible with the circumstances, public peace, order, and security may be restored there.

"The Captain-Major of the Luchazes will give a detailed report on the use he makes of the powers granted by this document."

Henrique de Paiva Couceiro noted: "It was the Governor of Huíla, Captain João de Almeida, who directly undertook the heavy task of occupying Lower Cubango, Lower Cuito, and Lower Cuando, a task whose predictable fatigues, difficulties, and contingencies he managed to overcome with the intrepid energy and extreme patriotism with which he is endowed, establishing the posts of Cuangar, Dirico, and Mucusso, and disposing of the reconnaissance..." From there to Cuando, which is in the process of being completed, -while in the district of Benguela, Major Trindade dos Santos and Lieutenants Melo Lindo and Carvalho, appointed respectively, captains-major of Cuito, and of Luchazes (Upper Cuando and tributaries), and military commander of Lungué-bungo, marched to close the occupation of this sector from the North."

Henrique de Paiva Couceiro went on to say, "The revolts in Seles and Amboim were also exploited by this colonial sector. This is the case of Luiz Figueira, who resided in "Luzi-Lungué-Bungo" and therefore accompanied many Portuguese victims of these revolts. I am citing this because it is a typical example. In issue number 6 of the Jornal de Benguela (Figueira, Correspondence, 1917) of that year, he gives us a symptomatic version of the causes of the last revolt. According to him, the revolt in the interior was due to the liberation of Chief Bando, who had revolted against the Portuguese in 1915 and was imprisoned, being released at this time, returned with the reputation that his return was the result of witchcraft and again incited the populations against the Portuguese. Thus, Luiz Maria Figueira assures us, the revolt was not due to the hut tax, as many said. The revolt was due to the liberation of the chief."

Luchazi revolt and Nkuambi war

According to historical records at National Historical Archive of Angola, in the period from 1890 to 1918, the Portuguese military authorities took over trade and the control of commercial routes including the trade routes in the interior. The Ovimbundu, who were the commercial agents of the Portuguese and masters of the commercial routes between the rubber lands in the east and the Atlantic coast, found themselves also cut off from trade.

According to historical records at the National Historical Archive of Angola, there were many revolts against Portuguese colonial rule. The Alem Quanza revolt, which began in Alto Cuito, spreading to the Luchazes, Lungue-Bungo, Moxico, Huambo (Citembo) and Bie (Viye). 

Paiva Couceiro pointed out that: "The newspaper owner (M. de Mesquita) collaborated in creating the climate of suspicion and fear that would legitimize the repression. In an editorial from the beginning of May, he issued the "Alert!". Among other reflections on the subject, observe these two:

1. there seem to us to be too many revolts. Without recalling the events in the South, which were still quite recent, we recently had the Alem Quanza revolt, which began in Alto Cuito and spread to Luchazes, Lungué-Bungo, Moxico, Huambo (Chitembo) and Biê.

2. the natives have their own police force, which is better than the Government's, and from one end of the colony to the other, all the savages know, more or less exaggeratedly, what is going on. (Mosque, 1917)

The suggestion is of a kind of coup d'état, or widespread, organized revolt, and, as can be seen from reports of Anglophone agents passing through the 'bush', inciting the population against Portugal, a revolt coordinated from the USA (mention was made of a proverb, told to the 'heathens' by one of these agents, which said that Portugal is the egg and America is the pan)."

Manuel de Oliveira Fançoni, a descendant of the old family of Italian origin, who had been in Angola for about a century and was part of the same group that branched out into the Victor family (including the poet, biographer of Augusto Bastos, and his grandfather Kinjango, General Geraldo António Victor). He gives an account of the Exploits of the Natives: "assault by the natives in the place of Camissamba, on a group of porters heading to Cangamba, a group that held fire for an entire day with the assailants".

Paiva Couceiro said: "This news had already arrived more than two weeks ago, but I didn't want to believe it, because I found it hard to believe that these natives had been beaten by Sergeant Afonso Pereira da Silva (Fançoni, 1917).

Fançoni subscribes to Muangai, on March 18, 1917, writes several articles about the revolt. He presents himself as a merchant in the bush and, it seems, a successful one, spread throughout those "interior" regions. The news suggests, like the previous ones, that the colony is facing a well-armed revolt, therefore supported from abroad,..

The tribes of the interior revolted against the monopolization of trade and the control of trade routes by the Portuguese military authorities. From 1896 to 1904, the situation in the regions of Viye, Ombalundu, Wambu, Ngalangi, Moxiku and Lucazi went from bad to worse. (Source: Alamada 1951).

When the rubber trade collapsed in 1912, the tensions between Portuguese traders and the local traders escalated. Between 1911 and 1912, they were anti-Portuguese rule sentiments and revolt against Portuguese traders in the South-eastern Angola especially in the municipalities of Wambu, Ombalundu, Sambu, Viye and Moxiku. The paths or the trade routes between Viye and Moxiku were cut off and insecurity and crime reigned. In 1915, a large Portuguese army invaded the Kwanhama people and defeated them.

In 1916, rebellions broke out in several Ngangela areas. The locals ransacked the Portuguese trading centres and administrative posts and killed their white occupants. According to one oral account, one local tribe ransacked a Christian mission and burnt the Bibles and accused the missionaries of promoting Luchazi language. In retaliation, the colonial officials sent African soldiers led by Portuguese officers to these territories, who rain havoc, plunder and death on the communities and territories, burning and destroying many villages and thousands fled their villages towards the Zambezi valley.

Mauricio Marques da Paixao said that the true causes of the bloody revolt were taxation, the extortion of the indigenous people by Portuguese soldiers and their black accomplices, including stealing, breeding of all kinds (rape), the arrest of children, women and old people; the demanding of beautiful women, regardless of whether they are married or single. (Source: Passion 1917).

The creation of the Kapwi military post in 1919 forced many Luchazi people to abandon their villages. The attempt by Portuguese military authorities to stop the escape of the villagers led to heavy fighting. (Source: Military District of Moxico, Report of Luchazes revolt in February 1919, in cx. 305, miscellaneous correspondence, National Historical Archive of Angola Luanda (AHA), Moxico Military District).

Daniel Musole a Luchazi elder who was born in the colony of Angola in 1908 and migrated to Zambia said that there was targeted killing of the perceived perpetrators, maiming, disfiguring by way of slashing off ears and chopping off hands or legs. This rebellion which was followed by violent fight between Portuguese forces and the Ngangela people is locally known as Ndzita ya Nkuambi (Nkuambi War).

By 1920 all the remote areas Southeast of the colony were firmly under Portuguese control. After the Nkuambi war, the Portuguese colonial officials tightened their grip on the Luchazi and Ngangela areas in central, eastern and southern Angola by way of indiscriminately meting out unjustifiable punishment on anyone who opposed their rule.

Following the upheavals, some Luchazi chiefs and their subjects left Angola and went to live in the present-day Zambia; and these chiefs are:

1. Mueni Chisengo who had the palace at Malenga, a tributary of Kwitu River. He abandoned the palace following attacks by the Portuguese colonial forces during their fights with Mbunda people in the area. He went to live at Kambule in Mongu.
2. Mueni Kanunga who left Mueni Vuime’s palace and went to live in Kabompo district.
3. Mueni Mununga who left Angola and went to live in the Lukwakwa area where she passed away.
4. Mueni Kavalata Matindi, who had his palace at Kunjovue, left Angola and went to live with Muangana Mueni Kalunga in Kabompo district.
5. Mueni Kakupa, who had his palace at Mutima and later moved to Viye, went to live in Mongu district in the present-day Zambia where he passed away.
6. Mueni Chizimo, who had his palace at Katete, a tributary of Kuvanguiyi River, left Angola and went to live in Kabompo district where died. He was from the royal house of Mueni Chitimba.
7. Mueni Njimbu, who had his palace at Savezi, a tributary of Kwandu River, left Angola and went to live in Lukulu district where he died.
8. Mueni Machalo, who had his palace at Kuvanguiyi, went to live with Muangana Mueni Mutunda in Kabompo district.
9. Mueni Kanduli left Angola and went to live in Lukwakwa area in Kabompo district where he established his palace.

After the Portuguese military coup d'etat of May 1926, the new regime in Portugal introduced policy changes into the administration of the colony of Angola which were incorporated in the Colonial Act of 1930 and the colony of Angola become an overseas province of the Portugal. Portugal regime renamed African towns after the Portuguese heroes. In early 1950s, Portugal government withdrew the use of local currency, known as Angolar, and replaced it with the Portuguese currency, escudo.

To be continued...