Hammarskjöld going about his diplomatic work, inspecting the Guard of Honour of the Brazilian Battalion of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) stationed in Rafah in Palestine, in December 1958
colonialism and settler rule. In 2004, he was chosen as one of the heroes to be memorialised in a statue at Heroes’ Park in Lusaka. In 2006, Levy Mwanawasa, then president of Zambia, conferred a posthumous gold medal on him for his “immense contribution”. Kankasa died in 1982. Botta also interviewed Dickson Buleni in Ndola in 1979. Buleni
had given testimony to the Rhodesian and UN inquiries and he now repeated what he had seen on the night of the crash: that a small plane had “dropped something that looked like fire” on top of the big plane, which was then in flames in the sky, before it hit the ground. Tis account is consistent with the recollection of the official survivor, Harold Julien, that the plane blew up before it crashed. Buleni added that he was one of the people who went to the crash site the morning after, where he saw that the plane was still smouldering and that Hammarskjöld was not burnt. Te Rhodesian inquiry report stated that the three coal burn-
ers – D. Moyo, L. Daka and P. Banda – were sleeping in the bush about 2.5 miles away from the crash site. At midnight local time, Moyo heard a sound as of a gun and later saw something burning. He said that Daka woke him up. Daka said that at about 01.00, he was woken up by a noise as of
told Botta. “Te evidence I gave was detailed and it is very surpris- ing that most of what I said was not reflected in the report. We don’t know why.” As it was, Kankasa’s testimony at Ndola’s high court was ridi-
culed by the South African lawyer, C. S. Margo, to the disgust of the many spectators who had come to listen to him. Kankasa was surprised that a white farmer whose house was
near the site was not called to testify, nor were his employees. “I didn’t see them come forward as witnesses,” he told Botta, “and their names do not appear in the report.” It was “incredible”, said Kankasa, “that all the black witnesses
were supposed to be unreliable. And the white witnesses – those who gave evidence, if they gave evidence in favour of the fact that there was nothing fishy, that it was pure accident – were reliable. But some of the people who gave evidence were nowhere near the site of the crash. I sincerely believe that I and the charcoal burners were the reliable witnesses.” Some of the whites who gave evidence, he added, did not state
the facts accurately and he suspected that “big interests” were in- volved. “Perhaps that’s the reason,” Kankasa concluded, “why the evidence we have was not accepted. Or that the little that was ac- cepted, which was put into the report, was distorted. Not presented as it had been given.” Kankasa is a reliable witness: he had a good working relation-
ship with the local police and was respected by everyone as a politician, union leader, and a family man. He was also held in high esteem for his role in the freedom struggle against British
something exploding. He then saw a lot of fire. He said that he also saw something coming down and breaking the trees. He awakened Moyo. Banda was also awakened by Daka who said: “Wake up, listen, and hear what has exploded.” He then heard sounds as of a gun going off many times and saw a fire through the trees. At dawn next day, they discovered the crash. In August 2009, nearly 50 years since the death of Secretary
General Hammarskjöld, I went to speak to Kankasa’s wife, Mama Chibesa Kankasa. After her contribution to the struggle for in- dependence as a young woman, she took a prominent role in the social and economic development of Zambia, especially for women and children. She was minister for women’s affairs between 1969 and 1988. She herself was at Ndola airport on the evening of 17 September
1961 as part of a massive group, carrying placards with messages welcoming the secretary general. At the time she was 25 and had been married for nine years, with children and a home to look after, but she found time to participate in the liberation struggle. She and some thousands of people came to the airport with
placards declaring their opposition to the Central African Federa- tion and to the [Congolese rebel leader] Moise Tshombe, and their support for a unified Congo. Tey did this “so that the secretary general could know”, as
well as showing their appreciation of his work for the world and his commitment to majority rule. Mama Kankasa said she herself saw a ball of fire in the sky on the
night of the crash, as well as two small planes flying away. Her hus- band had just escorted a friend on part of his way home and as he returned to their house, he cried out to her to come outside, then pointed up to the sky. He told her what had happened and they knew then, she said, that Dag had been killed.
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