He’s passed from rising hope to elder statesman without any intervening period, whatsoever– Michael Foot.
The 1958 State of Emergency, christened Operation Sunrise, declared by Sir Robert Armitage came too soon for the Nyasaland African Congress (Nac).
Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda had just returned home from the diaspora to lead and give momentum to Nac for its independence struggle. Several party stalwarts were arrested and imprisoned amidst a crackdown on political dissent and activism by the colonial regime. Ironically, when Aleke Banda and Orton Chirwa formed the Malawi Congress Party in 1959, to replace the banned Nac, one John Zenus Ungapake (JZU) Tembo was nowhere near the architects of the MCP.
By this time, Tembo had just returned home with a Political Philosophy degree from Roma University in Lesotho.
However, when Dr Banda was assembling his team of lieutenants to help him meet the aspirations of independent Malawi after his release from Gweru Prison in Zimbabwe, John Tembo rose from obscurity to assume a priceless role in party politics and civil service errands. When Tembo was bestowed the guardianship of the Finance Ministry in 1964, taking over from Sir Henry Phillips, he never looked back and became a staunch loyalist of Dr Banda’s regime and a civil service cadre of great value.
Between 1997 and 2013, Tembo became the face, heart and soul of MCP, steadying the ship in turbulent times.
Unfortunately, it is that Tembo who, at 91, died on Wednesday, September 26 2023, at Lilongwe City Clinic. In the dust of the earth he has joined Ruth, his predeceased wife.
Distinguished public servant
Tembo, born on September 14 1932, curved his political career when he took up a parliamentary seat in Dedza in 1961, just two years after a stint at teaching with Dedza Secondary School. Since then, Tembo became the mainstay in parliamentary politics till his resignation in 2013.
In many circles, Tembo was seen as a political figure whose face symbolised MCP shortcomings of its dictatorial 30-year rule and, yet, he was a man with proven hands in the civil service.
He had a stellar record in both the private and public service that helped in transforming the country’s economy.
He was appointed Minister of Finance in 1964 and, later on, became the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, a position he held for 13 years.
At the Finance Ministry, he was “stable and reliable, carefully planning budgets to promote the country’s economic development”.
Under his watch as Minister of Finance, Malawi’s real economic growth averaged 5.5 percent.
The many infrastructural development projects that sprouted during Dr Banda’s regime have, in one way or the other, Tembo’s insignia.
He also chaired various private and public institutions of immense repute, notably the conglomerate Press Corporation, Blantyre Print & Packaging, New Building Society, the University of Malawi and many banks. In short, wherever he was asked to lead, he never disappointed and delivered excellently.
Obviously, due to his long service in political and civic offices, Tembo must have amassed a good fortune. The ambiance and elegance of his Area 10 home attest to a man who had money and a taste for class.
Nevertheless, Tembo was humble when asked about his financial fortunes.
“I cannot say I am rich but I thank God that, at least, I can afford a glass of wine every day and at least a glass of whiskey every week,” Tembo told late journalist Raphael Tenthani in 2009
‘Defending’ party cornerstones
During the 1966 Cabinet Crisis, JZU stood aloof and loyal while others mutinied in protest of the Ngwazi’s leadership style.
He properly understood that playing the cards well would propel him to stardom in the political chess game.
For Tembo, the four cornerstones of royalty, obedience, discipline and unity were to be religiously guarded if the party were to consolidate power in the post-colonial era.
With the coming of party pluralism, there was a feeling from within the party that it had to embrace change and become more liberal in its approach to internal issues and its engagement with other political stakeholders.
MCP survived the multiparty era when other parties were being cast in the abyss of time.
The late historian, David Dudwa Phiri, described Tembo as “… ascetic, fastidious and cunning”— a description that resonated well with how Tembo dealt with political issues.
Tembo was not a stranger to political upheavals from within and without. He had a steely character with a subtle gladiatorial disposition in his dealings with situations.
For instance, in July 2005, while addressing a rally at Kaliyeka in Lilongwe, Tembo buttressed the importance of preserving party ethos when the late Kate Kainja accepted a ministerial position in Bingu wa Mutharika’s administration.
Tembo was unequivocal in his speech: “Our custom in MCP is that you cannot have dual membership. The moment you have one leg here and the other in another camp, then know you are definitely out. You cannot play with this party; it belongs to Kamuzu. Even myself; I do not play with the party”.
Unfulfilled ambitions
The ultimate goal for John Tembo was to be the president of the Republic of Malawi. It is that one thing that eluded him in his illustrious political career. In the 2004 and 2009 elections, Tembo could see doors to political invisibility opening ajar, only to fall short of the highest honour.
His desperate quest for State House occupancy saw him conjure a strange political alliance with Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front ahead of the 2009 general elections. That was a marriage of convenience as Tembo and Muluzi were political rivals who could not share a cup of coffee.
However, this time, they had a common political nemesis— Bingu wa Mutharika.
After the 2009 election defeat, Tembo grappled with a stark reality that his political life was on the wane, with no guts and passion to hold on to power. And, with changing times, he finally handed over the baton of power to Lazarus Chakwera in 2013 to energise and rebrand the party in order to make it more relevant to the emerging socio-political landscape.
At the inauguration of State President Chakwera in Lilongwe on June 28 2020, Tembo was a happy man, seeing the party he fought to preserve finally getting back to power.
Looking frail and physically spent, he was aided to the occasion to witness his heir taking the oath of office.
Much as nothing could eclipse the pain of missing the presidency in his political sojourn, the ascendancy to power by Chakwera was a huge solace and gratified his spirits, both for a moment and eternity.
Curtain closed
When King David of the Israelite theocracy got wind of Jonathan’s death, he wept thus: “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places; how are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!”
In the annals of Malawi’s political history, John Zenus Ungapake Tembo takes his rightful place. Obviously, his life had opinions split. To some he represented and personified the old dictatorial regime of MCP that spanned 30 years.
Yet, to others, he was an iron- willed figure who was not easily moved by novice ideas. But to all Malawians, he was a man who dedicated his life for the betterment of Malawi.
His demise closes the curtain for his generation of politicians, who have either predeceased him or just bowed out of the political scene. The sun has finally set on JZU and a solemn assembly of all people of diverse stations of duty awaits in Lilongwe to pay their last homage to a man who dedicated his life to politics and the civil service.
