Dennis Liwewe
Anglican Canon, Radio and TV Commentator , Journalist, Director of Public Relations , Motivational Speaker, BBC Correspondent, Teacher, Author and Record Producer
"... a man who used every opportunity that God had given him"
Dennis Liwewe 1936 - 2014
the story of a
GREAT LIFE.
At his peak, Liwewe who coined the nickname "KK 11" in reference to the Zambian team that died in the 1993 Gabon Crash, became so popular that fans would troop to stadia to watch live games whilst listening to his commentaries on radio.
Founding Zambia president Kenneth Kaunda recognised Liwewe's influence on football in the country and awarded him the prestigious Order of Distinguished Service in 1977.
Tell us how you
Remember him
A LIVING
INSPIRATION
Dennis Liwewe, the soccer commentator extraordinaire from KK
Dennis Liwewe was a great cheerful character with a great sense of humor, a top journalist. I first met him in November 1963 when he was Editor of Nchanga Weekly, the weekly paper for Anglo-American Corporation Nchanga Mine. I was then a management trainee at the Mine.
He was courageous and professional. An article he wrote in December 1963 and with which he started a campaign against racialism in Mine Clubs went all the way to Kaunda's Cabinet. This was before independence when Kaunda was Leader of Government Business. Kaunda threatened to close down all mine clubs.
He sent his Minister of Commerce to Nchanga Mine to get a briefing from Denis Liwewe and those African technical and management trainees who were destined for "European" positions and who were denied Club membership.
I doffed my hat to him for starting a campaign against his own employer- for he was a Mine employee and Nchanga Weekly was an Anglo-American Mine publication. Within a couple of months of his campaign, Mine Clubs and other clubs in Lusaka opened their doors to Africans.
And the ramparts started falling one by one by the so-called domino effect. He went on to greater heights in the mining industry in Zambia.
Dennis lives in our memories and in the lives of many he affected and in the memories of soccer fans in the SADC region.
Louis Nthenda
The former BBC correspondent was later to travel 96 times to 42 countries around the world in his 41-year illustrious career; broadcasting from different stadiums to millions of people who enjoyed his distinct voice on the airwaves.
