Dennis Liwewe
Anglican Canon, Radio and TV Commentator , Journalist, Director of Public Relations , Motivational Speaker, BBC Correspondent, Teacher, Author and Record Producer
About
Philip Dennis Liwewe
was the 5th born child in a family of six, two sisters and four brothers. His father was Nicholas and his mother Catherine Liwewe. He came from Liwewe village in Malawi. He was born on the shore of Lake Malawi on January 10, 1936.
He moved to Zimbabwe after finishing primary school. He was educated at Dadaya Secondary School largely with the assistance of his older brother Stephen Liwewe who “threw everything into his education”. Following secondary school, he took a teacher training course. From 1959-1960, he worked as a News Reporter for the Daily News and Parade Magazine in Zimbabwe.
In 1960, he moved to Zambia and joined Anglo American Corporation as a Reporter on the Mine Newspaper, Nchanga Drum, which later became Nchanga Weekly. Here he climbed the ladder and became News Editor, before moving to the Public Relations Department He became Manager of Public Relations for Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines (NCCM). He transferred to the Head Office in Lusaka and in 1994, he became Director of Public Relations for Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM).
In parallel with his role at ZCCM, he was a soccer commentator and became a BBC correspondent, His work with the BBC culminated with him being named the “best commentator in Africa “
Following ZCCM, he became a motivational speaker to retirees and retrenches with the Zambia Government sponsored program “Future Search “. He would do the key note address setting the stage for the training “The Art of Survival after Retirement “. The key note address reflected his love for football and drew on his love for reading. He drew on the fact that he was one of the early retrenches and used his example of survival post retrenchment to motivate other retrenches.
In 1977 he was awarded the “Order of Distinguished Service” by Former President Kenneth Kaunda. He wrote the book “Soccer in Zambia “, which detailed Zambia’s soccer history in 1982. He produced 2 records “The Road to 1982 Africa Cup Finals” and “Godfrey Chitalu “.
He was Anglican and was a church Counselor at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka. He described himself as being “Anglican to the bone “. He later became a Canon in the Anglican Church. He prided himself on the fact that he neither drank nor smoked. He had been married to Sylvia, a nursing sister with whom he 4 children for 50 years.
His main hobby was reading biographies and military and naval history .Phillip Dennis Liwewe was the last surviving parent in the Liwewe family, His passing marked the end of his generation in the Liwewe family leaving the next generation to continue running the race .