Help Us Save Big Cats from Our Spears, Ngonis plead With Companies

By Kalata News

Chipata, November – THE 2025 Ncwala National Organising Committee (NOC) of Ncwala traditional ceremony of the Ngoni people of Eastern Zambia is inviting businesses and mining companies to partner with the Ngoni Royal Establishment in hosting the 2025 Ncwala Ceremony.

The traditional ceremony is held annually every last Saturday of February.

The 2025 Ncwala NOC recently announced that the coming 2025 traditional ceremony will be used to raise awareness among the Ngoni people on the negative effects of climate change as well as the negative effects of hunting wild cats for their skins.

The Ncwala NOC says the use of real wild life skins during traditional ceremony has contributed to the depletion of many wild cats especially the lions and leopards.

In a letter inviting companies to partner, the 2025 NOC chair person, Dumisani Tembo says that the Ngoni Royal Establishment last year partnered with a wildlife conservation group Panthera to help them replace the use of real wild life skins in traditional ceremonies with look-alike skins made from furs.

“We will appreciate your partnering with us in this effort for wildlife conservation through the Ncwala ceremony as a platform for raising awareness of the dangers of the continued tradition of hunting of leopards for their skins to make traditional attire of the Ngonis,” writes Dumisani.

Panthera is devoted to the conservation of the world’s 40 species of wild cats and the vast ecosystems they inhabit and protects the seven species of big cats; namely cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, lions, pumas, snow leopards and tigers.

Panthera, through their ‘Furs for Life programme’ and ‘Saving Spots’, has been working with traditional authorities to inform to educate the public on the plight of wild cats. It is also working closely with traditional authorities living alongside these iconic species to protect wild cats and their prey from poaching, illegal wildlife trade and safeguard the precious landscapes wild cats need to survive.

The Ngonis will be joining the Barotse Royal Establishment of the Lozi people of Western Zambia who since 2019, have been part of this programme of using synthetic furs during their traditional ceremony, the Kuomboka.

Through Saving Spots, Panthera also conducts an educational conservation outreach program in the region and a robust leopard monitoring program in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The Budget for the 2025 Ncwala Ceremony, which will be held from February 19 to February 22, has been estimated at about 2.2 million Kwacha.

 

The Ncwala Ceremony has over the years become one of Zambia’s international and local crowd pullers with over twenty million viewers watching the ceremony via television and social media portals.

The host, King Mpezeni the 4^th, who is already the longest reigning monarch in Zambia, will be celebrating 43 years on the throne during the next Ncwala.

The NOC chairperson Dumisani adds, “The King is very enthusiastic about this initiative and has begun replacing the actual leopard skins with the heritage furs among the kings (amakhosi) under him. He therefor is inviting companies to help him raise awareness among his people.”

The Ncwala Ceremony, known as the Umkhosi we Nwala, is an annual traditional ceremony of the Ngoni people of Eastern Zambia. It is a traditional ceremony where the Ngonis celebrate their traditional victories from the time they their ancestral lands in modern day KwaZulu Natal, South Africa to Zambia. They also use the ceremony to pay homage to their ancestral spirits for their guidance and protection and celebrate the first fruits of their harvest.

Over the years this traditional ceremony has become a big awareness event used by the Ngonis to educate communities on diseases such HIV and AIDS, Cholera, Covid19 and has now expanded to issues of climate change and wild life conservation.

Companies interested in partnering in making the 2025 Ncwala a success are therefore invited to engage with the 2025 Ncwala NOC Chair Dumisani Tembo at the NOC Secretariat at 2945, Corner of Mwapona and Sianjalika Roads in Woodlands Lusaka.

 

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