The Rise And Fall Of Yakaipa

The Rise And Fall Of Yakaipa

THE RISE AND FALL OF YAKAIPA

To Mongu residents, Yakaipa was known for his never ending fleet of trucks that moved back and forth the Mongu-Lusaka stretch.

At times, when he woke up on the right side of his bed, he would storm the small town of Mongu in a long convoy of his long trailers, splashing hundred kwacha notes to the onlookers. Creating a scene reminiscent of a CBU moma splashing dry popcorn to a shoal of “ma fishi” in a pond at Varidine.

Ernest Sikaonga, popularly known as Yakaipa, was born and raised in the intestines of the forests of Barotseland. Between 1979 and 1983, his father, a Mambwe man from Mkushi arrived in Kaoma for business.

His mother was a native of Kaoma, from the Sipopa area of Nkeyema district. He met the mother at about the same year, and Ernest Sikaonga was born. Ernest Sikaonga grew up as a sharp and charismatic boy, he is described by his former class mate as being intelligent as well. He did his education in Kaoma where he reached Grade 9.

On his last term in Grade 9, Ernest’s mother had financial challenges and thus, could not afford to sponsor him any longer. She decided to sell one of the cows from her family kraal to raise funds for Ernest’s education. When Ernest was given the money, he decided to quit school and used the money for business. This was in 1996.It was at this stage that he metamorphosed from the unknown Ernest Sikaonga to the popular Yakaipa.

Yakaipa was a nick name that became a successful business brand. It is derived from the Nyanja language. The meaning is slightly synonymous to “ikali” or “Yakalipa” which are both euphemisms for strength and determination. Word has it that he invested his school fees in into selling sweets in the streets of Kaoma.

Later on in the eàrly 2000s, he diversified and moved into fuel. He was selling petrol and diesel on the roadside in 5 Liters containers. In the mid 2000s, His business grew into an empire of conglomerations, from the selling of fuel, and now to the selling of Raw bundles of Tobacco.

There was a time when people abandoned maize production and focused on tobacco growing. He took advantage of the maize shortage and exchanged mealie meal with tobacco before harvesting time. It turned out that almost all the tobacco produced in that year was his. It can be said he exploited the tobacco farmers mercilessly and made quite a lot of money that time.

Business-wise, he was quite aggressive and exploited every opportunity that came his way. He managed to monopolized a lot of big transportation projects from JTI, FRA, ETG among others.He later on invested into political connections. He supported and sponsored PF, and it was during that time that he had Transport contracts in Chipata ,Northwestern and Western provinces. This helped him to pay off his loans and he managed to invest in Lodges and guest houses across Koama, Nkeyema and Mumbwa. It is easy for anyone to dismiss this as a ‘made up’ cover up. But notice that there are a lot of similarities here with the rise of other well known business men in Zambia. For example the Wadachovu brothers and Dumisani Ncube, these guys also succeeded in business by first winning contracts for transporting GRZ goods.

We see the same in Yakaipa story. However, the story of his downfall was extremely predictable. Before the Mumbwa incident of 13 September 2023, Yakaipa has always been the theme of neighborhood rumours. In Nkeyema and TBZ, locals have had protest against somthing to do with Yakaipa more than twice since 2012. In Mongu, his ostentatious behavior of splashing money in the streets also raised suspicions of his dealings. Solid confirmation of all these negative rumours about Yakaipa came when his younger brother was implicated in the Pamela Abduction issues.

The brother was seen in a video that went viral, confessing the details of the rituals he was caught up in. A few months after the brother was sentenced to over 50 years of imprisonment, the Mumbwa incident happened. Events unfolded as follows:On Saturday, evening, a man was killed and sets(private parts) and heart were removed.On Monday, a suspect was caught by police. Tuesday, another person was killed, a suspect was apprehended by police.On Wednesday 13 September 2023, a person was being killed and killers were seen and reported. But of the two, only one was caught by the mob and taken to the police.The Mob got agitated and demanded that the police give them the suspected killers to be dealt with. When police did not comply to mob demands, the mob stoned the police station. Windows and other properties were damaged. Vet office was set ablaze too, immigration office windows broken. The mob then ransaked town.

They suspected Yakaipa was involved hence went to his construction site to administer justice.They stormed his lodge and set Yakaipa’s trucks on fire. When they broke into the lodge, they found a black coffin. When the coffin was opened, a black docile chicken was found inside the coffin.

The Mob burnt the coffin together with the chicken. When Yakaipa saw the mob, he tried to fire warning shots as he tried to escape. Unfortunately, when he went over the fence he found another mob that beat him to death. His colleague was caught up with and beaten, later burnt (Necklaced with a burning tire).Police were overwhelmed hence called for reinforcement from ZAF Mumbwa. By the time ZAF Mumbwa was on GRD to bring back peace and control, property and lives had been lost and the crowd was demanding to see yakaipa to administer justice. Little did they know that the person they had already killed was Yakaipa.Inspite of This, there are still rumours making rounds that Yakaipa was not killed in the riot. Citing that the person who was killed was actually his other younger brother. The other two people were Dollar One, and the body guard. Dollar One was Tanzanian friend to Yakaipa, he was running some business in Mumbwa. This is not the first time that Yakaipa is rumoured to have died or killed. Such rumours have been there before, but the man always pops up after some time. According to this assertion, the locals suspect that Yakaipa was hidden and protected by the police and soldiers, so that they can blackmail him. As the writer of this passage, I am not a supporter of Yakaipa. I believe this man was a good business man at some point , but later on started using magic. I say this because of the rumours which were validated by the arrest of his brother who was involved in the Pamela Abduction issue. And also the coffin that was found in his lodge in Mumbwa.

By: Mbunga Pan Africanist