News on Screen

Series

Series Name

Rhodesian Spotlight

Issue

Issue No.

34

Length of issue (in feet)

991

Stories in this Issue:

• 1. Progress at Kariba
• 2. News Flashes from the Federation
• 3. Kota Kota
• 4. Military Spotlight

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 4

Summary

Rhodesian Spotlight synopsis: The lakeside village of Kota Kota is believed to be the largest concentration of huts in Central Africa. Seventy per cent of the population is Mohammedan. The village is served with water from nearby hot springs.
Rhodesian Spotlight Commentary - The lakeside township of Kota-Kota in Nyasaland is one of the most interesting communities in the Federation. Only sixty years ago it was a happy hunting ground for slave raiders, who terrorised the district. As a result, settled communities were wiped out, but Kota-Kota flourished with the return of its permanent inhabitants after the last slave raid in 1896.
The big concentration of people at Kota-Kota never split up, and today it is believed to be the largest single group of huts in Central Africa, with an estimated population of fifteen thousand. Mohammediam was introduced into Kota-Kota in the days of the slavers, and seventy percent of its present inhabitants are Mohammedans. There are two main sects. The original and older sect is under Shehe Maridi ... the religion has its own priests and teachers and direct contact is still maintained with Zanzibar.
Three miles from the township are a number of hot water springs which bubble out of the earth. These have always been popular with the Africans for bathing and washing, and today this water is being piped from the springs to the township. The line passes throughout the villages and there are eleven drinking points and four bath-houses along its length. The water at the springs is nearly boiling, but by the time it reaches the villages it is merely lukewarm. The scheme was initiated to give the African a ready supply of pure water and in the hope of reducing the incidence of Bilharzia, which is present in the luke waters in the close vicinity of Kota-Kota.
Ivory carving is a traditional activity at Kota-Kota, and perhaps the best known of all the craftsmen is Yatine. His products are well known in African and have been exhibited in Bulawayo and in London. This pastoral community, set in one of the most beautiful parts of the Federation, plays a great part in preserving for us the many fine traditions and skills of its people.

Keywords

Domestic life; Arts and crafts; History and archaeology

Written sources

Movietone boxfile no.1   Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Central African Film Unit

Length of story (in feet)

233

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name

British Film Institute (BFI)

Email

For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7580 7503

Address

21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN

Notes

The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).

Series held

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