CLA News / Tribute to Hon. Dr. Rodger Chongwe SC
Hon. Dr. Rodger Chongwe SC, veteran Zambian lawyer, former Justice Minister, courageous democracy and human rights defender and the president of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, from 1990-1993, died surrounded by his family on 6 May 2025 aged 86.
Rodger Masauso Alivas Chongwe was born in Chipata, Zambia on 2 October 1938, where after completing his preliminary education he secured a job as a court clerk before being awarded a scholarship to study law in Australia where he met his future wife, Gwenda Fay Eaton. He returned to Zambia in 1969 as a qualified lawyer, established his own firm and was successively elected president of the Law Association of Zambia, regularly holding the government to account, and he was later elected president of the African Bar Association due to his international reputation.
In 1987 at its first council meeting he was elected a vice president of the newly formed Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) representing Zambia and South Africa and in 1990 on the retirement of Lt. Col. Hurley Whitehorne MBE, OJ, at the Auckland CLC he was elected its third president.
In 1991 Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia’s first president honoured him with the standing of State Counsel. Later that year concerned with the state of the one-party politics under Kaunda, Chongwe, a staunch opponent of corruption, persuaded the CLA to send observers to a snap election which was won by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy.
Frederik Chiluba became the new president and appointed Chongwe Zambia’s first Minister for Legal Affairs. In 1993 Chongwe fell out with Chiluba on justice and human rights issues and was sidelined in an appointment as Minister for Housing until 1995, when he resigned in protest against rampant corruption, undemocratic tendencies and human rights violations under Chiluba’s regime.
After leaving government, Chongwe formed an opposition party, the Liberal Progressive Front, to challenge Chiluba in the 1996 election. Former President Kaunda was barred from standing and Chiluba won the election. Chongwe remained in opposition and became chairperson of a 13-party alliance of opposition parties.
On 23 August 1997 he narrowly survived an assassination attempt when he was shot in the head by police forces as he was leaving a mass rally called by his party, which nearly killed him and President Kaunda who was sitting beside him. Nevertheless, he joined his CLA colleagues at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Edinburgh two months later, when his scar was still visible. Whilst he was at the CHOGM, he was mistakenly implicated in an attempted coup in Zambia and on his return journey he narrowly escaped a kidnapping attempt which would have forced him to return to Zambia, where he was informed he would likely be facing treason charges. Although he had nothing to do with the attempted coup, he diverted his plans and went into self-imposed exile in Australia with his wife Gwenda.
In 1998 whilst still in exile, he was one of the ten lawyers, representing the CLA at the Latimer House Colloquium in Buckinghamshire, where he presented a paper entitled Judicial Review and Executive Action: Government under the Law and was involved in the drafting of the Latimer House Guidelines on Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial Independence, which after amendment were subsequently endorsed by the CHOGM of 2003 as the Latimer House Principles and now form part of the Commonwealth Charter.
In 2003, during Levy Mwanawasa’s presidency, Rodger returned to Zambia, but although his lifetime commitment to the rule of law, human rights and justice and to fight against corruption was undiminished, he kept out of public life for the next twenty-two years. In 2012, however, he accepted the appointment to chair the commission of inquiry held to investigate the Mongu 2011 deadly riots and he also participated in public discussion forums ahead of Zambia’s 2021 elections. He also worked for a time for the UN in the Former Yugoslavia and was a founding member and former Executive Committee Fellow of the International Legal Assistance Forum (ILAC), established in the late 1990s to provide legal assistance for the re-establishment of the rule of law in war torn countries, where his contribution was crucial to opening doors for ILAC in Africa and the role of the judiciary in promoting gender justice. In December 2000 also he participated in the Consortium’s conference in Saltsjobaden in Sweden, where he was joined by Colin Nicholls KC, another of the CLA’s former presidents. In 2018 he received the Consortium’s Lifetime Membership Award.
Rodger was an affable colleague, much loved by his family and friends. His commitment to the rule of law, human rights and justice in Zambia and elsewhere was justifiably recognised as President Hakainde Hichilema ordered him a state funeral and two days national mourning in recognition of his “immense contribution to Zambia’s national development”. The CLA was represented at his funeral by Linda Kasonde, immediate past vice president for Africa.
Rodger Chongwe is survived by his wife Gwenda, their two children; Njalikwa who is a ceramic artist and Wajipha, who specialises in hospitality or hotel management and his grandchildren.
Colin Nicholls KC, Honorary Life President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association
Dr Karen Brewer, Secretary General of the CMJA
Dr Peter Slinn, Vice President CLEA
