Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Former President Rupiah Banda denies seeking ‘criminal’ political asylum in South Africa

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Former President Rupiah Banda
Former President Rupiah Banda

Fourth President Zambia Rupiah Banda has described the statement made by president Michael Sata that he was in South Africa to seek Ciminal Political Asylum as disturbing. In a statement made available to the media by his office, the former head of state said that he was disturbed by reports being perpetrated by Zambian government, alleging that his travel to South Africa was aimed at seeking asylum in that country.

The former head of State said that it was regrettable that the Zambian government can revel in peddling falsehoods against its own citizen.

Following these misleading statements by government officials and incorrect media reports, President Banda said he wished to state that his current travel plans were planned long in advance and that he expects to return to Zambia soon.

“I wholly reject this deliberate misinformation,” said the former head of State.  “I have been on a trip that was planned long ago, at the completion of which I intend to return to Zambia.  Any statements that have been made regarding fabricated ideas of ‘asylum’ or ‘charges’ have no basis in fact.”

This week President Michael Sata charged that MMD president, Nevers Mumba, his UPND counterpart, Hakainde Hichielma and Mr Banda were looking for criminal asylum in South Africa.

“When people are hiding you don’t know what they went for to South Africa because the person is looking for asylum but he does not know we can go to South Africa and get him extradited and come remove his immunity here,” he said.

“So the only person who was clean out of all those was Bo Saki. Nevers Mumba and HH were looking for criminal asylum and the South African President is not ready to give Rupiah Banda, HH and Nevers Mumba asylum. They should come here and singthe song here in Zambia,” Mr Sata stated.

The President claimed that the South African government was not ready to give criminal asylum to former President Rupiah Banda.

President Sata explained that Mr Banda did not know that the government can have him extradited from South Africa to Zambia so that his immunity is removed.

71 COMMENTS

    • @Masala Market, Your Satan has no credibility. He is a congenital liar! And what the bloody hell is “Criminal Asylum”? This rubbish does not exist anywhere unless you care to elaborate!

    • Can we put an end to this crap, LT phone or email south african embassy or president zuma ´s office and let us know the truth if there is an asylum application officially. infromation is south african suggest that no politicials claimed by sata have applied for asylum…if sata needs or feel or has causes to remove RB´s immunity let him go right ahead not this nonsense of making noise in the media
      But he (sata) should know that people know that has issues in his back pokect which hes also needs to sort out,,, nchito mmembe case, kabimba GBM issue.. the list is endless..’
      Shame on this satanic PF govt which is only appreciated by people with a 666 code on their foreheads!..evil

    • I would rather pick a retard for President who has a heart and compassion for his people than a pompwe and a child molester

    • Yes I have compassion for “My People”, aba Bemba. That is why 90% of my appointments are from people whose mother tongue is Bemba. I love my people. I have compassion for my people!

  1. When did he go to South Africa? I thought there were reports denying that he was in South Africa? What is going on? Journalists, we need clearer, consistent reporting… at least we would have been told he is on his way even if he was not yet there… eish!!!!

  2. WHERE ARE YOU, SIR? YOUR SON!

    CHILUBA WAS COURAGEOUS. NO IMMUNITY FUSS, NO JOHANNESBURG PRESS CONFERENCE FUSS, NO NOTHING…

    THE NEXT THING WILL BE A STATEMENT FROM YOUR SILLY AMSTERDAM LAWYER THAT YOU COULD NOT TRAVEL BACK BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT ‘S COMMENTS ABOUT THE CASE. “THE TRIAL OF MY CLIENT WILL NOT BE FAIR”…….

    CHILUBA FACED AND DANCED THE MUSIC ALONE.

    • Chiluba, no fuss? Courageous? Bwahahahahah, that’s a good one! How many times did the man pretend to be sick and use other delaying tactics cooked up with his lawyers?

      Better is to look at facts than to twist history and spread lies to suit your fancy. Still, I’m sure it’s nice to live in denial so hope you enjoy being in cloud coo-coo land.

    • You fool kabimba what are u saying ,why did you not.face acc when u where called
      the problem is u think u.can rule Zambia never

    • And it will be the same for Sata when his enemies are in power. When will you Zambians get tired of this circus. Let us grow up Zambians, I beg you. This pettiness and immaturity will never develop the country. As for me, I have always thanked Rupiah Banda that Chiluba did not die in prison. There was nothing for the country to gain from that.

    • Namona, just like your boss, you must have gone through the window of a grade 1 class. No wonder you have no former classmates. Only Headman Chitulika was in the same class with him. How does one fail to read what is in capital letters? May be you just needed enough to go and clean railway station toilets and be able to tell the toilet users that you were still busy cleaning.
      From Plot 1 to cleaner at Soweto Market because the man can’t go to lecture Satanism at any University like Banda.

    • I am also still wondering how the “FORMER Rupiah Banda” described the statement. More especially that the current travel plans where planned long in advance.

      Umh? Those are LT journos for you.

  3. I WAS CALLED TO MONITOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS HERE…UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF THE JIMMY CATER INSTITUTE.

    PLEASE TELL YOUR GOVERNMENT NOT TO PASS THEIR SCARY COMMENTS ON MY CASE OR I WILL NOT COME BACK

  4. MR PRESIDENT AS I ZAMBIAN CITIZEN I WOULD LIKE THE PLUNDERS FROM MMD TO BE BROUGHT TO BOOK BEFORE THEY FLEE ZAMBIA .WHY WAIT AND THAN WASTE MONEY TO GET THEM EXTRADITED FROM FOREIGN COUNTRY. THE HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER SHOULD SHOLD JUST SIEZE THEIR DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS UNTIL THE PARLY LIFTS THE IMMUNITY.CHILUBA ESCAPED FROM HIS CRIMES BECAUSE THE MMD GOVT LEFT HIM ESCAPE JUSTICE BUT THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN IN THE CASE OF R.B AND NEVERS.WE NEED OUR MOMEY BACK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR COUNTRY.

    • WHICH MONEY? Can some one please explain which money you are always talking about. The only money I know is the K18bn taken from DBZ by Mmembe and Nchito and you are not collecting that for some reason.

  5. Sata is trying a smokescreen with this asylum nonsense – why? Because he wants people to forget that his PF government will have to account for their actions to the Commonwealth. Shame on him

  6. WHEN I FINISH MONITORING LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS HERE, I AM SUPPOSED

    TO GIVE A LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FIMOFIMO, THEN I WILL PROCEED TO

    ATTEND ANOTHER CEREMONY AT THE SA INSTITUTE OF A FREE CORRUPTION

    SOCIETY, THEN I WILL MOVE ON TO NAIROBI…SO DON’T JUST PANIC YET.

  7. I AM SUPPOSED TO GIVE A LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FIMOFIMO, THEN I WILL

    PROCEED TO

    ATTEND ANOTHER CEREMONY AT THE SA INSTITUTE OF A FREE CORRUPTION

    SOCIETY, THEN I WILL MOVE ON TO NAIROBI…SO DON’T JUST PANIC YET.

  8. And to see what Sata is scared of look at the Commonwealth report ******then you’ll see why he talks about asylum to distract attention away.

  9. Former Rupiah Banda? Isn’t the man still Rupiah Banda?

    It makes about as much sense as Sata’s allegations to distract the nation from PF’s poor performance. I guess there must be another bye-election around the corner….

  10. “ON JUNE 15, 2010, I WAS QUOTED BY THE POST NEWSPAPER AS SAYING THAT RB, HIS CHILDREN, DORA & CO. WERE GUILTY OF CORRUPTION IN THE SALE OF ZAMTEL & THAT THEY WOULD NEVER WASH THEMSELVES CLEAN. I ALSO CHARGED THAT RB, HIS CHILDREN & DORA OF BENEFITING FROM THE DIRTY TRANSACTION, LIKE I DID BENEFIT IN CHILUBA’S GOVENMENT. I ALSO SAID AT THE TIME THAT RB’S CHILDREN WERE SUDDENLY TRAVELING ALL OVER IN CHARTERED PLANES…AT THE TIME, IF U MAY RECALL, RB’S CARTEL WERE CALLING ME & HON ENOCK KAVIDELE ALL SORTS OF NAMES….” WELL, UPDN CADRES, I WAS MISQUOTED BY THE POST NEWSPAPER. I STILL MAINTAIN THAT RB IS INNOCENT & I VOW TO STAND BY HIS SIDE. RB & HIS LAWYER AMSTERDAM, CHIMBA3 & REV SHIKAPWASHA KNOW ABOUT MY HALLUCINATIONS. SO WHAT IS THE FUSS?

  11. Shikulu Ba Bwezani do you trust ba mapatizya, recal a lot of insults and accusations that you presided a corrupt govt,today HH is singing a different song.

  12. With the Chambishi Chinese smelter reopened It’s business as usual nothing new. The multinationals and foreign companies will continue to operate, exploit the locals , damage the environment and make super profits which they send back to their home countries. Zambian politicians and senior government officials will receive kick backs and taxes and the common Zambian will remain with a destroyed environment and illnesses resulting from the pollution. Zambian government does not have the B.A.L.L.S to shut down these companies.

  13. Lightening will strike one day and the people of Zambia shall be free again! A country is judged by the type of it’s leadership. We are at the very bottom of the pile. Even Zimbabwe is beginning to outshine us.

    • NICOMPOOP! THERE IS NO WAY ZIMBABWE CAN EVEN BEGIN TO OUTSHINE ZAMBIA WITH ROBERT GABRIEL MUGABE HANGING ON AS PRESIDENT WHEN HE HAS CLEARLY OUTLIVED HIS USEFULNESS!

  14. Mr. Sata and his inner cycles must study South African laws about asylum seekers before issuing out laughable rhetorics to the media. It is absolutely pathetic for Sata to suggest that the South African government cannot grant HH, Banda and Mumba asylum. Despite the extradition treaty between the two countries, South Africa retains the effectiveness of its court rulings which can work in favour of the person the state intends to extradite. Further, South Africa does not extradite persons who will face a death penalty in the receiving country.
    Sata should not use terms he does not understand, the term ‘criminal asylum’ is problematic and it is awkwardy constructed. The above trio are still innocent until proven guilty and therefore their innocence does not qualify them as criminals

    • @BOOM & WHATEVER#18
      In the second last sentence above ‘awkwardly’ not ‘awkwardy’
      I omitted ‘l’ sorry for the inconveniences caused.

    • I agree this government needs to learn something about extradition law (the bungled attempt to get James Banda to Zambia being the best example) and being innocent until proven guilty (only MMD and UPDN cases are tried in the media), but am also sure corruption is not a capital offense so what you say about the death penalty simply does not apply.

      …. besides, all this asylum talk is pure fantasy to distract the voters in Livingstone and elsewhere. As far as I understand, RB is quite happy to be in Zambia!

    • Guys, they didn’t go there for asylum. This is Sata’s attempt to move attention away from the Commonwealth issue that is scaring him as the world wakes up to his behaviour.

    • @Fool me once#18.2
      Think out of the box, the South African law states that none of its departments i.e. the highest office of the land, the state president’s office has a right to extradite a person who is likely/will face a death penalty in the receiving country. This statement is non-negotiable with any foreign government. This is not say that HH, Banda and Mumba are facing capital punishment. I have made reference to the above information so as to create a broader picture of the S. African situation.
      The South African government has on several instances turned down requests from both the US and Botswana authorities, who sought the extradictions of wanted suspects who were to face capital punishment in the above respective countries.
      Describing someone a criminal is highly…

  15. the importance of govt showing how corruption was dominating in RB is for the citizenary to see how exposed society can be if Govt is nt up todate, yet these where bed mates with HH how?

  16. Describing a person/s criminal is criminal itself. How does someone measure criminality in someone before anything that which can be defined as a case before court is finalised/or results in a conviction/s. For a pack of undisciplined elected representatives to opt to label others criminal, it is not only criminal but it is racist, immoral and offensive. Note that, Sata sees his opponents as ‘them’ and ‘they’. Flowing from this, is that whatever Sata and his inner cycles construct about the outer group, it is outright criminal even before it is legally tried.
    The South African government does not consider Sata’s allegations about Banda’s children and any other person criminal until satisfactory evidence is placed before our courts so as to effect the extradictions which Sata wants.

  17. I DON’T SUPPORT THIS ATTITUDE WHERE A PRESIDENT LEAVES OFFICES ALL PIPO BECOMES AGAINST HIM,ZAMBIA MUST WAKE UP WE CAN’T DEVELOP LIKE THAT,PLEASE ZAMBIANS COME ON,LET US CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IS THIS WHAT WE MEANS WHEN WE SAY WE ARE A CHRISTIAN NATION? NO! THIS SO COBRA IS KILLING ZAMBIA TO UNKNOWN LEVEL.

  18. @BOOM & WHATEVER

    SO WHY IS HE RUNNING AWAY FROM INVESTIGATIONS? KK / CHILUBA SIMPLY OBLIGED WITHOUT ANY FUN FAIR OR ANY HULLABALOO.
    WITH OR WITHOUT SO-CALLED IMMUNIZATION, WITH OR WITHOUT FAIRNESS….AN OLD ADAGE SIMPLY PUTS IT THIS WAY: ‘THERE NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE’,
    RB KNOWS WHY HE IS HOLED UP IN A JOHANNESBURG HOTEL AFTER HIS ILL CONCEIVED PRESS / DRESS CONFERENCE…THE TRICK IS, HE WANTS HIS LEGAL ADVISER TO ANNOUNCE THAT GOVERNMENT’S COMMENTS ON HIS CASE WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL TO A FAIR TRIAL.

    RB IS A MODERN CROOK…

  19. Former Rupiah Banda denies seeking ‘criminal’ political asylum in South Africa …so what is the CURRENT Rupiah Banda saying?

  20. I have a very bad cold, and I am coughing non stop at times
    I feel horrible, when I go to the toilet it is not pretty at all

    But thanks for anyone wishing me a quick recovery

    Thanks

  21. WHAT WE NEED BASICALLY IS DEVELOPMENT, THESE OTHER ISSUES CAN COME LATER OR LET THEM NOT DIVERT ATTENTION. MULETU SHUPA FYE NA FYA MUNGULU IFI.

  22. This Government!!!! CAN you PLS use all this energy you are wasting on Stupid and Nonsensical Issues to tackling current urgent issues of national development like BUILDING DUAL CARRIAGE WAYS for our national busy highways AAAaaaaaahhhh!!!

  23. Guys,

    What was the MPUNDU trust for? This guy RB had an entitlement worth inexcess of K200m for himself and his kids for life? The same for Chiluba.

    Why Ba Presinda engaging in Real Estate (buying flats and houses for rent!) for what? What was the entrust for? Really?

  24. Chabwino, pobwera bambo msamuziye ku SasaAfrica Henry. Naye afunika kuno kumudzi, apezekeko kumwambo. Apolisi na anti corruption azakulandilani kwa ulemu.

  25. Pipo seen 2b weeded 2a very short memory.Have u 4gotten how money was buried in da soil!We don’t about dat which was kept in da ceilings.In da 1st place if u care 2recal one RB once went 2see HE Sata pleading dat he’s atrocities shud b 4given!HE Sata told him piont blank dat it wasn’t up 2him 2 4give but da Zambian pipo.Have u 4gotten about da killings in Mongu which RB & company then in govt defended & yet with absolute folly pipo stil think da man z innocent.Let due process of da law take it’s course.Let him have his day in court.Once all crimes r laid bare,I don’t know what most of u r going 2say.Yo mouths wil a agape with disbelief.Watch dis space u Up & Down (UPND) supporters.

  26. ‘criminal’ asylum? Firstly there is no such a thing, its just a hate phrase created by our small minded president, secondly has any of the people who went to SA been convicted as ‘criminals’? The answer is NO, again pointing to PF pettiness.

  27. One thing all Zambians know is that the largesse enjoyed by RB was self evident. I think immunity will be lifted with many pro PF MMD MPs like Chituwo,…

  28. This path of hating which our youth have taken can only lead to.one thing turmoil. I have never seen this kind of hate for a.person in this country. Didn’t Chiluba’s case teach us anything how difficulty it is to persecute a former president. If you want to.continue to.do.such stupid things first rectify the law and remove the damn clauses in the law, and lets see how comfortable will be te incumbent.

  29. BB was caught in crossfire. If his team knew that HH would be holding the type of press conference that he held in that country, then BB would have been better advised to wait for the dust to settle before traveling to that country. Former presidents need to stay clear of any political antagonism and provocation. When damage is already done to their personal integrity, then it would be too late to claim innocence. The message is, stay away from trouble. Period.

  30. In zambia every one is his own political leader just like everyone is his own football coach. Too much talking, every tinny matter of the government has to analyzed, really? Remember that politicians have too deeply intretched things that u cannot understand until you get into power. If Sata lied let him lie, did that hurt u in anyway, did it reduce your lifespan? Something’s just let them. Please

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