Open Society Foundation (OSF) has challenged Republican President Michael Sata to categorically condemn the violence against United Party for National Development (UPND) President Hakainde Hichilema.
Executive Director Sunday Chanda said there is no need entertain and promote such acts of violence fifty years after Independence.
Mr. Chanda advised political players not to take Zambia’s peace for granted because it can easily slip away if such actions of savagery is allowed to continue.
He called on politicians especially those from the ruling PF to realize that Zambia is a multiparty state hence all political players have the right and freedom to do what UPND President and his team were doing on the copperbelt provided it is within the confines of the law.
He added that the incident in Ndola is an indictment on the Zambia police who allow such lawlessness to prevail right under their nose.
Mr Chanda has since demanded for a comprehensive statement from Zambia Police regarding the incident and arrest of those behind the violence.
Over the weekend Patriotic Front (PF) cadres armed with guns and machetes attacked UPND president Hakainde Hichilema’s entourage and interrupted an interview he was attending at a radio station in Ndola.
Mr. Hichilema said that he suspected that the PF cadres whom he has referred to as being thugs may have come from Kitwe and Luanshya specifically sent to kill him.The UPND leader wondered why the Police have not arrested any of the suspected PF cadres when they were present at both incidents when members of his party were being attacked by the suspected PF cadres.
Meanwhile the Southern African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) has observed that the escalating culture of political violence taking root in the country is retrogressive and does not have any place in the nation.
SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe said the culture of violence being perpetrated by political cadres is uncalled for especially that the Zambia is celebrating its 50th Golden Jubilee anniversary this year.
Mr Cheembe told Qfm News that the acts of political violence call for political party leaders to keep their cadres in check.
He said Zambians regardless of political affiliation should show unity in celebrating the country’s 50th independence anniversary.
Mr Cheembe said that there is need for political tolerance if the country is to have a functional democracy.
The SACCORD Executive Director has also appealed to the Zambia Police to ensure that the law is applied equally to all citizens regardless of political affiliation.
He further stateed that SACCORD hopes that perpetrators of the attack on UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema in Ndola will be brought to book.
Hahahaha! It is like asking Lucifer to condemn sin!
The president is busy looking after its people
he has no time to respond to this no story for me
Let us wait and give him time to do the job we elected him to do
Thanks
Yeah! The President is busy looking after ITS people. It has quite a large family that it has employed despite their lack of qualifications.
sata vto condemn violence? it could be a miracle, his members were busy macheting each other and he said absolutely nothing. what more the vocal opposition? if anything, he might be the one behind this nonsense to divert people from the unfulfilled promises
is ths kamushota married,its like she is just a yappa,mushota yo comments ar letting down ,be objective my sister
@Goncalves stop talking about your mother on every post
AMONG THE MANY WARNINGS FROM PROPHET CHANDA U STILL VOTED THE DEVIL
How can Sata condemn self. He is the violence and the violence is himself Sata. refer to the Chawama and airport incidences and conclude from there
My friend unless u r mosses, dont go around hitting rocks and expecting water to gush out.
Bla bla bla.That moment when every Ndobo and Tamara wants to air their view in the media.
dont use my name in your supi.dity,,, just go and do your virus research paper or just whorship your sata,,,, stop attacking me in shadow names,,, be a gentleman you claim you are and comment as one not attacking me cowardily in your other ghost shadows
Condemn violence? The man thrives on it. It is an …
That’s the reason why I left home to go far afield and arm myself academically and professionally. Now I am ripe and ready to roar. Only we the socially and broadly exposed can change the mindset of the majority. I am ready to go back and fight for my country I left many moons ago. No need to re-invent the wheel “We are The World” and no moaning, groaning and indeed mourning will help us until we go back and fight for our Mother Zambian – I am in!
Mother Zambia rather^
pliz spare our president and dont drag him in such useless issue, kabimba did that and u want the president to do so. advice the opposition not to insult the president we voted for. let them now that he is the president for now and shd be respected. let them not provoke the situation.
Stupid *****, go to school and be educated or hung yoself coz u jst consuming oxygen for nothing!
What is your president presiding over? Is it People, economy..oh no: political violence and murders are on the increase, economy is biting painfully. And the man you call our president utters no word whatsoever.Zambia is on auto pilot, we were warned but we never listened, this is the price.
You are such a fool
Going on air is not an insult to the president. get real. don t you see another Rwanda situation coming up here? we are one, despite our different political views. Yes the President should put a stop to what is happening. We cannot all belong to the same party, it is called DEMOCRACY.
Just how many NGO’s do we have in Zambia? It is almost as if every government institution is shadowed by an NGO, huh? NGOs for the Judiciary, NGOs for Human Rights, NGOs for NGOs – what sort of country are you guys running after 50 years of INDEPENDENCE???
@true just shat up iwe ka chanda kabwe.
@ Goncalves
You are spot on. Sata is lucifer incarnate. This ***** is evil.
ka (HH) was toying in the wrong part of town but good attempt at trying to reach the grassroots. next time try going to the rural areas in luapula, northwestern, central province maybe you’ll have better luck there. for now we hope you’ve realised that there’s a strong pf presence on the copperbelt ka Hadolf Hitler (HH)
#1 That is exactly the point. It is like asking a dog to condemn it’s tail. everyone knows that SATA is synonymous with violence, insolence, dictatorship rudeness, corruption among others. It will be interesting if he condemns his own appendage. A chief was reprimanded by MMD when he said “if Sata does not win the 2011 elections their will violence” this was testimony to Sara’s true character. The concoction of Sata president and Guy scott as veep is like adding salt and sugar together with the hope of only getting either salt or sugar. But all this is the design of the one who accepted the title of a snake.
With all due respect to the likes of saulosi, mushota, and ndobo, I feel that you should reconsider your position on the way PF is running this country. I voted for them but I feel some of the things happening require our collective voice to condemn. Just because you don’t support HH doesn’t mean you lose the need for freedom for all. Suppose the southern province did what PF did on the CB what would you say. I pray for peace of this country daily coz I know its the innocent women and children who will suffer most should war break out. Mind you these could be your aunties and sisters. We all should condemn whoever deserves condemnation irrespective of who the perpetrator is. We condemned the action when MMD was harassing PF but I don’t see why we can’t do that now. What has changed…
Sorry not ndobo
it was shocking that even the post newspaper condemned the stone age Barbaric attack on HH, hard to imagine that they can still demonstrate some level of decency. are their concern genuine?
Oh lord,open the eyes of these babys like ndobo so that they see wat we see-that NG0 0… wat ever -asks the might cobra to start toking abt what aparently hapened to HH sure? He is busy mwe bantu and has no tme for diaper politicians.
Sorry if I missed something. Was there violence? If so, who was hurt? Don’t waste people’s time making up stories of something that might happen or might have happened. Get a life
Others will say Mazoka was poisoned in the “guinea fowl” plot by PF rather than MMD. Useless people wanting to get political power by fabricating wild fantasies denying the truth about their failure to get to plot 1. Mazoka died of AIDS (even though he should have been president in 2001), and HH is never going to be president of Zambia because he has none of Mazoka’s qualities. Or a anybody else’s qualities
Please stop premitivity you are taking us backwards and destroying peaceful mother zambia
When you fall suspect to being discriminatory wooing becomes a very difficult thing if you are going to sections where these perceptions are strongest. We might just be dealing with deep-seated animosity coming out of being coerced to be nice by being made to feel guilty. Tribe against tribe or party against party will just exacerbate what is already political rivalry by the very nature of plural politics. We do need to cultivate an amicable political environment at all costs.
Elizabeth Chitika said Chiluba said it in 2001 that i can’t give the Presidency to Sata; “teti asunge abantu, kuntu abapatanya” and here we are.
I am very upset that innocent citizens are being harassed just for belonging to a different party. Chili ndwii mu state house and very primitive as usual. wake up and start leading, iwe chi Sata. Say something about the violence. Also there is a provision for resigning in your contract in case you are not aware.