Traditional leaders in Southern Province have congratulated President Edgar Lungu on his victory in the just-ended Presidential election and pledged to support his development agenda.
Both Chief Chikanta and Chief Singani of the Tonga-speaking people in Kalomo and Choma districts respectively have congratulated President Lungu and expressed their commitment to support his leadership.
Speaking in separate interviews with ZANIS in Choma today the chiefs said they are more than ready to work with President Lungu to foster development in their chiefdoms.
“As traditional leaders we work with the government of the day. We gladly welcome the election of President Lungu and determined to support his development agenda,” they said.
Chief Singani, however, appealed to President Lungu to forgive the mistakes that people made towards him during the election campaigns.
He said as a traditional leader he is a non-partisan who is willing to work with the president-elect whom he believes is chosen by God.
“As Chief Singani I wish to ask the President to forgive mistakes, and take on the One Zambia One Nation slogan by ensuring that peace and unity prevail,” he said.
And Chief Chikanta said he and his subjects are looking forward to hosting the President at the palace as they extend a warm invitation to him.
“We want the President to come and visit us so that we may interact with him as we did with late President, Micheal Sata,” he said.
Chief Chikanta urged the President to carry on with the development projects the PF started since taking office in 2011.
He said his chiefdom is a farming community that requires a good road network and appealed to President Lungu to improve roads in his chiefdom.
Meanwhile, the two chiefs of the Tonga-speaking people in Southern Province have refuted claims that the voting patterns in Southern Province were tribal.
Chief Chikanta said the people of Southern Province voted based on the campaign promises that they heard and would have voted for President Lungu had he interacted with them more during the campaigns.
“Politics is about convincing people. The President never visited the people of Southern Province during his campaigns to sell his development agenda. Had he interacted with them the outcome would have been different,” he assured.
Çhief Chikanta said although he does not agree with the ongoing talks about tribalism in Southern Province the traditional leadership in the province is determined to eliminate the tribal patterns identified to foster unity in the country.
He, however, appealed to President Lungu not to listen to running commentaries on tribalism that are just aimed at causing disunity.
Thankyou and lets move on what ever happened is water under the bridge.
I challenge bloggers, intellectuals and politicians who are actually opinion leaders to sober up. The hatred filtering down to the common man is from these opinion leaders’ reckless messages. There is no winner in this self destructive route. A united Zambia is in our collective interest. If not careful, we could lose out all the gains made over the 50 years of a unitary state. We need to foster healing now.
STATISTICS DON’T LIE.
Politicians can tell all the lies they want,economists like Nawakwi can try to identify with the PF government by uttering sweet and blue lies, Davis Chama can say all the rubbish he wants to discredit UPND and paint the people of Southern province black and accuse them of being tribal for simply exercising their right.The matter of facts remains unchanged,STATICS DON’T LIE. What do we mean by this statement? Below is a reflection on the voting pattern in 2011 general elections highlighting the top 3 parties that were in real competition and please take note of regional vote out come and conclude if Tongas are really tribal as insinuated or not.
EASTERN PROVINCE
Banda polled 233,528 Sata-59,391 Hichilema-10,704. Note that Banda whitewashed his…
LUAPULA PROVINCE
Sata-151,822 Banda-47,289 Hichilema-1,758 only. Why did Sata humiliate his friends here?
NORTHERN PROVINCE
Sata-242,455 Banda-121,482 Hichilema-2,935 only.
SOUTHERN PROVINCE
Hichilema-266,754 Banda-71,519 Sata-24,609. Hichilema baptised his competitors in Southern province.Why?
When we as UPND performed so badly in Eastern,Northern and Luapula provinces, we did not criticise the people of those provinces neither did we paint them as tribal. We realised that for a product to be sold,it needs marketing;and from our conclusion we saw that we had not campaigned extensively in those areas. Fast forward,3 years later an election came up. As UPND we went flat out and camped in Northern, Luapula,Muchinga and Eastern provinces. We worked so hard and our perfomance…
Hard luck. Pride is a hard thing to swallow.
Aha, ba kolwe ba ku southern ,non partisan my foot!!
This is wisdom 101. However, our esteemed Chiefs should realize that a problem can only be effectively sorted out once there is recognition or acceptance that it exists. If we resort to denials, the this cancerous pandemic called tribalism is bound to ruin our country beyond reconstruction. Tribalism is real and it has gotten to its implosive levels. We got to seriously look at it and start talking about it openly if we have address it as a national crisis at hand. Its time to kill it by coming up with some deliberate measures. Lets get to the bottom of the many underlying issues and pay attention to grievances behind it. demonizing each other is no solution. It actually inflames it. Intellectuals and politicians as opinion leaders must drive a tone and language of unity than hatred.
But first the real perpetratorsof tribalism shouldown up. I mean those in denialwho always point fingers at southernerswhen their got is 95% people from one region.
Great forward thinking chiefs. All is well, let us work and develop Zambia, and her great people.
KEY POINT – “Politics is about convincing people. The President never visited the people of Southern Province during his campaigns to sell his development agenda. Had he interacted with them the outcome would have been different,”
Key point indeed, Mbayo. How were people in southern province going to vote for EL, if he never visited them to sell his manifesto? and you call this tribalism? ADVISE: Let EL spend his time in Southern province interacting with the people and the 2016 elections results will be extremely good.
It is always better to face the truth what ever it is. Our beloved chiefs in Southern Provinces openly supported HH, in Eastern Province openly supported EL, etc….
Our chiefs should learn to be above party politics hence they will regain respect from their subjects. The lift between Mwine Lubemba and the government is that from the birth of multiparty system Mwine Lubemba does not support party politics.
During the failed third term by FTJ, all chiefs were lined up at state house but the then Mwine Lubemba refused to be used.
The chief was right with his general views but to suggest that the President never visited southern province is unfactual and a blue lie. He campaigned in Choma, Mazabuka, Livingstone and Monze with good rallies which time spent in these towns where no different from the time spent by HH.
Lets just agree that there was regional voting pattern in some sections of the country and chart the way forward for our mother land. One Zambia one Nation
Lungu must reach and show he is man of the people. Minister of Defence must come from south. Or foreign affairs. These are key ministries apart from home affairs and finance ministry.
Tribal balancing is tribal. Why south and not muchinga ??Come up with sensible criteria
Appointments must be based only on MERIT!
@5.2 Really?
Meritorious Zambians are in all the 10 provinces and not only in 1 or 2 provinces. The President must be helped to carefully build his team to make every party of Zambia feel represented. Let every region feel to be part of the Government establishment from Cabinet to our Diplomatic corp and at all levels of the administration. Politics is a social science that thrives on some realistic and practical measures to create a sense of belonging in the populace. The voting pattern in this election had some elements of reaction which should not be ignored. I will give you an example of NW. Their vote was a reaction to the state of their province a national bread basket. It has nothing to talk about other than craters and fumes while Muchinga is receiving massive development.
@Zabwino palibe In as much as tribal balancing in the cabinet is important,I think regions that feel left out by the president in the appointments are partly to blame cause they have not provided MP’s for the rulling party from their areas by not voting for people who stand on the PF ticket. If they want appointments to be done from areas where they come from,they should start voting for MP’s who stand on the PF ticket.The president has got MP’s who helped him to win the election,and therefore if they are qualified,let him pick from his MP’s.
We can only solve the puzzle of tribalism by magnanimously taking some tough practical steps more if we can fundamentally shift into a balancing act in national interest with a sense of reality for inclusiveness.
Just demonizing people while ignoring some underlying issues to me is failure. We ought to start offering solutions to real problems at hand. President Lungu will need sincere and professional analysts comfortable to freely bring to his attention these pressing issues and advising on measure to take.
@Zabwino Palibe (ZP)…: You do realize ministers are appointed from members of parliament, right? So you want ECL to appoint a UPND Tonga MP from SP since that’s all you have? And how well is that going to go down with you folks in UPND? Already you have started grumbling about the appointment ECL has made for minister to NWP. I do understand EL has people still to nominate to parliament as ministers. But NOT for such an important and sensitive ministry. We need someone with a constituency behind them, hence an elected MP.
And if I may ask, is this how you anticipated UPND’s appointments to go if HH had won? Based on tribal balancing than merit? I am sure there are plenty capable individuals from all tribes who can run ministries. Let the president pick a cabinet he wants.
@Change, yours is flawed logic—that kind of thinking would get us back to the one party state that we had under UNIP without the necessary checks and balances. According to your flawed thinking, every MP should be a PF member–where would the checks and balances come from? Think before you utter such nonsense in a forum where scholars congregate!
Atase iwe, wayamba ifya bupuba. Its now about Defence coming from the South or wherever. Its all about pipo who can deliver. Appointments should be on merit not to please a section.
@ bupo,you’re the one who’s supposed to think before you post your comments…….why should people offering checks and balances come from the same province….isn’t that the tribalism we’re talking about? Let me make it simple since you can’t think apart from HH. Suppose HH became president and it came to appointing ministers and he had no MP’s from Luapula,would they be justified to complain that he was segregating against them if he didn’t give any ministerial position to people who hail from there? What am trying to promote is voting based on merit and not because a political party is perceived to belong to a certain tribe.
EL 2016
Thanks for all the chiefs have said. But Mr President don’t go to the palace of these chiefs or else they will baptised with something and they will say the President is sick. “Once beaten twice shy” Don’t go there. This is what we call “Mpeni ku mphasa” “Nkhoswe aluma na kuputapo” so that you don’t feel the pain.
Its like an intending hijacker congratulating his intended victim during a botched mission. Admit your acts , right or wrong then work to correct them. Not hypocritical behaviour !!!
I think this topic of tribal this, tribal that has been fully exausted,can we move on ba Zambia…we have a president in the name of Edgar Lungu and there is a lot to be done out there to uplift the standard of living for all Zambians.
“We want the President to come and visit us so that we may interact with him as we did with late President, Micheal Sata,” he said.
Boza, You want him to be poisoned? Those votes don’t suggest you really want to interact with him. Just apologize for the “vote to kill” mentality that you people of this province exhibited
The only ministry that suites Southern Province is the yet to be created. It will be called the “Ministry of Tribalism, rigidity and selfishness”. This ministry is reserved for Tongas
Again you have resorted to insults. ? You must have been hurt and still bitter with Southerners- Go hang my friend !
Meanwhile, Southerners sending a warm greeting and wishing you well with yr nightmares /pending hypertension.
SP
Hope you will never be on the other side of mockery.
Tutu pipo are now tired of baseless accusation, the fact is that you can use the same language to any tribe if given an opportunity. the day when UPND will die your hatred will also shift.
These chiefs lack spine. There is no need to apologize for wanting to vote out a party that has ruined the economy,exhibited high levels of nepotism to the point where the country is the most polarized it has ever been, failed to pay farmers, frustrated nurses—need I go on? PF has to go, only then can the healing begin—maybe they are speaking for themselves, but theirs is not a view shared by the province; of that I am certain.
Chiefs should support the government of the day. mukuni we want to hear your voice too! Here we come Southern province..
How do u ask for forgiveness if there’s no wrongs committed……..the Chief is asking the President to forgive the people of southern province and at the same time you are saying nothing wrong happened.
Dear Chiefs. Nobody needs to be forgiven for ‘offending’EL. Such language from our traditional leaders is based on patronage.
No doubt the campaign was vicious. Lungu said a few nasty things so did the other opposing people. They all wanted the prize!
I however agree on the lack of interaction by EL on the people of SP.
Chiluba did it very well and he got 100% vote in 1991 and 1996. What the chiefs mean id that EL didn’t engange the people.
Southern Province does not see the world beyond provincial boundaries.
I worked in that province for 7 years. I helped lots of people, some of whom would not have seen Lusaka, nor would they have seen life outside Southern Province.
It is shameful that people threatened to kill me with axes and pangs after paying them lots of money and transforming their lives.
The first thing HH should do is go to that Province and preach paradigm shift. Shift from Hatred to love. Shift from selfishness to selflessness, and from pomposity to Humbleness.
Only then can Zambia consider that province. For now, I can guarantee that non (not one) of us living today will see a southerner in State House.
I agree with you, NEVER will Southern province produce a president. This is a bitter fact.
@ Tutu
Grow up my bro and stop that tribalism in your small brain
Zambia will do well not to dwell on negatives or regionalism of last voting but accept a wrong and correct it across the length and breadth of the country. Careless talk that might appear intelligent may just destroy the much needed fabric of our society. Let there be cease fire. Two Southern Province Chiefs have already spoken wise by inviting the President elect possibly to say sooooory and move forward as united nation.
The problem is that there wer no Chiefs in southern province. The colonialist created them for admininistrative purposes. So these Chiefs have no deep roots. The Bemba Chiefs are well rooted so they can afford to stand up agaisnt the politicians as ba shilubemba did to Chiluba and sata.
Geographically, the North and South will always repel, whether tribes or not. That is what leads to north&south splitting.
The people of Southern Province have a mind purely their own. I yet have to find somebody from there who is able to see things from another perspective.
Tongas are numerous in number, undoubtedly more numerous than the Bembas. But the Bembas are bigger and taller in stature than the Tongas. How is that possible? Well, the Bembas see themselves as a parent tribe to the smaller tribes under them. Consequently, they are able to stand on the shoulders of these smaller tribes. That is what gives them their stature.
The Tongas on the other hand see every other tribe, including their Bantu Bo Tatwe siblings, the Lenjes and the Ilas, as rival tribes. One is not a Tonga unless he/she is a Tonga. Among the Bembas, tribal boundaries do not exist.
It is the reason Bembas command political superiority in Zambia – they are more open and more accommodating. The Tongas are less open and less accommodating. It is a paradox.
The same goes for the most argued Bemba versus Tonga tribalism. Is Bemba tribalism real? Certainly. It is the most prevalent and most visible form of tribalism that one finds in Zambia today. I personally loathe Bemba tribalism. Understandably, Tongas have tended to jump on the Bemba tribalism wagon to justify their own. Interestingly though, that has always backfired! It’s another paradox, if you please.
Bemba and Tonga tribalism are like apples and oranges – they are different. Many people who can tolerate Bemba tribalism cannot stand Tonga tribalism. Why? Simply because Tonga tribalism is too exclusive while Bemba tribalism is more inclusive. Many who pose as Bembas have not a single drop of Bemba blood flowing through their veins. That is a NO, NO among Tongas.
Because of this Tonga mindset, Anderson Mazoka, when called upon by Mwanawasa who, inadvertently addressed him as “my brother,” retorted by saying: “I am not your brother – my mother was not a prostitute.” Understandably, Mazoka was in pain at the time. He was still bruised and bleeding profusely from Chiluba’s uncanny rigging of an election that he, Mazoka, is believed to have won.
Notwithstanding, it should be regretted that dignified Mazoka could afford to respond to Mwanawasa the way he did. But that is the Tonga way – a Tonga is not a Tonga unless he is a Tonga. It is also the reason why Tongas, of all the many tribes in Zambia, have been fuming the most for having not had a chance to rule the country. But which Bemba president has ever ruled Zambia?
And may we not see in this an echo of the words: “only a Tonga must take-over from Mazoka,” a repudiation of which statement by a Tonga, is yet to greet my ears. Admittedly, that statement ignited a lot of ire and still continues to, in other circles. Notwithstanding, UPND has continued to pursue a policy similar to what that statement enunciated. So was that just a stray bullet from Madyenkuku’s shortgun? If so, how about the recent vomitus by another Tonga elitist, the right honourable Daniel Munkombwe during what was symbolically seen as an endorsement of Hakainde Hichilema? Was that also a stray bullet? It can’t just be coincidental. Munkombwe’s was an AK47 powered shot. It did hit the target.
It makes me wonder still, whether that was not the same motivation behind Mainza Chona’s move in 1959 to form UNIP when there was already a party, the ANC, that was headed by Nkumbula, an Ila. I doubt that Chona could have taken such move had ANC been in the hands of a bona fide Tonga. In the mind of a Tonga, an Ila is not a Tonga. That is the sad reality.
With their numbers behind them, Tongas can be a powerful force in Zambian politics. They only need to change their mindset and start grasping the dynamics of Zambian tribal politics. They are too naïve.
In retrospect – going back to 1959 – the UNIP saga, one can see what might have been on the mind of the Tongas – form an alliance in perpetuity with the Bembas. Such an alliance would create a super tribal political structure that would ensure that the presidency of the country only rotates between the two giant tribes, akin to the Kikuyu and Kalenjin alliance in Kenya.
Otherwise, I am at a loss to understand why the Tongas, a giant tribe, decided to team-up with the Bembas, another giant tribe, to fight against and defeat Reuben Kamanga, an Easterner from the vice-presidency and replaced him with Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, a Bemba? That was in 1967 or there about. Bembas have since been able to proved that they are big enough to stake it out without Tonga assistance.
Old Kenneth Kaunda is admired for so many things. For my part, this is what I admire him for – he initiated an alliance between UPND, UNIP and FDD. At that time UNIP still had a formidable foothold in Eastern Province and FDD was still FDD, a party to be reckoned with.
That alliance was a flop. Why? Simply because Mr. Hichilema made it clear that the presidency under that alliance would have to be himself and no one else. Many non-Southerners had already left or were in the process of leaving UPND then. To Mr. Hichilema though, that was inconsequential. The Kaunda initiated alliance crumbled – it crumbled because a Tonga had to be the president. That stance still remains the UPND stance to this day – the next president must be Tonga.
These chiefs surely have more brains than Hh