Former freedom fighter and MMD founder member Simon Zukas says the parentage clause in the current Republican Constitution is discriminatory and should not have been introduced in the first place.
The just-released draft Republican Constitution excludes the clause that forbids Zambians with foreign parentage from standing in a presidential election.
The current constitution says for one to be a presidential candidate, both their parents must be first generation Zambians.
The parentage clause, introduced in 1996 during the reign of president Fredrick Chiluba was widely believed to have been targeted at former president Kenneth Kaunda, whose parents hailed from Malawi.
Mr Zukas, who was commenting on the removal of the parentage clause from the draft constitution, said there are Zambians born to foreign parents who have been discriminated on the basis of their parentage, even when they had never been to their parents’ countries of origin.
Welcoming the removal of the clause from the draft constitution, Mr Zukas said there was no justification for the qualification.
“The removal is welcome. The clause should not have been there in the first place. It was a bad clause,” Mr Zukas said.
He said the clause only managed to create two classes of Zambia, one superior and the other lesser.
Mr Zukas said all the country needs is a president who can do the job.
He said the clause discriminated against many people, including Zambians whose parents married from outside the country, despite them having international exposure which would have benefited the country.
And former Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Dipak Patel said the removal of the parentage clause is progressive.
“It’s a good thing and I hope it is approved in the final draft constitution because a lot of Zambians are affected by it,” Mr Patel said.
Meanwhile Heritage Party president Godfrey Miyanda has advised Zambians to thoroughly study the draft constitution and not be excited over the adoption of the 50 percent plus one vote threshold for a winning Presidential candidate, among other contentious clauses.
General Miyanda says he believes the contentious clauses were adopted by the technical committee drafting the constitution “to sway public attention from other pertinent clauses”.
He said this in Lusaka yesterday when he featured on a Hot FM programme, Hot Seat.
“I would like to advise fellow Zambians to study this document from the first to the last page before making any conclusions,” he said.
Gen Miyanda said government should not rush the constitution-making process as all the tenets of democracy are enshrined in the current constitution.
[Daily Mail]
General Miyanda has no shame and has no direction in his career. He shud just continue leading the briefcase party he owns and gets a living out of. Who told him that the pf govt thinks there is no democracy in the current cosntitution? The people of Zambia have been taken for granted for so many years because of the loopholes that are found in the constitution and these are usually abused by the likes of him. For me it shows that the PF govt is doing something not to perpetuate its rule (even though that would be welcome by them!!!) but to do the right thing for the Zambians….. So YES Miyanda! we need to revisit the constitution and make it right for ourselves and our fututre generations…. our children who are still in their mornings, not you who have reached their evenings in life.
You sad person. Please read again.
Chiluba was very correct about the Parent Clause. Both Parents need to be born in your country for real Loyalty. Put this foolishness in our constitution and we shall ammend it in the future. Sata’s days in England at times cloud his judgement.
The same gabbage was tried here in the USA on Obama but it failed because 200 million whites wanted to give chance to a black. By the way, the US population is 310 million that’s why I did not include the 110 millions who comprises blacks, spanish, chinese, germans, russians, zambians etc. We need to be objective and move on because Micheal Sata like it or not is the president of zambia.
@Simon Zukas. with or without the parent clause, you cant be zambian president….including you Dipak
Racist! Countries like America have moved on. With people like you there would not have been an Obama in the Whitehouse. Which century are you in?
Outstanding display of racism. You and any others living outside Zed taking on the unZambian rhetoric of negative perception of others only makes me question if the environment you are in is encouraging thoughts that do not reflect the reality of the country I hope birthed you and is your home. If you are a foreigner then find out why I just said that. If you are Zambian then I reckon anonymity breeds keyboard racism and the net is full of sites where you can go and vent those feelings without holding back and be engaged by opposite and like minded keyboard ‘warriors’ :)
Personally I think like a vuvuzela you just want to make a shocking noise to get attention and have not done as much in your life for Zed as the two you mention.
Simon Zukas has done more for Zambia than you have done, he is a freedom fighter, fought for our independence. So know when to keep quiet.
@VUVUZELA….. you are foolish little racist bigot.
Vuvuzela man, you are an *****. Uli chitotoli cha ebele yama. I am shocked that you can puke such bullshit. You are a racist PERIOD. What’s wrong with Simon Zukas who even fought for our independence side by side with Dr Kaunda, Nkumbula, Kapwepwe to name but a few. I pray to God you are not zambian because if you, you are an abomination to the country we love. The world over is still celebrating us having the first white Vice President and you are puking hatred. To hell with you iwe kolwe.
@Simon Zukas. with or without the parentage clause, you cant be zambian president….including you Dipak
I woul like to see a mixed race presido in Z…
you are a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As long as they qualify and uphold the constitution of mother Zambia. Don’t forget Obama is a mixed race presio. Who decides who one should hump?
Vuvuzela………what did you eat for lunch man? whites were saying the same in America before Obama. if this clause is approved then Guy Scott will be acting as president and can take over as president of the Republic of Zambia in case something happens to Sata……i love all Zambians regardless of skin color, tribe, etc. by the way Zukas is a freedom fighter, something that some of our black parents didn’t dare to do, so who are you to belittle him!
why do these people want to be presidents even at their neighbours house? you can never control the kitchen in your uncles house….Zukas grow up!!!!
Are you related to vuvuzela because you sound like one. Simon Zukas is in his 80’s and has no wish to be president at 90. Grow you racist.
I conquer wd gen.study it v.wel b4 u alow the dummy to bcom our zed presdo n eventualy be colonizd agen by his fathers!He hs ored gone there to mek more arangemnts hw they cn help hm achiev ds
Miyanda lol
Pls leave Mr Zukas alone he is a true freedom fighter some of you do not know what he achived as a freedom fighter.Learn to respect good people.It does not mean that he wants to be a president himself cos he does not require a job but he said that for the sake of our future generations.
Thank you mum. Aba bakapoli have gone too far. Mr Zukas is probably more zambian than their parents.
Ba Miyanda, Yaba, Yawwwwwwwwwwwn:o
It was designed to exclude one but impacted many. Not good for a nation to discriminate against its own citizens especially considering that once you are Zambian you are Zambian and should share the rights, benefits, protections and freedom of your fellow citizens.
simon zukas we salute you
Inde mwane.
Zukas and Patel are the ones that support this clause in Chilubas govt and today they say it is good to remove it. Miyanda has spoken sense, look at the president’s powers also before jumping up and down. Pa Zed ukushishita despite holding degrees, Diplomas, advanced cert. ect
A supposedly die hard slave trader wrote Amazing Grace.
Yeah, but contrary to popular belief, he didn’t actually stop slave trading until he was no longer physically able to. He did not become an abolitionist or anything like that.
From the same mouth and brains that took Zambia through the mad 20 years plus ago are taking away the shit that we rightly felt was created on personal issues…recycled politicans time and again…to come think of it, the transformation of UNIP into MMD into PF is certainly dramatic! The best thing PF can do for us is truly leave us a legacy via an excellent constitution that will hold this country together, then i will able to tell my boys how amazing Ba Sata and Ba Scott were…hope they dont turn out to be anything closer to SS!
what about patriotism ,folks with foreign parents have allegiances to other countries ,therefore they are not fully(100%) commited to the mother land.When their backs are against the wall ,what kind of decisions will these people make.If my memory serves me correctly,Dipak Patel at one point emigrated to Canada,only after he lost his money he returned to Zambia to fill his coffers again.Where is the patriot?
“Meanwhile Heritage Party president Godfrey Miyanda has advised Zambians to thoroughly study the draft constitution…” IN FACT ITS HIM Gn. Miyanda WHO SHOULD THOROUGHLY STUDY THE CONSTITUTION AND USE WHAT HE LEARNS FROM IT TO BE REAL AND PRACTICAL. ITS ZAMBIANS WHO SUBMITTED ALL THE CLAUSES IN THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION. BY THIS VIRTUE THEY (ZAMBIANS) NEW ALREADY WHAT THEIR NEEDS ARE. MIYANDA SHOULD READ TROUGH THE CONSTITUTION MORE THAN 100 TIMES. HE SEEMS TO BE ONE OF THE SERIOUSLY DAFT CHAPS AROUND.
#5 DONT WASTE TIME ON THESE SERIOUS FUULS. THEY DONT EVEN READ THEIR HISTORY TO KNOW WHO FAUGHT FOR THEM. TO THEM ITS ONLY KK AND OTHER BLACK-SKINNED ZAMBIANS WHO WERE FREEDOM FIGHTERS. ITS LIKE SAYING ARPATHIDE WAS FOUGHT BY BLACKS ONLY. ZUKAS AND OTHERS ARE REAL ZAMBIANS IN PRACTICAL TERMS, ETC.
get out..we don’t want a muzungu again..you are traitors..
A patriot expresses loyalty to his or her own country and has nothing to do with the country of birth of their parents. Anyone born Zambian can be patriotic regardless of ethnicity or skin colour. In fact you will find the vast majority of unpatriotic thoughts online are expressed by those dissing their own country no matter which country you look at. Consider the modern world has a changing face and many of today’s Zambians have foreign ancestry due to the migration of someone who found a new home in the past. This ‘more Zambian’ than the next attitude is discriminatory but one has the right to put the point forward.
A constitution should not be targeted for or against anyone. Chiluba with Sata targeted KK. Now the same constitution they made does not work for vice President Guy Scott. Make a constitution for the country for all time and not one party. Learn from mistakes of Chiluba. Things change.
Chiluba was very correct about the Parent Clause. Both Parents need to be born in your country for real Loyalty. Put this foolishness in our constitution and we shall ammend it in the future. Sata’s days in England at times cloud his judgement.
YOu shall more likely be patriotic to your nation when both you roots are in that one nation. Kaunda being Zambian President though Malawian is okay, guess what it’s all Africa. Africans( Golden people world wide) Feel the calling of loyalty and wise understanding. If what I have said just flew over your head then you are one of the *****s in primary school that frowned upon your local language like it was worthless. National security is imortant. MMD we don’t like you, but get your act together so you and UPND can shut down this law in parliament.
Moderating my comments LT, just because am shading light to the truth and reality of keeping and up holding Zambia as a nation. Stop this nonsense.
Zukas, Patel, Sata, Guy Scott were all in Chiluba’s MMD.
Perhaps we should look at their voting patterns at the time. Who voted for the change in teh constitution. Surely it was not only FTJ.
Didn’t Sata himself go round Zambia advocating for the 3rd term?
If you remove the clause, Moses Katumbi of Congo DR will come in with his big money and bribe his way to State House. How about that.
@ WAMULOMO: Zukas and Patel are the ones that support this clause in Chilubas govt and today they say it is good to remove it. Miyanda has spoken sense, look at the president’s powers also before jumping up and down. Pa Zed ukushishita despite holding degrees, Diplomas, advanced cert. ect thank you. UKUSHISHITA indeed, I will dislike Sata for this one. Don’t play with history. Africa has suffered enough.
I hope HH refutes this clause and a few other shady gayish clauses PF is trying to sneek into our Christian nation. Download the draft Constitution all you bwataling here.
Kamushi, you dont even need to download it. The Post has a page for it where you can just click. With your primitive mentality, I don’t see a tonga ruling the country in the next 2000 years. You are better off siding with the lozis who have now stopped talking after 3 Migs past over them. Probably you have never even heard of Super Ken’s MY BOYS. They don’t play.
It is worth thinking through these issues without letting emotions take control. Questions should look at what the impact is. I am rather indifferent about this particular clause but I have serious objections to the dual nationality nonsense. It serves no purpose and I am surprised that it even made it into the first draft. This, to me, is a clear sign of divided loyalty and should not be tolerated…
Nalikupele umuchinshi Miyanda. Apa pena, you can kiss my black ass. You missed your opportunity to work with the late President Levy Mwanawasa out of greed because you wanted the presidency which you were not ordained by God to have. Nomba utalikafye ifili fyonse. When the annals of history are written, no one will remember much about Miyanda, except that he was a self aggrandising ingretiate. My advice and if you are to have any respect left for you, is just to retire from politics. You and Nevers Mumba have been cursed and you will never rule our republic pantu mwali itemwisha ukuchila bonse. Once again, kiss my butt.
In the USA, even if you are an American citizen, if you were not born on American soil, you cannot be President. Henry Kissinger is the best President America never had, just because he was not born in the USA. I opposed the Zambian constitution parentage clause, not becaus it was wrong, but because it was put in to fix some one. There are pros and cons. In a poor country like ours, it would not be difficult for a rich Chinese man to buy his way to become a Zambian President!
Henry Kissinger is certainly not the best president America never had.
Fact is mixed parentage will only increase and not decrease, its comes down to either embracing the modern zambia for what it is or bury your head in the sand with notions of a ” pure zambians” and embrace divisiveness. it amazes me, this impulse to barbarism and blind cruelty towards anything different. Its the kind of thinking that leads to intolerance and disaster.
The advice of Gen. Miyanda is timely. Most people are looking at parental clause, 50+1 and presidential running mate and they ve rushed to the media to tell the nation this is a good constitution. I already have a problem with your wife choosing where she can stay,surnames of your children which are not promoting family values. Remember all laws,rules , culture are subject to the constitution. This is the first draft lets contribute and see what we can get in the second draft till the final document. DON’T B OVER EXCITED BUT STUDY THE DOCUMENT