Kindly allow me space in your respectable paper to expose the police brutality on innocent civilians here in Chililabombwe under the guise of controlling smuggling. What is happening in Chililabombwe has not been seen in many years only comparable to the infamous 1980s of the Kaunda regime which killed a lot of people here in Chililabombwe over the same issue of controlling smuggling. The issues that I am talking about are:
- Traders in Lubengele area are being assaulted and beaten with impunity by police simply for selling mealie meal above kr 60 when they have bought the same commodity from wholesalers at kr65. One trader was even locked up for talking back to the police.
- Taxi drivers who pirate between kasumbalesa and Chililabombwe are being beaten and detained just for carrying passangers who have bought one or two bags of mealie meal for consumption to the Kasumbalesa area.
- Ordinary citizens who live at the border area are victims.Kasumbalesa border area has over 500 people and these people are not even allowed to transport the staple food. The police have stopped trading in any form of mealie meal at the border and this has pushed the price to above kr 90. And any trader who has the commodity is even followed to his or her house and mealie meal confisticated from the house and the owner beaten and taken to the police station! There is total disregard for human rights and the rule of law.
- Â Because of police brutality on taxi drivers, the residents that come to buy mealie meal are forced to carry a bag of 15kg on their heads for a distance of over 15km. This has caused untold misery to the people who live at Kasumbalesa area.
[pullquote]What is happening in Chililabombwe has not been seen in many years only comparable to the infamous 1980s of the Kaunda regime which killed a lot of people here in Chililabombwe over the same issue of controlling smuggling[/pullquote]
FACTS
We know the fact that with the mismanagement of the Agriculture Input Support Program by the Government and the senseless export of maize to the neighbouring countries by the FRA, there will be hunger in this country.The prudent use of whatever little grain we have is necessary, but this should not be at the expense of the ordinary Zambians at the border town who have lived and traded in peace for a long time now.
In 1991, the MMD government under the late president FTJ Chiluba, (to which our current president was part of) liberalised the grain marketing and never again was the trading in Mealie meal and maize criminalised at the border areas. Trading with the Congo in grain and other agricultural products will never end especially that Kasumbalesa Town and its surrounding areas has over 500,000 people and Lubumbashi city which is less than 100 km from the border has over 10 million people. And any controls like what has happened now has pushed the prices to very unrealistic levels. Currently a 25kg bag of mealie meal is ranging between kr100 and kr150. On the Congo side it is between kr 150 to kr 200. These unrealistic prices have created uncrupulous trading by people from all over the copperbelt. The biggest smugglers are not the two bags traders, but the truck and trailers who are ferrying thousands of bags to the border.
Please help us so that there is no bloodshed again in Chililabombwe. Currently, our taxi business is suffering, people at Kasumbalesa have no food in their homes and traders are living in fear. The DCs Office and the local leadership are quiet and watching their citizens being brutalised because they are party cadres. But we all voted and when the PF and Sata won, we celebrated with a new hope that we will now move forward further than to where MMD had left us; not going back a century again. Please your reporters should come to Chililabombwe and move around especially in the night then you will see what I am talking about.I know that this report cannot be published by the Post or any other Government controlled newspaper.
By Chililabombwe Resident
We are back in the UNIP erra.
as skewed as this report may seem, there is a grain of truth especially on the handling of the agriculture sector.
the govt. should move in, and move in fast to arrest the situation peacefully and not the way they have done.
sending of armed personnel to all border posts is not the solution but an act of desperation.
the best is to sit down with our millers and find out why most of the mealie meal produced is ending up in neighbouring congo. liase with them millers and difinetely you will find a way forward.
stop antagonising them.
Let me advice people of kasumbalesa and chiliz when police officer oppresses you or one of you and you think the government is not on yourside mobilize yourselves and wait for Him In drinking places and give Him A good Beating of His life.
Beat them, its very hard to appreciate and trust a blackman once you give them rules , they break them.
If this is true then I would urge the govnt to do something as soon as possible, however knowing how recklessly smuggling is at the border , those who complaining are the very smugglers. Why should you trade at night as this writer as put it? Please let have sanity on both sides–the policy and the people.
peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.
If I had power I could kick Kabimba like the way that boy in picture is suffering.
That’s discipline continue hammering this thugs. We can’t be feeding all our neighbours. Last year we sold our maize to Zimbabwe. This year it was Tanzania. Daily and night our meal mile is being smuggled to Malawi and Congo. I was at the border on Thursday and witness what’s going on. With that trend our people will not survive a 25Kg is coasting 30 dollars US.
You voted and celebrated nicely. So enjoy the fun.
Police brutality is simply unacceptable.
People need to come together and take govt to task and must take legal action against the police service for assault
Why don’t we accept that we are just d.o.g.s
Mwe m bwa mwe
you reap what you sow goes the saying chililabombwe and zambia have to leave with this and more wase things to come i pity my home town
When you see things that happened several decades ago re-surfacing – you must definitely look to the fact that some failure is going on in a system. If control means brutality then we have failed somewhere. This is certainly not multi-party era behavior at all.
U voted for Ester Banda and PF. Rip what u sow mwebena Lubengele, mwebena Konkola. PF sold maize to Mugabe and he paid them upfront, they had no choice but to give him the grain leaving Zambians starving.
Part of the rewards being harvested from our only government. Copperbelt should be the last to complain when some of our regions are developing with new districts, roads and universities so what big deal is in Chililabombwe or Mafuken and Chings?
Is selling mealie meal to another country constitute smuggling ? as i businessman i take my merchandise where the price is attractive,why should Govt dictate to me who to sell to and what price? If you need mealie meal that much start tilling the land you lazy bums!
THIS MUST STOP IN ZAMBIA. THE CHAP IS UNARMED HOW CAN THE POLICE BE SO BRUTAL?
Senior government officials are sending truck loads of mealie meal accross the border while police harass innocent people buying 2 bags of mealie meal for their families.Even the minister of Agriculture is quoted as saying they will export maize to raise money so police should leave the small man on the street. Our congo neighbors have always bought maize from us so why the harassment now? Its because PF govt did not plan well and no not know how to manage th AISP
Let them be beaten even more. This is the don’t kubeba they voted for. Chanda Chimba III told them, They have not yet seen the worst under PF and they should not complain yet. Let them continue dancing to the don’t kubeba tune, it is their turn to also enjoy it!!! lol. This can break someone’s ribs with laughter. I don’t sympathise with them, not even a second. They shouted the most as HH as being bitter when he was against Charity Katanga who was brutalising UPND cadres along Lagos Road. I am sure they now know what it feels like to be brutalised by police and for now, I commend the police for job well done on this PF cadres who voted in large numbers at the copperbelt!!!
it is time to pay back for voting them in office, it was your wish. you are still waiting for more rough time. just get used to that.
That photo is very old. LT you want to Provoke insults on your online news. Find news worth information.
Viva HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, viva UPND, viva UPND. Viva HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHH, told you and, in turn you all insulted him. Look at yourselves now, just ask yourselves a simple question. Who is laughing now, Bembas? Hahahahaaa, you are killing each other. That is very nice and where is the runatic Sata and his PF thieves?
The answer, they are still lying to you and lining their pockets with stolen money from state accounts.
You, Bembas thought that they are brilliant more than other tribes, pity. Bembas jumped the gun and they are back to the initial step which they skipped. We are enjoying everything which is negatively affecting those crooks, please, the runatic Sata should amplify his runance so that his northern disciples suffer more than ever.
Please vote wisely next time. Learn to never vote a party that has no national development plan.
PF should emulate how MMD handled the food situation in the country.DRC is a huge business opportunity for Zambia.Government should in this coming rain season encourage commercial farmers to grow more of this maize which should later be ground into mealie meal for export to our neighboring countries.The export of maize should be discouraged.Jobs will thus be created.Why spend money on cops to control smuggling when we should be earning money on exports of mealie meal
kick them hard while playing that song they danced to all night hammer them you police officers. they are smuglers
Lt, can’t u see that the writer had no facts when s/he ws writting. verify infor b4 u publish coz ur reporting is losing direction.
@13 kalok,
That’s the only accurate explanation to the current state of affairs. Yes the one party dictatorship is back with vengeance, what with KK’s role as the PF co-president. KK has been a very bitter and angry man since the advent of multiparty democracy and must be watched before things go out of control.
Dont worry ! soon the Guys from Drc will tame these Ruffians not with violence but with those papers whereupon is written “In God we Trust” and they will become transport officers,Mellie meal will be dispatched by first class in armored cars and Police trucks for delivery to Kasumbalesa! Sorry for those who are mishandled , is the same scenario as in 80s, after KAFIA(Kasai Financial Assistance) every paramilitary will very cooperative as a deacon in an assembly!
Ba LT just post my comment coz that is what is on the ground!
THIS IS THE BIGINING OF MORE TROUBLES TO COME. WHEN YOU VOTED SATA WHAT DO YOU EXPECT. A MAN WHO HAS FILLED THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE WITH TRIBALISM. MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKECT IN 90 DAYS, WHAT A MAGIC TO PERFORM. LETS WATCH ZAMBIA GO BACK 3O YEARS BEHIND, A SHAME TO A COUNTRY WHICH WAS REGARDED AS PROGRESIVE NOW DRIFTING IN THE HANDS OF INCOMPETENT PF GOVERNMENT. ANY WAY WHAT DO ZAMBIA EXPECT WHEN YOU VOTED A SICK AND DYING MAN. ZAMBIA IT IS TIME YOU WELCOME UNCERTINTY AND ABUSE OF POWER AND SLEEP AND WAIT FOR 2016 ELECTION MAYBE GOD HAVE PLAN FOR US TO LEARN AND APPRECAITE MMD AND ALL WHAT THEY MANAGED TO ACHIEF FOR US, CAN SOME ONE TELL US WHAT HAS PF ACHIEVED SO FAR, ARE WE STUPID NATION AND BLIND