Acting Chief Chiundaponde Newton Nguni has condemned some bizarre events in his chiefdom after 23 people were arrested for breaking the fish ban, beaten and forced to eat raw bubble fish with Mazoe.
Chief Chiundaponde revealed that the suspects were later taken to court and 12 were sentenced to 30 days. The other seven went in for 40 days while one three year old was fined and discharged on account of age.
“How can this be happening in Zambia 50 years on? I just came back from the village, Chiundaponde where I’m acting as Chief Chiundaponde, ” Acting Chief Chiundaponde said.
He also revealed that one suspect was shot dead by allegedly ZAWA officers and left to be eaten by Hyenas and vultures.
“This suspect’s remains were picked the next day and buried at Chiundaponde and the case was hashed up. I was told that so far 5 people have lost lives this way and cases ended up the same way, ” he said.
“I have spoken to the Officer-In-Charge of Mpika Police and the Fisheries Officer. Both are claiming ignorance, but clearly they are not being sincere. On Monday I will raise the stakes because clearly such things are not supposed to happen in Zambia 50 years on. One of the victims has been so traumatised that he has been mentally disturbed and needs immediate medical attention. Hopefully the Human Rights Commission and the Police Service itself, ZAWA and the Fisheries department will take keen interest in this matter.”
Horrible things happen in this country, how can u go to an extent of forcing someone to eat raw fish with mazoe that is being inhuman. That human rights commission is useless. Why can’t it live by its name & where is it ?
we are so casual with life in Zambia and the story does not surprise me.
Its entirely up to the Zambian people to rise up appreciate and value their lives. people are cut down like flies and no one is held responsible.
No one has the right to take away any life!!
What kind of people are we?
There is way too much talk and no action in any area of Zambian life
Yo Sushi
is that how the Japanese started eating raw fish?
very sad development indeed. We are going back to the dark ages.
This was happening during kaunda so no harm bane. I am a medical practioner and knows they won’t die
I always contend that Zambia has a lot of fundamental streaks about it as a state. The hangovers of traditional practice have influenced the already archaic laws to create a very toxic state of affairs. Nothing justifies that kind of punishment in a land with laws and systems. Is this small wonder that 90 days can be considered credible?
The attrocities of ZAWA in Mulobezi Constituency in the 1990s and even todate repeated/replicated here. What kind of people are we? The Mulobezi murders were ignored. One day a Commission of Inquiry will come and some of these employees will end up rotting in jail. Wait and see. God has not forgotten His people.
Hmm awe abena Mpika balikaba kanshi.
TO YOU SUSHI IS HORRIBLE? I AM NOT ADVOCATING BEATING UP LAW BREAKERS BUT ON THE OTHER HAND PEOPLE MUST LEARN TO RESPECT THE LAW INCLUDING THE LAW-BREAKER BEATERS.
@Gen: How do you cut down a fly?
Sad indeed….just like killing a fly with a hammer!!!
….. Or a SANDO !!!!
How come you are attacking the Human Rights Commission? I think the HRC does a great Job of challenging the govt institutions. You should attack the culprits directly – – in this case, the culprits are the ZAWA and police officers who can think. How could they even think of charging a 3 year old?
Iye! Why Mazoe! Did they eat the bones and the head.
It looks like those days of brutality at the hands of vigilantes in the dying days of UNIP are back. Sad though that this time it is some officers in government doing these horrible things to their fellow citizens.
Yes – it appears PF has come to complete the last years of the KK regime before he was ousted at the ballot after 1990…
Very true that.
The Human Rights Commission only comes in if they know there is some financial benefit for them, so cases involving life of poor villagers are not their interest, BUT bring up a gay-related case where they know money from UK, US will flow like water, then they will stand up and fight for “rights”.
Are we competing with Uganda for most unusual and vile punishment of human beings? (lets send our gays there to M7)
Wake up people ,does the old man actually have proof of this or is he just working off hearsay like most Zambians.Do you know how many officers are killed by poachers on a daily basis ?I see most bloggers write about things they either don’t know or know very little about .Welcome to the real world worse things happen in these bushes than you know in your comfy offices in the cities.
So how many game guards were killed yesterday?
So, Kabanshi, your drift is that tit-for-tat, or Old Testament justice is justifiable in the 21st Century? Nothing justifies killing game guards (let us in on the statistics, by the way) BUT nothing justifies creating a law and administering it when you cast a vote for parliamentarians to enact laws. WHY DO YOU HAVE LAW MAKERS AND LAW ENFORCERS???
NKHANI ZAMU KACHASU IZI. DRY BUBBLE FISH IS NICE WITH A DRINK IN MAZOE’S NAME EXCEPT WHEN YOU ARE FORCED.
@JEAN- SO YOU FISH OUT DRY FISH AT YOUR VILLAGE ?
Kwa George – lol !!!!
Iyee Kwa George U have made me laugh mwee!
If true, horrible, UNIP republic again?. Culprits must be prosecuted without delay.
It is nonsensical to confine villagers breaking a fish ban for 30 days in a state jail unfit for pigs. Government has destroyed the fishing guilds who managed the fishery. ZAWA, bereft of leadership, is a proven and massive force against the human rights of customary residents. This is well documented. The way to deal with these issues is in the time honoured fashion, traditional courts, where an equitable solution is arrived at. The state has assumed control over customary areas that is not confirmed by the law. They invite outside plunderers in to Chiundapaonde and Kopa’s country because the state has centralised control over natural resources. Let the chiefs and their earth priests and their chiwinda deal with the matter.
What is bubble FISH and what is MAZOE? The villagers broke the LAW they should have been drowned other than eating the FISH
They were lucky to be given Mazoe juice
This is the kind og nonsense Sadam and Gadaffi indulged in. It seems like they have resurrected in the form of Zambia police. A 3 year old in court and charged?? Has the country gone absolutely mad or stupid???
terrible,some people can be cruel
Makes sad reading.I didn`t know that some areas in Zambia still have people who are this barbaric and primitive.
Don’t turn a blind eye Saulosi. This is PF POLICY BRUTALITY!!! It has absolutely nothing to do with the backwardness of the people in the area of course unless you mean the police. I don’t even know what part of Zambia that is but Mpika is mentioned so I suppose it’s in the BRE area. Elyo ichimuti chatufyanta palukasa!
POLICE BRUTALITY & AND ABUSE OF POWER!
Thee things will be caught in the new constitution. Extorted information through torture shall not suffice in a proper court of law.
Hmm ba one hit wonder imwe fyonsefye kuchita blame PF ? So imwe nangu mwasanga umwana nainyelawila kulanda ati it is because of PF.Mwashupako bosses.Anyway maybe eating this bubble fish raw is the Zambian equivalent of eating Japanese sushi.Maybe ni advancement after all.
I like that Saulosi! You have no way to defend such. Two down, many more to go. (Saulosi & Mushota are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I promise you it’s not a goods train – just plain civil observation of the great many wrongs being done by the government. I am not pro any party but I know how it feels to live in a true democracy and that is the dream we want to turn into reality for our country. We have leaped heaps and bounds in harnessing democracy in Africa and we can’t turn back now.
Nothing will be done am sure, unless if it was with the opposition member, the police were going to be making statements already.
No. 3 Namona, you have hit the nail on the head! these numan rights activists are more concerned with guy rights cos they want $heets!
Then again i am wondering what the phack a 3 year old was doing defying a fish ban later on in court. Are you serious!!!
Lastly let us verify the old acting chief’s story, it could be bullocks!!
Such atrocities cannot go unpunished and whoever are responsible must be brought to book. There is hunger in those villages and people need to help themselves one way or the other. Surely it is right to punish people but only according to the guidelines of the law. It is very sad that up to now people’s lives are taken for granted. Sometime we in the diaspora we would like to move back home, but when you hear of such events happening you fear for your life! The people who are given the mandate of such jobs must be well trained and educated to avoid such things from happening.
This is indeed bizzare but I understand the anger of the people that captured them. Having visited most of the rural areas and the fishing bodies in Zambia, its sad to see that marine life has completely been depleted. I remember one incident were the community in Nchelenge were complaining during a meeting that the mosquito nets that we had given out to the community last year wer been used as fishing nets, hence capturing even the smallest fish We also visted Bangweulu were there is literally no marine except shells. The community in samfya complained that most men were lazy to do anything else than going to fish. and those that tried to discourage them fishing were victimised.
Yours,
Lee Habaponta Bsc,Msc,Phd
A THREE YEAR OLD FINED AND CHARGED ? How does a 3 year old know what is happening..
That is an exaggeration, it must be verified, “nonsence”.
If you go to the letter of the law in Zambia you will notice that most of those transgressions are adequately catered for but alas, the enforcers are cruel slave drivers who know very little about the equity part of the laws they have custody over. So even if you enact the so-called people-driven constitution, this rot will continue unabated. It is disgusting!
If I remember correctly, a certain Chumbu with a urinary bag promised in his election campaigns to end all fishing bans if elected to the highest office in the land.
Mphendula Kayaula wanya fye UBUFI UBWAFITA NAFITITI!
Anyway, what is with charging a 3 year old baby with an offence? That is pathetic as this is an infant who knows nothing and most likely was on the back of some mother. Alter rubbish!
The inhuman treatment is a true reflection of the kind of leadership in the country.
….the mere mention of a 3yr old being fined makes this story shaky and stale…
Why did ZAWA, Fisheries and Police Officers act so inhumanly as a fleet of animals? Even lions and hyenas in the wild are too gentle to human species.
ZAWA and Fisheries managements must appreciate that all successful aspects conservation of wildlife need the support of the local people as the main stakeholders. Such unholy acts by government personnel are further tarnishing the image of the current government, that is if the Ministers of Tourism and Home Affairs are not aware of such atrocities.
Problems won’t end in zambia as long as we have no people driven constitution,most of the people in posts have no credible qualifications,by qualification’s credibility i am not centering on education,but we have mad people over seeing our lives. Lets pray to God for their deliverance.Amen.
My country, the Christian Nation.
#OneZambia
@Kwa George but ulichikopo sure! Look at the story rethink the story. You can’t see that Ni nkani Za Mukachasu izi? Get on and look at the following facts attributed in the story: 1. In the picture there is no Bubble fish, 2. If you are a parent like me you would agree that a 3 year old makes it all a circus to be found in trade. That is a child who is in preschool attending babyclass lessons. Even Hiltler spared these ones. It is unthinkable that anyone can think of a 3 year old child being fined; for what wrong? Kwa George must work up.
3 year old fined?!
And thats how sushi was discovered
THIS CASE SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED AND THE DOGS INVOLVED MUST BE LOCKED BEHIND BARS AND THE KEYS MUST BE THROWN AWAY.
@ 14, Chief Newton Ngoma is not old. He is middle aged, a disappointed politician and former MP.
He is an MMD former MP for Kachibiya constituency who was totally useless, such that even MMD realised and replaced him with Judith Kang’ombe Kapijimpanga. This is simply attention seeking by this former MP.
Mazoe what is that? Give people food and work,no one will break the law, they are trying to survive
I think our government somehow is to blame. They have no respect of humanity. Look what happened to the Kampasa incident. What has the government done to bring what they so called “Culprits brought to book” ZNS ? I can point at another incident of the PF youth who was brutally killed and they turned around and said he died a natural death? They had to beat people who were worshiping in the church in Matero. They damaged some school property and only pretended to arrest two when others were left free! We are seeing what is happening and God is looking at these powereless and voiceless people. I thank the Chief to raise such brutality. Imfumu yichindikilwa ni pabantu baiko. May God bless you the royal Highness.
But it seems like 90% of the Zambian people are supporting everything that is happening in the country, some bloggers here say everything is fine in zambia people are able to buy Lamborghinis,build Manson’s etc. I personally don’t get it,why a whole nation can be quiet looking how the country is going down, I know Zambians are good in saying “sembe” but is that whole they can do? I haven’t been to Zambia for 10years now, last time I thought I was in a different country than the land of my birth!!!
@Single lady! we can meetup and play double Dutch.
this is what happens when people are not involved in the management of natural resources. surely we should think about these people who live in these areas – what other source of relish do they have? which are the other livelihoods that they depend on? if the answers to these questions are fish then you need to invest in livelihood strategies such as fish farming so that during the times of fish ban, the can harvest from their ponds and continue making money. i have been to chiundaponde and i know that these are swamps and these people are daily trekking in these fish infested areas. can you look at fish and leave it when you know that at your home there is nothing? in changing behaviour, we need to know that its not only punishment that holds but actually research tells you that education
Learning this, is very sand and sickens me a lot coming from the fishing background. Over the fish ban i totally condemn my GRZ by not learning to lay or rather ask to develop systems. For sure one has been fishing for years/cutting trees for charcoal/chemical agri- business. There is no proper sensitization to the increased Zambian population over degraded natural resources. Lets learn from CUBA how it survived the peak oil period. Even if we open up the mine in the lower Zambezi we will not employ all Zambian population. It’s so huge, so to mitigate fishing, charcoal burning and chemical agricultural practices, lets go flat out and teach them organic gardening agriculture which is done on a small piece of land and ease to control for their livelihood, give out seeds, stems and vines…
Bubble fish? Must be a new species.
fire zoze zawa officers? kuipa mutima,ndiye mfwiti izi.
EDucation is the key.If you inculcate in the brains of the ignorant fisherman the importance of letting fish breed ,he will in future work twice as hard to respect this period for he will learn that his future depends on it.Of course violently forcing probably the ignorant to stop fishing during fish ban wont work and is not the right civilised way to go about it.Look how transformed some poachers are after they have been educated on conservation and some even joined ZAWA.The same we can educate in human animal conflicts .If the masses are taught how to behave so as to avoid human animal conflicts,we would easily solve these problems.Education is the key!
Its ok because they deplete fish. Right now fish is extinct in Luapula. If you don’t follow Chongololo conservation policies, all our waters will soon become white elephants which you will be riding on like in India.