Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) Executive Director Pukuta Mwanza has warned that tribal talk is recipe for anarchy, lawlessness and civil wars and should be discouraged.
Reverend Mwanza says it is for this reason that talk of tribalism surrounding the ruling Patriotic Front should be discouraged.
Rev Mwanza has told Qfm News in interview that anything that has to do with tribal talk should be handled cautiously because of its devastating consequences.
He says those peddling tribal talk should be very careful or risk plunging the country into very serious problems.
Reverend Mwanza says those aggrieved over perceived tribalism should seek better avenues of having their grievances sorted out.
He states that Zambia has been a united country across tribes under the One Zambia One Nation motto coined by the country’s first republican President Dr Kenneth Kaunda.
Reverend Mwanza says it is important that the unity that has been there since independence is upheld.
Rev. Mwanza further states that Zambians should always strive to unite and work in love and harmony regardless of one’s tribe or political affiliation.
Let Zambians, especially the clergy be honest with themselves before Jehovah. Is the clergy so blind to the tribal appointments in the PF govt? You know who makes the appoints so why don’t you seek an audience with the powers that be? You can’t stop a house owner screaming “Thief” when his house is being robbed!
@MK, very well said. The clergy and us the ordinary people should stop burying our heads in the sand. PF is a tribal party, period!
You may like it or not……..BEMBA is most spoken language in Zambia. Mongu, Solwezi, Livingstone, Petauke, Sinazongwe, Kaoma . You hear it spoken everywhere. That is why we should make it the official language.
Nothing wrong with Sata’s appointments. Did u expect him to appoint a lot of Tongas and Lozis who never supported him when he suffered to bring PF into gvt? Is your HH going to appoint a lot of Bembas and easterners into his GVT when most of his party leaders are Tongas? Do u think those Tongas in his party who have worked so hard to support HH will spare him if he decides to appoint others to gvt positions? Be realistic and face facts.Policts are not like running a company. Infact PF is even better than your UPND which is full of people from one province only.
Some Bembas and their i.diotic reasoning never cease to amaze me. Mwanawasa and RB appointed people from provinces that never voted for them. That is the best way to promote tribal harmony and unity in the country.
It is the DUTY of the Govt esp. the Head of State to tackle this issue. The advice by the reverend is timely.
I do not understand WHY KK who is not only CLOSE to President Sata has neglected to raise this issue with him. KK tackled the issue head on as President. Those who cared to notice will recall that he swapped civil servants across Zambia’s provinces. The man wanted to dilute the sharp tribal polarisation which emerged after independence.
PF and President Sata should speak against this ugly primitive but deadly thing. This thing is rearing its head in the ruling party itself. President Sata should NEVER take a partisan position. He and his Ministers should leave that to low ranking kaponyas. KK coined the “One Zambia One Nation” slogan and the evergreen “Tiyende Pamodzi”…
@ Fake Zambian Lawyer: you are dead wrong! you are assuming that only Bembas voted for Sata and therefore they must get all the appointments – thats wrong. I’m not Bemba but voted for Sata. Should I not be appointed to any of these positions just because i’m of a different tribe? We will see if PF will win with only Bemba support/vote.
This so called Reverend is fake and may be he’s looking for a slice of bread from the PF – Corrupt and Tribal clique. This Rev has heard about how much money they have that is why he’s talking like this he hopes to be corrupted. Tribalism is there, very clear and mentioning it is the best step to start handling it not pretending all is good. One Zambia One Nation has been archieved by the amount of tribalism at hand. This Rev “was and is silent” when the Post talks about tribalism in UPND….so one really wonders if this is a genuine Reverend who sees two colours in one object with a single colour. Or may be its only dangerous when the talk is affecting the corrupt – tribal clique. Rev no more respect for you from me.
The PF is a tribal party. And the PF government is also a regional and tribal government. The Cabinet, Foreign Service, Permanent Secretaries , parastatal CEOs are all from tribes whose mother tongue is Bemba. Today only Bemba speakers are getting employed in government and state owned institutions. 80% of all development projects are taking place in three provinces i.e. Muchinga, Northern and Luapula provinces. These are Bemba speaking provinces. Evil should be pointed out. Evil should be talked about. We should never hide from exposing evil.
Your HH will do the same. we saw it happening with your closest relative Mwanawasa. His cabinet was a family tree.
Yes here is the evidence, like the Bottom road in Muchinga, the Mongu-Kalabo road in Luapula, the L400 in Kasama, the Ring Road in Mansa, the Nitrogen Chemicals plant in Mpika, the Micheal Sata Bridge in Nakonde, the Mchinji railline in Mpulungu, the Nkumbula International Airport in Chinsali, the 600 ha Nega-Nega Irrigation Scheme in Mporokoso, etc. PF projects are really geographically biased.
Mongu-Kalabo road? This is the road PF wanted to cancel within one week of Yamfwa Mukanga becoming Transport Minister. According to him the Mongu-Kalabo road was a ‘political project’ and too expensive! It was only saved by the Chinese who said that it was already paid for otherwise the $275m would have been transferred to the north! Besides pointing out a single project in a non-northern region province does not disprove the fact that 80% of the PF projects are in their home area!
start with the tribal clique. when a bemba votes for a bemba it is zambian, when a lozi votes for a fellow lozi it is triablism. what a shame.
Mwanawasa brought us Lambas up when he came to Power, After his death we have been pushed to the corner and we are now nothings. It is not fair. We are also Zambians.
Call a spade a spade and sin by its right name. The clergyman sounds directionless.
True but hypocritical double standards Rev. This tribal talk has been used as a weapon to destroy political opponents in Zambia for the last two decades and the church has been quite. The tribal issue is indeed a paradoxical time bomb if not well managed. At the same time how do you fight an evil without talking about it?. Hegemonic systems always depict victims as the aggressors- Nazis against the Jews, Apartheid against blacks, oppression of Black People in US, Ruanda etc. Leaders have power to unite or divide a country. Happy the by-elections are peaceful, keep it up folks.
Who has been in the forefront of labelling other parties tribal?pf of course!pf is a tribal party Mr. Mwanza and you know it.
“An astonishing and ‘horrible thing has been committed in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?” Jeremiah 5:30-31
Be honest Mr. Mwanza, speak and stand for the truth. If you seeking rewards, do it truthfully and honestly.
We will continue talking about tribalism because we can’t pretend that there is peace in this country. The only reason there is peace is only because other tribes have been either tolerant or sleepy. This one Zambia One Nation bull-s.h.i.t must be exposed in its real truth. There is no peace in Zambia today. Pukuta Mwanza lives in cuckoo-land to think that peace means other tribes keeping quiet even when they are being taken advantage of. Do you honestly think if Lozis were belligerent people we would be talking about so many tribes from other provinces living in Barotseland today…and yet extremely few Lozis live in other provinces outside the line-of-rail except those on duty? No wonder they want to secede and they should be allowed, in my view. Tribalism is real in Zambia.
Have u taken statistics to find out how many Lozis live in other parts of Zambia. very useless point. If u have nothing to talk about just go to sleep.
Peter Tosh said it all in his lyrics, “Everyone is talking about peace, no one is talking about Justice.” We are being asked not to talk about triablism, but no one is talking about redressing the real wrongs as highlighted by other bloggers.
Whyis the govt mistreating the LAMBAs. Since Mwanawasa died things have not been the same wih the LAMBAs.
Tribalists brought Mwanawasa into power? Learn to be grateful bane.
Sata is very arrogant & pf has taken Zambians for a raid! What a shame!
Muchinga is now a city,Bembas are now more important than any other tribes.why can’t KK talk to dead wood? He still looks sick,has anyone noticed?
Iyo bane mwalifulwa
Guys do not lie please. In all the countries, employment must be proportion to the numbers of people. Lets look at the fact — the so called Bemba speaking people are the majority in Zambia… they cover Luapula, Northern, muchinga, central and copper belt. Thus in the real world we expect a big % of employed Zambians to be Bemba speaking…..this is not the case. we expect a big % of University students to be Bembas…this is not the case. In civil service we have more Tongas , at Universities and colleges we have more Tongas than Bembas. Why is it so? This is well known that Tongas favour their own…don’t argue its a well known fact, but I thank RB for shaking up the Tonga dynasty in ministries but in universities (UNZA) its still there. So , Tongas, Zambians have come to know you.
If the clergyman is indeed honest and truthful, he must preach and speak against tribalism, and not speak or preach against tribal talk. Tribalism is the spider. Tribal talk is merely the cob web. Kill the spider and you will have no cob webs. But as long at the spider is left loose, cob webs will always be there. There is no honest person who can deny the existence of tribalism in Zambia. Bemba tribalism is the spider. The talk against Bemba tribalism is merely the cob web.
Tribalism is not good any where , how ever Zambians must take time to research and find out why one tribe seems to be more prominent in this country , if you look at statistics go to football look at the national team ; even if the trainer is not bemba , you still find more bembas in the team why : to my findings and what inter nation judgement is and research it known that ; bembas are ,30 .1%; Nyanja,10.7%; tonga,10.6%; lozi,5.7% ; Kaonde,2% ; I don’t know how youcan lessen the number of the people being called bembas
I think the Rev . is not wise enough in the way he has spoken on this issue , may be he has a personal problem with PF , he shouldn’t have sided on the other side and must have remained neutral than be a finger pointer , Zambians who are intelligent enough do research, and find out why one tribe seems to be more prominent than others , then you may advise, on the political arena how many presidents who are now called bembas , you cant over look the numbers and estimates for the values