UPND cadres on Thursday caused confusion at the Livingstone High Court when they attacked former Defence minister Richwell Siamunene outside court and had to be rescued by the police.
The cadres, who were clad in their party regalia, almost disrupted court proceedings after they charged at the former Sinazongwe parliamentarian outside the court in an attempt to physically harm him. Quick action by Zambia Police officers and court security officials saved Mr Siamunene, who looked unsettled and puzzled by the turn of events. Some cadres were heard hurling insults at the former minister while others were telling him to withdraw his petition from the court, saying he had lost the election.
The police had a tough time to restrain the cadres frombringing confusion at the court premises and only managed disperse them after 10 minutes. Mr Siamunene was at the Livingstone High Court in a matter in which he has petitioned the election of UPND’s Gift Sialubalo as Sinazongwe MP in the August 11, 2016, general elections.
And speaking to the Daily Nation shortly after the incident, Mr. Siamunene wondered why the UPND leadership would deploy cadres at the court premises to block him from proceeding with the petition. Mr. Siamunene charged that it was clear the UPND was scared that the election of Mr Sialubalo was going to be nullified because it was marred by electoral malpractices. “They are saying they do not want me to proceed with the case. I do not know why they are scared but this is uncalled for.
The law provides that those that are not happy with the outcome of an election can seek recourse in the courts,” he said.
He said that it was his constitutional right to petition the Sinazongwe seat, adding that the UPND should not stand in his way. Mr. Siamunene, who looked scared, said that the UPND must learn to respect the law.
Meanwhile, Mr Siamunene has asked the High Court to declare the election of Mr Sialubalo null and void. Siamunene, 44, has told the High Court that the election of Mr Sialubalo could not be deemed to be free and fair because of alleged widespread violence, intimidation, bribery and other electoral malpractices instigated by UPND supporters.
Appearing before Livingstone High Court Judge Matthews Zulu yesterday, Mr Siamunene said the election of Mr Sialubalo did not reflect the wishes of the people of Sinazongwe. Mr Siamunene, who is the petitioner and first witness, is being represented by Mr Bonaventure Mutale of Ellis and Company as well as Mr. Friday Besa of Besa Legal Practitioners while Mr Sialubalo is being represented by Mr Cheelo Mwiinga of MAK Partners. The former Defence minister polled 6,171 votes while Mr Sialubalo got more than 34,000 votes.
“The widespread violence, intimidation, bribery and other electoral malpractices prevented me from getting the votes that I needed. My supporters were threatened, insulted and even chased from some polling stations. There was undue influence on the electorate,” he said.
Siamunene you just lost square and simple just eat the money that you were given but leave change for the refund since you were illegally in office. Manje Tayali aliko mu opposition
ADVISE HH & GBM THE WAY YOU HAVE ADVISED SIAMUNENE.
LUNGU LOST ALSO.HE IS IN STATE HOUSE ILLEGALLY.IT MY TAKE 5 OR EVEN 10YRS ,BUT LUNGU WILL BW ARRESTED FOR THIS.
It was foregone knowledge that Siamunene was going to lose all he is doing is trying to save face. Even if he were to have the election nullified he still would lose in a rerun! Siamunene knew it as the electorate told him to his face they’d not vote for him! What did he do for Sinazongwe constituency? Maybe Sinazongwe BOMA is what he is referring to!
Iwe INE MWINE,you tell HH and GBM the same words you saying to SIAMUNENE.Even HH and GBM they lost but i have contiunued to go to court to challenge the results
The court go ahead and nullify the seat but this fool called siamunene can never win.UPND can pick another candidate and still white wash this fool and Lungu.
A taste of their own medicine. The violent thugs
The violent behaviour of the UPND cadres at the Livingstone Magistrates Court confirms what Siamunene is complaining about and vindicates him.
The last election left Zambia divided. No Upnd Mp in the Nothern part. and equally no Pf Mp in the Southern part of Zambia.
PF had mps in the south ,the north has never voted for anyone who is not from there.
LUNGU IS PRESIDENT IN THE NORTH AND WE HAVE HH IN THE SOUTH,NOW WE CAN DIVIDE ZAMBIA.
#@ Mr. Siamunene charged that it was clear the UPND was scared that the election of Mr Sialubalo was going to be nullified because it was marred by electoral
In other words …===
Mr. Siamunene charged that it was clear the PF was scared that the election of Mr ECL was going to be nullified by Constitution Court because it was marred by electoral.
# Richiwell Siamunene=whoever you are, It began by your former boss ECL who abrogated the same LAw you are seeking to protect you
I am here to tell you that, THERE ARE NO LAWS IN ZAMBIA bwana….just accept you lost.
what is wrong is wrong but the only problem i have is its ok for pf and it is bad for upnd to assemble
why cant the powers that be declare one part state so that we prepare our minds
When will this madness end
We are fed up of same stories H H this Lungu that every day noble Zambians you should have a life .move on and do something new
Upnd is a violent party but always play victim…! Wen police arrest them for their riotous behaviour they cry foul but wen they attack innocent citizens its fine..! Police should cage upnd cadres before they cause confusion. Upnd is up to no good.!
UPND USELESS PARTY, IT WILL DIE LIKE ITS FORE RUN ANC LED BY NKUMBULA BECAUSE ALSO IT WAS FULL OF TONGAS, VERY VIOLENT TONGAS SO NOBODY WANTED TO ASSOCIATE WITH IT UNTIL ITS DEMISE. AND NOW MOST PEOPLE DONT WANT TO ASSOCIATE WITH UPND, HENCE ITS ON ITS DEATH BED. WHETHER YOU LIKE IT YOU VIOLENT TONGAS, LUNGU IS THE PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA.
Fortunes for UPND as a party are not fortunes for individual party members like you & the same is true about any party or organisation or football team or musical band. You left your personal fortunes when you decided to leave UPND or else go & contest elsewhere where PF as got goodwill but not Sinazongwe. You won previous elections because of the goodwill created by UPND. Even if 100 bye elections are ordered for your sake, you will not win even 1 election. How are you going to guard against those electoral mulpractices if you failed to do before? Please, move on in life & spare innocent voters trouble of re-voting again and again when they are not paid for voting. They earn their living by ploughing on their fields.
Can we just ban the PF and UPND from congregating. That will solve a lot of problems.
You were filled with braggadocio when you were a Minister, your friends lost even in Lusaka but had to use Gen 12 tactic to survive. Ask Kapata, she will narrate the ordeal properly….even Luona Can also attest to have survived on the same trick….Siamunene can win this petition since everything is in PFs pocket….
siamunene says its his constitutional righst to petition sialubalo but when it comes to hh then the constitutional rights are lost and not observed by the courts of laws in zambia is that fair.
HH & GBM Slow down or else you will end up attracting a treasonable offence. This is a timely & friendly advice. The methodology you are using to gain popularity is a time bomb. Change the subject of the formula.
Their days are numbered and hence the panic.UPND does not understand that there is victory in defeat what a shame.
we do not want you in sinazongwe. YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING FOR THE PEOPLE. NOTHING
@18 Not because he hasn’t done anything it’s because he accepted to serve the nation in a so called Bemba party. Shame on you.
Upnd was peaceful under Mazoka, became a bit violent with the advent of HH and full blown violent when gbm and Guy Scott joined.
Sinazongwe pipo, you should appreciate. A piece of bread is better than nothing. Can you tell me which MP did more than Siamunene.
This system of promoting a party and individuals will not take us any where. It is high time we start looking at development. Which will benefit every one