Southern Province Minister Edify Hamukale has called on members of the community in the region to assist government track down individuals bent on causing destruction to public facilities through arson.
Dr. Hamukale says government does not stand aloof and watch individuals with ill motives burn public facilities meant for the common good.
He assured people in the province that government is determined to provide security by bringing to book arsonists who have been torching public facilities such as markets.
He was speaking in Choma when he visited Lynns Matebeto restaurant where one room was gutted by fire whose cause has been described as mysterious.
The restaurant is managed by a senior official of the Patriotic Front (PF) party.
Restaurant Manager Sandra Moono informed the minister that the cause of the fire was difficult to understand.
Meanwhile, Dr. Hamukale said the burning down of Maramba cultural village in Livingstone and the Ministry of Agriculture offices in Mazabuka has further raised serious concern to the provincial administration.
He said the provincial administration has also decided to offer a reward of K100, 000 to individuals who will provide information to law enforcement agencies about the cause of the strange fires.
Dr. Hamukale, who unveiled contact details through a special email address and telephone number, urged the people in the province to cooperate with government to help bring the arsonists to book.
He said it was the duty of government to protect its citizens against harm from individuals who have hidden motives.
And Dr. Hamukale expressed confident that the Zambia Police Service will corner thieves that stole cameras and other equipment from the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) provincial office in Choma.
He said he has been in touch with the police command in the province over the matter to ensure speedy investigations.
A week ago, thieves broke into the ZANIS offices housed at the provincial administration block in Choma district and got away with two professional cameras and other equipment worth thousands of Kwacha.
“Police who are involved in crime are a disgrace to the dignified uniform because they are undermining the pledge they had taken to protect and serve”
Does it applies to ZP?
Hasuntwe has information that will lead to the capture of Mansa Shoprite arsonists.
Please “Dr” spare us. One would understand this crap from Frank Bwalya, but you! Come on. Get real fire investigations experts & they will give you the answers.
PF are now using some desperate Tongas to torment their own tribesmen. Why does Edify (lol!) Hamukale think that it’s Tongas who know the arsonists all over the country, including in Mansa. How sick is this man?
am not from Southern, but the headline is an insult to Southerners. we have had fires in Lusaka and elsewhere LT has never had a headline saying Lusakans or easterners have been urged to help find the arsonists. so whysingle out Southerners? You see PF police put their energies in arresting the innocent opposition, they leave room for criminals to commit these kinds of acts so that they can be blamed on the opposition
kk Airport, I agree with you this tribal nonsense must stop.These people are dividing our country. I am not from southern province but through marriage we Zambians have intermarried and thus we find ourselves with relatives from all over the country. THE PF MUST STOP THIS TRIBAL TALK NOW WE ARE SICK OF IT;
Correct.!! PF doesn’t sleep over Southern Province. Any little thing is amplified for political Mileage.
We are watching them closely and will not relent in our call for decent leadership for which HH (for now) is best choice.
Southerners want good management of the Economy, nothing less.
Let “Others” glorify mediocrity if that is the best they can have.
I dont know the causes of these fires, but I think it is ill thinking and evil (suspicious) that all these fires were started deliberately. It could be that it was natural like KOZO lodge (if thishappened now the opposition would be suspected). It reminders of a jealous man who would try to listen to every phone conversation the wife had. Even when she went to the toilet he would go to toilet door and listen and hear if she was calling someone. Dont be over suspicious of every thing, even natural causes. I think the people of ‘southern province’ are generally not the kind who will sabotage in this way. It would have been very clear, if they did it. And remember that some of these guys like the attention, and they could set fire to their property in an effort discredit the opposition…
The course that PF has set the country on is disgusting. Tongas are hardworking people and there’s no iota of evidence in trying to entangle them in the recent fires. Lungu and PF are getting ready for genocide against Tongas, the way Mugabe carried out his Gukurahundi genocide against Ndebeles.
The Arsonist must be found period. It is a well known that the out breaks of fires are politically motivate since the inauguration of Edgar Lungu. Please, police find these good for nothing arsonists who want to turn our beautiful country into ungovernable one.
Please LT rephrase your head line. It is this kind of headlines which entrench regional stereo typing. Yes even the report itself is jumping to some form of political “guess who ” involvement. Let the police (Za bwino Palibe) have an open mind in their investigations regardless whether the owner is a PF sympathiser