Friday, March 29, 2024

President Edgar Lungu demands thorough investigation into ZAF Officer’s killing

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President Lungu at the SADC Summit
President Lungu at the SADC Summit
President Edgar Lungu is demanding a thorough investigation into the alleged killing of a Zambia Airforce (ZAF) Officer while in custody at Woodlands Police Station in Lusaka.

Sergeant Choongwa, a ZAF officer died while in Police custody at Woodlands Police Station and Lusaka Province Police Commissioner Nelson Phiri has said the ZAF officer died after being brutally beaten by inmates while in custody.

The Ministries of Defence and Home Affairs have instituted joint investigations into the death of the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) officer who died in police cells at Woodlands Police Station after being allegedly beaten by police officers.

Speaking during a joint news conference in Lusaka today, Minister of Defence Davies Chama and his Home Affairs counterpart Steven Kampyongo have assured the nation that no one will be spared if found wanting.

Mr Chama says the joint investigation will help establish the facts that led to the death of the ZAF officer Mark Choonga.

Mr. Chama has since appealed for calm from both ZAF and police officers as investigations are being conducted.

The defence Minister says it’s hoped that discipline will prevail as the outcome of the investigations is awaited.

And Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo has warned that there will be no sacred cows in the investigation.

He says anyone who played a part in the death of the ZAF officer will not be shielded.

Mr Kampyongo states that Police cells are not a death trap for anyone.

54 COMMENTS

  1. Just start with the cops who took him to the cell and the inmates and the case is open. Cops are involved in this one.

    • Start with Nelson, be started by condemning the late Tonga man that he assaulted his officer. 2nd is the alleged assaulted officer.
      That’s how you do thoroughly investigation, it takes 2 days, not the 2 years we normally experience in Zambia.
      Kaiser is still being investigated for assaulting people at stadium. Who is shielding him?

    • Edgar Lungu himself is to blame for the thuggery, brutality and unprofessional conduct of the Police. He is Commander in Chief and then buck stops at him. Why he has that useless Kanganja as IG on he knows. We have had very good IGs, like Dr.Martin Malama, so we are not short of good people.

    • Woodlands Police station is always associated with brutality. Is that where they assign rogue, murderous, and bloody thirsty police officers?

    • This is just window dressing. Lungu doesn’t mean what he said. This is an open / shut case. The officer in-charge knows exactly what happened invluding those that were on duty on the night in question. Lusaka Province Police Commissioner Nelson Phiri should also be arrested for giving a false statement of events thar lead upto the ZAF Officer’s death. This case will just be swept under the carpet in the same way that Dora’s corruption activities were. ZAF should expect nothing from the stupid investion. Just go and destroy the police HQ ad revange. PF is a party of murderers and thieves.

    • True. All officers on duty that day should be placed on administrative leave and not allowed to leave home and communicate with each other. All inmates should also be separated moved different detention centres and then everyone should be interviewed by a combined team of independent investigators

    • True Bemba Man. All officers on duty that day should be placed on administrative leave and not allowed to leave home and communicate with each other. All inmates should also be separated moved different detention centres and then everyone should be interviewed by a combined team of independent investigators

  2. Please fire most of these corrupt officers. Am a very staunch PF supporter but my heart is bleeding over the death of this innocent young man who seemed to be full of life. Why should we be fearing to go to the police and why is Woodlands Police Station known for the wrong reasons? Dont leave any stone unturned and whoever was involved in this barbaric act should face the consequences and there was even need to arrest the officer in charge for negligent of duty.

    • Arresting the officer-in-Charge and his surrogates would send a very strong signals to other would-be perpetrators of this heinous crime.

    • Mr Lungu, where is the report on who killed Mapenzi? Your tribal hatred of Tongas will consume you. Don’t just pay lip service.

    • Fwebene mwenso because it is a military person; people are quacking now; never ever has ECL spoken up or condemned an evil by his minions before; get thos flaming cadres out of police uniform because a proffessional cop would not have reacted like that; time to stand up for our rights is ripe;

  3. pf police cadres responsible for this man’s death will be shielded we know it.there is too much corruption in the country…

  4. Mwami Bwana, Wapelela ukulya akana kankoko, apa pene walachimona. Translated: Police Bwana, you’ve always gotten away with killing civilians but you’re in for it on this one”.

  5. So many investigations in Zambia with results not being made public. The Kasama girls sexual harassment investigation is still pending, corruption amongst ministers still pending, and now Choongwa murder has joined the list.

  6. An appeal to both Ministers! All misdemeanours committed by military personel must be handled by the respective command and not the civilian police service. Why have we abandoned the Court martial system?
    Secondly Police must know that negligence that results in inmates beating up other incoming detainees will result in charges being placed on the same police!
    Thirdly, sorry to say it but I believe the police need to be lectured by our former colonial masters- Scotland Yard officers should be engaged on the proper conduct of police towards detainees without resorting to violence!

  7. IT IS A POLICE FORCE AND NOT POLICE SERVICE NOW.
    EMMASDALE POLICE OFFICERS ARE THE WORST CULPRIT.
    WE ARE ONE AND WHY KILLING YOUR FELLOW HUMAN BEING LIKE THAT.
    POLICE OFFICERS SOMETIMES BECOMES OVERZEALOUS FOR NOTHING AND THIS IS THE END RESULT.CULPRITS MUST BE BROUGHT TO BOOK.
    THE PERSON WHO DIED HAS LEFT A FAMILY AND THE ONES INVOLVED SHOULD ALSO LEAVE THEIR FAMILY BY ROTTING IN CHIMBOKAILA.

  8. Cops are very less educated. Their course just takes 6 months surely, at least consider increasing it to at least 3 years, a level of a basic diploma so that maybe their reasoning can be improved. You will see that they suffer from inferiority complex, you cant reason with a cop, he will take it for stubbornness so maybe that can solve the problem. Secondly these cops especially traffic officers they behalf as if they don’t get paid, let them learn that what they get as a salary is what every other civil servant also gets and educated civil servants who spent years at college or universities, and they survive. So let them not be so corrupt that until u agree with them in line with corruption can they release you.

    • That’s why Africans are dull. Grade 12 is enough education. What is a diploma without Pratice. Police science is the most penetrative subject. It can take a decade just on evidence. Bill Gates is not well educated but uses knowledge from formal grade level. Please dull Zambians change yo perceptions about yo Police. They work under difficulty conditions because of yo perceptions. Who would want to join the Police if that is yo thinking. Most Police officers have degrees better than you *****s.

  9. Mr lungu we are waiting for a comment from you on kiezer zulus kung-fu exhibition in front of a packed stadia.

  10. Two cabinet ministers,home affairs and his counter-part at defence,now the president,all getting “involved”in the murder of a ZAF officer!Is this not a way of covering-up the case by way of diluting it,just thinking.Wish the same supersonic speed could be applied in the maize-gate scandal,where Siliya has been mentioned.

  11. Violence begets violence.ZPS murdered a UPND Supporter,Mapenzi Chibulo in cold blood in Lusaka and then shot a PF Supporter in Kitwe, shot a UPND Supporter at the High Court and now ZPS has murdered Choonga of ZAF. The problem is politicization of ZPS. They inflitrated poorly trained PF Cadres into the Police Force and they are reaping the rewards of violence. The recent violent behavior from Lungu’s Adviser KZ only encourages violence and lawlessness in Zambia. The biggest contributor to this violence and lawlessness is the stealing of Elections and the unheard Petition. Until the Petition is heard and disposed off Zambia will not see peace.

  12. This is what happens when you lack Good Governance…no institution is there to investigate these cases. You have wait for the president to say something.
    This is the selfsame reason corruption will never end….

  13. African low standards lead to this.He knows he has compromised the police.Thorough investigations should be a must in every case.What did we do wrong,the exception is now the norm.

  14. Mr Commander-in-Chief you must put your house in order. Its like you have no control over your defence and security services, you have given too much powers to the Service Chiefs to do what they want thats why you have such issues.

  15. The defence and security services HAVE LOST direction and do not know what their primary tasks are. thats why you find an army commander suggesting that the army buys farms and start rearing animals etc etc. Which army imwe shuwa ?

  16. Investigations will take six months by that time every Zambian will have forgotten about it the way they have forgotten Reeves Malambo’s death.

  17. Lungu is the most retrogressive and corrupt leader zambia has ever had.

    He has reduced the law enforcement in zambia to act only when he farts….from ACC to the judges to the police…..all in his pocket waiting for lungu to fart…..then you see them isuing statments the next day.

  18. The chap who died is Tonga nothing good defence. Lungu and Ruphia want exterminate this fellows. They are trouble makers

  19. kamofye ukulabaponona ba kapokola because they have turned police service into police force and have brushed aside the rule of law. Nowadays all the police officers are working to fill their bellies and not necessarily serving the people. Once you are thrown in cells then whether you are a criminal or not, you will be treated like one, it is very unfortunate.

  20. Most institutions in Zambia are run with no respect and knowledge of human dignity and rights. Whether one is wrong or not there is a culture ,mentality and attitude of absolute punitativeness. The ones who are supposed to be the inspectors of the police are conniving in their brutality. The police act as if they are a law on their own. No respect for human dignity and rights. All they are interested in is treating the public like a cash cow. The institution is treated like an extractive source to enrich its members and has no care for the public. This country needs a massive overhaul in all its institutions.

  21. What a Predicament eeeish! The ZAF Commander is pro Pf a thing he should never have done. The Police follows orders from State House. Collectively, the serve the Master with the top Brass enjoying the cake at the expense of the general public. If Lungu does not play his cards right, either camp is going to rebel. On top of that, there is insurmountable pressure from the family. Lungu has not card left to play. Not fit to be president. He has destroyed the credibility of every institution in Zambia including the church. Prayers won’t even cut it!

  22. Cage the officer in charge and all those that where on duty on that fatifull night .
    Woodland s police officers are known to be brutal even on civil matters .
    Cage them and cite them for murder charges,they are all stupid including there boss who is always drunk

  23. This level of state sponsored violence and lawlessness is not surprising. Lungu is the Root cause of these killings and murders becoz he has no respect for Rule of Law,Human Rights,Good Governance etc. Lungu’s ascendancy to the PF Leadership is littered with violence, thu?gery and lawlessness. Mapenzi Chibulo was murdered last year ,a PF Cadre was shot dead in his house in Kitwe and now the ZAF Officer has been killed under Lungu’s watch as Commander-in-Chief. Were all these people killed by ZPS thoroughly investigated?Lungu is to blame for all these murders becoz the back stop with him. He is a Reverse Role Mofel. Lungu, KZ etc are the Architects of current violence, killings and murders in Zambia The fish rots from the Head Downwards.

  24. The investigation should take maximum three days we get a report. We all now know what happened. The police beat him up so badly being a military man and after he was subdued and powerless ,threw him in cells and instructed one police officer who was ealier detained in the same cells to really beat him up further. It is painful for a Zambian to be murdered like that at a Police station while the police were watching but pretending not to be aware of what was going on. Cold blood murderers, shame!!

  25. All the security wings in Zambia seem not to know what there responsibilities are to the people of Zambia. There is a tendency to over use there power on ordinary citizens. What has happened to that ZAF guy is just a tip of the iceberg. Everyone is abusing there authority even people who are not in uniform. A good living example is Kaizar Zulu. Another example is the president who has been retiring young professionals in national interest without just consideration. Lawlessness has crept into Zambia. We need donors to give Zambians some thinking ability. Shame!

    • The problem is the PF kaponyas think lungu is God……

      ” The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

      Albert Einstein

  26. Sangomas at state house need sacrifice.
    How does an innocent Zambian die while under the custody of police officers, worse they beat up detainees.
    Its not enough to hear Lungu and his subordinates claim they will do something when nothing has been done so far. Death involving beating warrants arrests to be made and investigate while suspects are in custody. As usual nothing will happen as nothing has ever happened with Lungu.

  27. ZAF just find out where these officers reside, so that tomorrow after burial you demolish woodlands police station, and burn there residences together with what is theirs. PERIOD

  28. Zambia police are jealous of ZAF officers. You can even see the anger in them you mention that you are ZAF. They feel that we are being favoured. Its just that our commanders follow standards. We get the same funding from the same Government. A ZAF officer can not be allowed to hike in uniform for example. This is a standard. ZAF will never allow its officers to rent a sub standard house. This is a standard. When the ministry of Defence releases for example $10,000 for joint operations for 5 ZAF staff and 5 army staff, in ZAF you will go with 1000 each to the field but the army guys will go with nothing. They will be told by their superiors that money will come later whilst we will be shining in comfort ati ba zimvela. Is it our fault? Its the management and following standards. Words…

  29. They will be told by their superiors that money will come later whilst we will be shining in comfort ati ba zimvela. Is it our fault? Its the management and following standards. Words like” War Chap, this is war, you will find the money when back are given as feedback to the army guys. They even go on leave without any pay. I remember going for a 2 week course with some of them in a foreign country, they were not paid meanwhile us were dining with fine wine and women. Buying things for our families back home. Its the same with police, they go on field operations with minimum moneys. The guys are always frustrated and thus vent their anger on us. Eat a meal from a ZAF mess, police if at all they have a messes and army then compare.

  30. It takes at least 3 years for GRZ to train Aircraft, Radar and Missile technicians, Air traffice controllers, aviation meteorologists etc + several months of hands on the job trainings abroad for cops to simply take out our lives like that or indeed other human beings lives.

  31. @It, I have heard you, and you’re spot on. Police command is rotten to the core and the rot drips down to the rank and file. On my visitation to one of the police offices, I overheard a bwana telling an officer: “You see I have included you on a parallel list to man the CHAN games ku Copperbelt. You and 5 others. So tomorrow morning get my Landcruiser and deliver cement to my farm.” I understand a van-load of cement was surely at the farm, bought using the allowances extorted from the juniors. So the rank and file will even kill for the command. So so nauseating.

  32. Lelo, lelo,lelo lelo. It’s as simple an investigation as questioning the one who was brushed and inmates. If phiri is saying the officer was brutally beaten where were the cops on duty at i.o?

  33. I have personal problems with ZAF twinpalm. I was once unfairly detained at Woodlands police station without any case to answer by a named officer at ZAF twinpalm. Too many happenings there….innocent person shot at the gate, officer killed, me detained in cells. I mean I think the entire barrack there is trigger happy and its about \time Commander in CHief tames these people. Am so bitter with ZAF twinpalm and what they are doing to me because of a named officer there…female to be specific.

  34. All these are offshoots of poor governance. You have a commander in chief who can not even bring his soldiers to order. Men in uniform should at all times be seen as disciplined individuals who respect their chain of command.

  35. Its intriguing in this country why we are not alert such that everything should be subjected to investigation. To investigate what? Was the Officer’s body found dead in the bush, abandoned or what? Isn’t the story very clear? In the story, are not people involved – the owner of the other car and the police officers in duty. The postmortem, what is it saying? If the postmortem is saying he died of beatings – usually specificity of kind of beating is given i.e heavy metal, wood, broken skull, puncture liver, heart, etc. Is it difficult to narrow down and pinpoint the culprit or culprits really? What do we investigate in this country kashi?

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