Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Micheal Sata was real, so real, you didn’t have to guess about him

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By Fred M’membe

The enemies of Michael Sata accuse me of putting him and the Patriotic Front in power in 2011. They are not right; they are wrong.

I don’t deserve that much credit. It wasn’t possible for me to make Michael win those highly contested elections. Michael’s political journey started long before I was born. He was a top trade union leader, freedom fighter, businessman, councilor, governor of Lusaka, minister of state, minister of local government, minister of health, minister without portfolio, secretary-general of MMD without any participation or influence from me.

Michael started the Patriotic Front without me. How can one sensibly try to credit me with making Michael, making him president of the Republic of Zambia? Michael was destined to be president of this country – it was just a matter of time.

For me the story of my association with Michael isn’t difficult or hard to tell because it isn’t fiction. It isn’t something I have to make up; it is my reality. I was insulted, humiliated and abused with him by people who are today enjoying the power he won for them.
When something comes from the heart, it has to be real.

The Michael I knew was a decent human being whose stance on various issues was known. He had a good sense of self-image that’s why he would relate with people from all sorts of backgrounds. He was also able to make decisions right or wrong. He was not vengeful and made peace quickly.

He didn’t claim to be what he was not – no posturing, pretence or hypocrisy. He showed his emotions whenever he was angry or happy. You didn’t have to guess about him. He was a real human being – with all the defects or frailties of a normal human being. He was real, so real – so creative. I miss him.

If supporting him, being his friend and brother was wrong, then I don’t want to be right!

38 COMMENTS

  1. Michael Chilufya Sata and PF lied about “more money in your pockets”…it’s been 9yrs since but all we’ve seen is negative economic indicators.

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    • Mr George Mu’chi Mubanga,
      Have you read the article? Where in the article has M’membe “slammed HH”? Don’t reply to articles with preconceived notions collected from some other fake news propaganda articles you have read elsewhere. Go the Mast and see M’membe’s article. It is the same as this one, and nowhere does he even mention HH.
      It shows that HH is giving you sleepless nights!

  2. How did Fred M’membe react in his newspaper to Michael Sata’s blunders in the office of president of the Republic of Zambia? Did Sara make no mistakes as president? And how did M’membe react to mistakes of every other president we hv had? Is Fred M’membe ready to answer these simple and straightforward questions?

  3. SATA IS THE CAUSE OF WHAT ZAMBIA IS GOING THRU AND FR. MMEMBE IS AN ACCOMPLICE. SATA MESSED ZAMBIA WITH HIS ZEAL OF A RUNAWAY HORSE. MMEMBE BENEFITTED FROM SATA’S BAD LEADERSHIP, HE GOT ALL THE CONTRACTS. ILL GOTTEN WEALTH, DWINDLES LIKE DEW.

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  4. King Fred is now Michael’s brother? Ma politics padziko!! Ba LT why do you give us an article of seven sentences from His Royal Highness Membe? Are you just fulfilling a contract you have with him?

  5. It was during the regime of Cycle Mart that Fredrick was everything, his newspaper would publish state secrets even before other senior got off the news. Most of his associates found themselves in all sorts of govt positions. King Fredrick was like a King Maker. What is Fredrick talking about. Let him start rebranding his damaged image. King Fredrick started off well towards 1991 but after FTJ became President we started seeing a rift between him and FTJ regime. What happened after that only those where close to the dual know the beef they hat to cut. Even during Mwanawasa it was King Fredrick who was calling the shots, A lot of guys become rich as a result of their connections to Task Force on plunder of national resources which never yielded anything real other than damaging people’s…

    • Mimembe through the post I stopped reading when for 1095 days of RB presidency, RB was headline for the post. He was reporting on no one else but Rupiah bad this bad that!!. I realized that the owner of the paper is making us hate people leaders using lies and blowing issues out of proportion. I revisited the stance on Chiluba , I realized chiluba wasnt bad as the way Fred painted him. Its simply hate he had on him. Suddenly Sata whom he dispized become an Angel… We removed a good govt because of Freds lies.

  6. No one could have made his excellency MC sata president. He was destined to rule this country and me and other founders of party spent sleepless nights working towards that . I agree about hh being a fake though. That is why we failed to work with him. He is arrogant

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  7. No one could have made his excellency MC sata president. He was destined to rule this country and me and other founders of party spent sleepless nights working towards that . I agree about hh being two faced though. That is why we failed to work with him. He is arrogant

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  8. PF party logo of the canoe or kayak rightly depicts that only a few will be enjoying, there are only two people on that boat, i just wonder how zambian people mistook a little canoe for noah’s ark. there logo still says more money in your pockets, lower taxes and more jobs. kikiki, the entire zambains are struggling and drowning in murky waters while the two few zambains paddle around in a canoe, if you try jumping on that small canoe a fist their party symbol awaits you.

    But there is a stretched hand of help ready to pull you out of that murky water, choose life.

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  9. It was always Michael this, Michael that, Michael her, Michael there nyoko nyokolola! M’membe created a fertile ground for a dying vicious tribal bigot to ascend to power and poison the country with his most vernomous bile of tribalism that may as well lead to the fragmentation on Zambia. He cannot today turn around and applaud that most flawed of all characters as having been real, real in zabwanganu! Look at the indescriminate creation of districts without planning, opening of embassies without funding, appointing a bloated cabinet draining all state coffers and appointing mostly Bisas from kwa naBwalya leaving the country fractured tribally. If that was being real, wena sinamunungu tuwe singe Namakando, ukasise niwena.

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    • Go to hell. You need to be wiped off this earth you possessed demon. Why did God waste time creating f00ls like you. Anyway I blame your f00lish parents

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  10. Fred Mmembe is either deliberately misunderstanding a segment of Zambian population or is deluding himself into believing that he is such a great human being. No sir Mr Mmembe we are not crediting you, we are accusing you of creating the monster that has literally devoured Zambia in form of PF and its founders whom you sucked so much to. Other things are mere fillers. Mr. Sata might have been a nice person but to go to such length to show us he was a great leader is to over-stretch the meaning of words.

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  11. MHSRIP but Michael Sata became a joke towards the end of his Presidency, for him everything was a joke, and remember he started the careless borrowing that has led this country to its knees.

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    • Some people dont know how sata work and think. Sata believed in infrastructure not good economy and having money. That was why he was always on the radio snubbing and criticizing good economy programs of MMD. ” we cant eat exchange rate and inflation” he would say. He believed if you have money spend it on infrastructure. If you can borrow do so for infrastructure. His thinking was simple and straight forward. That was why when he was governor, the council did huge projects and left it brook.. e.g the great east flyover bridge, selling of houses in chilenje, making sure no streets venders, demolishing fake houses in Kanyama and misis . buying buses for the council etc.. Some how he was right.. We still have the fly over bridge….we will still have the roads and the infrastructure we…

  12. Michael Chilufya Sata, when ascended to presidency as 5th Zambia republican president, had a feeling a dark clouds descending on the nation. Michael Sata was viewed as unsuitable to be entrusted with absolute power by all the former presidents, KK, FTJ even snubbed him. However, when late president Patrick Levy Mwanawasa passed on (Both Michael Sata and Fred M’Membe had no chance with him), took advantage and ganged up to whip MMD regime prompted by M’Membe’s News paper The Post and built up a monster that has come to devour and torment M’Membe excruciatingly with pains only, not yet swallowed up. Michael Sata is the architect of corruption resulting in the huge suffering Zambia is going through today. Zambia will remain to remember Sata for the pain and suffering of today’s Zambia.

  13. When you talk to Freedom Fighters, real freedom fighters, they will tell you that the man was never part of the struggle, never, yes he was around but never participated in the emancipation of Zambia. So Mr. Mmembe dont overate the man. Don’t argue you were not there.

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  14. Michael Chilufya Sata is was not afraid to engage people. I must say that the only other politicians I have ever been impressed with were Joshua Nkomo, Samora Machel and Dean Mung’omba. I have no personal engagement with Dr Kenneth Kaunda or others. These are kind like Obama Town Hall politicians. People who are not afraid to open themselves up to the public and to be asked tough questions. I like engaging politicians. They do not hide behind the doctored and scared press. Sata would walk into a studio or newspaper premises and get interviewed or to answer phone calls from the public. He engaged us in order to know what we needed. Communication was two ways. He didn’t impose on people what they did not need.

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  15. Whn did the former constable in the colonial police force become a freedom fighter? Late Martin Mubanga of UNIP knew Sata well and the role he played. He was never part of the freedom struggle.

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  16. We are where we are because of Data, who is running Home Affairs – by default it’s still Lungu.
    No wonder Chief Justice Irene Mambilima said a dishonest lawyer is a disgraced lawyer and the profession has no place for such a lawyer.
    “What is justice Mambilima talking about? We have a dishonest and disgraced lawyer for President of the Republic of Zambia!
    Edgar Lungu stole his client’s money as lawyer and had his practicing license withdrawn by the Law Association of Zambia. He only got his licence back when he was a minister. How was this possible?
    Lawyers are required to act competently and honestly.
    There are few things as dangerous to the public as a lawyer seduced by money, and instead of helping clients, rips them off. And that is exactly what Edgar did – he ripped off his…

  17. Sata was a dagga smoking nincompoop who just wanted to be president without knowing what it entails. Yes he is definitely responsible for the mess we are in today and Fred is a contributor to that and that’s why his party is not going to be accepted by the people.

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  18. MCS was a politician…but if he was presidential material? You saw what happened when he took power. It showed how inexperienced he was he was in campaign mode through out his stay in office. Indeed in the later part we all knew it was but a matter of time…Fled Mmembe the accountants clerk wanna be scribe, profited from the ascend…half his top employees began PS, or where shunted into foreign service…suddenly the man who spoke merit…showed no merit..shady business boomed….the newspaper boomed..transport, trucks…etc….then MCS passed on…..

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