Paramount Chief Chitimukulu Kanyanta Manga has said that he did not issue the statement that was released to the media quoting him as telling Patriotic Front Secretary general Davies Chama not to destroy the lovely relationships with the Tongas.

In a statement to Lusaka Times, Chief Chitimukulu described the article as total nonsense saying the article was authored by people with little intelligence and great foolishness because Bashilubemba and indeed himself could never be part and parcel to establish hegemony or ascendancy of the Tonga tribe over others.

Below is the full Statement

FREEDOM OF STUPIDITY

By Henry Kanyanta Sosala

No one can limit the freedom of expression of another person since our ability to express our thoughts and ideas is a basic right. However, freedom of expression does best when it is controlled by self-discipline, by deference and respect for others. And some of the media houses have some clever fools who because of freedom of expression have become champions of snapping, snarling and the use of foul language without any restraint whatsoever, and they have therefore become swollen-headed as the unchallenged heroes of sarcasm.

And to them some of the attributes of the ‘’freedom of speech’’ include ‘’freedom to offend’’ and ’’freedom of stupidity.’’ This is not actually stupidity in the classical sense, which is usually thought as of a very low IQ. This kind of foolishness must be distinguished from the ‘’mental retardation.’’ And this kind of idiocy has been identified with inferiority complex arising mostly from highly questionable family background.

This kind of stupidity comes with the supposed access to public media, popularity, success or displaced ambition. And according to Robert Sternberg, the stupid expert, such stupid persons believe that because they are so smart; the world does and should revolve around them. They are gripped by the omniscience fallacy. They are convinced that they know more than everyone else and can influence public opinion to their advantage and that others are just big idiots whom they can easily manipulate.

Here are contents of what was termed BREAKING NEWS:

DO NOT DESTROY OUR LOVELY RELATIONSHIP WITH TONGAS, TRIBALIST DAVIES CHAMA TOLD OFF BY CHITIMUKULU

Bashilubemba have distanced themselves from comments made by one PF Tribalist Davies Chama. The Royal Establishment wants to make it clear to all Zambians that if there is any tribe in the history of this country that sacrificed a lot for our independence are the Tonga people. They did not only sacrifice their wealth, over 10,000 heads of cattle were sold to buy ait tickets to send Zambian delegation to London to meet the Queen to negotiate for independence. Liso Mungoni and Nkumbula for ANC surrendered the Presidency to KK during the Choma declaration on merit to pave way for independence.

“Bane bushe takwaba abangalembako history ya independence yesu for our young generation to know,” the chief wondered.

We can’t take away anything from the Tonga people. Tongas have a justified reason to keep the democratic rights of this country in check to ensure their investments in our independence is worth while. We must value their contribution, lets face it, in the history of our country no tribe has been this United for one purpose as the Tonga people. Zambian democracy from Kaunda to Lungu has been kept in check by our Tonga brothers, deny it or accept it.

We therefore request political parties such as the Patriotic front to settle there political scores without involving the Bemba people. Comments from Chama are uncivilized and can only come from unprogressive mind that want to take is in delirium. Young man we have come a long way, politicians can’t divide us.

The clan is nothing more than a larger family with its patriarchal chief as the natural head and the union of several clans by intermarriage and voluntary connection constitutes the tribe no politician can break this bond, I have several Tongas married to Bembas and vice versa. Ultimately, we actually all belong to only one tribe, to Earhings.

There is only one superior tribe in Zambia, that’s the Zambian Human race which is blind to province, regionalism or colour. Emphasized CHITIMUKULU.

All the above is absolutely TOTAL NONSENSE, and this article was authored by people with little intelligence and great foolishness because Bashilubemba and indeed myself can never be part and parcel to establish hegemony or ascendancy of the Tonga tribe over others.

And unfortunately, the worse part that this article has generated is confirmation of what other people fear if the Tonga were in power. There is a terrible distortion of facts that sets the Tonga far above other tribes, for example, Liso Mungoni and Nkumbula for ANC surrendered the Presidency to KK during the Choma declaration on merit to pave way for independence. This is far from truth. Mr. Harry Nkumbula was the President-General of Northern Rhodesia African National Congress, Mr. Kenneth Kaunda was the Secretary-General and Mr. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe was the National Treasurer. Goodwin Mwangilwa wrote:

‘’On 24th October 1958, the crucial day that the conference sat, the young Congress men took Nkumbula to task for his accusations against Kaunda. Kapwepwe then broke with Nkumbula by announcing his resignation. He told Nkumbula, ‘I have discovered you cannot lead up to independence. I must step out. Mcpherson writes, ‘Between 15 and 20 fellows from Chipata, the North, the Central province and the Copperbelt rose and followed Kapwepwe. One hour after KK walked out with one or two more’.’’ (Kapwepwe Diaries).

And that was the end of Mr. Nkumbula’s journey to State House. Dr. Mbita Chitala in Not Yet Democracy wrote:

“In August 1971, Kapwepwe resigned as Vice-President and formed United Progressive Party (UPP). UPP posed the most serious threat to UNIP’s hegemony. And on 25th February 1972, Kaunda announced that the one-party state was essential to preserve unity. On 13 December 1972, Kaunda signed the legal documents that ushered in the Second Republic.”

It was then that UNIP decided to absorb all the institutions into itself and that was how the Choma Declaration came to pass, it was the swallowing of ANC (a moderate party) into UNIP and Mr. Mungoni Liso was appointed a Member of the Central Committee. And there was no Chinsali Declaration because as Dr. Chitala pointed out, ‘’UPP posed the most serious threat to UNIP’s hegemony.”

And on the issue of Mr. Davies Chama, I cannot see why we should jump on it at this point when it has died down and I totally refused to comment on it when it was fresh.

In closing, I wish to express my deep disappointment for a group of disgruntled individuals to put the name of the Bemba Royal Royal Establishment and indeed myself into such embarrassing disrepute. And I also wish to emphasize that the distorted article has sent very wrong signals to many Bembas since it is a clear deliberate political gimmick to put a wedge between PF and the Bemba Royal Establishment, just coming out of deadly deadlock.

Chief Spokesperson Chishimba Kambwili said that as far as government is concerned, once the Constitution Bills become law, Barotseland will continue to remain an integral part of Zambia.

Mr. Kambwili stated that this was particularly that no one submitted to the contrary that Barotseland remains part of Zambia during the Constitution review process.

Mr. Kambwili told Qfm News by telephone that this entails that the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 is no longer an issue.

Mr. Kambwili however, noted that what the people of Western province want is a fair share of the national development agenda.

Mr Kambwili said that the Patriotic Front (PF) is in this case committed to taking development to Western province as a sure way resolving the Barotseland Agreement issue.

Dr. Mpombo hopes that government will not use the Public Order Act (POA) to suppress political activities of opposition political parties during the period leading the elections.

He has cautioned government to be mindful that for any election to be considered free and fair, the period leading to the election matters most.

He says this means that stakeholders will be on the lookout to see how government will create a level playing field for all political players ahead of the elections.

In an interview with Qfm News, Dr. Mpombo has also noted the need for all political parties to rally against political violence during this period.

Dr. Mpombo states that political violence undermines political credibility of a Country and its democratic benchmarks.

He says it is therefore expected that all political activities in the run up to the 2016 general election will be issue based.

AWARD-WINNING Zambian disc jockey and producer Eleftherios Mukuka has signed a record deal with German record label Kallias/Raison Music GmbH and will be moving there next month to work.
Eleftherios, who has been pioneering house music in the country, told the Weekend Mail in Lusaka that he will relocate to Frankfurt, Germany early January to begin a new chapter of his life in the European music industry.
The 23-year-old, who is also partly Greek through his mother, said as usual, he will proudly carry the Zambian flag.
His manager Krish Dandiker says the rising star may likely return to Zambia for a series of shows in May 2016 as part of his sub-Saharan African tour.
It has been an interesting and long journey for Eleftherios.
Born and raised in Lusaka, his piano, composition and production skills earned him a place at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, United States, in 2012.
Last year, he returned to Zambia to build a name for himself as a house music producer/DJ and to help grow the popularity of the genre within the country.
The same year, he won a Born ‘n’ Bred Music Video Award for his song “Heart” whose video was shot and directed by Kenny Mumba of GroundXero.
The song gained notable success outside of Zambia, peaking at number five in the Danish Chatbase Top-100, and getting licenced to over 30 record labels worldwide, including Universal Music Greece, Universal Music Middle East & North Africa, Roton Music Romania and David Gresham Records South Africa.
His other song “Getting There” also attained similar international success a year later. Both songs were part of his debut album, which was premiered in February 2015 during launch.
Eleftherios has shared the stage with notable African musicians such as Oliver Mtukudzi, Femi Kuti, Beatenberg, Goldfish and Mokoomba.
His push to both establish a name for himself and to push the Zambian market to be more open towards house music has not been an easy one. Like most musicians world-wide, he found himself working odd jobs to get by, taking study loans to complete music college and dealt with many cases of rejection from labels, promoters, radio stations and television stations.
His unique and uplifting fusion-house music was not welcomed with open arms at first, especially here where house music is still a very new genre.
However, in the last two years, he has been sharing his musical knowledge with underprivileged Zambian youth who aspire to become musicians, spearheading a voluntary weekly workshop in Garden compound before it moved to his own home-studio where it continues to run.
“We have so much musical talent in this country but too few people care about refining that talent…the refinement of this talent is the key to musical innovation in Zambia and a prerequisite for the preservation of our musical heritage,” Eleftherios says

Getting There

Heart

The 2015/16 agriculture season is delayed in most high producing regions and that acute food insecurity outcomes are expected across the country, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has warned.

In its latest report, FEWSNET also noted that the cost of food and other basic items is higher than normal in rural and urban areas due to the depreciation of the Kwacha.

It says acute food insecurity in southern and western provinces will remain through March and that retail prices for maize and Mealie meal remain above 2014 prices and the five-year average.

‘Maize prices are expected to be high until the next harvest in 2016. The combination of higher than normal input prices and a slow start to the first half of the rainy season is likely to result in later and possibly reduced planting,’ it read.

It added that the prevailing El Niño conditions for the second half of the season is expected to result in a fall in seasonal production below recent five-year average levels.

In its projected outlook through March 2016, FEWSNET says acute food insecurity outcomes are expected to continue for most parts of the country.

‘The combination of high agricultural input prices, and expected poor rainfall due to El Niño conditions will make it increasingly difficult for both urban and rural poorer households to adequately manage to meet their basic food needs. Green food availability is expected to be reduced which could prolong the lean period.’

‘It is becoming increasingly difficult for households to afford food and basic items because prices continue to rise due to the depreciation of the local currency. Also of concern is the increased number of job losses in the mining towns of the Copperbelt Province,’ it read.

It stated that as the international price of copper falls, mines are beginning to cut back production.
FEWSNET observes that Maize and meal retail prices remain higher than normal, and this is eroding consumer purchasing power.

‘The season is slow to start in most high producing such as Eastern, Central, and Southern Provinces and some low producing areas like Lusaka, Western, North Eastern Provinces with many areas experiencing a 10-30 day delayed onset of rains. Similar to most recent seasons, this rainy season is starting from the west and moving east,’ it read.

‘Planting rains have been received in parts of, North Western, Luapula, western parts of Northern, and parts of Copperbelt Provinces. In areas where the rains have not yet started, farmers are continuing land preparation activities.’

It added that since the price of fertilizer has doubled, there is concern about whether or not most small sale farmers will be able to afford to make this purchase this season.