The Following is an open letter that was sent to UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema on 25th October 2011 using the email address on the opposition leader’s website by the author. Due to the lengthy nature of the letter. We shall publish it in two parts. The first part makes a case of tribalism against HH and the second part provides advise on how HH could deal with this issue and even hope to be Zambian president some day.
By M Makalu:-
The Post newspaper has in the recent past featured editorials condemning your “tribalistic and dangerous anti-Bemba politics.” The Zambian Inquirer asked Mr. Cornelius Mweetwa, Deputy Spokesperson of UPND and Choma Constituency MP, to comment on these allegations. Here is what he said,
“The (tribalism) attacks (from The Post) are unfair as the regional support given to the UPND is not different from that received by other parties including the Patriotic Front (PF).” He continued that, “A careful analysis of election results has revealed that the major political parties have attracted a home vote associated with a leader of the party. Further since 2001, UPND has received least votes in Northern, Luapula; while Sata has received support from the regions associated with his tribe.”
I want to give you that ‘careful analysis of elections results.’ Because clearly, if Mr. Mweetwa has ever done any careful analysis, he cannot tell such lies in the media; unless if he just wants to deceive you and the Zambian people. Or perhaps he is acting under your instructions, which I believe not, to defend your tribalism even if it means lying to the Zambian people.
According to the careful analysis, Mr. HH, the facts are:
- The regional support given to the UPND is VERY DIFFERENT from that received by other parties from the region of their presidents.
- The support Sata has received from regions associated with his tribe is not abnormal such that you should compare and use it to defend your tribalism.
- Further from 2001, UPND has received least votes not just from Northern and Luapula, as if Bembas were tribalistic, but from other regions as well: Livingstone Constituency, Copperbelt, Lusaka and Eastern provinces. You have grown by just over 1% in Western, North western and Central combined.
- Your party has received 99% growing support only from areas with growing anti-Bemba sentiments. Is that a coincidence?
Let us begin the ‘careful analysis’ that proves the above facts.
Please notice that since you took over from Mazoka, UPND has lost support as follows:
Northern – from 1.88% to 0.58% and Luapula – 1.20% to 0.35%. According to your reasoning, you continue to receive this declining support in these regions due to Bembas being tribalistic (taking their votes to somebody of their tribe). What about Copperbelt? From 8.32% to 3.54%. Or that too is part of “regions associated with Sata’s tribe”?
In Lusaka too, your support keeps falling. In fact, in Lusaka, your decline in support was even higher than that in Bemba territories? Your support fell from 16.80% in 2001 to 8.96% in 2011; that is a drop of 7.84% compared to Copperbelt of 4.78%.
How do you explain that? What is making you conclude that your support in Northern and Luapula, and for argument’s sake, Copperbelt, has been declining due to Bembas being tribalistic, while that in Lusaka declines for a reason other than tribalism? Or do you consider Lusaka as being Bemba territory as well?
[pullquote]‘Tribalism’ means, “Behaviour and attitudes arising from a person’s strong loyalty to his/her tribe (or social group) based on the prejudice that his/her tribe is ‘special’ while the other tribes are ‘wrong.’”[/pullquote]
Then what about Eastern province? Your support in Eastern shot to 18.81% in 2006 from Mazoka’s 1.98% in 2001. You will probably argue that this is proof of your tribalism explanation to voting behavior. I say so because in 2006, you headed a coalition of UNDP, FDD and UNIP (UDA – United Democratic Alliance). FDD and UNIP were started by Easterners: (C. Tembo and Kaunda).So in your tribalistic view of things, easterners voted for you because you allied with their tribal relatives.
If that is the case, why did you manage a paltry 18.81% and not the over 52% you scooped from Southern province? Are you saying Easterners are tribalistic against their fellow tribesmen? Because in 2006, Levy Mwanawasa, a non-Easterner, polled higher votes than you who allied with Easterners. He got 148,139 while you got 130,485, with Sata at 36,677. In 2008 and 2011, your Eastern vote has seen a downward trend: 3.29% in 2008 and 2.11% in 2011. How do you explain that, tribalism?
You are deliberately misleading the Zambian people when you send your spokesperson to say things like, “Further since 2001, UPND has received least votes in Northern, Luapula; while Sata has received support from the regions associated with his tribe.”
The truth, Sir, is: Further since 2001, UPND has received least votes in Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt, Lusaka and Eastern provinces; while Sata has received support BOTH from regions associated and not associated with his tribe. We will look at Sata’s statistics in a moment.
Your declining support, Sir, EVERYWHERE, not just in Northern and Luapula, is NOT due to tribalism. Livingstone constituency, among your fellow Tongas, attests to this point.
While Mazoka won Livingstone constituency with 53.52% (11,617 votes), UPND under your leadership has never won Livingstone on its own. In 2008 and 2011, you lost to Rupiah Banda.
It is even more enlightening when one realizes that you keep losing in Livingstone, while you win the other 18 constituencies in Southern province with very high margins, averaging 80% to 90%.
If you explain your declining votes in Northern and Luapula as being due to tribal reasons, what do you say is the reason Livingstone has never voted for you? The only time you won Livingstone was in 2006, as UDA, when you polled 15,198 votes (42.22%).
Since tribalism cannot explain this rare victory for you in Livingstone, we also cannot assume that your popularity in Eastern province in 2006 was because you allied with easterners. So your 18.81% popularity there was not due to tribalism either.
My point, Mr. HH, is this: It is true that you get your least votes from Northern and Luapula provinces and that since 2001, your support there keeps declining. But it is not only in Northern and Luapula where your popularity keeps declining, it is in many parts of Zambia. You are therefore, being malicious and simplistic when you explain this as, “Sata receiving support from the regions associated with his tribe.”
[pullquote]Your Tonga tribe is ‘special’ because it votes for you; Bembas are ‘wrong’ because they do not vote for you. You are therefore, singling Bembas out, telling lies in the media, that Northerners and Luapulans take their votes to somebody associated with their tribe. You want others to share your negative attitude about Bembas (and your positive attitude about Tongas). That is tribalism.[/pullquote]
Clealry, you are seeing tribalism where it is not. I think this is because you practice politics of tribalism, as the following statistics reveal.
Mr. HH, since you took over UPND, it has registered growth in Southern, Western, North Western and Central provinces. Your growth of 0.13% in Eastern, 0.24% in North Western and 1.02% in Central, cannot definitely compare with 16.20% in Southern province. So clearly, your focus is Tongaland, the region of your tribe. That Mr. HH is what makes you a tribalist. We have not even mentioned the fact that you have let your support fall in the other five provinces, which means you do not care about them.
‘Tribalism’ means, “Behaviour and attitudes arising from a person’s strong loyalty to his/her tribe (or social group) based on the prejudice that his/her tribe is ‘special’ while the other tribes are ‘wrong.’”
Your Tonga tribe is ‘special’ because it votes for you; Bembas are ‘wrong’ because they do not vote for you. You are therefore, singling Bembas out, telling lies in the media, that Northerners and Luapulans take their votes to somebody associated with their tribe. You want others to share your negative attitude about Bembas (and your positive attitude about Tongas). That is tribalism.
You aspire to be president of Zambia but all you have done since taking over UPND is gunning support from your tribe, raising it from Mazoka’s 36% in 2001 to 52% in 2011
(16% growth). If we follow the 50 plus 1 rule, which you are an advocate of, you have effectively turned what was once a United Party for National Development (UPND) into a United Party for Tribalistic Development (UPTD). UPND is no longer national; it is Tonga – Tribalistic.
[pullquote]You aspire to be president of Zambia but all you have done since taking over UPND is gunning support from your tribe, raising it from Mazoka’s 36% in 2001 to 52% in 2011[/pullquote]
Because of this tribalistic mindset of yours, you maliciously accuse others to be like you. When your spokesperson says, “A careful analysis of election results has revealed that the major political parties have attracted a home vote associated with a leader of the party,” you are accusing Mwanawasa, Banda and Sata to be like you.
But once again, a careful analysis reveals otherwise, proving the malice in your tribalistic propaganda. We will just go in details on Sata’s results; Banda’s and Mwanawasa’s.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II
