Additional witnesses step forward in tribal hatred speech case against ‘Why Me’
IN the intensifying legal saga surrounding Francis Kapwepwe, commonly known as “WHY ME,” two more witnesses have emerged, adding fuel to the ongoing case against him for alleged expressions of tribal hatred.
Southern Province police commanding officer, Auxensio Daka, revealed that two additional witnesses based in Choma are slated to provide testimony to the Anti-Fraud Unit in Livingstone district today.
The case stems from a report filed by Mwiinga Innocent, a 48-year-old businessman from Livingstone, who accused Kapwepwe of targeting the Tonga tribe with derogatory remarks.
The report, lodged on April 4 2024, alleged that Kapwepwe used various online platforms, including TikTok and Facebook, to disseminate his divisive rhetoric between March 5 and April 6, 2024.
“Be further informed that the said Francis Kabwe Kapwepwe who is currently detained at the Livingstone Central Police Station was today the 29th of April,2024 warned and cautioned for the offence of expressing contempt or hatred of persons because of tribe.”
“This is according to Section 70 of the penal Code cap 87 of the laws of Zambia as read with Section 65 of the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act No 2 of 2021 and was subsequently arrested for the same offence,” Daka explained.
The detained Kapwepwe awaits potential court proceedings pending the submission of the case to the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) today.
Following completion of all formalities, the NPA will consider arraigning the accused individual, marking a significant juncture in the legal battle against tribal incitement…https://kalemba.news/…/additional-witnesses-step…/
By Elesani Phiri
Kalemba
Selective justice, what of mweetwa? When is he going to bw arrested for ochestrating defamatory remarks against tongas using kambwili as self confessed and reported by mmembe
I actually blame the UNIP government of Kenneth Kaunda for this hate speech. Kaunda’s government placed some local languages above others and this led native speakers of favoured languages to develop imperial attitudes towards their fellow citizens. It’s important to delve into the causes of such behaviour instead of just arresting and jailing people. That is how you help bring about positive change in society. What will jail teach this Kabwe Kapwepwe fellow? Nothing in my view.
All these actions by the Upnd government are just fueling hatred between tribes even more. There’s nothing they are solving by arresting citizens for so-called hate speech selectively! What’s going to happen when Upnd is out of power? It will be the Tongas’ turn to be arrested for hate speech. So that’s why its all wrong because it’s vengeance by the Upnd government because they are in power. So when they are out of power, those in power will also inflict vengeance on the Tongas! That’s not how life should be. Because today you have power tomorrow you don’t have it! Power like money , goes round.
Trouble is you think Francis Kabwe Kapwepwe was speaking on behalf of his tribe. He was not. He was speaking for himself. I think myself that what he needs is good counselling on why such views are unhelpful. Jail will not teach him that. This is the Republic of Zambia and not a republic of any tribe. If Francis Kapwepwe believes that there’s such a thing as the Republic of Zambia, then he should see Tongas as his fellow citizens who will not go anywhere. Because Zambia exists, Francis Kapwepwe has freedom to live in Lusaka but not freedom to insult Tongas.