“Anyone who is supporting and defending ECL’s family is a criminal – Wynter Kabimba.”

Thelma M writes:

This afternoon, I was astonished to come across a post on one of our Zambian pages stating:

“Anyone who is supporting and defending ECL’s family is a criminal – Wynter Kabimba.”

For a moment, I honestly thought it was a belated Valentine’s joke. Unfortunately, after making a few inquiries, I was informed that the statement is indeed real.

Allow me, therefore, to respond in my own youthful voice.

Sir, a senior statesman like you Ba Wynter Kabimba declares that anyone supporting the family of Edgar Lungu is a criminal, it is not just a statement it is a weighty pronouncement that carries moral, social, and political consequences.

Sir, as an elder, lawyer, and lawmaker, your voice has shaped national conversations for decades. You understand better than many that words from leaders are never casual they frame narratives, influence emotions, and can either heal or inflame a nation. That is precisely why such sweeping language is troubling.

Supporting a family any family is not a crime. It is a human instinct. It is loyalty. It is empathy. It is the natural response of people who believe in standing with those they feel connected to, whether by history, conviction, or shared experience. One may disagree politically. One may oppose policies. One may even challenge legacies. But to criminalize sympathy or solidarity is to blur the line between law and opinion.

And let us also speak plainly President Edgar Lungu is dead. He is no longer in office. He is no longer a political contender. He is no longer a threat to anyone’s power or position. What remains now is a family a widow, children, relatives navigating grief under the harsh lights of public scrutiny.

Allow those who loved him to support his family. Allow those who believed in him to stand by his household. Mourning is not rebellion. Loyalty after death is not subversion. It is humanity.

Leadership, especially from senior citizens of this country, must rise above the heat of political contest. You must calm waters, not stir them. You must distinguish between legal accountability and emotional allegiance.

If you choose not to support the ECL family, that is your democratic right. But others equally possess the right to express their support without being branded criminals. Democracy breathes through diversity of opinion. It survives through tolerance. It matures through dialogue not intimidation.

True leadership and leaders does not divide citizens into camps of criminals and patriots based on their sympathies. It invites engagement. It encourages respectful disagreement. It recognizes that even in times of national tension, we remain one people, bound by shared history and common destiny.

Sir, wisdom is not merely in knowing the law it is in knowing when to temper justice with grace, speech with restraint, and power with humility. Loyalty and support are not offenses they are threads that hold communities together, even when those communities disagree deeply.

Let us not allow political seasons to erode our humanity. Let us not weaponize language in ways that deepen wounds. Zambia has always found strength in its ability to disagree without destroying each other.

And as for us we thank God that we are free to choose what we believe in, free to stand where our conscience leads us, and free to offer support without fear. That freedom is not criminal. It is constitutional. It is human. It is Zambian.