Below Is The Statement Police Recorded Before My Arrest And Detention For Espionage- Fred M’membe

BELOW IS THE STATEMENT POLICE RECORDED BEFORE MY ARREST AND DETENTION FOR ESPIONAGE

…someone has lost his mind. Arrest and detain me for as long as you want, take me to Bweengwa or any other place you want. I’m ready for anything. I’m ready for calvary. But I can assure you I will be back!

Firstly, I want to make it very clear from the very beginning that I’m a revolutionary and that I’m a patriot of this country. A pan- Africanist and an internationalist. I’m also a firm believer in the words and spirit of the Zambia national anthem, which tells us that “Africa is our motherland fashioned with and blessed by God’s good hands”.

In the spirit of our national anthem and in my revolutionary convictions, my pan- African convictions and internationalist belief, in 1978, after the white Rhodesian racist forces of Ian Smith bombed a ZIPRA camp in Chikumbi on the outskirts of Lusaka, as a student at the University of Zambia then, I went to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and donated my own blood to the many victims of that bombing. I saw for myself the many bodies that came from that ZIPRA camp and also the many injured people that came from the camp.

Later on, I learnt that these were not only Zimbabweans but also Zambians and South Africans, who were in that camp. We organized a protest as students and demanded that Dr Kaunda gives us arms to go and fight these racists.

We had just finished military training a year before, under Zambia National Service (ZNS). I did my military training at Mushili camp, what is now the commando camp of Zambia Army, and as such, I was ready for combat. Dr Kaunda did not give us arms immediately but later on there was mobilization of that reserve army.

Following the bombing, I decided to join ZIPRA and fight in the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe. But I was turned down by the ZIPRA Chief of Staff Lookout Masuku. He told me and my friend who I had gone with to join that we should go back to university and finish our studies because independent Zimbabwe will need educated people to help with national reconstruction.

We were disappointed with that response and we tried to join ZANLA, under ZANU while ZIPRA was under ZAPU. The response from ZANLA was the same as that from ZIPRA. We were told to go back and finish our studies so that we could help in national reconstruction of independent Zimbabwe.

Following this, I was helped by my lecturer Prof. Ben Turok to join the Communist Party of South Africa, now the South African Communist Party. My joining the South African Communist Party, which was in an alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) gave me an opportunity to participate in the ANC led liberation struggle.

I’m giving you this background so that you understand where I’m coming from and who I am and what my convictions are. I was taught to love thy neighbour as I love thy self by the Apostle of Zambia’s independence struggle, my dear Comrade Kenneth Kaunda. I love Zimbabwe just as much as I love Zambia.

And as a pan-Africanist, I’m yearning for the day when Zimbabwe and Zambia will be one country. With that belief and conviction, there is no way, I can allow anyone to harm Zimbabwe or to harm Zambia because these two territories are both my homeland. And the Zambia national anthem tells me that Africa, which includes Zambia and Zimbabwe, is my homeland. And I sincerely believe that the people of Zambia love the people of Zimbabwe as they love themselves. And I also believe that the people of Zimbabwe love the people of Zambia as they love themselves. They have got a common origin and are a product of a common struggle for national liberation.

Zambia did liberate Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans know that and they are eternally grateful. I have no doubt on my mind that President Emmerson Mnangagwa loves Zambia and Zambians. He grew up here in Zambia. He lived here among Zambians. He was educated at the University of Zambia, where he studied law. He speaks Zambian languages – Tonga, Nyanja, Bemba among many others.

President Mnangagwa and Zimbabwe are not enemies of Zambia. And Zambians are not enemies of Zimbabweans. We are one people with one destiny under the common struggle to liberate ourselves from imperialist and neo-colonialist subjugation, exploitation and humiliation.

We were colonized by the same John Cecil Rhodes and his BSA Company. Our Ngoni and Shona ancestors were robbed and killed by the same Cecil Rhodes’ army. Commander Nsingu, the leader of the Ngoni warriors who led them in the war of resistance between December 1897 to 5th February, 1898 when he was executed or murdered by Cecil Rhodes together with his two wives, was killed by the same people who executed or murdered Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi in April of the same year (1898) in the first Chimurenga.

I highly admire these ancestors of ours and I every day draw my inspiration from them. This inspiration, inspired me, in my support of the second Chimurenga, led by ZANU and ZAPU under the leadership of Comrades Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. This same inspiration, inspires me in my support for the third Chimurenga that is today being led by ZANU-PF under the leadership of Comrade Mnangagwa.

It is therefore nonsensical for anyone to accuse me of espionage in the interview I gave to a Zimbabwean journalist following that country’s elections. It doesn’t make sense at all. Such a charge can only be a product of class ignorance and a reactionary mind of a puppet of imperialism. And what was espionage about that interview?

Someone somewhere has lost his mind and even the leadership of Zambia Police, if they have any sense of professionalism, fairness and justice in their hearts, they would not call me here and charge me with such a ridiculous and ludacris espionage charge. Espionage against who and for who? Zambia Police you are losing it. Be serious with your work. You are destroying a very important institution of our country and our people. A professional police service cannot engage in this type of cheap politics, full of vengeance and tyranny.

Charge me and arrest me as you have been instructed but deep down in your hearts, you know very well that the man you are going to arrest today is an honest patriot who is being persecuted at the hands of a tin-pot dictator and a puppet of imperialism, holding power in this country today.

But no matter what you do to me and where you take me, you will never be able to stop this progressive wave, which is starting to sweep our country. To borrow from the Apostle of our independence struggle, Comrade KK, I would say “these are frightened little men, scared of their own shadows because of the many wrong things they have done to our country and our people”.

Instead of fighting the hunger of our people and the poverty that is everyday degrading their lives and humiliating them, they want to turn on me to hide their failures in delivering to the masses of our people, the better life they had promised them.

Arrest the high prices of mealie meal, not me. Arrest the high cost of living, not me. Arrest the high prices of fuel, not me. Arrest the depreciation of the kwacha, not me. Arrest the destruction of the Zambia Police, whose IG Musamba is today calling junkies. Arrest and detain me for as long as you want, take me to Bweengwa or any other place you want, for my detention but I can assure you, I will be back. You cannot intimidate me. I’m beyond intimidation.

You can kill me if you want but that won’t help you much because a more revolutionary Fred M’membe will arise from the people and take my place and continue the struggle for a more just, more fair and more humane Zambia, Africa and the world.

I love Zambia. I love Zimbabwe.

God bless Zambia, God bless Zimbabwe.

Mai buye Africa! Pamberi ne Chimurenga!

I’m ready for anything. I’m ready for calvary. But don’t forget that where there is crucifixion, there is always resurrection.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party (Zambia)