Black Tape’s Grumpy Grannies’ Court Protests Against Due Process, Shameful
By Farai Ruvanyathi
The black tape demonstration staged yesterday by some opposition members at the courts of law, protesting the sentencing of former Lumezi MP Munir Zulu, was nothing short of a moral and political paradox.
To any observer aware of Zulu’s reckless and unrestrained tongue, but unaware that he was being sentenced, the demonstration could easily have been mistaken for a symbolic plea urging him to tame his speech. It resembled the old parental gesture of placing a finger over the mouth to caution children against mischief and noise.
Let us be clear: Munir Zulu’s loose and inflammatory language had the potential to incite tribal conflict in Zambia, conflict that could have led to irreparable damage and, God forbid, even genocide. He crossed the legal and moral line, and the only appropriate recourse was for the law to take its course through due process.
The law, everywhere in the world, is like a shifting spanner, or more aptly, like a python. It constricts slowly but surely, and the more one resists, the tighter the grip. The online slander perpetuated by Zulu and other irresponsible actors like the notorious ‘Why Me’ were not harmless jokes; they had devastating real-world consequences. Innocent people were defamed, families torn apart, marriages ruined, reputations that took years to build, destroyed in seconds, some victims even contemplating suicide under the heavy weight of falsehood and shame. Unacceptable!
It is, therefore, profoundly shameful and morally disturbing to witness a group of elderly men and women, many of them grey-haired, people who ought to be custodians of wisdom and family values, reducing themselves to a laughable public display in defence of such behavior. Their conduct was not only embarrassing; it was a betrayal of the very values they should be protecting.
The strategy of these opposition figures has become increasingly clear: if they cannot have power, they are willing to set the country on fire. This scorched-earth mentality, where nothing is sacred, not even truth, peace, or the dignity of public institutions, is dangerous and must be condemned in the strongest terms.
Zambia is not a playground for political arsonists. We are a nation of laws, values, and responsibilities. The law, like the python, will continue to deal with such deliberate mischief with firm precision, tightening its grip on chaos, deceit, and impunity. And rightly so.
Let these opposition leaders, act their age, uphold national values, and recognize that freedom without responsibility is the gateway to anarchy. Let us stand for truth, peace, and justice, not for toxic populism disguised as protest. Shame!
I disagree with this writer.
Shame is promising voters the world and not delivering those promises once elected. That is the ultimate shame. Shame is creating laws to arrest the same voters when they remind you of the promises you made. Shame is tribalism, corruption and oppression.
Vote for change in 2026.
Shame is HaaIndigoTyrol. viva Traore!
That’s the indication that the group of the protesters at the court are incorrigible and non repentant.Those are the people who are Presidential hopefuls surely? If any thing they should have shown some remorse as they followed their member for support.Even the mitigation should have carried some weight.They unfortunately got a wrong route to disadvantage the accused.In football the supporters play a role to strengthen the moral of the players.The unruly and unremorseful supporters carry the image of the accused at the court.And the mitigation hope is destroyed to some extent.The law and all offices that enforce law and order must be respected at all cost.It is sad indeed to see elders behave in such a disorderly way.Some people are not aware that sign language is good communication enough to send information and signal.Some opposition leaders misbehaved a lot if they are not aware at the court.You can’t go to court with some sign of some kind where judgement is to take place.There is no difference with loud noise.
Why didn’t the protesters help Munir Zulu to prove his case against ministers Milupi and Musokotwane, and RDA board chair Kuntawala?
When we have a group of people saying “to hell with the law”, that their own MPs wrote, debated and sent to the President.
What does that say about the protesters? Do they not believe in the law? Do they plan to set the law aside when elected?
Funny how they distance themselves from the very organs that they seek office. When and if elected what kind of government will they run?
Will they allow the kind of behaviour we saw in the convicted former lawmaker?
The protest itself suggests that a sense of injustice had taken place. Munire Zulu is a criminal. He broke the law.
So who made that law, the very leaders now in the forefront suggesting an injustice.
Are these Protesters saying that the law is only law, when its effected on the non political persons? When they break the law its ok?
Then where is the justice that they speak of?….what a bunch of disillusioned jokers
That precious time (in the evening of their lives) they so vainly wasted at the courts of law could have been productively spent playing with their grandchildren. They instead chose to be with the indefensible, uncivilized Munir. Next we will see them at the same premises with not only taped mouths but also blind-folded with their political parties’ regalia (chitenge material) in support of Why me. Tragic!
If they can not have power, they are willing to set the country on fire . This is exactly the state of affairs in some section of the opposition in Zambia, they have just thrown reasoning off the window and it is more shocking to see old people behaving in that manner, very shocking even people we thought are State Council they can’t give Council to 1 M Zulu sure.
While it looks sad, it’s somehow great because they have come out in the open for everyone to see what they stand for and what their intentions are if voted into power. They are are campaigning day light saying we don’t like the law, give us a chance so that we can take the country back to before 21 August 2021. Now people have a chance to make up their minds. When, they enacted the Cyber laws in 2021, it was intended for the opposition and ordinary people. The same law they passed has sent their own to jail. That video should be kept and used in campaign adverts with dates. They pass laws which they don’t respect.