DR. M’MEMBE NARRATES THE EASTER SATURDAY SERENJE ORDEAL
…we were attacked, assaulted and insulted in full view of the police
Lusaka, Wednesday, April 12, 2023 ( Smart Eagles)
With so many stories surrounding what had transpired in Serenje regarding the attack on Socialist Party (SP) President perpetrated by the unruly UPND cadres, the opposition leader has shared the ordeal.
Dr Fred M’membe featured on Hot FM breakfast show yesterday and shared the horrible experience he went through at the hands of the said cadres.
On Saturday last week, geared for a meeting ahead of a ward by election in Serenje, members and the SP leader were met with UPND cadres who violently descended on them with stones, catapults among other things.
The cadres showered Dr M’membe and his members with all sorts of insults, beat the opposition leader in the full view of the police who had it hard to control the unruly conduct.
The violence left Preston Chinyama, political Advisor to the SP President badly injured.
And Dr M’membe said “what happened in Serenje on Easter Saturday was very sad. My day started with a church service. After the church service around 12:30 or so, we went to the camp house in Mililima, we had lunch and prepared for a meeting at 14:00 hours, that was supposed to take place at Kamalamba Mothers’ shelter, which was the designated area for the Socialist Party that day as per Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) campaign calendar.”
“We got to Kamalamba mothers’ shelter between 14:30 and 15:00. Immediately we were just about to start to disembark from the vehicles, 30 meters away from the main road, the Great North Road, two vehicles carrying UPND cadres stopped and got out of two vehicles, started running towards where we were supposed to hold a meeting with sticks, stones, catapults… they started throwing stones and they came, started beating people, people are scampering.”
Dr M’membe said the fight was too frightening, prompting him to fire some shots to disperse the attackers.
“The leaders and started calling on the people to stop running. Most of the women has actually run away, the men remained and they started fighting. There was a big fight which was frightening. I couldn’t see any way I could stop it and it was becoming very fierce,” he said.
“I was still in my car and my body guard was standing by the door. I asked him to make me come out and make me fire a shot so that people can scamper and stop killing each other, because we were going to have deaths both on the Socialist Party and the UPND side. It was a fierce fight.”
The opposition leader said “I have never seen anything like that in the few years I have been at the helm of the Socialist Party. He allowed me and I fired a shot, they scampered a little bit but after few moments they came back, the fight continued. I was forced to fire another shot and they scampered. Again, when they scampered, it gave us an opportunity to exit.”
“So the body guard told me to get inside, we got inside and we started off with the side road along the Great North road. We got to a school called Kamalamba primary school…we saw riot Police officers coming in our direction. We were relieved…And when the police got to where we were, they asked us why we were running away. The body guard told them we are not running away. When we saw you, we actually stopped here so that we can have your protection. We are under attack. Before they could explain to the police, the UPND cadres arrived and started attacking us in full view of the police.”
He added that the violence escalated as they headed to a named police station.
“They grabbed me, trying to pull me out of the car and they were kicking, punching me, they were punching my body guard and other two people who were around. It was difficult for the police, they were helpless, they didn’t know what to do and they were many. After some time, the police just fired a teargas canister to disperse them. When that happened, my body guard ordered my driver to drive away and go to Ndabala check point police post. So, we drove there. When we got there we found the police saying this is the vehicle we were waiting for,” he said.
“We said we are coming to you actually to seek protection and also to report the attack on us. The police told us to park, we said if we park outside here we will be attacked, can you take us where we are safe? The police said no you are safe here we told them we don’t feel safe. If your colleagues, who are more prepared than you had failed to stop them from attacking us, what about you who are few and are just traffic police? You will not be able to protect us. They insisted no…just leave the car and get into the police post. We told them okay, in that case, allow us to park the vehicle behind the police post because they will come and destroy it.”