THE DEPLOYMENT OF SPECIAL FORCES FOR MUNICIPAL CLEANING IN LUSAKA
The Socialist Party notes the recent deployment of 150 elite Special Forces personnel to conduct street cleaning operations around the FINDECO Flyover and Kamwala areas in the Lusaka Central Business District. While we fully support the goal of a clean, healthy, and orderly capital city, we must fundamentally question the appropriateness of utilising specialised, highly trained combat units for routine municipal sanitation
A clear, unambiguous line must separate our external defence forces from domestic public administration. Zambia Army Commandos undergo intensive, taxpayer-funded training to defend our borders and protect national sovereignty. Deploying these elite units to perform the duties of local council workers represents an institutional overstep that undermines civilian governance.
A clean Lusaka cannot be sustained through sporadic military interventions or public relations exercises. If the Lusaka City Council lacks the capacity to maintain sanitation in the capital, it points to a structural failure in local government administration and funding.
The sustainable solution is to properly resource the council, pay local workers fair wages, and strengthen standard civilian frameworks, not to normalise the domestic deployment of elite military forces for tasks that belong to municipal authorities.
We urge the administration to respect the institutional boundaries of our defence forces and focus on building robust, well-funded civilian institutions capable of delivering public services to the people of Zambia.
Fred M’membe
SP President