MPEZENI DISOWNS GEORGE ZULU AS HIS INDUNA…but Zulu maintains that it’s up to EP people to choose their own leader in 2021
By Patson Chilemba
Paramount chief of the Ngoni people of Eastern Province, Mpezeni has sharply reacted to George Zulu, saying he is not his induna, following his opposition to the chief’s directive asking the people of Eastern Province for back President Edgar Lungu in the 2021 general elections as a soil of the soil.
But Zambia’s former High Commissioner to Australia Ambassador Zulu said whether he was an induna or not does not matter, as long as he is a Ngoni, saying he maintained his opposition to the directive asking the people of Eastern Province to back President Lungu because he was the son of the soil.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, the Mpezeni said Amb Zulu was not his induna.
“Nanga ni induna? Si induna uja. Awee si induna yayi, ni subject chabe. Si induna yanga. Alibe udendo uli onse. Sure (Is that one my induna? No he’s not, he’s not my induna. He’s just my subject. He doesn’t have any position),” said the Mpezeni.
The Mpezeni recently asked the people of Eastern Province to back President Lungu as the son of the soil in the 2021 general elections, but Amb Zulu said the chief could make directives, but it was up to the people to choose their own leader. He said Eastern Province was a unique Province which had accepted leaders from other regions, and that it was important for the province to retain that uniqueness, saying every Zambian must feel a sense of belonging in the Province.
Mpezeni and Amb Zulu have been known for years to have enjoyed a very sound relationship. Prior to the Ncwala ceremony of the Ngoni people held earlier this year, Daily Revelation spoke with Amb Zulu about the ceremony in his capacity as Mpezeni’s induna. Daily Revelation had called to speak to the chief himself about the ceremony itself, however, due to the fact that the journalist could not comprehend fully the language the paramount chief was speaking, he (Mpezeni) handed over the phone to Amb Zulu to speak on his behalf instead.
And reacting to Mpezeni’s statement that he was not his induna, Amb Zulu said he had never impersonated himself in that position, saying being induna or not, did not change his position as a Ngoni.
“It’s his prerogative to appoint any Ngoni. So if he has corrected that, I am also grateful that he has corrected through the press. I did not claim to be an induna. I wouldn’t say he is upset, he has just corrected my position in my tribe because he is the one who gives,” he said.
He however, said he would not withdraw his statement opposing tribalism, saying he would speak his mind without any hindrance.
“I will speak as George Kanyamula Zulu. I would want to repeat, amplify it that let us look at Zambia so that we should not start looking at tribe,” Amb Zulu said. “I still stand by it that every Zambian must be judged by their character, not by their tribe.”
Amb Zulu said he was speaking against tribalism as a Zambian and a member of the ruling PF, saying he had the right to speak on national matters.
“It’s folly and to start thinking members will not speak on issues, and we don’t want people to put us in sections of tribe,” Amb Zulu said, further speaking against involving chiefs in partisan politics. “We must at all times avoid getting chiefs into politics because they also have their preferences but people have also their own preferences…if the paramount chief says I don’t hold it (induna), it doesn’t make me a non-Ngoni.”
Amb Zulu said the country’s founding president Dr Kenneth Kaunda fought hard to make Zambians as one people, saying every Zambian should feel free to go to every area and canvass for support and votes. -Daily Revelation