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Lungu’s exaggerated narratives of JJ’s sickness, whilst planning his escape, confirms that Lungu is a huge crook

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Former Zambian President Accused of Aiding Criminal Suspect’s Escape

Wilhelmia Van de Merwe/@kimberlynewshour

  ackground and Initial Accusation

Zambia has been abuzz with the news of the escape of a serial criminal, JJ Banda, who is ironically a lawmaker in the Zambian House of Representatives, from state custody. President Edgar Lungu, who has declared his intention to challenge his successor Hakainde Hichilema for the presidency, has been implicated in Banda’s escape. Lungu is accused of being the mastermind behind the incident.

The Alleged Abduction

Two months ago, JJ Banda’s alleged abduction in the early hours of the morning was surprisingly first announced by former President Lungu’s headquarters, even before police investigations began. That afternoon, Lungu led a horde of supporters and opposition political party allies to besiege a nearby police department where JJ’s SUV had been discovered, demanding that he be handed over to them.

Suspicious Actions by Lungu’s Faction

What was baffling was the Lungu-led mob’s hasty conclusion that JJ Banda had been abducted by government agents and that President Hichilema was responsible. JJ Banda was later discovered 30 km south of Zambia’s capital on an abandoned farm belonging to Lungu’s ally. The news of his discovery was again announced by Lungu’s political faction, who appeared to have advance information.

Historical Crimes and Political Interference

During Edgar Lungu’s rule, JJ Banda led a band of criminals that raided a police department, beat up officers, and stole firearms and ammunition. The police chief who attempted to arrest him was promptly fired by then-President Lungu. A year earlier, JJ had beaten up and urinated in the mouth of a journalist who questioned him about an alleged crime involving burning his girlfriend to death after she refused to abort his baby.

  Renewed Legal Action and the Escape

After his alleged abduction, which many viewed as a choreographed attempt by the former President to cause anarchy in the country, the police revisited the crimes, charged him, and sent him to court in Eastern Zambia, where the crimes were committed. It was during this time that JJ escaped from the hospital after feigning an illness.

  Lungu’s Threats and Current Status

A day earlier, Edgar Lungu had warned of bloodshed and an uprising if JJ died in prison. Many observers see this statement by the former President as a veiled attempt to divert attention. There has been no concrete news of JJ’s whereabouts since.

Jay Jay Drama

1. Some PF/UKWA aligned Law Enforcement Officers tip Jay Jay that he was about to be arrested for cases of alleged attempted murder and aggravated robbery;

2. The some team moots a scheme to pre-empt his arrest by faking an abduction;

3. The idea of an abduction was to create ethnic and regional conflict by creating an impression that Jay Jay was abducted and taken to Southern Province;

4. The political architects start creating stories that Jay Jay has been seen in Chikankata in Southern Province;

5. After sensing that the State was zeroing in on unearthing the alleged abduction, the “abductors” allegedly dump Jay Jay in Kafue;

6. The PF/ UKWA team, through UKWA Chairperson, Sakwiba Sikota, claim that Jay Jay was horribly tortured. Sikota held a Press Briefing where he alleged that the last time he saw such injuries was in 1991 on the late Cuthbert Ng’uni. Fake pictures of someone’s legs with injuries were circulated alleging that they belonged to Jay Jay to.justify their lies;

7. Quickly, Jay Jay is indicated into accusing some State House officials, to create an impression that the President was involved in the alleged abduction;

8. Fast forward, a fake story is created that one of Jay Jay’s legs has been amputated because he had been sick and the State was not taking him to the hospital after arresting and detaining him. A fake faceless picture of some with an amputated leg was circulated, to mislead the public that that was Jay Jay;

9. A classic one, Jay Jay, whom the PF/UKWA sang day and night that he was extremely sick and needed to be taken to the hospital, escapes from Chipata Hospital in Eastern Province where he was in the Correctional Facility awaiting court appearances!

10. Again, the PF Social Media Platforms are awash with innuendos that Jay Jay was abducted by the State from the hospital, notwithstanding the fact that one of his wives is an eye witnesse of how the Honourable Member of Parliament for Petauke Central Constituency escaped from lawful custody!

PARIS OLYMPICS BRONZE MEDALIST MUZALA IN CHINESE WINDFALL AS HE RECEIVES MORE THAN K 390,000

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PARIS OLYMPICS BRONZE MEDALIST MUZALA IN CHINESE WINDFALL AS HE RECEIVES MORE THAN K 390,000

August 7th, 2024

LUSAKA – The Zambia Chinese Association has pledged to give more than K390,000 to 2024 Paris Olympics 400m bronze medalist Muzala Samukonga in recognition of his outstanding performance at the global showpiece.

Muzala Samukonga has minted bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after coming out third with new personal best and national record 43.74 seconds

The Association’s President Zhang Jian of Happy Lands limited and Executive President Wu Ming of Kinglong Motors have pledged to give $10,000 and $5,000 respectively to Samukonga.

Mr. Ming told The Falcon this evening that the Chinese Association appreciates the role that sports play in the development of the country and was excited at the performance of the runner who has not only ably represented the country but Africa as a whole.

He said the association of Chinese business houses in the country is proud to be associated with one of the world’s fastest runners hence its contribution of $15,000 to aid his continued participation in the sport.

” As an association, we wish to state that we are very proud of Muzala for ably representing the country at the Olympics. We are positive that our contribution will not only spur Muzala towards more energized victories but will also encourage others especially youths and pupils to take up sport and athletics in particular serious.

He further added that the Chinese community regards sports as a key ingredient in the physical and mental growth of every human being and always stands ready to help the Zambian government, Sports Ministry and Associations in contributing towards the growth of the sector.

Kinglong Motors in 2022 donated a bus towards the bronze winning WAFCON medalists the shepolopolo team to aid their movement as part of its corporate social responsibility.

The more than K390,000 will be handed over to Muzala at a ceremony to be hosted in his and other athletes honour once they return from Paris, France.

He has ended Zambia’s 27 year drought of a medal at the Olympics since Samuel Matete won silver in 1996 in the Hurdles category.

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Onana has declared his plan to embrace “a lot of risks” as the club targets a better 2024/25 season

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Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana has declared his plan to embrace “a lot of risks” as the club targets a better 2024/25 season.

After joining from Inter for £47.2m, Onana experienced a mixed debut season, with notable errors as he adapted to his new role, though he also made vital saves and improved significantly over the season.

The Cameroon international is undaunted by the challenges of risky situations and has warned fans to anticipate frequent risk-taking going forward.

“That’s me, and I think it’s what you’re going to see this season because I will take a lot of risks.

I can tell you in advance already!” Onana told reporters ahead of Saturday’s Community Shield.

“Be prepared because it’s going to be this season, trust me! I will enjoy it even more when this season starts.

The best teams in the world take risks. Building from the back, recognise things, situations, when the opponent jumps one against one, or when they press with three or with four.

“For me, it’s important to recognise those kinds of things and make the best decision for the team. I will take a lot of responsibility and I think my back is huge to carry it all. I think it’s going to be nice this season.”

Manchester United secured the FA Cup in May with a surprising victory over Manchester City at Wembley.

Despite this success, their season was difficult, featuring an early departure from the Champions League, no relief from the Europa League, and their worst-ever finish in the Premier League, ending in eighth place.

“One hundred per cent, I don’t think it was good enough last season because I’m coming from playing in the Champions League final [with Inter in 2023],” Onana commented.

“The FA Cup is important but not enough for Manchester United.

The targets have to be really high and we will go for it this season. I’m really excited about the new signings and I think with the way my teammates are working hard every day, I’m very positive.”

Time to focus on league titles, not local cup – Former Man Utd legend to Ten Hag

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Mikael Silvestre has asserted that Erik ten Hag needs to aim for more than just domestic cup victories after receiving a vote of confidence from the club’s owners.

Despite leading Manchester United to an FA Cup win over Manchester City and achieving his second trophy with the club, having previously won the Carabao Cup, Ten Hag faces the challenge of overcoming United’s worst-ever Premier League finish.

With INEOS, the club’s minority owners, showing continued support, expectations for the upcoming season are significantly higher.

“The cup is not the club’s main objective, they have got to be challenging for the title like Man City and Arsenal have been doing over the last two seasons,” Silvestre said to TG Casino. “There is still a lot of room for improvement and hopefully he can get some more signings to improve the squad.”

United considered a number of candidates to succeed Ten Hag and held discussions with Thomas Tuchel before eventually deciding to stick with the Dutchman, triggering the one-year extension in his contract.

Silvestre believes that was the right decision, as he added: “I couldn’t identify another candidate for the job. I think Erik was given a tough task and he started brilliantly but last season was a disappointment.

There were question marks on the team’s progress and performances. Certain players didn’t progress and there were big doubts about his future. Now it’s been confirmed and he’s going to have resources.”

This summer, Erik ten Hag has secured two new additions for Manchester United: Leny Yoro from Lille for £52 million ($66 million) and Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna for £37 million ($43 million).

The club is also eyeing Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich.

Mazraoui, a right-back from Morocco, is one of several players Ten Hag has pursued or signed due to their past connections at Ajax, a move that has faced some criticism.

However, Silvestre believes this approach is not an issue.

“It depends, it’s case-by-case and you can’t make it as a general view,” added the Frenchman. “There were some good ones and some that didn’t work out so far, like Antony. Lisandro Martinez on the other side is the one that when he doesn’t play, you feel it.

Whether you are a manager or you are a sporting director, you tend to have a certain network and that’s just how it goes, but after it’s a matter of whether or not the player will perform for United.

So I think now we have the new staff around the manager at the recruitment level and technical decision makers that should help the manager to make the right call.”

Manchester United’s pre-season has been challenging, with three defeats in five friendlies and injuries to Leny Yoro and Rasmus Højlund.

Despite these setbacks, they will welcome back their full squad for the Community Shield clash against Manchester City on Saturday. The team will then kick off their Premier League season with a home match against Fulham on August 16.

Mali severs ties with Ukraine over claims of involvement in Wagner ambush

Mali has announced the severance of diplomatic ties with Ukraine following comments from a Ukrainian military official suggesting Kyiv’s involvement in recent deadly conflicts near the Algerian border.

The clashes resulted in the deaths of numerous Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner group mercenaries during confrontations with Tuareg separatist rebels and al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman, stated last week that the rebels had received “necessary information” to carry out the attacks.

Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, a senior Malian official, expressed his government’s shock at the allegation and accused Ukraine of infringing on Mali’s sovereignty.

Yusov’s comments “admitted Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups” that had led to the deaths of Malian soldiers, Col Maiga’s statement said.

Mali has decided to break off relations “with immediate effect”, he said.

Last week, Mali’s army admitted it had suffered “significant” losses during several days of fighting earlier that erupted on 25 July.

Last week, Mali’s military acknowledged experiencing “significant” casualties during several days of intense fighting that began on July 25.

The battles occurred in the desert near Tinzaouaten, a northeastern town bordering Algeria.

According to reports, Malian and Russian forces were ambushed by Tuareg rebels and militants from the al-Qaeda affiliate Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin while they were awaiting reinforcements after retreating from Tinzaouaten.

Though neither the Malian military nor Wagner—now rebranded as the Africa Corps—disclosed precise figures, estimates suggest that Wagner’s losses ranged from 20 to 80 fighters, marking their heaviest toll in Mali since their involvement began two years ago.

Wagner confirmed the death of one of its commanders and the downing of a Russian helicopter amid “fierce fighting,” stating they had faced an assault by approximately 1,000 fighters.

On Thursday, Tuareg-led separatists claimed they had killed 84 Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers.

Over a decade ago, a Tuareg rebellion seeking a separate state led to the Malian central government losing control over much of the north. The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of Islamist militants.

Citing the previous government’s failure to manage this unrest, the military took power in coups in 2020 and 2021. The new junta then shifted Mali’s longstanding alliance from former colonial power France to Russia in an effort to quell the ongoing conflict.

‘Harris’s no 2 taught in China’: Chinese internet reacts to Walz

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Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential pick Tim Walz has drawn attention halfway across the world in China.

Chinese social media users have been discussing how Mr. Walz spent a year teaching in the south-eastern province of Guangdong in 1989 – a topic that was trending on Weibo with 12 million views.

He and his wife, fellow teacher Gwen Whipple, later honeymooned in the country. Mr. Walz once described his decision to teach in China as “one of the best things I’ve ever done”.

The 60-year-old Minnesota governor was a history teacher and football coach before he joined politics.

He was fresh out of college when he moved to China to teach English and American history at a high school.

The fact that it happened in 1989 – the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre – was not lost on those commenting on Chinese social media.

On 4 June that year, Chinese tanks rolled into Beijing’s central square, where hundreds of thousands had gathered demanding political reforms. The day ended in bloodshed and to this day it is unclear exactly how many died. Some estimates put the death toll upwards of 10,000.

Chinese social media users cannot say much about 1989 or risk getting censored. They refer to it obliquely – one comment simply said “If you know, you know”. Foreigners who were in China at that time “are the most anti-China”, said one user.

Others pointed out that China in 1989 was a vastly different country. It was well before China became the world’s largest manufacturing hub, then its second-largest economy and finally, a powerful US rival.

“This candidate was in China at a very different time. The atmosphere was very different,” one comment read.

And yet they hoped that if he wins, he may signal better US-China ties. The two countries have been at loggerheads on trade, advanced technology, and China’s geopolitical ambitions.

One Weibo user pointed out that Mr. Walz’s “unique background gives him a real perspective on China”, and he could “promote cultural exchanges between China and the United States at a time when… relations are extremely difficult”. Back then, Mr. Walz spent a year teaching at the Foshan No 1 High School under a Harvard University volunteer programme.

When he returned to the US, he told a local newspaper that there were “no limits” on what the Chinese could accomplish “if they had proper leadership”. “They are such kind, generous, capable people,” he said.

Mr. Walz and his wife were married on 4 June 1994 – the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen uprising. She said in an interview that “he wanted to have a date he’ll always remember”.

The couple then started a business which organised summer educational trips to China for US students.

There hasn’t been much official reaction yet from the Republicans to Mr. Walz’s time in China.

But some allies of Trump have said Mr. Walz’s nomination would be welcomed in China, although Beijing has not commented on it.

“Communist China is very happy with @GovTimWalz as Kamala’s VP pick,” Richard Grenell, a former acting director of National Intelligence in the previous Trump administration, said on X.

‘Squad’ member Cori Bush loses congressional primary

Democratic congresswoman and “Squad” member Cori Bush has lost her primary race in Missouri, according to US media projections.

Wesley Bell, a St Louis prosecutor, will instead be the party’s candidate in the state’s first congressional district this November.

Ms. Bush, a nurse, came to prominence as an organiser in the Black Lives Matter movement and, after taking office in 2021, as one of the Democratic members of the “Squad”, who are known to support progressive causes.

She has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, with pro-Israel groups spending more than $10m (£7.9m) on efforts to unseat her in the primary.

Projections from both the Associated Press news agency and NBC News suggest Mr Bell is on track to win the vote with 51% of ballots cast, compared to Ms Bush’s 46%.

The district is a strongly Democratic area and Mr Bell is expected to hold it in the November general election.

Almost all the money spent in campaigning against Ms Bush reportedly came from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). Aipac is a pro-Israel lobbying group and has vowed to spend over $100m to unseat progressive lawmakers who have spoken out against the war in Gaza, Politico reported.

In her concession speech, Ms Bush declared: “All they did was radicalise me, so now they need to be afraid.”

“Aipac, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down,” she added.

It marks the second loss for the Squad – a group of nine progressive Democrats in the US House of Representatives – during the 2024 election cycle.

In June, more than $15m was put into a successful bid to oust Jamaal Bowman, another critic of Israel, from his seat in New York. The figure was the most spent in any House primary in history. Mr Bowman was ousted just weeks after he was censured for pulling a fire alarm while the House was in session.

Speaking to CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, ahead of the vote, Mr Bell accused Ms Bush of “not doing her job”.

“She is not working with others, and it’s hurting our district.”
Ms Bush defended her record to the outlet: “My community knows who I am. They know that I am going to fight for the people in the streets.”

Less than two weeks after the 7 October attacks, Ms Bush introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid.

The attacks, carried out by Hamas and other armed militant groups saw around 1,200 people killed in Israel and another 251 taken to Gaza as hostages.

In response, Israel declared a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off supplies of electricity, food, fuel, and water. To date, more than 39,600 people have been killed during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Ms Bush also boycotted a joint address to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July, calling him a war criminal and saying he was at the forefront of a genocide. Dozens of House and Senate Democrats boycotted Mr Netanyahu’s address.

In a statement ahead of the vote Ms Bush accused Mr Netanyahu of perpetrating a “genocide” in Gaza and claimed Congress was “actively celebrating” his actions.
Ms Bush has also been investigated by the justice department, House ethics committee and Federal Elections Commission for her campaign spending, mostly over allegations that she improperly paid her husband, a security guard, for protection.

She previously said any claims she had misused federal funds were “simply false”.

Three other US states – Kansas, Michigan and Washington – also held primary elections on Tuesday.

Dan Newhouse, one of the last remaining Republicans to have voted to impeach Donald Trump, appeared to have scraped through in his primary election.
Washington state holds what is known as a jungle primary, allowing the top two finishers – regardless of party – to advance to the general election.

Mr Newhouse, an agricultural scientist who has represented a central Washington district since 2015, faced off against two Trump-endorsed candidates – Navy veteran Jerrod Sessler and ex-nurse Tiffany Smiley.

Early projections of the race show Mr Sessler leading Mr Newhouse, with Ms Smiley close behind them – meaning that the incumbent could face a difficult challenge in November.

Of the so-called “Impeachment 10” – Republicans who voted in favour of Trump’s impeachment – only Mr Newhouse and California’s David Valadao remain in the House.

All other pro-impeachment Republicans have either left Congress since their 2021 vote or been defeated in primary races.

The math behind why Harris picked Walz and why she may regret it

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz hadn’t been in the top tier of potential running mates for Kamala Harris until the past few weeks. But his selection to join the vice president on the Democratic ticket underscores both the power of social media and of being relatively affable and nondivisive.

So what took Walz from, nationally speaking, a relative unknown to major-party vice presidential nominee? You might just call the entire thing “weird.”

Recall how Democrats started calling Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance “weird” a few weeks ago. The attack might have felt like something out of high school, but the crazy thing is that it seems to have worked.

A look at Google trend data reveals a recent increase in searches for the word “weird.” More than that, the topics associated with “weird” were Make America Great Again, the Republican Party, Vance and Walz.

Why Walz? He’s been credited as the first one to have started calling Republicans weird in any large-scale way.

And we know that the Harris campaign was paying attention because it fired off at least one email missive that suggested that the “weird” attacks against the Republican ticket were driving the online conversation.

The fact that Harris selected a candidate who does well online shouldn’t be surprising – this is the campaign that has embraced “coconut tree” and “brat.” Harris has also done very well on TikTok, which is something Joe Biden’s campaign couldn’t do.

But is the Walz pick indicative of a campaign that is too online?

That’s a fair question given that Harris skipped over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in favor of Walz. Shapiro, who was long seen as a front-runner for the vice presidential pick, divided a lot of the online left over his perceived views on the Israelis and Palestinians.

Notably, Walz shares many of those same views on the issue but received far less backlash than Shapiro, who is Jewish.

The fact that Walz faced virtually no opposition from any of the major Democratic Party factions almost certainly helped him. After all, the Harris campaign has been riding a wave of good emotions since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Walz’s nondivisive manner on a larger scale seemed to play on a smaller scale as well. Harris had good personal chemistry with him and particularly liked his “happy go lucky” attitude, according to CNN reporting.

Getting along with a running mate and not potentially dividing the party with the choice is reason enough to pick someone.

One of the first rules when it comes to a vice presidential pick is to “Do no harm.” Harris likely did no harm with this pick. Walz served 12 years in the US House and is currently in his second term as governor. He can’t be attacked for having little experience, unlike his Republican counterpart Vance, who is the least liked vice presidential nominee coming out of his party’s convention on record.

A selection not without risk

The big question now is whether Harris left points on the board by choosing Walz instead of Shapiro.

Minnesota is likely not going to be competitive this fall. No Republican nominee for president has carried the state since 1972 – it’s Democrats’ longest presidential winning streak (outside of Washington, DC). And polling in the North Star State since Harris entered the race has shown that the streak is likely to continue.

Pennsylvania, on the other hand, is almost certainly a must-win state for Harris if she wants to be president. In fact, it is probably the most important swing state this cycle, and the polling there has been very tight.

Shapiro currently holds a 61% favorable rating in Pennsylvania and outperformed Biden’s 2020 baseline by 14 points in 2022.

Whether that would have been enough to propel a Harris-Shapiro ticket in Pennsylvania this fall is a question mark, though political science literature suggests it very well could have.

What we can say, though, is that Walz is not likely to help Harris with many swing voters. He did less than a point better than Biden in Minnesota when he won reelection in 2022. In fact, Shapiro seems to have done better with White voters without a college degree in Pennsylvania than Walz did with the same demographic in his state two years ago.

And even if Walz had been an electoral juggernaut, it remains to be seen whether he can help the Democratic ticket outside his home state.

If Harris ends up losing Pennsylvania and the election by a small margin, it will be one of history’s great “what-ifs.” Did she not choose Shapiro because she was afraid of the online left?

Harris, of course, is hoping the election won’t be that close. She seems to have momentum, and the Walz pick will probably do nothing to impede it.

Heirs of slave owners apologize to descendants of slaves at Jamaica’s annual Emancipation Day

Jamaica’s celebration of the Emancipation Day on August 1, 2024, took an emotional turn as some individuals and families rendered apologies to people whose ancestors were adversely affected by slavery.

Emancipation Day is celebrated across the Caribbean every year on the first of August and is recognised as a public holiday in many of the islands. The event, held at the Seville Heritage Park in Saint Ann, has been a feature of the celebrations since 1997.

This year’s celebrations came with an unexpected twist; it presented an opportunity to the individuals and groups whose family members enabled, partook of, or profited from the transatlantic slave trade to apologise in person to the descendants of those affected by the incident.

The event was organized by the Jamaica National Commission on Reparations, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, and the country’s Ministry of Culture.

Significant features of the program included re-enactments and poignant poetry that set the scene and erased the centuries between the audience and the enslaved men, women, and children who once stood on Jamaican soil.

At midnight on the day of the celebration, a hush fell over the crowd gathered, especially as the pageantry and performances that led up to that charged silence had been designed to evoke the anguish of slavery.

The silence was, however, broken by a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, signaling freedom, hope, and the definitive end to the centuries-long transatlantic slave movement that allowed Europeans to abduct, traffic, murder and inflict suffering on Africans.

Speaking at the event were Joseph Harker, the Guardian’s Senior Editor in charge of Diversity and Development, who delivered an apology via a video message, and members of the Heirs of Slavery, a group of people who have discovered that their ancestors facilitated or profited from transatlantic slavery.

Harker reiterated the commitment made a year ago during an apology from the Guardian’s owner to “raising awareness of this brutal and dehumanising era, and to creating a 10-year programme of restorative justice in full consultation with communities still affected by its legacies.”

That which caused substantial emotional turmoil was an apology from Kate Thomas and Aidee Walker, two New Zealand sisters who had travelled to Jamaica to address the atrocities of their ancestors, the clan Malcolm of Argyll.

A part of their presentation read: “We acknowledge the wealth created by our ancestors through the chattel enslavement of your ancestors, and the injustice of financial compensation paid by the British government to the enslavers. The enduring and damaging legacy of this injustice continues to the present day. We share a history as descendants of both enslavers and the enslaved. Our history is intertwined with your history, and your history is intertwined with ours.”

They went ahead to pledge to continue working hard in order to turn their apologies into concrete reparative action, an act which was followed by applause from the audience.

Laura Trevelyan, a British journalist and member of the Heirs of Slavery group, supported the sisters through the reparations process. She said their apology “shows how global the influence of the transatlantic slave trade truly was, reaching across the Pacific Ocean”. She hoped their actions would open up a debate in Oceania region about the region’s historical links to slavery.

The story of the sisters demonstrates the intrigue and complexities of the reparations movement. Available details show that their fourth great-grandmother, Mary Johnson, was of African descent and a housekeeper in the Malcolm household. She had five children with John Malcolm, including their third great-grandfather, Neill Malcolm.

Earlier on Wednesday, July 31, Walker and Thomas noted that their involvement with New Zealand’s Māori people had prompted them to explore their ancestry.

Walker, a film-maker, spoke about the trauma of having one’s identity stolen by colonisation: “My partner is Māori and his grandparents were beaten for speaking Māori in school, and we have seen the effects that losing their language has had on his family.”

Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s Culture Minister asserts that “these apologies may be small steps, but they are important steps on the journey towards reparatory justice.”

Niger’s junta cuts diplomatic ties with Ukraine

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Niger Republic has announced that it is cutting diplomatic ties with Ukraine “with immediate effect,” accusing Kyiv of supporting “terrorist groups.” This decision comes just two days after Mali took a similar step.

The diplomatic break follows significant losses suffered by the Malian army in late July at the hands of jihadists and separatist forces, for which Ukraine has been partly blamed.

Niger’s government spokesman, Amadou Abdramane, made the announcement in a televised statement, revealing that Niger would request the United Nations Security Council to debate Ukraine’s “aggression.”

Niger and Mali, both currently under military governments following recent coups, have previously severed defence agreements with France and turned to Russia for military assistance. Reports indicate that several soldiers from Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group were killed alongside Malian soldiers during the July conflict in the north of the country.

Abdramane stated, “The government of the Republic of Niger, in total solidarity with the government and people of Mali, decides in complete sovereignty to sever diplomatic relations between the Republic of Niger and Ukraine with immediate effect.”

Mali’s government spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, announced on Sunday, August 4, that Mali had broken off relations following remarks by Andriy Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the GUR. Yusov was quoted by state media saying, “The rebels received all the necessary information they needed,” without providing further details.

Abdramane expressed Niger’s outrage over Yusov’s comments, stating, “The government of the Republic of Niger learned with great amazement and deep indignation, the subversive and unacceptable remarks of Mr. Andriy Yusov.”

In response, the Ukrainian foreign ministry asserted on Monday, August 5, that Ukraine “unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law” and “firmly rejects the accusations of the transitional government of Mali,” expressing regret over Bamako’s “hasty” decision.

The diplomatic tensions are rooted in a severe bout of fighting that erupted near the Algerian border on July 25 at a military camp in Tinzaouatene. Tuareg-led separatists have claimed they’ve killed 84 Wagner fighters and 47 Malian soldiers. Mali’s army acknowledged suffering “a large number” of deaths during the conflict but has not provided specific figures.

wife of a British politician has been arrested for r@cial h@tred after saying rioters should set fire to all the migrant hotels

The wife of a British politician has been arrested for r@cial h@tred after saying rioters should set fire to all the migrant hotels.

Lucie Connolly, who works as a childminder in Northamptonshire, made vile tweet with the phrase: ‘if that makes me racist, so be it.’

Posting on Twitter, Connolly said: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f* hotels full of the b** for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them.

‘I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist, so be it.’

Wife of British politician is arrested for r@cial h@tred after saying rioters should

The message was posted just hours after the death of three girls, aged six, seven, and nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport.

The horror knife rampage sparked a slew of misinformation that spread like wildfire online fuelled by Russian-linked fake news.

She has since deleted her post and blamed it on ‘a moment of extreme outrage and emotion’ when she was acting on ‘false and malicious’ information.

Her husband Raymond, who is vice chair of the committee on adult social care at West Northamptonshire Council, responded to the BBC by saying his wife is not racist because she looks after ‘Somalian and Bangladeshi kids’.

Wife of British politician is arrested for r@cial h@tred after saying rioters should

Northamptonshire Police said that a 41-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after reports of a hate crime regarding a social media post.

Online childcare community Childcare.co.uk have since confirmed that they have suspended Connolly following the tweet, after allegations emerged she had an advert on their platform.

It comes after violent riots have exploded across several cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Plymouth, and Birmingham following the Southport knife rampage which claimed the lives of three young girls and left many others injured.

And just days ago gangs of masked thugs descended on hotels believed to be housing migrants and asylum seekers, with many starting fire to the buildings as they threw petrol bombs and projectiles at police.

Approached by the BBC, Cllr Connolly defended his wife, saying that his wife had made one ‘stupid, spur of the moment tweet out of frustration and quickly deleted it’

He continued: ‘She’s a good person and she’s not racist. She’s got Somalian and Bangladeshi kids she looks after and she loves them like they’re her own’.

Responding on social media today, Ms. Connolly said: I regret and apologise for a recent post that I made. Acting on information that I now know to be false and malicious, and in a moment of extreme outrage and emotion, I posted words that I realise were wrong in every way.

‘I am someone who cares enormously about children, and the similarity between those beautiful children who were so brutally attacked and my own daughter overwhelmed me with horror but I should not have expressed that horror in the way that I did.

‘This has been a valuable lesson for me, in realising how wrong and inaccurate things appearing on social media can be, and I will never ever react in this way again.’

Pakistani man with ties to Iran arrested after he tried to hire hitmen to k!ll Trump

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A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been charged over an alleged plot to assassinate US politicians and officials.

Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of attempting to hire a hitman in New York to kill prominent American officials.

FBI director Christopher Wray called the scheme a “dangerous murder-for-hire plot… straight out of the Iranian playbook”.

CBS quoted sources as saying Donald Trump was among Merchant’s targets.

Security for the Republican presidential nominee was increased in June after authorities learned of an Iranian plot to kill him.

“A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI,” Mr Wray said on Tuesday, August 6.

Mr Merchant was arrested in July and is being held in New York.

According to the justice department’s indictment, Mr Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan in April after having spent time in Iran.

After arriving, he allegedly contacted a person whom he believed could help with the assassination plot. That unnamed contact later reported Mr Merchant to the police.

Mr Merchant allegedly made a “finger gun” motion with his hand when talking about what he wanted to do.

The indictment said the job would not be a “one-time opportunity” and that contacts services would be needed on an ongoing basis.

Mr Merchant allegedly told the contact he planned to leave the US before targets were killed, and that he would stay in contact using code words.

The suspect asked the contact to arrange a meeting with would-be assassins, the indictment says. The contact then connected him in June to undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen.

Mr Merchant allegedly told the agents they were to steal documents from the home of a target, arrange protests at political rallies, and kill a “political person”.

According to the indictment, Mr Merchant said the targets would be communicated in the last week of August or the first week of September.

While the indictment does not mention Trump by name, sources cited by CBS said that the former president was one of the intended targets.

The plot is unrelated to the assassination attempt on the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July, by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper on site.

Trump and officials including his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, have faced threats from Tehran since ordering the drone strike assassination of Qassim Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds force, in Iraq in 2020.

Former Zambian President Accused of Aiding Criminal Suspect’s Escape

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Former Zambian President Accused of Aiding Criminal Suspect’s Escape

Wilhelmia Van de Merwe/@kimberlynewshour

  ackground and Initial Accusation

Zambia has been abuzz with the news of the escape of a serial criminal, JJ Banda, who is ironically a lawmaker in the Zambian House of Representatives, from state custody. President Edgar Lungu, who has declared his intention to challenge his successor Hakainde Hichilema for the presidency, has been implicated in Banda’s escape. Lungu is accused of being the mastermind behind the incident.

The Alleged Abduction

Two months ago, JJ Banda’s alleged abduction in the early hours of the morning was surprisingly first announced by former President Lungu’s headquarters, even before police investigations began. That afternoon, Lungu led a horde of supporters and opposition political party allies to besiege a nearby police department where JJ’s SUV had been discovered, demanding that he be handed over to them.

Suspicious Actions by Lungu’s Faction

What was baffling was the Lungu-led mob’s hasty conclusion that JJ Banda had been abducted by government agents and that President Hichilema was responsible. JJ Banda was later discovered 30 km south of Zambia’s capital on an abandoned farm belonging to Lungu’s ally. The news of his discovery was again announced by Lungu’s political faction, who appeared to have advance information.

Historical Crimes and Political Interference

During Edgar Lungu’s rule, JJ Banda led a band of criminals that raided a police department, beat up officers, and stole firearms and ammunition. The police chief who attempted to arrest him was promptly fired by then-President Lungu. A year earlier, JJ had beaten up and urinated in the mouth of a journalist who questioned him about an alleged crime involving burning his girlfriend to death after she refused to abort his baby.

  Renewed Legal Action and the Escape

After his alleged abduction, which many viewed as a choreographed attempt by the former President to cause anarchy in the country, the police revisited the crimes, charged him, and sent him to court in Eastern Zambia, where the crimes were committed. It was during this time that JJ escaped from the hospital after feigning an illness.

  Lungu’s Threats and Current Status

A day earlier, Edgar Lungu had warned of bloodshed and an uprising if JJ died in prison. Many observers see this statement by the former President as a veiled attempt to divert attention. There has been no concrete news of JJ’s whereabouts since.

Security agents making headway in pursuit of fugitive Petauke Central MP Emmanuel Jay Banda who escaped from lawful custody -Gov’t

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Highlights from the joint pressing briefing held by the Minister of Information and Media and Chief Government Spokesperson Hon. Cornelius Mweetwa MP, the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Hon. Paul Kabuswe MP and the Minister of Labour and Social Security Hon. Brenda Tambatamba MP.


UPDATE ON THE OCCURRENCES IN KASEMPA RELATING TO THE EVACUATION OF ILLEGAL MINERS
✅The area in question is Chindomona in Dengwe ward, an established mining zone owned by individuals with full mining rights.


✅The illegal mining activities took place under the jurisdiction of Mulopwe Metal Mining Limited.
✅The illegal activities compromised and abrogated a number of pieces of legislation such as the Public Order Act, Public Health Act and Mines and Minerals Act.
✅Over 2000 illegal miners were detected in the area.


✅Law enforcement agencies were deployed to curb the rise of illegal mining activities.
✅No death or fatality has been recorded as a result of police intervention in Kasempa.


✅Citizens are urged to collect facts before reporting on issues to avoid the spread of false information.
Meanwhile, Mines and Mineral Development Minister Hon. Paul Kabuswe says Government will not tolerate illegal mining and is collaborating with law enforcement agencies to bring an end to the vice.


✅According to the Mines and Minerals Development Act, License holders have the responsibility to ensure security of their premises.
✅Government has no ownership of the Senseli Gold Mine.
✅Government is mandated to issue mining Licenses to all successful applicants.


✅Government is expected to conduct an aerial mapping survey of the entire country to determine precise locations of all mineral resources.
✅ Konkola Copper Mine has paid over 300 contractors and suppliers racing towards a deadline of 31st August, 2024.
And the Minister of Information and Media and Chief Government Spokesperson Hon. Cornelius Mweetwa, indicated that Government holds Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) and other like – minded institutions as they are important in the execution of the country’s democratic governance.


✅Government would like such institutions to continue being respected locally and internationally.
✅The Chief Government Spokesperson noted that of late, TI-Z has been making commentaries that are completely unfounded relating to constitutional amendments that do not exist despite the institution having a long history of trust and confidence from the citizens in terms of fighting corruption.


✅Additionally, TI-Z has made comments on Senseli Mine which are unfounded and baseless.
✅Government expects that respected institutions such as TI-Z should find it easy to walk to any government offices and line Ministries to get information before misleading the public.
✅ Government fears that if TI-Z gets its integrity tainted by ‘an octopus arrangement’, it will then lose credible partners in governance.


✅Governments is of the view that TI-Z is an institution of integrity which is the foundation upon which they stand, hence the need for the institution to speak with facts.
UPDATE ON THE ESCAPE OF HON. EMMANUEL JAY BANDA , PETAUKE CENTRAL MP.
✅Mr. Mweetwa stated that while receiving treatment in hospital, Hon. Emmanuel Jay Banda escaped from lawful custody some three days ago and his whereabouts remain unknown to date.
✅The security agencies are making headway in the man hunt and pursuit of Mr. Banda to bring him back to lawful custody.


✅The matter will be followed to the latter and Government is deploying all available means and resources to ensure that the MP is brought back because he is the citizen of Zambia.
✅Additionally, when one escapes under lawful custody, it is the role of the State to ensure that the prison escapee is brought back in custody.
✅ Hon. Jay Banda is not being treated differently but will be looked for just like any other fugitive.


✅Government is deeply concerned that the lawmaker who should lead by example in the observance of the rule of law should take lead in breaking it by escaping from lawful custody.
✅ So far, the investigations have progressed well and revealed that Mr. Banda’s escape was well-orchestrated and that in its execution, a number of people were involved.


✅The MP was aided to escape and that the police are closing down on all those who were involved in his escape. Currently, Emmanuel Jay Banda is believed to be hiding within neighbourhoods where he may easily be brought back into lawful custody of the State
✅One of Emmanuel Banda’s wives is currently undergoing interrogations with the police relating to the escape of Mr. Banda unlike what is being reported on social media that she has been arrested.
✅Citizens are urged not to rush into believing everything they see on social media. This matter is not a political but a criminal matter being treated like any other criminal matter.


✅Therefore, those with a habit of insinuating the state of affairs regarding this matter should refrain from it at all times.
✅The Chief Government Spokesperson stated that lawmakers should be mindful of what they say because unsuspecting citizens take it as the gospel truth.
✅The nation will be updated as events unfold relating to the incident and that people should remain calm while the State does its work.
✅Government is hopeful that the lawmaker will be brought back in good health.


✅Meanwhile, Mr. Mweetwa added that statements on social media which are attributed to the Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Hon. Jack Mwiimbu stating that it was a mistake by the police to treat Emmanuel Jay Banda MP with a ‘human kind of attitude’ has been noted.
✅However, the Minister clarified that Mr. Mwiimbu did not indicate that he was at fault to accord Mr. Banda that treatment but rather was emphasizing that ordinarily any prisoner would not be allowed to ask for or be given privacy to be in a room where he or she will be alone with his attendees.
✅The officers on duty knew that they were dealing with the supposedly Member of Parliament no wonder he was treated humanely which ordinarily is not supposed to be given to an ordinary prisoner.


✅The question was not on human rights but on Mr. Banda being given human treatment as a Member of Parliament.
UPDATE ON MAIZE IMPORTS FROM TANZANIA.
✅The Maize being imported from Tanzania has begun to arrive in the country.
✅Truckloads of maize are entering the country through Nakonde border to mitigate the food insecurity arising from the drought.


✅The maize is being brought to Kapiri Mposhi depots and in a few days, the Minister of Information and Media will conduct a tour to the depots.
✅ First Quantum Minerals are the main transporters of the maize using their trucks.


✅Government has decided to award First Quantum Minerals to transport maize from Tanzania to Zambia because they have a reliable huge fleet of trucks and that the trucks are transporting copper from Zambia to Tanzania.


✅In this regard, First Quantum Minerals is only charging the government for one route for their trucks moving from Zambia into Tanzania and back which is a prudent decision.


✅The New Dawn Administration is using resources prudently which has led to a lot of its achievements such as free education, payments of retirees and job creation in different sectors among others.

The most dangerous enemy of PF is PF itself, not HH or UPND- Chris Zumani Zimba

Dancing with street prostitutes instead of your blessed family: 12 Reasons Why PF MPs and leaders must kiss oneness under ECL for 2026 Return

……The most dangerous enemy of PF is PF itself, not HH or UPND. Outside government, PF is the most powerful political movement in modern Zambia except that they repeatedly fight each other and easily create rivalry camps only to benefit their competitors. When l was visiting Northern province with President Lungu in 2020, l learnt of a PF slogan called “ileyenda ilepya”. So, I asked Hon Brian Mundubile for meaning. He said it means “it is burning while moving” or it is moving while burning”. And he added, “that’s PF for you Dr. Zimba, take note”……

By Dr. Chris Zumani Zimba

Introduction

Today, l was compelled to write this article by 5 people (names withheld) who religiously follow and read my Tuesdays and Fridays political columns online and in the Mast Newspaper. Although I have never met any of them, l am now close to them because we exchange ideas and discuss a lot weekly. I had planned to write on Hon JJ Banda on 12th August 2024, but my zealot followers insisted that l give my thoughts on PF today in terms of its prospects for 2026 either as a party or in any political alliance.

1. When you look at membership values, party structures and support zeal of PF supporters across the country, you will respect them instantly because no party beats them. The PF human resource in form of councilors, MPs, running mates or presidential candidates is equally second to no party in Zambia. Even the ruling party in UPND is yet to reach the apex PF has attained politically in terms of quality and experienced leadership.

2. In PF alone, President Lungu has enough distinguished former cabinet ministers and party leaders such as Given Lubinda, Prof. Nkandu Luo, Joseph Malanji, Dr. Chitalu Chilufya, Dr Bwalya Ng’andu, Brian Mundubile, Innonge Wina, Mutotwe Kafwaya, Bowman Lusambo, GBM, Steven Kampyongo, CK, Makebi Zulu, Jean Kapata, Godfridah Sumaili, Chairman Mphakata, Remember Mutale, Davies Chama, Antony Kasandwe, Raphael Nakachinda, Kampamba Mulenga, Amb Emmanuel Mwamba, George Chisanga, Ronald Chitotela, Miles Sampa, Nickson Chilangwa, Lukas Simumba, Christopher Kang’ombe, Brendah Nyirenda, Francis Kapyanga, Sunday Chanda, Mulenga Fube among others to demolish HH and destroy UPND in 2026 without much difficulties.

3. This higher leadership profile is what makes PF more deadly for 2026 if they only stopped betraying each other and dancing with prostitutes to build their party. So, while some PF critics may shamelessly try to speak ill of this King Cobra political movement, empirical evidence show that most Zambians today heavily regret voting out Lungu and PF in 2021: voters are now hoping that ECL and PF come back to redeem them from HH in 2026. So, PF alone, if they reconcile and unite under Lungu are seen as “the best alternative for 2026” by millions of our suffering people who no longer want any or further political experiments. Look, ECL and PF government visibly delivered in most key sectors for Zambians while HH and UPND have lamentably failed and stand ashamed!

4. Hence, most Zambians no longer want loud political liars and dwarfs like Bally-good for nothing leaders for 2026. They want what Shatel called “Gentleman”. It’s a song about this handsome and rich guy who is being chased by almost all street divas and decorated prostitutes because of his financial, physical and material superiority. This is the political value and strength of PF and ECL today-both UPND and the entire opposition movement plan their 2026 victory with PF and ECL in mind as the targeted “Gentleman”.

5. But PF leaders must remember that prostitutes have temporal or fake respect for any man: they only respect a man’s money as a client. Many PF leaders today are dangerously dancing with prostitutes at Community House, parliament, in UPND and opposition parties. They have abandoned their darling PF-a dear political wife with many children. All political Prostitutes today wants PF or ECL and are presenting themselves so sexy, rosy and romantic to lure PF leaders into bed for selfish reasons! Because of heavy political prostitution, PF is so divided with Miles Sampa, Chabinga and even some unknown MPs all scheming or leading a PF faction against Lungu. Total sponsored chaos, divisions and treachery!

6. Political prostitutes at Community House and everywhere have fake love and conditional loyalty to PF leaders. For instance, once PF is destroyed by Community House and made history, Miles Sampa, Chabinga, Jonathern Daka, Ng’onga, Sunday Chanda, Antony Mumba and everyone prostituting with UPND today will be kicked out like mad frogs and dirty lizards. And they will come back to apologize to their PF family in tears when it’s too late. But if they can join hands and unite today, PF has enough political human resource to mobilize countrywide and led a credible opposition coalition to form government again in 2026. And everyone will stand to win bigger and better again.

7. Political prostitutes are dangerously clever and corruptly crooked. They foolishly deceive you to believe they are sweeter and rosier than your dear wife as long as they can eat your dollars. As long as you have money, prostitutes will call you nice names and present you as the most handsome man in the world. Prostitutes are selfish because they aim to keep you to themselves in order to exploit and empt your pockets. This is what everyone is doing to PF and ECL- to divide PF and get away with a juicy piece of PF to themselves!

8. When prostitutes finish a man’s money, they dump him like a fool and immediately start kissing the next client. Today, Community House or UPND is only prostituting with Miles Sampa, Chabinga, Chanda, Mumba, Daka or Ng’onga today because they have political value to destroy PF. Many PF leaders and supporters countrywide are being targeted by both ruling and opposition politicians merely to use and exploit them. Generally, PF MPs, leaders including ECL or Innonge Wina are being targeted by different players merely to politically exploit them because they carry PF value. It’s a known script! But unfortunately, PF MPs and leaders cannot see it that way, be compelled to reconcile and reclaim power for Zambians in 2026.

9. Once your dollars finish, prostitutes chase and insult! But your wife and children can never insult you in public even when you don’t have money. Prostitutes don’t disappoint in denouncing their “finished clients”. Before they are insulted or denounced, PF leaders must prioritize to reconcile and look for solutions within for 2026 before looking outside. HH knows that PF is the most dangerous political movement loaded with diverse and powerful people. Hence, the chief political prostitute called HH and UPND on the market have invested heavily in dividing and destroying PF under ECL: a United PF is the lead threat for UPND in 2026. Unfortunately, many PF MPs and leaders are drank in prostitution and cannot see things this way.

10. What PF MPs, leaders and members need to do is to kill political envy, repent from treachery and get back as well as closer to their father ECL, kiss his political flag and start running with his name like mad birds chasing 2026. Lungu is the “Political Gentleman” Shatel sung about years ago for Zambians today! In Lungu, PF has a solid Moses to lead hungry citizens and angry Zambians out of this ‘Egypt’ HH has created. PF MPs and leaders must just stop dancing with political prostitutes on the streets by prioritizing to rebuild their dear forceful and fearful family called PF for 2026. PF is tried, tested and now trusted!

11. When you look at PF leadership profile, you will realize that PF alone has enough better leaders or experienced potential successors to Lungu for 2026 if ECL decided not to honour the call from Zambians to redeem them from HH. Lungu alone is enough weapon against HH in the eyes of most people before we bring in PF on the table. ECL is the most powerful symbol of opposition force in Zambia today. So, once PF leaders stop dancing with political prostitutes and get back together to rebuild their dear family, PF becomes unstoppable for 2026!

12. That’s why PF MPs and leaders and members must unreservedly support ECL and Miles Sampa reconciliation. It is the most important thing to do if PF is to easily redeem Zambians in 2026. PF top leaders must continue speaking to Lungu and assure him that “you are the political redeemer of our suffering voters and oppressed people in 2026”. Even Jesus Christ had few people who motivated him to carry the heavy Cross. Instead of wasting too much energy, resources and time on street political prostitutes, PF MPs and leaders must start uniting together for the love of their dear political family and Zambians for 2026.

Conclusion

Going into 2026, l hope PF will kill this old revolutionary fire of “ileyenda ilepya” by bringing order, sanity and togetherness in the party as soon as yesterday. If this fails in the next two months, ECL must ignite his national wide movement in his name as faster as October because most Zambians are calling upon him to challenge HH in 2026.

If PF can unite and ignite the ECL movement, there is no institution or politician that can stand on their way, not even Community House or UPND because the masses, the Zambian voters can overwhelm them in dangerous humiliation and overrun them in thunderous political defeat. Once PF speedily resolved the UPND sponsored confusion soonest this year, PF remains the lead alternative vehicle to UPND in 2026 especially under a well defined political alliance.

Dr Chris ZUMANI Zimba is a Political Scientist, Researcher, Author & Consultant specialized in Comparative Global Governance and Democratic Theories. He holds a PhD, MA, BA and Cert in Political Science. Zimba was President Lungu’s Political Advisor from December 2019 to August 2021. By philosophical approach, Dr. Zimba is a Pan Africanist as well as Afro-Christian by religion.
Email:chriszumaniZimba.cz@gmail.com

Jay Jay Drama

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Jay Jay Drama

1. Some PF/UKWA aligned Law Enforcement Officers tip Jay Jay that he was about to be arrested for cases of alleged attempted murder and aggravated robbery;

2. The some team moots a scheme to pre-empt his arrest by faking an abduction;

3. The idea of an abduction was to create ethnic and regional conflict by creating an impression that Jay Jay was abducted and taken to Southern Province;

4. The political architects start creating stories that Jay Jay has been seen in Chikankata in Southern Province;

5. After sensing that the State was zeroing in on unearthing the alleged abduction, the “abductors” allegedly dump Jay Jay in Kafue;

6. The PF/ UKWA team, through UKWA Chairperson, Sakwiba Sikota, claim that Jay Jay was horribly tortured. Sikota held a Press Briefing where he alleged that the last time he saw such injuries was in 1991 on the late Cuthbert Ng’uni. Fake pictures of someone’s legs with injuries were circulated alleging that they belonged to Jay Jay to.justify their lies;

7. Quickly, Jay Jay is indicated into accusing some State House officials, to create an impression that the President was involved in the alleged abduction;

8. Fast forward, a fake story is created that one of Jay Jay’s legs has been amputated because he had been sick and the State was not taking him to the hospital after arresting and detaining him. A fake faceless picture of some with an amputated leg was circulated, to mislead the public that that was Jay Jay;

9. A classic one, Jay Jay, whom the PF/UKWA sang day and night that he was extremely sick and needed to be taken to the hospital, escapes from Chipata Hospital in Eastern Province where he was in the Correctional Facility awaiting court appearances!

10. Again, the PF Social Media Platforms are awash with innuendos that Jay Jay was abducted by the State from the hospital, notwithstanding the fact that one of his wives is an eye witnesse of how the Honourable Member of Parliament for Petauke Central Constituency escaped from lawful custody!

The way this govt has hunddled the matter of JJ Banda, honestly, its just pure evil- Muhabi Lungu

Muhabi Lungu writes

This is how you destroy a nation

This is not about how I feel. The facts speak for themselves. 1. JJ Banda and Binwell Mpundu were being courted by the UPND since the party won in 2021.

Every effort was being used to get the two on the side of government for two years and a half.

So they were good when they considered supporting the HH agenda and only became criminals when they refused to join his agenda?

2. This case of JJ Banda only became emotive after he was kidnapped and then mentioned two state house officials as being responsible and after the President called him a thug and directed the police to resorect the case.

My brother, not even Super Ken in all his supreme authority under the one party State ever held a press conference and instructed the police to target a citizen; let alone a member of Parliament.

This is like coming out of a Soviet era Dictator or General Idi Amin dada behavior of Uganda behavior.

3. Even Treason Coup plotters have been treated better than JJ Banda. As you know, I once was on trial for treaon and murder. Although,I myself never got sick, I remember Chief inyambo yeta once got very sick, General Zulu almost died in Prison and General Chitompha; the Government did everything possible to ensure they got the best treatment and contacted their families and the party UNIP to ensure transparency.

My father in-law, Edwardward Jack Shamwana, use to be transported to Lusaka for medical attention while serving a conviction in Mukebeko. I used to witness this, under the so called One party Dictatorship..But, The way this government has hunddled this matter of JJ Banda, honestly, its just pure evil.

“Ku yopa mutima ABA bantu” ….I am being totally serious. And someone can send them what I have said. I am shocked at how they have behaved. The justifications they have made for their cruelty. You don’t govern a country like this. This is how you destroy a nation.

The war among praise singers- Azwell Banda

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The war among praise singers



By Azwell Banda,



Every political system and regime has their own philosophers, ideologists, propagandists, charlatans, professional politicians, parasites and the like.

The job of these fellows, among other things, is to secure consent for their political system or regime, no matter how oppressive and exploitative such political systems or regimes may be. Taken together, these are the true “praise singers” of any regime: they philosophise, rationalise, defend, advance, and by hook or crook use their twisted brains to manufacture justifications for the evil excesses of their political idols and economic masters. In return, some are handsomely rewarded with government jobs and government business.

Some among these praise singers actually do believe in what they say; they are real and honest admirers of the political system and regime they support. Some, however, are fake praise singers who are hell bent on securing and advancing their own personal interests from the political system, regime and its leaders. Both types however, are a grave danger to the human search for truth, to science, to morality, and therefore to human progress and development. The worst type of both kinds of praise singers are those who are pathologically loyal to individuals in their favoured political system or regime. It is among this crop of pathologically loyal praise singers that political assassins are nurtured and manufactured.

Long in the making, but fully matured after our August the 12th 2021 elections, the tribal, ethnic, and regional divisions in Zambia best expressed in the ruthless and vicious competition for political power between the two largest parliamentary parties in Zambia today, the United Party for National Development (UPND) and the Patriotic Front (PF), have also become the frontlines of the war among our praise singers of all shades and types, of both the UPND and the PF.

Among other things, the PF praise singers are single-mindedly focused on generating a national political consciousness of acceptance that the UPND are pathological liars, political armatures, incompetent, also thoroughly corrupt and responsible for the mass hunger, unemployment, poverty and grotesque economic, social, cultural and political inequalities in Zambia since they formed government. To achieve their aims, PF praise singers grasp and exploit any real and imagined fault, failure, mistake and alleged crime of the UPND government. Objectively, and scientifically, it is true that the UPND, and Hakainde Hichilema in particular, are pathological liars; social media is full of video clips those angry with the UPND and Hichilema, including PF praise singers, have dug up to illustrate just how pathetic liars the UPND and Hichilema are.

What makes such exposures extremely hypocritical, thoroughly malicious and evilly deceptive from the PF praise singers of the pathologies of lying, stealing, corruption, incompetence and similar evils of the UPND and Hakainde is that such exposures are exploited as political weapons in the war for political power by the PF; they do not spring from a sincere desire to rid Zambia of such evils. The UPND and Hakainde in government have just proved how rotten, liars, thieves, corrupt and incompetent all our current political parties and their leaders actually are, when given the mandate to govern Zambia! It has become such that the PF today, once more in opposition, can even boast that their worst is not even the best of the UPND in government! This is actually how rotten barely three years in government the UPND and Hakainde Hichilema have turned out to be. And yet the PF does not tell us how they will avoid turning out worse than the UPND, in government. The PF have instead arrogantly stuck to the idea that we, the majority of Zambians, were better off under their dictatorship.

Three years in government and the UPND have absolutely nothing to show for why the majority of Zambians voted for them: reduction in the then already too high cost of living and cost of doing business, and our loss of our human, political and democratic rights. Every UPND minister is a muppet genius and has their own personal explanation and defence for the dramatic disaster the UPND have turned out to be, in government. In general, however, the UPND and its very militant praise singing choir cannot free themselves from flogging the PF as the source of all their failings, in government. It is clear they will forever be failing to undo the failings, weaknesses, evil and dictatorship of the PF until they, the UPND, are somehow removed from government.

The UPND and Hichilema have conveniently made the PF their excuse for all their painful and disastrous management of the state, our economy and our society, as if they were elected into government to remind us how bad the PF were. When in opposition, Hakainde and his friends in the UPND clearly promised Zambians that they would competently, efficiently and humanely “fix” Zambia, instead of the permanent boring song they now all sing every time Zambians and especially PF praise singers remind them of the many promises they made Zambians, about “fixing” Zambia’s problems.

It is clear the UPND praise singers can now only frighten Zambians with the possibility of the “evil PF” returning back into government, as the only real reason why Zambians must continue to support the UPND and Hichilema. Of course, they are “spicing” this argument with their wrong-headed, arrogant idea that “there is no credible opposition” to the UPND and Hichilema. This is pathetic, and very laughable: if Chiluba, Rupiah, Lungu and Hichilema can be presidents of Zambia, Zambia has millions of such low lifers, liars and corrupt individuals to choose from, in order to replace Hakainde and his band of very corrupt incompetents and liars. Zambia has some of the lowest standards and qualifications for being a governing party, and a president of Zambia. It is very cheap and extremely insulting to millions of Zambians to assume that Zambia has a shortage of the calibre of corrupt, incompetent liars like boring Hichilema and his friends in the UPND.

Sure, that the UPND and Hichilema have become political villains and extremely unpopular barely three years into their only term of office because of the mass hunger and extreme poverty they have unleashed upon Zambia, it must be expected that the UPND praise singers will soon go into over drive to smooth over the UPND unconstitutional manoeuvres to amend the Zambian Constitution to guarantee that Hichilema is not humiliated, and loses his and the money of his supporters, by being booted out of office after just one miserable term. The recent scary warnings and mouthing of UPND national youth chairperson Gilbert Liswaniso must be understood in this light: the UPND will break any law, tinker with the Constitution, and bastardise the executive, parliament, the judiciary and the Electoral Commission to guarantee Hakainde and the UPND a second term, and more.

All praise singers are basically the same: they all provide ideological cover for capitalist exploitation of the majority of Zambians, imperialist domination of Zambia, and the evil excesses of their political parties and their leaders. By framing the capitalist system as beneficial for progressive, all praise singers obscure the realities of economic inequality and class struggles in Zambia, and the tribal, ethnic and regional power bases of their political parties. This is true for all praise singers, including those in the Socialist Party.

It is above all the intellectually and academically advantaged praise singers of all political parties who are the most dangerous: using their public status as prominent figures, public intellectuals, well known academics and so on, they unintentionally or intentionally reinforce our primitive neo-colonial structures and the material and cultural historic poverty they have thrust upon us. All of them advocate for reforms within the existing neo-colonial and capitalist framework rather than challenging the system itself; thus, they perpetuate our dependency on imperialism and underdevelopment.

Tow egregious evils all our praise singers perpetuate: by lining up behind ethnically, tribally, and regionally organised political parties, they divide and drive Zambia towards civil war along tribal and regional lines. As they elevate ethnicities, tribes and regions, they simultaneously conceal and underplay the importance of class struggles in neo-colonial capitalist Zambia. All our praise singers hypocritically focus on issues like “democracy” and “human rights and freedoms” while downplaying and ignoring the central role of class conflict in societal change, in all capitalist states including Zambia.

By elevating their political party leaders to little gods, all praise singers substitute individual loyalty and fanatical political party support for serious political thought and analysis of such important very current subjects as slavery, colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, nationalism, class, gender, decolonisation, socialism and communism and so on. Instead, rather than view our Zambian state and society using such prisms, our praise singers would rather we discuss “love and hate” for political leaders and comparisons of the political behaviours of equally evil, thoroughly incompetent and criminal politicians. Praise singers do not know and understand the full details of how their leaders and political parties resource their political activities. This way, all praise singers actually may act in ways that facilitate imperialist agendas for Zambia, especially by supporting policies and institutions that serve the interests of powerful capitalist nations or corporations, such as the US and its western allies and their International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB). This way too, praise singers also facilitate corruption and the concertation of power in one individual, in their political parties.

We see therefore that all praise singers, in truth, are enemies of the broad masses of Zambia of all tribes, ethnicities and from all regions as the praise singers actually promote, advance and defend divisions of Zambians along tribe, ethnic and regional lines. Praise singers poison the intellectual environment in Zambia by their bullying tactics, cantankerous support and blind loyalty for their political leaders and political parties.

All praise singers, like all zombies, actually undermine science by dismissing scientific socialism as the only scientifically proven antidote to capitalism. Even when they pay lip service to socialist ideas, by advocating for capitalist or mixed economy reforms instead of scientific socialism, they attack and weaken the potential for genuine, structural and systemic change, and class liberation, the only solutions to all our problems. The verbal war among praise singers is a reflection of how morally rotten and intellectually bankrupt much of our professional, intellectual and academic communities have become!



Send comments to: banda.azwell@gmail.com

IN ZAMBIA CORRUPT PEOPLE ARE GLORIFIED
…and those that fight corruption
are fought, observes Masebo

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IN ZAMBIA CORRUPT PEOPLE ARE GLORIFIED
…and those that fight corruption
are fought, observes Masebo



By Kholiwe Miti( The Mast)



IF we are going to expect President HH is going to clean corruption like one person then we might as well forget the fight, says lands minister Sylvia Masebo.

“It is only in Zambia where corrupt people are glorified and those that fight corruption are fought,” she noted.

During questions for oral answer in parliament on Friday, Shiwang’andu PF member of parliament Stephen Kapyoungo asked Masebo when issues of land in Kafue district will be permanently resolved as they have been recurring.

“Thank you so much Mr [Second Deputy] Speaker [Moses Moyo],  I think mine is a rider on the question posed by the MP for Chasefu. Kafue District Council has been having these challenges, problems for land administration for some time now and it’s not the first time the delegated authority to the Minister of Lands is being suspended. I do recall when I served in the Ministry of Local Government they had to face the same challenge. Honourable minister what are you permanently doing because if you hear the honourable MP several occasions it’s this issue of illegal land allocations and she’s now being accused of being a demolisher of properties,” said Kampyongo. “I don’t know what authority you would use to demolish them. So what are you going to do permanently in order to ensure that Kafue District Council adheres to the guidelines in performing their delegated functions of the Minster of Lands. I thank you Mr Speaker.”

In response, Masebo said it would take all Zambians to fight corruption “together and not to politicise it”.

“I think first of all it’s to appreciate that districts like Kafue, Chilanga, Chongwe they have become very vulnerable because of the proximity to Lusaka city and also take into account that Lusaka city does not have any more land to allocate. So there is a lot of pressure in these surrounding districts and we also know very well where we are coming from. The levels of lawlessness were very high and as the honourable MP who has been there before has indicated that Kafue was one of those councils that frankly speaking were not following the guidelines of administering land. But the facts are that you know issues of indiscipline, corruption, cannot die in two years or three years or four years or even five years. It will take time. It will in fact take both the right and the left (government and opposition) speaking one language when the story of corruption comes. When the story of corruption comes and we politicise it it will never finish corruption in this country,” said Masebo. “I have always stated that it is only in Zambia where corrupt people are glorified and those that fight corruption are fought. And so the challenge of Kafue is really an issue of abuse of office, corruption. That is what it is and until we can all work together as Zambians to clean this country, if we are going to expect President HH is going to clean corruption like one person then we might as well forget the fight. It requires all of us to work together and to be honest with each other. If I become corrupt and you are sure I’m corrupt report me and the law takes its course and the next person is not corrupt and even if they belong to a different party you stand by them but immediately a country begins to politicise corruption it is a recipe for failure. The problem for Kafue like many other councils, it’s not just Kafue, maybe Kafue has overdone it, this problem is with many councils today. We have problems Mr Speaker in Chongwe and sometimes I just say God help this country.”

COUNTERSTATEMENT TO FORMER PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU’S COMMENTS ON KASEMPA INCIDENT

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COUNTERSTATEMENT TO FORMER PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU’S COMMENTS ON KASEMPA INCIDENT

Fellow citizens,

It is with a mixture of relief and indignation that I read former President Edgar Lungu’s statement concerning the recent events in Kasempa. Relief, because he has finally admitted, albeit indirectly, to the brutality and police state that marked his regime. Indignation, because his attempt to capitalize on the unfortunate events in Kasempa is a blatant display of political opportunism and disingenuity.

The former President’s sudden empathy for the residents of Kasempa and his condemnation of police actions must be examined in the context of his own administration’s infamous legacy of human rights abuses. While it is convenient for him to now pose as a champion of the people, the Zambian public must not forget the numerous instances of police brutality and political repression that occurred under his watch. His record speaks volumes about his actual stance on these issues, and it is not one of compassion or respect for human rights.

To set the record straight, all minerals in Zambia are owned by the state. This is a legal and constitutional fact that Mr. Lungu, as a former head of state, should be well aware of. Unauthorized mining activities are illegal, regardless of the economic hardship faced by individuals.The rule of law must prevail to ensure that our natural resources benefit the entire nation rather than a few opportunistic individuals. The situation in Kasempa involved illegal miners encroaching on private property, not a random act of police brutality.

The property owner, after issuing several warnings, had no choice but to involve law enforcement to protect his legal rights. Former President Lungu’s failure to acknowledge this crucial detail reveals either a lack of understanding or a deliberate attempt to mislead the public for political gain. His assertion that the government is to blame for protecting private property from illegal miners is not only false but also dangerous.

It encourages lawlessness and undermines the very principles of order and justice that he now claims to uphold. Furthermore, Mr. Lungu’s comments about the Human Rights Commission’s reports on police brutality in Lusaka are steeped in hypocrisy. Under his administration, reports of police violence, unlawful detentions, and other human rights violations were rampant. His newfound concern for human rights and police accountability rings hollow in light of his administration’s dismal record.

It is easy to criticize from the sidelines, but genuine leadership requires consistency, integrity, and a commitment to the truth.The role of the Zambia Police is indeed to protect and serve, but this mandate must be carried out within the bounds of the law.The police intervention in Kasempa was a necessary action to uphold the rule of law and protect private property. It was not an act of state-sponsored brutality as Mr. Lungu suggests.

His attempt to gain political mileage from this incident is a disservice to the victims and a discredit to the ongoing efforts to reform and professionalize our law enforcement agencies.

Dr Catharine Frazha Benkele Mulaisho

6th August, 2024.

Schoolchildren burn down Pastor Mboro’s church after panga incident

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Controversial South African cleric Pastor Paseka Mboro’s church was burnt down by angry children on Tuesday, following a dispute emanating from a nasty custody battle for his two grandchildren.

Pastor Paseka Mboro’s Incredible Happenings Church was burnt to the ground after scores of schoolchildren bunked school and descended on the church with community members in protest against his violent foray at a Katlehong school on Monday.

The burning is believed to have been sparked by an incident in which Mboro was caught on video holding two pangas and threatening people.

Four people were arrested on Monday evening for violence when two pupils, believed to be Mboro’s grandchildren, were forcibly removed from a school in Katlehong.

In the video, Mboro, who was in the presence of another man holding what police have since said was a replica gun, can be seen swinging a panga at those trying to get close to him.

One of the people at the burning church, Carly Dikolo, told SowetanLive all that could have been prevented if Mboro “had properly handled things”.

“Look now he lost his church all because he entered the school with weapons when it’s clear one should not do it, especially when there’s a sign saying no weapons.

“Now the school is closed and the children don’t want to go to school because of that violence. This could have been handled entirely differently,” Dikolo said.

According to Gauteng’s Department of Education, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, a preliminary report showed that there had been a conflict between two families over the custody of Grade RR and Grade 2 boys enrolled at the school.

“On the day of the incident, the father of the children had a meeting with the principal in the morning.

“Later in the day, the maternal grandmother, who is the alleged guardian of the children, also met with the principal to report and inform him about a conflict that occurred during a meeting held over the past weekend at the house of the paternal grandfather, who is the famous South African pastor,” department spokesperson Steve Mabona said.

After the meetings, the deputy principal and staff members refused to release the children without their grandmother’s permission, and this led to Mboro arriving with bodyguards and weapons.

Acting on the maternal grandmother’s instructions, the department said the teachers tried to prevent the father from leaving with the children.

“In response, the pastor brandished a panga threateningly at the teachers, allowing the father to leave with the children,” Mabona said.

Donald Trump Discusses ‘Complicated’ Kanye West & Young Thug’s ‘Unfair’ RICO Case

Donald Trump has discussed a number of controversial topics including Kanye West‘s behavior and Young Thug‘s ongoing RICO case in a new interview.

In an apparent attempt to broaden his voter base, the Republican presidential candidate appeared on Adin Ross’ Kick channel on Monday (August 5) and spoke with the popular streamer for over an hour.

After entering the stream to 50 Cent‘s “Many Men (Wish Death)”, Ross — wearing a suit and a Make American Great Again cap — questioned the Republican presidential candidate about a number of pop culture figures.

Asked for his opinion on on-again, off-again supporter Kanye West, Trump replied: “He’s very complicated. Let’s say complicated because he is. He’s a really nice guy, but he can get himself into trouble and he can get some other people [into trouble].

“But, you know, he’s got a good heart — he does, he does. But he’s complicated.”

Ross later brought up Young Thug’s turbulent YSL RICO trial, with Trump saying: “I hear Young Thug is being treated — I heard it from other people where they say he’s being treated very unfairly. So he’s gotta be treated fairly.”

It was recently revealeed that Donald Trump once had a plan to use Kanye to help unify America.

According to Alyssa Farah Griffin, who previously served as the White House’s Director of Strategic Communications while Trump was president, the former Apprentice star allegedly wanted the controversial rapper to deliver a church service to the nation.

Speaking on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, she said: “One day, he wanted to have Kanye West come and do a church service on the White House lawn to unify the country. I can think of a few things less unifying than that.”

“We were like, ‘Not the time or place, sir,’” Griffin added while laughing at the idea which of course has yet to materialize.

West and Trump have had an up and down relationship ever since the rapper first backed the Republican in 2016.

After later distancing himself from Trump over an alleged insult aimed at him and his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Kanye realigned himself with the former president earlier this year by endorsing him ahead of the 2024 election.

When asked by paparazzi if he plans to vote for Trump, he replied: “Yeah of course, it’s Trump all day. What you talking ’bout? You know what it is.”

West’s most notorious encounter with Trump occurred in 2021 when he took white supremacist Nick Fuentes to Florida to meet with the businessman turned politician.

Chamisa condemns ‘bizarre’ crackdown on political activists in Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has denounced the ongoing “bizarre” crackdown on political activists by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, stating that “being an active and young conscious citizen has become a crime” in the country.

Chamisa on Tuesday highlighted the cases of several human rights defenders, civil society activists, trade unionists, and young politicians who have been arrested and detained.

This comes after 78 political prisoners, including a one-year-old child, were detained on June 16, 2024, while celebrating Africa Youth Day at the home of former cabinet Minister Jameson Timba.

They are accused of holding an unsanctioned political gathering. Seventy four of them remain in prison 45 days later without bail or trial.

Human rights activists Robson Chere, Namatai Kwekweza, opposition councillor Samuel Gwenzi and Vusumuzi Moyo were arrested last week after being pulled out of the plane at Robert Mugabe International Airport.

They were detained for eight hours before being formally charged for participating in a demonstration.

Chere was allegedly severely tortured. He is waiting for bail in order to access medical services.

Over 100 political activists are currently being detained in connection with planning to hold demonstrations in the upcoming Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Harare.

Chamisa noted that the individuals are being targeted for advocating for a better Zimbabwe, women’s rights, workers’ rights, and speaking out against injustices.

“Many other people (young and old) are spending nights in the prison cells after being taken abruptly and brazenly for no crime but being targets for simply exercising their constitutional freedom of association,” he said in a statement he posted on his WhatsApp channel.

“In Zimbabwe, being an active conscious citizen and being young has become a crime. The citizens, especially the young people, are persecuted for their beliefs and for wanting better lives.

“In Zimbabwe, it has been turned criminal to be young. This assault and onslaught on the citizens is a clarion call for unity across political divides to condemn and rebuke these violations, violence and injustice.”

Chamisa called on SADC and the region at large to condemn the suppression of the dissent in Zimbabwe.

“Fellow citizens of SADC and all African countries, this can’t be civilised politics. This is bizarre, abnormal and must be condemned by all progressives across the world,” he said.

During the time of writing this article, the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) hinted that the arrest of opposition activists is still going on with two of its members from Matabeleland South Graydon Phiri and Stanley Ngulube having been “summoned to appear before the Kezi Magistrate in connection with a meeting held in 2022”.

“We have received a report that Graydon Phiri and Stanley Ngulube, both from Matobo in Matabeleland South, have been summoned to appear before the Kezi Magistrate in connection with a meeting held in 2022,” CCC noted.

“This development highlights the ongoing harassment of innocent citizens by the Harare regime, which must be unequivocally condemned by all progressive citizens, organizations, and regional bodies, particularly the SADC.”

Meanwhile, former Binga North legislator Prince Dubeko Sibanda is at the centre mobilising protests against Mnangagwa.

“It’s NO LONGER time to BEG him. It’s no longer time to dialogue with him. Our target is to completely remove him & the entire system. The street will resolve our problems. We need to PUSH. FREEDOM is here,” he posted on his X handle.

Pastor Mboro arrested following panga attack at a school

Four suspects have been arrested after a group of panga-wielding men intimidated teachers at a Katlehong school on Monday.

According to the Gauteng education department, in a series of shocking videos that have gone viral on social media, well-known South African religious leader, Paseka “Pastor Mboro” Motsoeneng is seen wielding pangas and threatening to attack teachers on the school premises.

“Disturbingly, another man is seen grabbing two learners, who were caught in the crossfire of this violent ordeal, while another is wielding an assault rifle,” provincial education MEC Matome Chiloane said.

“This violent and appalling behaviour has no place in our schools or our society.”

The department said that there had been a conflict between two families over the custody of the boy learners enrolled at the school, in Grade RR and Grade 2, has been escalating.

It is said that the mother of the children passed away in April this year, leading to a dispute between the paternal and maternal sides of the family.

On Monday, the children’s father had a meeting with the principal.

The department said later in the day, the maternal grandmother, who is the alleged guardian of the children, also met with the principal to report and inform him about a conflict that occurred during a meeting held over the past weekend at the house of the paternal grandfather, who is the famous South African pastor.

“Following this, the deputy principal and some staff members refused to release the children without the grandmother’s permission. This led to the pastor arriving at the school with bodyguards and weapons,” the department said in a statement.

“The incident unfolded on Monday afternoon after school when the father of the children came to fetch them, accompanied by two men, one of them being the pastor – who was armed with two pangas while the other carried an assault rifle,” it said.

“Teachers, acting on the alleged instructions from the grandmother, tried to prevent the father from leaving the school premises with the children. In response, the pastor brandished a panga threateningly at the teachers, allowing the father to leave with the children.”

Gauteng police spokesperson, Colonel Noxolo Kweza, confirmed that the four are expected to appear in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court soon.

“They are facing a variety of charges including assault, handling a firearm recklessly that could endanger lives and property, rendering security services while not registered, malicious damage to property and intimidation,” she said.

Kweza said the replica firearm and the pangas have since been confiscated. One of the suspects was arrested for assaulting the Station Commander at Katlehong North police station when a group of people were demanding to deal with the local pastor outside the police station.

Gauteng provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni, says the possibility of police effecting more arrests cannot be ruled out as investigations into the matter continue .

Source – sowetan

Birdman Clarifies His Feelings On Lil Wayne After Essence Festival Set Sparks Rumors Of Animosity

Birdman and Lil Wayne appear to still be on good terms.

Birdman has shot down the speculation that he dissed Lil Wayne at Essence Festival in New Orleans last month during his “Birdman & Friends” set. Reflecting on the performance during an interview with Gregory “Geedy P” Earls on Monday, the Cash Money Records co-founder said he would never diss Wayne. At the end of his performance, Birdman remarked, “I swear to God on everything I love — and I love nothing more than Ms. Gladys — I will never let my city down and be a pssy-ass n**a for nobody.” Wayne didn’t join him for the show and instead performed separately, leading to rumors of a rift between the two.

“I seen n****s was talking about, ‘Wayne ain’t wanna do this and do that.’ Wayne wasn’t even gonna do Essence. I called my son and asked him to do it because I was doing Birdman & Friends. He did it ’cause I asked him,” he clarified. “We always knew that Wayne was gonna have his own set. Because me and Juvie and Geezy and Fresh, we rehearsed together every day and we had our own set together. But we all knew that Wayne was gonna have his own set. He was only a surprise guest. He had done Essence two years in a row and he turned them down personally, and I asked him would he do it for me, and he did it for me. Shout out to my son Weezy, man.”

From there, he reiterated that his remarks to end the show were not directed at Wayne. “No, no. I ain’t got the heart to say nothing negative about Wayne,” he confirmed. “I love my son, man. That wasn’t what that was about. What I meant by that is I ain’t gonna let this game play me. The game done played a lot of ns. I ain’t never gonna be a pssy-ass na to this industry and let them play me. I ain’t built like that and I ain’t gonna let my city down by being a pssy-ass n**a.” Check out the full interview below.

Nicki Minaj’s Sister Responds After Rapper’s Alleged Shots At Her

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Ming Luanli said that she still loves Nicki Minaj and that she tried to please her as a sister, but it seems like she’s got other priorities now.

Surprisingly, Nicki Minaj might be stirring up some family drama as of late, as people think that a recent social media rant might’ve taken aim at her sister, Ming Luanli. For those unaware, Ming has apparently done multiple interviews recently talking about her relationship with the rapper, especially as she tries to embark on a musical career of her own. However, given what Minaj said in the audio clips below, some people assume she isn’t happy with how her sister has spoken about her and referenced her in her own come-up. Of course, this is all pretty vague and too personal of an issue for the media to cast proper judgement, but it seems like an overall messy situation.

“Why would a person speak on a person they love?” Nicki Minaj’s comments began, allegedly aimed at her sister Ming Luanli. “Why would a person speak openly about a private person, why would a person do that, why would a person do that? Who would you speak about in your interviews if someone wanted to interview you? Yourself, right?

“It’s always a bad sign if a person who’s not even in your line of work, someone who has never been successful in your line of work is doing interviews with people in your line of work,” Nicki Minaj continued. “Like, hmm… I think y’all think talent, like, you can catch it like a cold. Or maybe people can pass it through the genes. Even with blood relation, what God has given to me is mine. You have to go and get your own. You have to discover whatever it is that you’re great at. Being a mooch and a clown don’t run in my DNA.”

Meanwhile, Ming Luanli actually responded to Nicki Minaj’s comments whether the Trinidadian MC intended to target her sister or not. Moreover, Luanli left a comment under the We In Miami podcast’s coverage of Minaj’s rant, which was one of the platforms that Luanli spoke on her sister with. “I still love her, I tried as a sister to please her but I realize I gotta please God first cause only he can judge the gift he gave me,” she expressed.

Police officer who shot Black woman says he thought her rebuke ‘in the name of Jesus’ indicated intent to kill him

The deputy sheriff who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her Illinois home last month said he believed that when the Black woman who called police for help unexpectedly said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” that she intended to k!ll him, according to the deputy’s field report released Monday, August 5.

“I interpreted this to mean she was going to kill me,” Sean Grayson wrote, adding that when he drew his pistol and Massey hid behind a counter that separated them, he moved around the obstacle fearing that she was going to grab a weapon.

Sonya Massey was shot and killed by a responding officer after she called 911 because she thought there was an intruder in her home, according to officials.

Police officer who shot Black woman Sonya Massey says he thought her rebuke ?in the name of Jesus? indicated intent to kill him
Police officer who shot Black woman Sonya Massey says he thought her rebuke ?in the name of Jesus? indicated intent to kill him

Grayson and a second unidentified deputy answered her call about a suspected prowler just before 1 a.m. Inside her home, Grayson directed that a pan of water be removed from a burner on the stove. Grayson and Massey shared a chuckle as he warily moved away from the “hot steaming water.”

“Sonya turned to face me holding the pot. I did not know the type of liquid that was boiling,” Grayson wrote in his report three days after the incident.

“I advised Sonya to put the boiling liquid down. Sonya stated (she) was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus. She stated this twice. I interpreted this to mean she was going to kill me.”

Massey’s family has said that Sonya Massey struggled with mental health issues. She met the deputies at her front door by repeating, “Please God” and inside the house, asked Grayson to pass her a Bible.

Police officer who shot Black woman Sonya Massey says he thought her rebuke ?in the name of Jesus? indicated intent to kill him

Upon hearing the religious admonition, Grayson then drew his pistol and barked commands to “drop the (expletive) pot.” Massey ducked behind the counter, rose up and appeared to grab the pan again before diving for cover. Grayson said he stepped toward and around the counter to keep Massey in sight, wary that she might have a hidden weapon.

Grayson, a 30-year-old Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy, faces first-degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct charges in the death of the 36-year-old woman on July 6 which has drawn nationwide protests over the killing of Black people by police in their homes.

Grayson has pleaded not guilty.

Massey’s family has called for the resignation of Sheriff Jack Campbell who has refused to step down arguing that problems in Grayson’s past should have precluded a law enforcement assignment.

“As I approached the cabinet, Sonya stood up from a crouched position, grabbing the pot, raising it above her head and throwing the boiling substance at me,” Grayson reported. “I was in imminent fear of getting boiling liquid to my face or chest, which would have caused great bodily harm or death.”

It’s unclear from the video whether Massey attempted to toss the pan’s contents, and she was obscured from view when Grayson fired three 9 mm rounds, one of which struck Massey just below the eye. His report then indicates he looked down to see the liquid had “hit my boots and I observed steam coming from the cabinet area.”

By the time he completed the field report July 9, Grayson had been placed on administrative leave. The document indicates he received department permission to review the body camera video, the bulk of which had been recorded on the other deputy’s camera. Grayson said he thought his was on when the two first met Massey at the door, but he didn’t turn it on until just after the shooting.

Nigeria, Australia and several other countries warn about travel to UK amid riots

Middlesbrough, England, was one of the UK towns and cities facing anti-immigration riots on
Nigeria, Australia, Indonesia and a number of other countries have warned their citizens about traveling to the UK, as a spate of anti-immigrant riots grips cities across Britain.

The UK’s worst social unrest in years was sparked by the stabbing deaths of three young girls in Stockport, northwest England, last week. Since then, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration extremists have been mobilized by a wave of disinformation about the killings, including false claims the attacker was an immigrant.

Rioters attacked hotels used to house asylum seekers in two cities at the weekend, and clashed with police in several others, leading to hundreds of arrests.

A number of countries have issued warnings in response, including a group of Muslim-majority nations.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel alert on Monday warning its citizens planning to visit the UK that “demonstrations by far right and other extra-parliamentary groups in parts of the UK in recent weeks have been large and, in some instances, unruly” and that “there is an increased risk of violence and disorder.”

The alert advises Nigerian citizens to be “extra vigilant” and “self-aware at all times” and to avoid crowded areas, large gatherings and political processions and rallies.

Kenya’s principal secretary for foreign affairs, Korir Sing’ Oei, took to social media platform X on Sunday to post, ““A deeply worrying situation in the UK. Kenyans are urged to exercise caution.”

Violent protests have also been taking place in multiple cities in Nigeria this weekend over hunger and “bad governance,” with Kenya too recently dealing with nationwide protests against proposed tax hikes.

“Nigeria and Kenya are warning their citizens in the UK after riots in the former colonial power,” said Nairobi-based CNN correspondent Larry Madowo. “People are calling this ‘aura for aura’ because the UK and other Western nations often issue travel advisories targeting African countries.”

Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the first nation to react to the UK disorder, issuing “an urgent notice to Malaysians in the United Kingdom” on X on Sunday.

It said it was closely monitoring the situation in the UK and urged its citizens to “stay away from protest areas” and “remain vigilant.”

The Indonesian Embassy in London issued an appeal later Sunday, urging its citizens in the UK to increase vigilance, especially if traveling or doing activities outside the home, and to “avoid large crowds and places that have the potential to become gathering places for masses or groups of demonstrators.”

Unveiling the Truth: The Hidden Power Structure of the Socialist Party

*Unveiling the Truth: The Hidden Power Structure of the Socialist Party*

By Dr Mwelwa

When Father Frank Bwalya left the Socialist Party, I was among those who criticized him for inconsistency and speculated that his decision was driven by personal gain. Despite his personal visit to caution me against joining the party, warning that I would regret it, I proceeded and was appointed Director of Research and Training. In hindsight, I now completely understand and agree with Father Frank Bwalya’s reservations about the Socialist Party.

The practice of using young, inexperienced members to attack senior leaders is a display of extreme cowardice. This tactic has been employed against several individuals, including Trymore Mwenda and Antonio Mwanza, and now similar methods are being used to address the important issues I raised in my article yesterday. It is time for the leadership to address these matters directly rather than hiding behind proxies.

Despite being aware that the recent statement attributed to Joseph Musonda was orchestrated by the Politburo, I will nonetheless respond to it.

I feel it’s my duty to reveal the truth behind how the Socialist Party is really run, despite the claims of fairness and democracy. The comments made by Joseph Musonda, Chairperson of the Student Movement, need to be addressed honestly, as the party’s future relies on understanding the reality.

If you closely examine the Party’s constitution, the rules and powers show that a small group controls most decisions. Article 14.5 gives the Central Committee the power to nominate key leaders like the Party President, General Secretary, and General Treasurer. However, it’s actually the current Politburo members who make these decisions. This setup pretends to involve everyone, but in truth, it’s a small group deciding for the whole party.

The Politburo, as described in Article 13.4, has significant control over what the leaders do. They manage party finances, direct regional activities, and oversee various projects, effectively holding all the power. This doesn’t reflect a diverse and inclusive party but rather a closely-knit group of people running everything.

Even more concerning is the power given to the President through Article 19.6. The President chairs both the Central Committee and the Politburo, meaning one person has control over legislative and executive actions. This concentration of power is not what a democratic system should look like; it’s more like a dictatorship.

Joseph Musonda dismissed the idea of a “tight-knit” group, but the reality tells a different story. The leadership includes the President’s daughter and long-time friends, making it look more like a family-run company than a democratic party. The structure supports nepotism, where family and close friends benefit disproportionately.

Moreover, Article 12.5 limits who can take part in important meetings after the first National Congress. The participants become a group that can be easily controlled by the Politburo, diminishing real grassroots participation. This setup goes against true democratic values and keeps many voices out of the decision-making process.

Let’s also examine Article 25.2, which governs how amendments are made. These must be sent to the General Secretary a month before the National Congress, but rumors suggest last-minute changes with little member involvement. This lack of transparency and rushed decisions undermines the democratic process.

Musonda argues that anyone can propose changes to the constitution, but that’s not the issue. The problem is that new ideas often face resistance and are rarely accepted. There is a barrier that prevents many suggestions from being taken seriously, making it hard for real change to happen.

This environment of controlled ideas has led to frustration. Members’ creativity and innovation are stifled. To ignore these issues under the guise of loyalty harms the principles and goals the Socialist Party should be striving for.

Let’s be honest about the party. It’s not the democratic organization it claims to be; it’s controlled by a small group of people. Every member of the Socialist Party needs to see this truth and work toward real change. We must break free from the control of the “fantastic four” and build a party that includes and respects the voices of all its members.

We stand at a crucial point. We need to wake up and address these truths, ensuring that the Socialist Party truly represents everyone, not just a select few. It’s time to start making the Socialist Party what it should be—a real democratic movement where all members have a voice and a role in decision-making.

WE ARE READY TO DELIVER NEW LEADERSHIP – Fred M’membe

WE ARE READY TO DELIVER NEW LEADERSHIP

The nation needs new leadership for the future. And we are ready to deliver that new leadership for Zambia’s future.

I personally have a passionate commitment to Zambia’s future. The values I bring to leadership are the values instilled in me by my strong upbringing. I understand that life is sometimes harsh. But I believe that as a people we have a responsibility when one of us falls down, we must help to lift them back up. That’s what decency and fairness is all about.

Another thing I have learnt is the absolute value of hard work. Of not being wasteful. And the importance of planning for the future. For me, these are enduring values. And these are the values that as President I would bring to our nation’s challenges.

In 2026, Zambians will face another stark choice: a choice between the future and the past. We will be faced with a choice how we want to secure the future for our children, for our communities and for our nation. We believe that the government of Zambia must truly change in the real sense. The policies that the current and previous government have pursued and advanced belong to the past and are not helping the great majority of our people. For us, our solution are centred around policies that put Zambians first. That put the great Zambians first.

After two years and nine months, the Mr Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND government have lost touch with the poor and working people. They no longer understand what fairness, justice, equity and peace actually mean. They simply don’t understand the new challenges that we face now and in the future.

The challenge is to truly change our hospitals and make health services free and socialised. And above all, the challenge to transform our education system and make it free, of great quality and socialised.

The UPND have no plans for the future because it’s not going to be there to deal with the challenges of the future. The way forward for Zambia is to choose Compatriots and a party with progressive ideas to meet the challenges of the future.

A new leader and a new government who understand and respect the values upon which our independence struggle was fought. Look at the way in which our land is being dished out anyhow? We need leaders with values of honesty, equity, humility and solidarity. We need to build a Zambia anchored on justice, equity and peace. We need a nation where there’s decency, fairness and respect. You can’t have a plan for Zambia’s future if you have lost sight of such basic values.

For us as SP, these values are in our DNA.

Zambia needs new leadership with fresh ideas for the future. The Socialist Party is offering new leadership with a plan for the future.

Nation building requires vision. And the cornerstone of our vision for Zambia’s future is an education revolution. We believe passionately in the power of education. We believe education is the engine room of equity. And the engine room of the economy.Our vision for Zambia is to build a very good education system – so that we produce an innovative, skilled and well trained workforce.

The economies we are competing against are making huge new investments in education. They know that knowledge intensive economies will be the wealthiest economies of the future. We must take decisive action now.

We need nothing less than an education to improve radically the performance of the education system. Universities are critical to the education revolution that Zambia so urgently needs. Zambia cannot be put on the path of a knowledge economy if we do not help our universities attract and retain our best scientists, innovators and researchers into the future.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party

Is Kaaba Covering Corruption? An Open Letter to O’Brien Kaaba -Sishuwa Sishuwa

Is Kaaba Covering Corruption? An Open Letter to O’Brien Kaaba

Dear Kaaba,

I have just read a statement attributed to you in which you are explaining why you entered a consent judgement with Marshal Muchende, the Solicitor General of the Republic of Zambia, who, according to what you recently told us, is corrupt.

As you know, I was among those who had wondered why you consented to the withdrawal of the case in which Marshal had sued you for defamation when, according to what you told us, you had evidence of his corruption. I stated that if Marshal wanted, for whatever reason, to discontinue the suit, he could have done so without your consent by simply filing a notice of discontinuance.

On your part, you could have simply insisted that you had evidence to prove your assertions and left it to him to discontinue the matter on his own volition. This way, the public would have concluded that the defamation case that Marshal brought against you was nothing more than an intimidation tactic.

By agreeing to end the matter through a dubious and pointless consent judgement, you called into question your own character. In the absence of a clear explanation from you, I concluded that the implication of what you had done is that you:

(i)  did not have evidence of corruption against Marshal and were simply being malicious;

(ii)  were talked out of the issue of exposing Marshal’s corruption by Marshal himself, President Hichilema, or/and other senior leaders who may have felt that a court trial would expose the extent of the rot and embarrass the President, government, or the ruling party;

(iii)  had been intimidated by President Hichilema who has shown extraordinary determination to protect the Solicitor General; or

(iv)   have finally been compromised and co-opted into the corrupt network so that you, too, can eat with the group.

I felt that whatever it was out of these four possibilities that informed your decision, none reflects very well on your reputation, as the outcome presents you as an unprincipled person of a shady character and a coward who trembles in the face of intimidation or pressure.

I am glad that you have now come out to put it on record that your decision to embrace a Solicitor General you told Zambians is corrupt had absolutely nothing to do with public interest – the platform on which I thought you had originally stood – but was motivated by private considerations including your desire to make “personal amends and assurances” to the same State official whom you now ‘respect’. To avoid misinterpreting what you said in the statement, it is worth quoting your remarks in full:

“STATEMENT ON SETTLEMENT WITH MR MARSHAL MUCHENDE SC

I have received numerous questions about the consent to discontinue the defamation suit between the Solicitor General, Mr Marshal Muchende, SC and myself, particularly, 1) If I was intimidated by State House to discontinue the matter, and 2) If the settlement amounts to an admission of wrong doing on the part of Mr Muchende.

I would like to state categorically that State House has not been involved in either our dispute or our out of court settlement which culminated in the Consent Judgment to discontinue the matter.

It can neither be said that I was coerced into agreeing to terminate the dispute especially that I was not the Plaintiff in the matter nor can it be said that the settlement amounts to admission of guilt on the part of the Solicitor General.

The decision to settle the matter was arrived at voluntarily, magnanimously and conscientiously by the Solicitor General and myself under the aegis of our respective lawyers and indeed our collective interest, mutual respect for each other, as well as my personal amends and assurances.

It is my sincere hope that the pain and inconvenience that this unfortunate episode has caused to both of us can be put behind us. I wish the Solicitor General well.”

O’Brien Kaaba (Dr)”

I note from this statement that you have neither withdrawn your earlier declaration that the Solicitor General is corrupt nor retracted your assurance that you have evidence in support of your assertion, evidence which you had pledged to present before the court after Marshal, on whose behalf you are now even speaking, sued you for alleged defamation. I further note the revelation that you have not been intimidated by anyone and your newly developed ‘mutual respect’ for the same person you told us is corrupt only a few days ago.

Arising from this context, I have a few questions that are informed by public interest, a subject that is entirely missing from your statement.  These questions relate to what you intend to do with the evidence you claimed to have marshalled of Marshal’s corruption – the same evidence in your possession that you had planned to use to ‘demonstrate before court the truthfulness of your assertion’ that he is corrupt.  Are you going to use this evidence to lay a complaint of corruption against the Solicitor General before the Acting Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Monica Mwansa?

If the answer to this question is YES, is it possible to let the public know when you plan to do so, so that we, members of the public, may subsequently urge the ACC to treat the matter with the urgency it deserves, given the sensitivity of the public position occupied by the person you would be reporting for corruption? In addition, if the ACC fails to act on your complaint, are you willing to file a complaint of criminal behaviour against the Solicitor General before the Magistrates’ Court so that Marshal can be summoned to explain why he was, in your words, receiving kickbacks?

If, for whatever reason, you have no plans of reporting the Solicitor General to law enforcement agencies or to lay a complaint against him before the Magistrates’ Court, are you willing to share the evidence of his corruption which you had pledged to present before court so that those interested can use the same evidence to report him to the ACC and, if need be, institute private prosecution against him?  As you know, one can only report a corrupt activity to the ACC or file a complaint before the Magistrates’ Court if they have evidence showing that a person has committed a crime.

I would imagine that part of what you mean when you say you are wishing the Solicitor General well includes seeing to it that the man you have told us is corrupt clears his name before a competent tribunal. The propositions I am suggesting would not only help achieve this desire but also promote justice. As it stands, no one can be blamed for referring to Marshal as corrupt based solely on what you told us – a statement you have not withdrawn.

In case you are wondering why I am focusing my energies on you, not the person you have told us is corrupt, it is because I have absolutely no faith in the ability of the Solicitor General to resign on his own accord nor in the capacity of the President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, to dismiss him from public office based on what you said and other considerations. As you very well know, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has confirmed that they have, since last year, been investigating the same person you have told us is corrupt on a separate matter of suspected corruption involving US$500, 000.

In a truly functioning country with a president who has the political will to fight corruption, such a public officer would have been suspended to prevent them from interfering with the course of investigations and to give or preserve some element of credibility to the investigations. In a truly functioning country with public officers who respect the people, consider public service posts as positions of trust, and possess ethical values – such as moral force of character, integrity, honesty, and the selfless pursuit of the public good, and not the selfish striving for personal gain – the affected public officer could h ave also resigned on their own for the same reasons.

Unfortunately, Zambia is today woefully lacking on both scores, suffering from the calamity of the absence of this kind of leadership. We have no president with the courage and decisiveness that is required to drop senior government officials who are accused of, or involved in, corruption. Neither do we have a Solicitor General who, because he is being investigated for corruption, can resign on moral considerations. As a result, we, members of the public, are at the mercy of the evidence of Marshal’s corruption that is in your possession, if we are to stop the continuation of this travesty of having a person you have told us is corrupt occupying such an important office of our Republic.

Unless yours was a fight for inclusion at the looting table rather than a genuine commitment to anti-corruption; unless you are out to cover Marshal’s corruption (here, I am referring solely to the corruption you told us he was involved in), I am hopeful that you will use the evidence in your custody to report the Solicitor General to the ACC for corruption, failure to which you will approach the Magistrates’ Court for redress. Corruption stinks. In fact, it kills. I appeal to you to do everything necessary to help Marshal clear his name or bring him to justice.  For the reality is that unless you act, you will, in effect, be seen to be covering corruption.

Lastly, I read that the former ACC Director General, Thom Shamakamba, has sued you for defamation based on the statement you made that he, too, is corrupt. I am sure you have the evidence even in this case, and I look forward with interest to the commencement of trial. It is very important to use your case against Shamakamba to send a strong message about the cost of engaging in corruption to the self-serving elite class at the heart of public life, including those who occupy key positions in several state institutions and are complicit in the fall from grace of Zambia, and in sustaining our state of backward poverty and extreme cultural impoverishment.

As you probably are, I am outraged that we seem to have a shameless set of corruptible leaders, who are betraying Zambia to foreign commercial interests, who are pawning off the country for a few trinkets, who are accumulating through brazen theft of public resources and massive sale of Zambian land to so-called investors, and who are strutting around with self-importance when they are nothing but disposable playthings of even bigger global kleptocrats.

All this is happening when poor Zambians are struggling to afford basic needs, battling with crippling power outages lasting as long as 20 consecutive hours a day, and contending with the devasting cost-of-living crisis that has been worsened by an elitist, insensitive, and out-of-touch approach to leadership, one that prioritises the needs of foreigners and the rich.

If you were neither bluffing nor taking Zambians for fools when you told us that Shamakamba is, like Marshal, corrupt, then you deserve our utmost support in your upcoming court case against him. If there is anything I can do to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch. My email address is sishuwasishuwa@yahoo.com. I say all this devoid of any drama and out of a sincere duty of care for your reputation. As the readers know, reputation is hard to build but so easy to lose.

Our country is in dire need of men and women of reputable character who are loyal to the truth – not to individuals or narrow interests – and who do not change principles based on circumstances or who they are dealing with. It would greatly disappoint many people and leave your reputation in tatters if, in addition to what you have done with Marshal, you accepted to enter another content-less consent judgement with Shamakamba, like the settlement you made with the – according to you – corrupt Solicitor General.

In case you do not know, there are many people who look up to you, some as a role model. These include the University of Zambia students whom you teach in the School of Law; the upcoming and young generation of lawyers who follow your example; the different boards on which you serve such as Laura Miti’s Alliance for Community Action and the Zambia Law Development Commission; the diplomatic representatives of foreign missions in Zambia; the journalists in both the print and broadcast media who interact with you in the sincere belief that whatever you share with them is truthful; the local civil society organisations with whom you work closely on matters of governance; and indeed members of the public who see you as contributing to a public intellectual culture and who believe that the acquisition of specialist knowledge should result in its application to causes and communities that need it most.

It is therefore very important that you do whatever is necessary to protect your reputation from harm. Any failure, on your part, to report the Solicitor General to the ACC for corruption using the evidence in your possession, or to use the same information to lay a complaint of criminal behaviour against Marshal before the courts, or to publicise the specific details that made you conclude that he is corrupt, would ruin your reputation. All those who believe in or look up to you, including the different interest groups I just mentioned, would feel greatly disappointed and never take you seriously if you left them believing that you took them for fools and were just bluffing when you said Marshal is corrupt. They will also likely feel the same way if they woke up tomorrow and discovered that you have signed another shady consent judgement with Shamakamba or retracted and apologised for your earlier statement that he too is corrupt.

Yours, in defence of public interest,

Sishuwa Sishuwa
Citizen

Source: https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1820739220001976679

VEDANTA CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO RUN KCM, GOVT SHOULD LOOK FOR ANOTHER INVESTOR – KCM WORKERS

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VEDANTA CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO RUN KCM, GOVT SHOULD LOOK FOR ANOTHER INVESTOR  – KCM WORKERS

By Correspondent
PANIC and uncertainty has hit the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) workers after Vedanta Resources implemented the ‘secret termination of employment policy.

Affected workers have complained that the mining giant has continued to downsize the number of workers despite it’s public commitment to keep workers.

According to the affected workers,  atleast 350 workers have had their contracts terminated secretly inunexplained and unexpected situation.

“Things are not okay are promises. Many miners have had their contracts terminated. Atleast 350 people have lost jobs. What is shocking is that the new Konkola Copper Mine Chief Operations officer Mr Malcolm Mewett has started abusing Zambian employees at KCM by terminating contracts of the employees at KCM who have worked there for years,” one of the affected said.

The Fox Newspaper, however, could not independently confirm the abuse workers are alleging against their Chief Operations Officer.

The affected workers fear that even those that are qualified will not be spared with these secret dismissals.

“These are well qualified people with experience, they have worked for KCM for  years, their jobs are being terminated without being given the terminal benefits. We thought Vendanta Resources came to create employment and empower Zambians but it’s sad what they have started doing is not what they promised Zambians,” they said.

They further complained that even the K2500 once off bonus payment was not being taxed contrary to the agreement.

“Even the K2,500 bonus once off payment they promised to pay each each employee, it was taxed, now we are wandering what kind of bonus that is.”

Now, the workers are calling on the government to look for another investor to replace Vedanta Resources whom they have said cannot be trusted on anything.

“The government should just look for another viable investor to operate KCM otherwise Zambian people should forget about Vedanta Resources resuscitating KCM. Just recently Vedanta Resources announced that they released US$245million to clear off payment to the suppliers and contractors, unfortunately we are receiving reports that only the Kitwe council so far have received payment and some suppliers have not yet received any payment.

It’s clear that Vendanta Resources is financially broke and don’t have a financial capacity to run our mining asset KCM. The UPND government should listen to the people of Copperbelt, Vendanta Resources will cost them 2026 elections. Vendanta Resources can’t change, the Minister of Mines Paul Kabuswe should tame Vendanta Resources’ behavior,” they said.

Efforts to get a comment from Chief Operations Officer Malcolm Mewett and company Corporate Communications Department proved futile as they had their phones off.

Police must avoid being used as tools by criminally minded and selfish politicians – Edgar  Lungu

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Fellow Citizens,

This morning, I was really perplexed and disturbed by the videos and pictures that reached me regarding the sad events happening in Kasempa, of North Western Province. The Scenes of chaos, brutality, bloodshed, fear and violence have so profoundly been etched on my heart and mind.

I must, without ambiguity of any kind, condemn the actions taken against our fellow citizens in Kasempa by law enforcement officers. It is an act of grotesque violation of human rights to use live ammunition on unarmed people trying to eke out a living on the recently discovered gold deposits in their locality. Such acts of violence and police brutality on innocent civilians is unacceptable and barbaric because these poor people are merely trying to sustain their families’ in this very harsh economy that we have all been unfairly and grossly subjected to.

Across Africa, the local people who are being tear gassed, chased away and sometimes killed by brutal uniformed state personnel in this gruesome manner are the true owners of the minerals underneath than our visiting investors we deeply cherish and always want to give and honor with our minerals. Just as we have human animal conflicts in game areas, the state must know that local people will always show up wherever minerals like gold or emeralds are discovered in their areas. It is how the state deals and manages this confrontation or conflict which ears them respect or makes them become enemy of the masses. In Kasempa, this government is now deemed as the enemy of the people!

Further, I must mention that recent reports by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of death of some innocent Zambians allegedly beaten to death by police officers in their custody in Lusaka is both unfortunate, unacceptable and deeply disturbing. All these acts of political repression, police brutality and state violence constitute a grave breach of trust vested in our law enforcement agencies by our people and inexcusable. The role of the Zambia Police is to preserve and protect the lives and property of the people, not harm or kill them in this immoral and inhumane manner.

I know that even under my own regime the police were not innocent but let’s call a spade a spade, a wrong is a wrong and I wish to call upon the Zambia Police to uphold the rule of law, exercise restraint as they undertake to do their duties, and be guided by principles of justice, fairness, professionalism and respect for human dignity and life. The police must avoid being used as tools by criminally minded and selfish politicians to further any agenda that undermines the rights and freedoms of our citizens. Remember, we politicians will come and go but an institution like the Zambia Police Service will remain standing.

Lastly, I wish to send my sincere sympathies to the families of the Kasempa victims and the family of detainees who allegedly died in police custody or under the hands of uniformed officers. As well mourn with you, may our God strengthen the affected families in this very sad time.

May God Bless Zambia

H.E Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu
Sixth Republican President
UKA Alliance Member

THE OPPOSITION MP’S BIZARRE CALL FOR ZAMBIANS TO FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE AGAIN IS PATENTLY ABSURD AND MUST BE PROBED BY POLICE

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SEDITIOUS STATEMENT BY BINWELL MPUNDU

THE OPPOSITION MP’S BIZARRE CALL FOR ZAMBIANS TO FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE AGAIN IS PATENTLY ABSURD AND MUST BE PROBED BY POLICE.

Fellow citizens, We’re extremely appalled by the bizarre call by the Nkana Law Maker, Honourable Binwell Mpundu who’s calling on Zambians to fight for Zambia’s independence for the second time in 2026. The general public and law enforcement agencies may wish to note that the seditious statement by Hon. Mpundu is intended to instigate people to rise against the UPND government.



Surely, we cannot believe the desperation and misinformation being peddled by Hon Binwell Chansa Mpundu. His claim that the 2026 election is a fight for independence is not only baseless and seditious but also a gross misrepresentation of facts and reality of politics in Zambia.

Zambia has been an independent nation since 1964, and we will not be fooled into believing that we need to fight for it again. What we need is good governance, accountability, and transparency, which our current government under the able leadership of His Excellency, President Hakainde Hichilema is working hard to achieve.

His call to unite against tribalism, regionalism, corruption, injustices, and nepotism is nothing but a smokescreen. Our government has made visible and clear significant strides in addressing these issues, and we will not be swayed by empty rhetoric by the tired MP.

Furthermore, his statement ‘if you injure one, you injure all of us’ is a largely veiled threat, intended to incite violence and unrest against the government of the day and we call upon the Zambia police to consider summoning the law maker for a Quiz. We will not stand for such divisive language and calls to action that seek to undermine the stability of our nation.

We urge Zambians to reject this seditious narrative by Hon. Binwell Mpundu and instead focus on building a united and prosperous nation for all.

Let us work together to achieve real development and progress, rather than getting bogged down in unnecessary and false struggles for independence.

Castrol Kafweta
Jabari The Great ✍️

#SeditionWillNotBeTolerated #FactOverFiction #DevelopmentOverPolitics #OneZambiaOneNation”

Fred M’membe’s Twisted Agenda

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REPOST (2018)

I WRITE WHAT I LIKE

Published 3rd April 2018

Fred M’membe’s Twisted Agenda

By Daimone Siulapwa

M’membe, has single-handedly and selfishly managed to sink most of his former employees into poverty as he did not hesitate to brutally repress people who did not agree with him or when they protested. like all communists, M’membe and his Socialist Party want to eliminate competition completely – they want to control everything and reduce to its minimum expression people’s ability to question how they acquired wealth which they themselves are flaunting around. Doesn’t M’membe own a Hammers Other Luxuries?

When Zambia’s erstwhile media magnate, Fred M’membe started The Post newspaper in 1990, he emphasised that he was not in the business to make money, but rather he had started it with a revolutionary agenda and with a revolutionary cause and goal.

And according to M’membe, a self-proclaimed socialist, he was just but a part of revolutionaries whose goal was to contribute to the revolutionary agenda in an intelligent and creative way that would enable the newspaper to continue in existence, and give the biggest impact.

While at the helm of The Post Newspaper, M’membe on several fora said that he, together with his ‘comrades’ at the ‘independent’ newspaper, were doing so as internationalists and that was the reason why his newspaper was in Cuba – a country whose democratic credentials leave much to be desired.

According to M’membe, his revolutionary agenda was that of socialism and that is probably why he decided to maintain The Post Newspaper’s Cuban bureau even in the midst of financial hurdles which the newspaper had been facing since the opening of the office in the somewhat isolated country.

And in his rhetoric, M’membe portrayed himself as a communist/socialist, yet it is easy to determine that he is far from being one as his deeds show that he espouses capitalist norms and tendencies which are so difficult to hide.

Evidently, M’membe’s understanding of socialism is that leadership should take a totalitarian form and that explains why he and his Socialist Party are courting the Cuban government through its Zambian envoy Nelson Pages Vilas who has now been recommended for expulsion.

It is rather ironical that the Cuban Ambassador of all people chose to publicly side with M’membe apparently because the latter espouses socialist ideologies just like Cuba yet the envoy himself knows that in Cuba, the opposition is begrudged and it is as good as absent.

Cuba is not a model country to look up to in terms of politics and it is only those who believe in the cruel repression in that country and despots like M’membe and Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro who can happily claim that socialism is the best ideology countries should embrace.

Socialism is failing all over the world and the Zambian electorate will in 2021 show the global community that they no longer have faith in any variant of socialism, the “light” or moderate form that in many countries has been called Social Democracy or Democratic Socialism.

It is problematic to even trust if M’membe and his colleagues believe in the ideologies they are trying to make Zambians understand because they are on one hand propagating socialists’ ideas yet in the real sense they are all outright capitalists.

M’membe and his party colleagues are propagating the rejection of capitalism and the free market economy that gives everyone the right to produce and consume according to their needs when in essence they themselves have amassed wealth and property using the same means.

M’membe, just like his South African protégé Blade Zimande of the South African Communist Party, lives in an upmarket mansion, drives expensive vehicles unlike what is expected of a socialist and a pro-poor person he claims to be.

In fact, like communists, M’membe and his Socialist Party want to eliminate competition completely – they want to control everything and reduce to its minimum expression people’s ability to question how they acquired wealth which they are flaunting around.

In essence, modern Zambian socialists like M’membe and his former colleague Rainbow Party’s Wynter Kabimba have shown that they have the same totalitarian calling as their Venezuelan, Soviet and Chinese predecessors as well as their Cuban counterparts.

The two lawyers have also shown that their alleged democracy is a farce. As for M’membe, he has single-handedly and selfishly managed to sink most of his former employees into poverty as he did not hesitate to brutally repress people who did not agree with him or when they protested.

At The Post, it is M’membe’s dictatorship traits and constant aggression toward his employees that created a situation where the newspaper was incapable of sustaining itself because it was mismanaged to the core by mainly him without anyone questioning.

To reaffirm that M’membe is  indeed a capitalist, one has to revisit his conduct when he was at the helm of The Post newspaper where he controlled almost all aspects of the media entity to the exclusion of even his board members.

Board members, such as former Post Newspapers Board Chairperson Morris Attala, where nothing but figureheads, so was his management team. At The Post, anyone with nonconforming views was given the boot and M’membe can be challenged on this score.

No worker at The Post was allowed to belong to a trade union as set out in Zambia’s labour laws and anyone who attempted to form one was best described as a mole and those who dared to exercise their right to belong to a labour movement were fired on flimsy grounds.

It is such despotic tendencies, levels of intolerance and a sheer lack of transparency that are causing those who know M’membe well to shudder at the thought of the former Post Newspaper Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director becoming Zambia’s Republican President.

M’membe has always lived through repression and reprisals haranguing everyone who seemed to be hindering his interests which until his announcement that he had joined politics were thought to be hinged on his business interests.

It was always M’membe’s intention to make the party in government to toll his line of thought in the hope that this would make the ruling elite to offer him business favours in return for positive coverage and loyalty from his once revered newspaper – The Post.

Using The Post, M’membe directed the way of governing the country on the perception that only his thoughts were right, and a shift from his plan attracted scathing attacks from the newspaper – attacks which former Rupiah Banda can candidly attest to.

At the time, it appeared that all this was motivated by business interests and his insatiable desire to acquire wealth just like capitalists do but now it has become more apparent that M’membe’s desire was to be in State House himself.

Inarguably, it is M’membe’s constitutional right to seek the country’s utmost office yet it difficult to fathom why he decided to make known his political ambitions at this late hour when his popularity has waned.

*M’membe’s reputation started fading as soon as Zambians realised that he was propagating his selfish interest whenever he supported political parties that seemed to support his business interests.*

When Levy Mwanawasa sought to become President backed by Frederick Chiluba, M’membe launched an incessant campaign aimed at disparaging the MMD’s 2001 presidential candidate and called the former vice president all sorts of names.

But in a sudden U-turn, M’membe changed course when the Mwanawasa regime turned against Chiluba and when the MMD started giving him and his friends like Mutembo Nchito concessional loans through the Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ).

*With massive advertising from government, and the free-flow of discounted loans, and their non-payment of taxes, The Post soon became an admirable business entity and while his relationship with the ruling MMD was at the apex, M’membe expanded his enterprise like wild fire setting up an airline in the process.*

But with Mwanawasa’s death, the political landscape changed and so did M’membe’s attitude towards the MMD as he hastily switched his allegiance to the Michael Sata-led PF a party which he had all the while said was full of redundant thugs.

M’membe supported Sata, a person he had previously called a dictator, just because his preferred candidate Ngandu Magande failed to beat Rupiah to ascend to the Presidency and he reaped the benefits when Sata became President in 2011 acquiring several government contracts using his trucking company – Post Courier.

But as fate would have it, former President Sata only ruled for barely three and M’membe was back on the drawing board pondering on what his next manoeuvre would be before ultimately settling for fellow socialist Kabimba who had fallen out of favour with Sata.

Now it is apparent that President Edgar Lungu is M’membe’s foremost adversary as it is during the current Head of State’s reign that his once-favoured newspaper was callously liquidated despite several legal efforts to challenge the move.

It remains to be seen whether M’membe will make any meaningful impact on Zambia’s political landscape and whether he will be able to galvanize enough support to be able to win as President in 2021 using hi so-called socialist ideologies.

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*In my next article, I will analysis why many politicians and citizens are scared to imagine the possibility of the M’membe Presidency. Why has there been such a huge uproar on M’membe Joining Politics from all sector of our society? Should this indicate M’membe’s threat?*
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*Daimone Siulapwa is the founder and Editor-In-Chief of the Voice Newspaper in Zambia. For comments, please email dsgbarron@gmail.com.*

UPND DOUBLE STANDARDS IN SMALL SCALE MINING IS PATHETIC, HORRIBLE- Peter Sinkamba

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UPND DOUBLE STANDARDS IN SMALL SCALE MINING IS PATHETIC, HORRIBLE
By Peter Sinkamba

When it benefits its party members, UPND calls illegal mining as small scale mining. When its members are not the ones benefiting, UPND calls small scale mining as illegal mining. So disgusting hypocrisy.

As a matter of policy to promote youth employment and economic empowerment, PF government transformed and legitimised the Jerabo mining activities on the Copperbelt and elsewhere into small scale mining cluster. Youths involved were merely requested to form cooperatives by policy direction, and allowed to carry out mining activities, without necessarily going through the rigorous process of acquiring small scale mining licences as prescribed by the Mines Act of 2015 and its subsidiary legislation.

Through this process, government facilitated youths to carry out small scale mining activities at places like black mountain in Kitwe, Luanshya, and Mufulira, the open pits in Chingola, and gold panning elsewhere.

When UPND formed government in 2021, it facilitated its members to takeover small scale operations at the black mountains and open pits formerly operated by dominant PF youths. None of UPND youths operating those sites acquired small scale mining licences as is prescribed by the Mines Act 2015 but government never labelled them as illegal miners.

Even where there were accidents which claimed several lives, for example, in Chingola last year, UPND government never bothered to go and stop the operations with brutal force sanitize simply because its party members were benefiting.  

Yet elsewhere, for example Mpika and Kasempa Dengwe Area, police was unleashed with brutal force to stop the small scale mining operations largely benefiting women and youths, allegedly because the operations are illegal.

Like in Mpika, women and youths in Dengwe Area lost property running in hundreds of thousands of Kwacha. In both cases, several were injured.

The most frustrating conduct by UPND government is its appetite to serve foreigners instead of prioritizing Zambians. As we saw in Mpika and Mufulira, mineral claims which were benefiting our Zambian women and youths were ultimately handed over to foreigners by UPND government. It will be unsurprising when a foreigner pitches up at Dengwe claiming the mineral rights over the area.

So horrible policy!

ZANU PF official admits party rigs elections, tortures opposition activists

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The ruling ZANU PF party in Zimbabwe has admitted to the use of rigging methods to remain in power including the crushing of opposition activists through violence and torture.

This was said by the party’s national political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha during a ZANU PF Provincial-district meeting in Chinhoyi.

Addressing hundreds of party supporters Machacha said the party could have been out of power in 2008 after former president Robert Mugabe lost the presidential election to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

“We are a revolutionary party and we cannot be out of power overnight like what was going to happen after Tsvangirai won but you all know what we did that saw Tsvangirai running out of the country and that’s what ZANU PF is capable of doing.”

After Tsvangirai’s shock victory in 2008, state security agencies and the army launched “Operation Mavhoterera Papi – Where did you vote?” in which over 200 opposition supporters were killed

Machacha meanwhile also bragged about how even when they lose elections they also control the electoral institutions and the courts.

“We have Dexter Nduna who enjoyed being an MP even after he had lost because he was wrongly declared winner after all the systems are ours” he said.

Machacha urged party youths to discipline opposition members who are planning to demonstrate ahead of the SADC Summit.

“Youths should act and show those opposition people led by Chamisa that buttocks are painful and you know what to do as a party and you don’t have to ask us me when you see these opposition members you know how does the party deals with them” he said.

Machacha’s sentiments were echoed by Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who said people should know that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is a trained intelligence person.

“To those who think they can fan chaos in the country you should know that our president has spent all his life in the intelligence sector and knows how to ruthlessly deal with you and you won’t have anyway to get a redress” he said.

Billy Ray Cyrus and Firerose’s divorce finalized

Billy Ray and Firerose Cyrus’s divorce has been finalized three months following their bitter split.

The Country singer filed for divorce from his Australian wife of less than a year citing ‘irreconcilable differences’.

Court documents signed on Monday, August 5, and obtained by DailyMail show that Firerose walked away with $0.

According to the report, that situation is likely fine by her. ‘She settled for nothing just to be done with him and get away from the situation,’ the insider told DailyMail.

For the most part, the divorce agreement sees each party walk away from the brief marriage with what they brought to it in the first place.

However, the terms of the divorce agreement show that Billy Ray has agreed to hand over any claims he has to credits or royalties on songs that the couple wrote or published together before and during their union.

Billy Ray’s May 22, 2024 divorce filing came just days before Firerose 37, was due to have a double mastectomy following her diagnosis with the BRCA gene meaning she is more likely to contract certain cancers.

During the divorce battle, Billy Ray appeared to cast doubt on the truth of this claim by subpoenaing her medical records. She has since rescheduled her surgery.

Speaking Monday a source said, ‘If this went to trial, Firerose and her team would have provided a significant amount of evidence to prove he fabricated a narrative that would benefit his public image.

‘There is no doubt she would have been awarded the divorce, but it was much more important to her that this continuous smear campaign end, and the emotional turmoil stop so she can close the door on this chapter and recover from her surgery peacefully.’

Billy Ray saw things differently, claiming Firerose had only married him to get the last name Cyrus. He said she changed her name from Hodges – her first husband’s last name – just a couple of weeks ago.

‘I’m just very relieved,’ Billy Ray said in a statement to DailyMail,

This has been absolutely the most crazy insane scam I have ever heard of,’ he added. ‘Let alone the fact I’m right in the center and basically the target of the scheme.

‘It’s unfortunate it played out this way,’ he said. ‘Not only was it a web of lies that put me in physical danger, it was a matter of the heart.

‘Love is blind – that’s for sure.’

“We’re not worried, result is not so important” – Ancelotti on Madrid’ preseason form

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has expressed that he is “not concerned” about his team’s winless preseason.

The Champions League winners suffered a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan last week and followed it up with a 2-1 loss to Barcelona on Saturday. As they prepare for their final preseason match against Chelsea in Charlotte on Tuesday, Ancelotti commented, “We’re not worried. Results aren’t our main focus right now.

It’s preseason, and we’re missing eight players. We’re concentrating on our preparations and getting the players back into form. The goal is to give them minutes and ensure they are in good shape.”

Madrid will start their competitive season against Atalanta in the European Super Cup on August 14 in Warsaw and then face Mallorca in their La Liga opener four days later.

By August 7, Ancelotti expects to have a full squad, including summer arrivals Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, and Dani Carvajal, who are returning from their vacations.

“I can assure you that we are going to compete with the squad we have,” Ancelotti said. “We can fight for the seven titles. The calendar is very demanding but we have the quality to compete for everything, it is what the club commands.”

Ancelotti, meanwhile, has called for patience with teenage striker Endrick. The 18-year-old, who sealed his move Madrid on a permanent transfer from Palmeiras this summer, started in both of Madrid’s games in the U.S. but did not get on the scoresheet.
“We have to be patient with him,” Ancelotti said. “He has shown great quality and talent. As with [Arda] Güler last year, we don’t have to put pressure on the young players, he has a lot of pressure behind him, he is a very much loved player all over the world, especially in Brazil, but we must be patient with these players, with young people especially.”

Barcelona president Joan Laporta, meanwhile, praised his team’s youngsters after their victory in El Clásico which followed their midweek draw against Manchester City

“We promote young people and develop talent, which for us is the most important thing,” Laporta said on Sunday at a club event in New York.

“We are very proud because there is work behind it. Of course we go to the market to sign good players, but for us it is essential to generate talent,” he added.

“We give importance to how we win. We gave a good image [against Madrid] and that is the most important thing.”
Barça complete their U.S. summer tour against AC Milan on Tuesday.

Sancho to replace Rasmus at season start following latter’s injury

Erik ten Hag has indicated that Jadon Sancho might take on the role of Manchester United’s central striker at the start of the season, given Rasmus Højlund’s injury.

Højlund is expected to be sidelined for six weeks due to a hamstring injury sustained during the first match of the U.S. tour against Arsenal.

With Højlund out, Sancho, who was reintroduced to the squad after a 10-month absence, played as the No. 9 in the recent 3-2 win over Real Betis and the 3-0 loss to Liverpool.

Ten Hag suggested that Sancho could begin as the center-forward in the Community Shield against Manchester City and in the Premier League opener against Fulham, ahead of new signing Joshua Zirkzee.

“Yes, otherwise we wouldn’t play with him there,” said Ten Hag when asked whether Sancho could start up front against City at Wembley.

“That is what we can do if we don’t have the availability of Rasmus, but of course, Joshua Zirkzee, he is coming in, he has started training, but also consider that he is not so long in training, so that will take time, and he has to adapt to English football and our way of playing as well.

“There is also, of course, Jadon, as a striker. We know he can play in wide areas, but also as a false striker, he’s an option.”

Joshua Zirkzee, who was signed from Bologna for £36.5 million, has yet to train with the team since his return to Carrington after the summer break, as he did not participate in the American tour.

Jadon Sancho, who rejoined Manchester United after a loan spell at Borussia Dortmund last season, has not netted a competitive goal for the club since May 2023.

Marcus Rashford could also be considered to fill the gap left by Højlund, but Ten Hag suggested that Rashford will likely remain in his customary position on the left wing.

“I think that Marcus has done it [played as a striker] before and he can do it, and it’s definitely an option,” said Ten Hag.

“But I think he is most productive from the left, starting wide and coming inside. So when he can arrive there, he is most effective. We have other options. We have Bruno Fernandes who can play as a striker as well.”