Response to Chris Zumani’s poisonous snakes theory

We are reeling from the shock of reading Chris Zumani’s diatribe on certain individuals in which he literally tries to besmirch, defame, ridicule and scandalise them in Part 1 of his latest article; “UPND 12 MOST POISONOUS SNAKES THAT WILL BITE AND DUMP HH IN 2026…”

The article is devoid of any truth or substance at all save for utter insults! Zumani, who is former political advisor to former president Edgar Lungu accuses the said individuals of being unprincipled turncoats pretending to ingratiate themselves with President Hichilema in return for a few crumbs of bread.

He writes, “In 2026 when HH is shamelessly detested, politically rejected and brutally defeated by a countrywide mob of voters, these snakes – political traitors will automatically evaporate from him, denounce Bally and start singing for the new Republican President.”

He continues, “These are slippery political traitors who pay false allegiance to HH and are manipulatively dancing treachery at Community House today because of what they are benefiting for now and nothing else.”

Since he wants to refer to others as snakes for whatever position they’ve chosen to undertake, may we hasten to remind Zumani that prior to securing his most coveted and lofty position as one of the senior aides to President Lungu, he was a vicious and vociferous critic of the same man that today he wants to pretend to love to the moon, and back! What does this make of him? A pseudo- intellectual who cannot hold his ground as long as ‘T/born and chips’ are on offer on the table?

Anyway, the beauty about Social media is that we can’t easily erase our past – the ghosts will always remain rattling in the closet reminding us of whatever we said or did in the past. For instance, here’s a breakdown of some of the unkindest things Zumani wrote about the man who was yet to be his boss: In one of his Facebook posts, the former political advisor to Lungu, described him as “corrupt” and a “play boy!”

In a Mid-March 2018 posting on Social media, Zumani made the following startling observations, albeit in a satirical manner, “The Republican Play Boy in State House has no heart for poor Zambians or anyone apart from flying the world and enriching his wallet, everyday. Zambians must not allow a spoiled and corrupt President who enjoys luxury life using and abusing tax payers money like a mad ancient King to rule us for another term. Lungu and PF must be legally and peacefully retired in 2021 through a Armageddon vote of protest and humiliation.”

And after Lungu had addressed the National Assembly on our principles and values a few days later, he was again on fire on Social media, “A corrupt President with abnormal wealth cannot teach us to fight corruption. Lungu needed to repent yesterday in parliament!”

The following month, he had this to say about this scandalous president, “In my heat, I just want to see Lungu gone either by impeachment soon or in 2021 by vote.”

Like a clever house cat that defecates in a bag of mealie meal and quickly covers it to avoid it’s ‘misdeeds’ being detected; of course, Zumani had to strike like a bolt of lightening and deactivate his Facebook account to save himself from any embarassment of having to explain his sudden change of heart about the man that he so much loathed for his thieving and corrupt activities.

As a matter of fact, the same Laura Miti that he wants to scandalise today was actually peeved and absolutely disappointed over the new route Zumani had taken.

“Chris Zumani Zimba, the new Political Advisor to President Lungu, has deleted his Facebook Account. It contained scathing criticism of the President and presidency,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “That is worrying because his analysis was largely on point.”

Why does Zumani want to pretend today that his former boss had no flaws at all……that he was a perfect leader when he actually kept reminding us about his huge catalogue of misdeeds?

Former politician, Ludwig Sondashi is famed for saying if you want to know how a crocodile lives in water, ask a hippo. There may never be a better person to explain Lungu’s extent of corruption than Chishimba Kambwili, once a senior cabinet minister in the PF regime. From time to time, Kambwili would insist that, “Lungu, ukufuma kutukondo ukufika kumishishi (from his toes to his hair), it is all corruption! His walk is corruption, his talk is corruption, his sitting is corruption, whatever he touches is corruption.” Simply put, Lungu is the worst person in our recent history to have occupied Plot 1 Independence Avenue and Zumani would be doing us a favour not try and launder his image. So what is Zumani trying to tell us?

We may not be Hichilema’s spokespersons, but we know for sure that Zumani is absolutely the wrong person to advise the President as to who he must be associating with or not. Zumani and his ilk haven’t hesitated to demonstrate their pathological hatred for Hichilema; if anything, they’d love to continue seeing him in the company of the so-called ‘slippery individuals’ who may turn against him if at all he was to tumble in the next elections. Hichilema is keeping an open-door policy whereby he’s willing to work with former leaders such as Kavindele and Brigadier Gen. Godfrey Miyanda among others to help him run the country. If anyone has a problem with this, that’s their own bone to chew!

May we now digress and consider the three individuals that Zumani desperately tries to malign and portray in the negative light, specifically:

1. Enock Kavindele

Zumani dismisses senior citizen and former vice president Enock Kavindele as a legendary money-lover and dangerous slippery fellow with zero trace of patriotism: mainly known for being a proxy of exploitive Western imperialists at the expense of Zambians. He also insinuates that Mr. Kavindele is one of Zambia’s former Vice Presidents without anything much to show or talk about, politically.

“In 2016, using his business tricks to win Lungu’s signature for his US$1.2-billion North Western Railway project, Enock Kavindele endorsed the president as “the best candidate,” he rumbles on.

We don’t know what our colleague is smoking or drinking for him to infer such wild allegations. Nifwaka yachingoni loko ni Chavuma water?

In case Zumani was too young to remember or perhaps the one who is motivating him to say such things was too inebriated with Jameson to recall anything; Kavindele has been involved in business from a tender age! When most of his peers have been found wanting and probed or arrested for drag trafficking or corruption, Kavindele remains with no history of appearing at any police station for questioning on any wrong doing. He’s been above board in his business activities; whether it’s diamonds trade or whatever one would wish to speculate about. Is it surely a crime to partner with those from the West in business ventures unless those from the East?

We find it quite laughable and ludicrous for Zumani to describe Kavindele as “one of Zambia’s former Vice Presidents without anything much to show or talk about politically…..” Like, seriously? Isn’t this the man that called for a press briefing in 2006 and announced to the whole world that he was taking a back seat from politics? How did Lungu’s former political advisor expect him to be in the news always?

If we may take a step back into the annals of history, when everyone in the nation were actually dead scared of KK and cadres, or vigilantes if you like, would eulogize him as a ‘demigod,’ Kavindele had the guts to take the risk and challenge him for the UNIP top leadership position at the Mulungushi Rock of Authorities! Frail old women had to be sponsored to protest naked at his challet as the dreaded vigilantes bayed for his blood! He had to pull-out of the race at the last minute for the sake of peace and harmony.

Just in case Zumani isn’t aware as we suspect he’s still a raw political scientist; this great son of North western province that went on to serve as Chingola Member of Parliament over a long period of time before becoming Republican vice president, actually never enjoyed any emoluments from the state at any given time. This is acknowledged in the letter President Kaunda wrote to him on February 2, 1989 upon learning about the same from the Secretary General of the party, UNIP. Kavindele was in parliament to serve his people, and not for personal aggrandisement as we are witnessing today from most of our leaders.

Zumani argues that Kavindele attempted to use his ‘business tricks’ to win Lungu’s signature for his almost moribund Northwest Railway Line project. What sort of reasoning is this? First and foremost, for any project of such magnitude to take off, you definitely require government support! As a matter of fact, this project must have taken-off a long time ago save for one selfish and corrupt cabinet minister in the MMD regime who was quick to throw in the spanners. The project has been in the offing since 2003, it’s just fair that we must seeing some traction.

Kavindele didn’t take a walk into Lungu’s campyon his own accord; Lungu actually dispatched a senior military officer from North western province as an emissary to try and convince the former vice president to consider joining forces with him. He might have attempted to try and solicit support from Lungu in this regard; however, we aren’t surprised that Lungu never bothered to endorse his signature on the project despite Kavindele tirelessly campaigning for him as the Patriotic Front did not have any development agenda for North western province. They were definitely keen to let it remain a Cinderella province for as long as they wanted as they continued milking it off of its natural resources such as gold and mukula!

If a president such as Hichilema has done the unimaginable such as supporting this magnificent project, what can stop anyone from describing him as the best President?

Despite contributing the bulk of the national treasury, North western province remained largely ignored in terms of infrastructural development. Call him whatever names you wish, the people of North western and indeed national at large are obviously, solidly behind Kavindele. This mammoth project obviously brings with it immense opportunities – job opportunities, ease of transportation of goods and our people and above all, economic boost for the province and Nation at large.

2. Laura Miti

Zumani says Miti is a slippery human rights activist who has betrayed Zambians on moral grounds and will surely run away from HH after his defeat in 2026.

“Has Laura Miti protested naked at police headquarters before IG Grapheal Musamba against all the growing human rights violations?” Zumani wonders.

Does this so-called political scientist really knows what he’s talking about?

Miti is not a friend or colleague of ours per se; however, having observed her from a distance over a long period of time, we can put our necks on the chopping board and vouch for her. She is not only down-to-earth, but a genuine human being who believes in fiercely defending the rights of the downtrodden in society.

Yes, she may be enjoying a few perks as a Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission today; but surely, she’s not the type to be blinded by such trappings of power and forget the people altogether. Contrary to wild allegations by Zumani; on several occasions, Miti has broken ranks with her fellow Commissioners and called a spade a spade, even as it seemed unfashionable
to do so!

Recently as parliament was expending its energy and resources trying to ‘fix’ a canterkerous and uncouth MP for catcalling the President on the floor of the August House by instituting disciplinary measures, Miti immediately took to Social media and wrote as follows: “OK, ku Parliament kuli kantu! This level of please-the-boss is not good for any President or leader. Surely, Parliamentary administration has more serious issues to direct it’s energies to, than a catcall by an MP known to be less than mature.”

And speaking to a Daily Nation reporter not long after that, she described as abuse of the Judiciary by the UPND in its attempt to re-open former President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility case for which the Constitutional Court had conclusively determined and pronounced itself.

As the tiff between the Matero Member of Parliament Miles Sampa and the PF leadership got to a climax, she again took to Social media and took a swipe at the police for taking over the PF Secretariat.

“It’s difficult to believe that UPND had no hand in the confusion that arose in the Patriotic Front (PF) because it is practically impossible for Miles Sampa to organise a coup against his own party without the support of the State,” she stated.

She wondered as to who was making the final decisions on how the police should protect the PF events.

“All I can say to whoever it is, re-think of your strategy!”

Zumani says he’s yet to see Miti protesting naked at Police Service headquarters. As an intellectual, we expect him to fathom that we are no longer in the Cha-cha-cha era where violence was the norm whenever our freedom fighters wanted to drive a point home. This is the 21st century, for God’s sake! Whenever differences arise, it calls for the contestation of ideas through dialogue and debate as opposed to throwing stones or resorting to insults.

3. Sunday Chanda

Zumani accuses Chanda of having been ‘chewing’ big time every day when Lungu was in State House, and yet today, he has abandoned him.

“Apart from sacrificing a highly respected civil servant, former police IG in Hon. Malama to adopt Sunday Chanda on PF ticket in Kanchibiya, President Lungu used his own resources and networks at his disposal to finance and support Sunday Chanda to become a parliamentarian in 2021,” Zumani claims.

Come on guys! What personal resources did Lungu sacrifice apart from tax payers’ money naimwe! If Chanda is reading this article, we wish to encourage him to remain resolute, and not to be swayed by the likes of Zumani who are simply doing their master’s bidding.

To start with, Malama wasn’t a popular candidate in Kanchibiya; he lamentably failed to deliver to the expectations of the people in the area, no wonder the local leadership wasn’t keen to re-adopt him. This is the reason why he chose to blindly support the nonsensical Bill 10 project to please Lungu and his cohorts as he knew he didn’t stand any chance of being adopted by the grassroots.

It’s on record that Chanda was a vicious critic of Hichilema during his time as PF Media Director. Day in and out, he’d venture to every TV and radio station or indeed Newspapers to malign or pour scorn on HH. He was just doing his job. However, Chanda is now representing the good people of Kanchibiya in parliament, and not himself! They say when two elephants fight, the grass suffers! Chanda has put politics aside and concentrating on doing his best to meet the aspirations of his people.

Why is Chanda currently one of the best performing MPs in the country at the moment? It’s simple…..he’s working with the government of the day to deliver to people’s expectations. Whether you want to call him “Bally’s step son of CDF” or not, Chanda has delivered phenomenal projects in the area the shortest time he’s been in parliament such as feeder-roads, schools, clinics, youth empowerment projects and sustainable agriculture etc while other MPs continue wallowing in slumber, be it from the ruling party or opposition.

Mr. President, why can’t you consider making this brilliant youngman Foreign Affairs minister as a way of further fostering national unity to shame your critics?

In his desperation to remain relevant to Lungu in his grand scheme of things, Zumani claims that if Chanda betrayed Lungu with “kasaka ka ndalama” who made him get to where he is today, what more the stingy HH who is just throwing empty promises on him….What nonsense!

Again, we aren’t quite sure whether our brother’s mental faculties are still intact or not. What evidence does Zumani has that Hichilema is stingy apart from rumours he might have picked on the streets?

Before he became President, HH had a history of using his own resources to sponsor orphans and vulnerable children from primary school through to college or university, sinking boreholes in villages or cities, constructing schools and clinics and of course dip tanks; you might do us a great favour by availing us evidence of Lungu’s charitable exploits before he went to State House!

We shall end here for now as we await Zumani’s second episode.

Prince Bill M. Kaping’a
Political/Social Analyst