By GEORGE CHOMBA
“Why am I the only Zambia national team player being singled out for having parents of Congolese heritage when the country has from time immemorial fielded many such players?” China-based footballer, Stopilla Sunzu has asked.
Stopilla’s lamentation follows stories after the Department of Immigration in Zambia raided his father, Felix Sunzu’s home in Chililabombwe a few days ago.
This is despite the Department of Immigration Spokesperson Namati Nshinka explaining that Mr. Sunzu Sr’s home was not the only target.
The immigration department says Mr Sunzu Sr was among 20 other persons rounded up during a routine clean-up operation conducted within Chililabombwe District in the early hours of Monday, 13th December, 2021.
“Mr. Sunzu, together with five members of his household, was picked by the officers after he failed to produce documentation to prove his legal immigration status. Contrary to reports that the officers broke into and searched Mr. Felix Sunzu’s house, Mr. Sunzu willingly opened the door upon hearing the officers’ knock and no search was conducted,” he explains.
Mr. Nshinka said Mr. Sunzu and the other five members of his household were taken to Chilalabombwe Police Station for screening, shortly after which they were released upon production of the requisite documents.
“This is consistent with the Department’s policy of not detaining any person who is not a flight risk. A statement was recorded from Mr. Sunzu and he is to report to the Kasumbalesa Immigration Office,” Mr. Nshinka says.
But this explanation appears to have generated even more venom from soccer followers of the 2012 Africa Cup tournament and some politicians.
For the uninitiated, Stopilla is the player who scored the winning penalty kick for Zambia against Ivory Coast in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Final in Libreville, Gabon.
In the history of the tournament which started in 1957 in Khartoum, Sudan, this was the first time the Zambia national team or rather the Chipolopolo was carrying the trophy to Lusaka.
Imagine if Stopilla Sunzu had missed the penalty kick in that 2012 Africa Cup final.
Fortunately, he scored and his name will forever be in the history of the Africa cup and on the list of Zambia’s soccer heroes.
This is the good about the name of Sunzu.
Therefore, an assault on the name of Stopilla Sunzu and his family is and will always be perceived an insult to soccer lovers in Zambia.
But in the aftermath of the Immigration Department’s search probably comes the bad.
Still there is no explanation about the whereabouts of the legal papers of Mr Felix Sunzu sr.
When asked about his nationality by a private newspaper, Mr Felix Sunzu Sr responded that he came to Zambia in 1964 with his mother.
He offers no answer to the major question about his nationality until the son, in this case, Stopilla cries out.
“Why am I the only Zambia national team player being singled out for having parents of Congolese heritage when the country has from time immemorial fielded many such players?” asks Stopilla Sunzu.
Others to come to the defence of Mr Felix Sunzu Sr are historians in the football world.
Mr Felix Sunzu Sr, was a goalkeeper who was originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Nobody or rather few are asking what happened when he arrived in Zambia and his stay in Zambia.
It appears nobody or few are interested in knowing whether Mr Felix Sunzu Sr has legal documentation to live in Zambia and also know the work and operations of the Department of Immigration.
What is the work of the National Registration Card in the Zambian citizenship process?
A summary of the work of the Zambia Department of Immigration is to effectively and efficiently facilitate and regulate the entry and exit of persons and control the stay of immigrants and visitors in the country in order to contribute to internal security and sustainable socio-economic development.
This is not to say Mr Felix Sunzu Sr is a security risk but rather to find out whether as a Zambian, he does not need any legal document, such as an NRC, just because he is the father of Zambia’s Africa Cup soccer hero, Stopilla Sunzu?-Diamond TV