´The Best of Enemies´ on Dialogue
By Amb. Anthony Mukwita
Our local media was this week flooded with news of a hitch in a proposed meeting or dialogue between President Hichilema and predecessor Edgar Lungu, the sixth President on Zambia.
It has been a long-awaited proposition as political tensions rise high while the two leaders trade political punches with a possibility of gas-lighting the whole political field of Zambia.
As tensions escalated, the Oasis Forum, an influential civil society organisation credited for being a huge reconciliatory body in Zambia since the return to multiparty democracy in 1991 stepped up to the plate.
They called for a cease fire—let’s have a dialogue between Don H and ECL they said.
FROM ´BEST ENEMIES´ TO ZAMBIA
The development vividly reminded me of one of my favourite movies available on Netflix fight now—´The Best of Enemies´.
It’s a 1991 American movie based on real events around civil rights activist Ann Atwater and local Ku Klux Klan leader, C.P Ellis, who regard each other as enemies.
It’s an acrimonious and fractious American conflict race movie story, you must watch it.
As tensions mount, conflict experts put Atwater and C.P Ellis together to co-chair a meeting to discuss racial desegregation of schools and dialogue so that racial tensions in the south can simmer down.
Now remember that this is like telling ice to love fire, black people and white people hated each other immensely back in the day but nevertheless, CP Ellis and Atwater agree to this ´charade´ to find peace.
BACK TO THE OASIS AND DIALOGUE
I believe this is the bridge the Oasis Forum is trying to build between our two leaders Edgar Lungu and Hakainde Hichilema hence the reason I personally feel sad that the dialogue road seems to have hit a road-block before it even gets tarred.
The Oxford English dictionary defines dialogue as ‘a conversation carried on between two or more persons ‘.
According to my research, ´the ancient meaning of the word dialogue (dia lagos) is a” flow of meaning” which stands in stark contrast to the word ’debate’ which means to ‘beat down’, or even the word ‘discussion’ which has the same route as ‘percussion’ and ‘concussion’ or simply to break things up.
The author proceeds to say ´dialogue is a process where the participants commit to listen, reflect and question with a curious mindset to seek a shared understanding.´
A ´resolution dialogue´ has the purpose of ´resolving conflict through dialogue.´
Enough of the academic stuff, back to life and back to reality in Zambia, the case between UPND president and state President Hichilema aka Don H and Edgar Lungu aka ECL.
The sixth President agreed to a proposition to dialogue initiated by Oasis Forum, ECL agreed but with two conditions, the major one being ´set PF free from legal shenanigans.´ Shots fired!
The response from the Don H was ´no conditions´ let’s just meet and your asking for conditions borders on being ´contemptuous and preposterous.´
I thought that got off on a bumpy start because it had no tone or iota of willingness to dialogue or reconcile, the dice was loaded from the start.
THE PARRALEL OF ISRAEL AND GAZA
What happened between Don H and ECL is not very different from what is happening between Gaza and Israel where Israel has racked up a 42k dead bodies in a year against 1.2k Israelis just because they can’t dialogue around the table with the UN et al..
International mediators fostering dialogue and conflict resolution seeking a ceasefire have hit a brick wall for a year now as children and women in Gaza die needlessly because Israel says ´we wont leave Gaza, we shall keep dropping the bombs until we annihilate the human animals in Palestine called Hamas.´
Palestine conversely says we will hold onto Jew hostages from Israel until Israel totally vacates Gaza and the West bank.
Way to dialogue or ending a conflict, right?
As along as Israel holds its hard line and Hamas hankers on its own line, no peace deal is in sight in the middle east, thousands more Arabs shall find their death as Israel bombs rain on.
It is the same thing back home in Zambia for as long as Don H holds his own and refuses to agree to pre dialogue conditions, the political stalemate remains in Zambia and tensions escalate.
Its at this point that with my limited humble common sense, I ask the esteemed Oasis Forum not to give up on dialogue and give peace a chance.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
Please put together a committee that shall look at what ECL wants and what Don H wants before they can meet and sign a potential truce because nothing development wise succeeds amid tension, hatred and dispute.
The onus in my view is ON Don H, he is the Big Kahuna here, the boss at State House.
He can end this stand-off with a blink of an eye lid, I am willing to help just as the Oasis Forum is. But does he want an end to the conflict?
I recall reading once that the absence of war doesn’t necessarily mean there´s peace in a country.
The onus to dialogue and bring peace lies right on Don H´s table and nowhere else hombres and amigos.
Zambia has crossed much more dangerous bridges and baptisms of fire, this too can be crossed, only if Don H has the will. ECL has laid his cards on the table.
Put that team together to find peace through dialogue, expand the economy and create jobs.
Poverty levels in copper rich Zambia at more than 64 pc is criminal if I may say so myself, it cannot be tackled while leader’s fight.
But then even as I preach this peace message, I realise that it might end up as a dream because I am a dreamer ´we chiloto ukwama.´
Make love not war and good luck to the ´best of enemies´ in Zambia as we grapple with prolonged days of lack of electricity in our houses. The darkness of Zambia.
–Source: The Daily Nation “Mukwita on Point.”
Contact: mukwitaone@gmail.com
Amb. Anthony Mukwita is a former Ambassador of Zambia to several European countries and a published author whose books are available in Bookworld, Grey Matter and Amazon.
There’s one thing most of you writers are not mentioning, how did this enemity start. Ecl as president escalated his hatred for HH and he didn’t even want to dialogue, so the conditions he is setting are neither here nor there, as if the fued just started today. The problem is with most of you sympathisers for Ecl you ill advised him when he was president because you thought HH was not going to be president the reason why you thought dialogue was a useless thing when Ecl was president himself. So today it has dawned to all of you and you say the burden is on HH to lower his shoulder. Ecl lost already to HH, meaning, in everything such that he can’t pause any more threats such as those he uttered just a week before elections. Let ecl humble himself because he knows how he treated his friend when he was president himself. Pride won’t help him let him just accept that he is no longer president. Cilakalipa ukulusa we all know. Ecl made HH his sworn enemy for totally nothing. HH served himself already from the fiercest rage ecl planned against him, whether dialogue or no dialogue ecl is weakened already, let him humble himself, we all know when it suited him about the fire he breathed toward HH. Akatanshi takalisha, lelo akalekelesha,so says severally the patient Kambwili. Ecl just organized himself as one of the powerful when he became president while his friend has been even before he assumed the seat. So ba lungu just needs to be brought back to where he was before assuming that seat and you will agree with me that he is still as weak in his heart as before becoming president. You can’t use what you accumulated yesterday to start battles with people who have been long in that comfort zone. The reason why he completely failed to weaken HH even with state power at his disposal. Tell me if HH also chooses to send state police to go and harass ecl what will become of him. Bemba people would say, Ubufumu bwicindika ubwine. Maybe you start from the beginning, how did they start becoming enemies all of a sudden, and tell us when else you suggested that there must be dialogue especially during ecl presidency. It’s up to him he proved so powerful over nothing and he thinks he still commands the same power, wala it’s all gone and he can only watch from the terraces, nipano tuli. Let him accept that he no longer has the stamina to talk anyhow the way he used to as president without any regard for another’s feelings
Let politicians learn from this fued which was started by ecl himself that treat fellow politicians including those in opposition with respect and total regard for them as potential predecessors, not that way ecl was disregarding hh and eventually he manages to dislodge him. Lungu must accept he was wrong to handle his friend like that and talk less of singling him out from the whole group of other opposition leaders and most of you were too too quite and now you realize that it’s hh on an advantage side and he has the choice whether to revenge or brush it off, and are sympathetic with ecl because of his vulnerability in the vicinity. So don’t rush to call for dialogue as if the fued just started three years ago when hh became president you are aware it has been there from ecl time in office, the best is for you and ecl himself to first of all accept that ecl was wrong to have treated his friend like that and you also were wrong for not seeing the need for ecl to stop mistreating his friend when he had the mantle himself. Or maybe ecl has a much better reason why he treated his friend like that which still makes him feel unremorseful and that it was justified for him to do it that way, and if it was not necessary for him to see dialogue then why should hh feel it’s a burden for him. After all it’s only two terms for each and as Zambians we will have nothing in common with them and they will both go separate ways. This is why me i feel it’s not necessary for ecl to come in 2026 because it will leave hh with one term and he will also fight more to retain power which will happen if it can happen to ecl and up to 2031or so Zambia will be talking of ecl and hh only, that i can assure you. So the best Zambians can do is to retire them both completely, ecl is already out with his two swearing in ceremonies and let hh do his second and also leave then we shall have no politicians who are enemies. But if we continue talking of these two always then Zambia won’t graduate from the nuisance.