There is a more effective way of silencing me: governing Zambia better- Sishuwa Sishuwa 

There is a more effective way of silencing me: governing Zambia better!

By Sishuwa Sishuwa

“We have been made aware of a complaint against Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa sent to Stellenbosch University by supporters of Zambia’s president. The complaint relates to his commentary on governance issues. As a Department, we warmly and unequivocally support Dr Sishuwa’s academic freedom without interference.”

Source: https://x.com/Stell_History/status/2069469447476187555?s=20

The above public statement was issued by Stellenbosch University’s History Department on 23 June 2026. It was a response to a formal request made by supporters of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) to my employers that I must be censored or sanctioned. The person who lodged the complaint was Masheke Akashambatwa, a prominent supporter of the current President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema and a self-declared member of the governing party. Masheke published on his Facebook page the edited version of the email sent to Stellenbosch, announcing that they had reported me to my employers whom they asked to sanction me. The UPND strongman also stated that the university had acknowledge receipt of their official complaint and promised to share the reply with his followers once the university responds.

I know for a fact that the top leadership of the university, to whom he wrote, has privately and in greater detail responded to the petition. However, since the response is not what Masheke and his backers had hoped for, Masheke has felt embarrassed to publish it on his Facebook page with the same openness and enthusiasm that he showed when informing his followers that he had reported me to my employers and asked them to review my public statements on Zambia that are critical of the ruling party and politicians he supports.

I am truly grateful to my wonderful colleagues for this principled protection of the right to academic freedom. It is a welcome and refreshing contrast to the harrowing experience of 2021 when the University of Zambia, my previous employer, publicly disowned me after supporters of the then President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, filed complaints against my opinion pieces that criticised his leadership.

The then President’s supporters even formally asked the Inspector General of Police to arrest me for alleged sedition, claiming that my opinion pieces were ‘dangerous and had the capacity to instigate a public uprising.’

https://lusakatimes.com/2021/04/26/emmanuel-mwamba-reports-sishuwa-sishuwa-to-the-police-for-writing-and-publishing-seditious-material/

Under Zambian law, sedition is a serious offence that refers to the act of inciting revolt against the government with the goal of overthrowing it. Those arrested on a charge of sedition cannot be granted bail and the punishment is a seven-year prison sentence. Fortunately, ordinary people, broad sections of civil society, CODESRIA, and the academic community in general came in and stood with me at the time.

https://mg.co.za/news/africa/2021-04-30-international-academics-reject-sedition-charge-against-zambia-s-dr-sishuwa/

Although the Department of History declined to render its support, a few colleagues at the University of Zambia, some of whom now work for the current government and even uncritically defend the President from my criticism, stood up for me and condemned the institution’s failure to protect academic freedom.

https://lusakatimes.com/2021/05/06/why-unzas-disavow-of-sishuwa-sishuwa-threatens-academic-freedom-in-zambia/

For a moment, however, I felt alone and sad that my employer had chosen to throw me under the bus to the extent of even lying that I was no longer an employee of the university. It is therefore refreshing to now work for a university that takes academic freedom seriously, not as a mere slogan.

I have also since received strong support from other leadership structures of Stellenbosch University. For instance, yesterday, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Stellenbosch University wrote to assure me of its support for my academic freedom and freedom of speech:

“Stellenbosch University subscribes to the principle of academic freedom. That principle is itself an extension of the right to freedom of speech enshrined in the Bill of Rights that is the foundation of the South African Constitution.

SU defines academic freedom as the freedom to do academic work, namely teaching, learning, and research in the pursuit of knowledge. It includes the right of academic staff and students, individually and in collaboration, to reason, speak and write in accordance with what they believe to be true, free from undue institutional, political or commercial restraint, and subject to the standards of scholarship and research integrity appropriate to their academic disciplines.

The assessment of whether academic work meets those standards is a matter for the relevant academic disciplines and established scholarly processes. It is not determined through public disagreement with a scholar’s views or conclusions.”

The Legal Services division has also communicated its support for my right to academic  freedom. It has been a joy working for Stellenbosch University and among supportive colleagues and leadership. Their unequivocal responses in support of academic freedom and freedom of expression is confirmation that I chose the right institution. I could not be happier.

As was the case under previous ruling parties and their supporters, there has been a gradual attempt by the Zambian authorities to silence my voice. I have long held power to account since 2009. In the service of civic duty and the social responsibility of intellectuals, I have raised my voice against injustice, corruption, human rights violations, attacks on democracy, poor service delivery, abuse, etc.

In Zambia alone, my views have earned coverage in the print, electronic, and broadcast media. These include, among others, The Post newspaper (until it was shut down in June 2016), News Diggers following its creation in 2016, Lusaka Times, Diamond and KBN television stations, and Hot Fm and Radio Phoniex.

Then, following the 2021 election, those in power and their supporters, who used to back my right to academic freedom and free expression when in opposition, steadily found my voice inconvenient.

They asked Diggers to silence my voice. I learnt of this and never complained after the publication of my articles and the coverage stopped.

They asked Phoenix to silence my voice. I learnt of this and never complained after the interviews stopped.

They asked Lusaka Times to silence my voice. I learnt of this and never complained after the publication of my articles stopped.

They asked Twitter to silence my voice. I learnt of this and never complained. Fortunately, the social media company rejected their overtures.

When I appeared on Hot FM and criticised the state of governance and human rights in Zambia under the current president, they asked the state regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, to threaten the radio station, claiming that my “assertions [on the programme] have the potential to cause disunity in the country”!

https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1714198485161947450?s=20

When I asked the judiciary to explain how court cases are allocated after noticing a concerning pattern in cases involving the main opposition party and in which the president had an interest, they asked the judiciary, through its spokesperson, to take the unprecedented step of issuing a press statement in which I was accused of ‘jeopardising the integrity of the legal system’, undermining ‘investor confidence’, and effectively branded an enemy of the state.

https://diggers.news/guest-diggers/2024/01/29/compromised-by-politics-a-response-to-the-judiciary-of-zambia/

After I criticised the president’s continued abuse of state institutions to fix his critics and political opponents, they formally asked the Inspector General of Police to arrest me for alleged hate speech against the president.

https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2024-11-25-after-i-criticised-his-abuse-of-state-institutions-zambia-s-president-wants-me-arrested/

Under Zambian law, hate speech is a serious offence that refers to the act of expressing or showing hatred, ridicule or contempt for persons because of race, tribe, place of origin or colour. Conviction for hate speech carries a two-year prison sentence.

More recently, they asked the Mail & Guardian, a newspaper that I have regularly written for since 2019, to silence my voice. I learnt of this and never complained even after the publication of my articles stopped and when I learnt of correspondence in which the new editor, who enjoys proximity to the Zambian presidency, is expressing his opposition to the publication of opinion pieces that he perceives as too critical of President Hichilema: “We don’t want to run an anti HH campaign in the M&G.” The implication was instructive.

Now they are asking Stellenbosch University to silence my voice. It was both incriminating and enlightening that the formal complaint against me to the university was copied to State House in Zambia. There is a more effective way of silencing me: governing Zambia better!

I do not mean any harm to Zambia or its leadership. My criticism of elected leaders is a matter of principle, rooted in my very poor background that nurtured certain fundamental values, a background that I have previously shared.

https://diggers.news/guest-diggers/2023/06/14/why-i-do-what-i-do/

I know all too well the realities of grinding poverty and illiteracy, especially among rural folk, and this makes me even more determined that it should not be mere chance that rescues people. This background explains why I hold to account elected public officials. The government policies and the actions of our ruling political elites that condemn many of our fellow citizens to poverty, disease, superstition, ignorance, hunger, want, and ill health must be opposed. I have been doing this and intend to do so with every fibre of my being, as long as I live, and to do so without seeking any financial reward or personal benefits.

It is my belief that intellectuals must act out of conviction, based on understandable reasons and the intrinsic value of their actions, not out of anticipation of material gain, political or personal favours. I do what I do out of a deep conviction, motivated by the belief that if knowledge is worth acquiring, it is also worth sharing; that the acquisition of specialist knowledge should result in its application to causes and communities that need it most.

Zambia’s intellectuals, though few in numbers, have a duty to publicly share their knowledge and expertise on issues of public interest. Zambia lacks a public intellectual culture, and I provide regular media commentaries in the hope that in my own modest way I could contribute to the creation of one.

I do what I do in furtherance of the belief that a better Zambia is possible, not out of a desire to drive anyone in or out of State House. Former president Lungu leant this lesson late and only regretted how he and his government treated me after losing power, as his handwritten letter below shows.

https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1644599456288083977?s=20

Even the then leadership of the University of Zambia has since regretted its actions towards me. After reading my current employers’ defense of my right to academic freedom, Prof Luke Mumba, who was the Vice-Chancellor when the University of Zambia disavowed me, contacted me, apologising for how I was treated:

“It’s time for me to render my apology for writing a similar letter to you in the past. Your consistency as a matter of principle has stood a test of time and  I have come to appreciate you and what you do for the many voiceless Zambians.

You will overcome this empty threat from UPND surrogates. I do not think that the administration at SB University will take this posting seriously.

Good night.”

I was happy to receive this message and indeed slept well, but not before I responded to the former Vice-Chancellor:

“I welcome and accept your apology. I can only imagine the pressure you might have been under at the time. I harbour no hard feelings against you and have not forgotten your kindness before that incident. It is not lost on me that you are the one who gave me the research leave to UCT and even extended it.  That opportunity contributed to getting me where I am today. I am also grateful that you have been supportive even in recent years under renewed attacks from the current administration. We should all play our part in acting the belief that a better Zambia is possible.”

The lesson is clear: it is always better to do the right thing.

Since the 2021 election that ushered in the current government, I have received many apologies and words of encouragement from former officials and others who previously could not withstand my voice and even sought to silence me. These apologies and words from people who proved unable to defend the principles of their office in the past are welcome. The only sad part is that they always come after the officials have left the position, while the current occupants of that position behave in much the same manner.

I note too that the letters are always public but the subsequent apologies are mostly private. If all the apologies were public, then it might encourage the current occupants of the positions to reflect on their actions, and see that this pressure from government is not an individual concern but a way of governing that survives changes of party.

I insist that a better Zambia is possible. My activism is conducted in pursuit of the realisation of that simple aspiration. https://zambianwhistleblower.com/

Source: https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/2070031860806119875?s=20