TONSE ALLIANCE RESPONSE TO THREATS ISSUED BY PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA DURING THE N’CWALA TRADITIONAL CEREMONY, AGAINST SOCIAL MEDIA USERS
Liberty House, 24th February 2025
1. The TONSE ALLIANCE is compelled to respond to the threats that were issued by President Hakainde Hichilema, in his keynote speech, during the celebration of the N’cwala Traditional Ceremony at Mutenguleni in Chipata of the Eastern Province of Zambia, on Saturday, 22nd February 2025.
2. First and foremost, the President has no moral pedestal to stand on and condemn social media abuse, for as long as he remains a beneficiary of rogue social media pages such as Koswe, Zambian Bulletin and Zambia Watchdog, which insult, defame and disparage his perceived political opponents on a daily basis, without attracting the wrath of neither ZICTA nor the condemnation of the President himself.
3. Our advice to the Zambian people is to disregard the threats issued by President Hakainde Hichilema and treat them as rantings of an outgoing President, who has realized, albeit too late, that the Zambian people want him out of office next year, due to his perennial dismal performance so far. As a response to his realization that he is on the way out next year, President Hakainde Hichilema has now resorted to threatening the Zambian people, so as to gag them and instill fear in them, so that they should be afraid to freely talk about the failures of his outgoing UPND administration.
4. This ploy of seeking to threaten citizens from freely using social media, is in addition to the President’s other unscrupulous initiatives such as obtaining endorsements from persons of a moral standing comparable to his own, such as Chabinga. As TONSE ALLIANCE, our message to President Hakainde Hichilema is simple; none of these desperate, last minute attempts, will have any impact to derail or reverse the will of the Zambian people in next year’s general election.
5. As TONSE ALLIANCE, our advice to the Zambian people is to disregard the threats issued by President Hakainde Hichilema, and continue to use social media as they see fit. In seeking to determine what is appropriate social media content, the Zambian people are advised to use the standard set by President Hakainde Hichilema’s affiliated social media pages such as Koswe, Zambian Bulletin and Zambia Watchdog.
6. Until such a time that either ZICTA or Zambia Police take action and arrest the administrators of President Hakainde Hichilema’s affiliated social media pages; Koswe, Zambian Bulletin and Zambia Watchdog, the Zambian people should take the content that is published on these social media pages as the national standard of permissible social media content. Any double standards which President Hakainde Hichilema or his Government may seek to impose on the Zambian people, should be rejected with the contempt that it deserves.
7. The TONSE ALLIANCE further wishes to take this opportunity to advise the organizers of the N’cwala Traditional Ceremony, not to abuse the ceremony to peddle narratives of the UPND party. N’cwala is a ceremony for all Ngonis, regardless of their political affiliation. It is not a ceremony for UPND Ngonis only. Therefore it is wrong to use N’cwala as a platform for seeking to resucitate the dwindling political fortunes of the UPND party.
8. Lastly, the TONSE ALLIANCE wishes to assure President Hakainde Hichilema that, regardless of his last minute unscrupulous initiatives, the Zambian people are resolute to vote him out of office next year. For 15 years, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema cried for state power. But when it was finally bestowed on him by the Zambian people in 2021, he decided to abuse it and focus on personal enrichment, at the expense of the Zambian economy and it’s people. Therefore, our advice to President Hakainde Hichilema is that, instead of further alienating himself from people, by issuing morally unsound threats, the President should utilize his remaining 17 months in office to reconcile with the Zambian people so that they may forgive him when he leaves office next year.
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ISSUED BY:
Sean E. Tembo (SET)
PeP PRESIDENT & TONSE ALLIANCE SPOKESPERSON
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA