By Faston Mwale, Socialist Party Member of the Central Committee
UPND TRIBALISM: It Has Nothing To Do With M’membe But The Ruling Party Itself
Exposing a political party or its leaders for their tribal remarks and approaches to governance does not make one a tribalist. Tribalism has no place in our society and when it shows its ugly head, we should quickly expose it.
Equally, when one points out that UPND is a tribal bantustan party, this in no way does refer to Tongas or the people of southern Province. UPND is not equals to any tribe in Zambia.
When Rupiah Banda made tribal remarks, when he told people not to entertain any people coming from outside, the Post went for him; Michael Sata – when there were appointments in the early Sata government that were tribally inclined, the Post went for him, when there were tribal sentiments against the Station Manager who was not Lozi, the Post went against Lozi tribalism.
When tribal sentiments were made by Madyenkuku, Sejani and Mwanajiti among many others in the UPND during the leadership succession of UPND, the Post went for them and denounced as Bantustan politics. They were categorical in saying only a tonga would succeed Mr Mazoka. Anybody with some little memory can remember this. Only a jaundiced brain can fail to record this.
Those who want to put a tribal tag on Dr. Fred M’membe are simply out of sheer naiveté opening a fight that will devour them. To insinuate that Dr M’membe is against Southerners is nothing but extreme dishonest and a crass denial of facts because he is also a Southerner – he is Toka leya. How can he turn against himself or they want his Tonga identity for political expedience.
Dr. M’membe is Bemba but he has not hesitated to fight bemba tribalism whenever it raised its ugly face. Dr M’membe is Lozi, but again, he has never failed to fight Lozi tribalism whenever it has been exhibited, and there is a record of this in the Post editions.
Challenge Dr. M’membe with truths and irrefutable facts, not with lies, and calumny. Lies won’t take UPND far because they have short legs, we have seen this.
If anything, Dr M’membe is a unifier – who the Mbunda’s would call Lewanika. Who of our leading leaders can be said to come from 4 provinces and 10 ethnicities. As he himself has always remarked: “If for any reason you don’t like bembas, you may not like me because am bemba; if for any reason you hate tongas, you may also hate me because I am close to the Tongas, because and Tokaleya; if the sight of a lozi irritates you, you may also find me an irritant because lam lozi. If you think Mbundas; should be sent back to Mbalango in Angola where they came some 300 years ago, you may also deport me.”
The threats from UPND towards our leader Dr Fred M’membe are misplaced. UPND should instead deal with their tribal cancer, as this will devour them. They should look at themselves in the mirror and face the truth.
