WE WILL NOT ALLOW MPEZENI TO DRIVE EASTERN PEOPLE ON TRIBAL PATH, SAYS AMB ZULU…no one can claim ownership of EP people to themselves
By Patson Chilemba
We will not allow Mpezeni to drive the people of Eastern Province down a tribal path, says Zambia’s former Ambassador to Australia George Zulu.
Speaking with Daily Revelation on Paramount chief of the Ngoni people of Eastern Province, Mpezeni’s refusal to back down from his tribal sentiments that people of that province should vote for President Edgar Lungu as a child of the soil, adding that tribalism was everywhere, Amb Zulu said he was saddened with the Mpezeni’s tribal talk, which he said was done in bad faith. He said he had known Mpezeni for a long time, and he had never been tribal, the more reason he must avoid going down that dangerous path.
Amb Zulu said Zambians must fight whoever trafficked in tribalism.
“I don’t want him to go tribal, we won’t let him. We will fight tribalism wherever it occurs in this country. We are students of KK who brought the 73 tribes together,” said Amb Zulu, a Ngoni and until recently an induna to the Mpezeni, who disowned him after condemning his (Mpezeni’s) tribal talk. “I am ready to put on my boots to fight tribalism. Whoever brings up tribalism must be fought.”
Amb Zulu urged President Edgar Lungu to intervene against tribalism, even from those who were supporting him, saying politicians had deliberately made the chiefs poor to make them dependent on them, and do their bidding.
He said no one could claim to own the people of Eastern Province to themselves.
“People of Eastern Province in particular will never ever go tribal. They will vote on whom they want. They will choose their leader with their conscience…they will not go for cheap tribal politics. They are now more mature in what they do. They are promoters of One Zambia One Nation,” Amb Zulu said, adding that founding president Dr Kenneth Kaunda will be disappointed with the tribal chatter coming out.
He said he was sent by the late president Michael Sata, then in the opposition, to reach out to UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema to work together, not because Hichilema was a Tonga or Sata a Bemba, but because the two were Zambians.
“We must get together with chiefs to fight the common enemy; poverty, unemployment. Let us find solutions and not dividing ourselves,” said Amb Zulu.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, the Mpezeni refused to back away from his tribal talk, saying tribalism was everywhere. -Daily Revelation