By LARRY MWEETWA
TRUTH PAINS, LIKE RAIN! FOOTBALL TALENT DOES NOT RAIN IN ONE OR 3 PROVINCES..
The post does not Mention any Specific province or tribe and nothing radical. It merely suggests that football talent, much like rain, does not fall on only two or three provinces. In the true tradition of Samuel “Zoom” Ndhlovu, it calls for an inter-provincial, inclusive, and nationally representative approach to player selection.
Yet, as the saying goes, “When you throw a stone into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one it has hit.” If a call for transparency and meritocracy provokes anger or defensiveness, then perhaps the discomfort is not with the message, but with the mirror it holds up.
A fair, geographically diverse selection system should alarm no one who is acting in good faith. Only those invested in narrow gatekeeping would interpret inclusivity as an attack. Or, as our elders warn, “He who owns the granary fears the hungry man asking for a key.”
Football does not grow in silos. It grows when doors are opened, not when corridors are narrowed for convenience. “A river that forgets its source will dry up,” and a national team that forgets the nation will never truly compete.
The objective remains simple: national excellence over provincial comfort, systems over sentiments, and integrity over noise. As they say, “Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it alone.”
In other ways what iam saying is or the post simply advocates for a broader, inter-provincial approach to player selection, anchored in inclusivity and national representation much in the same spirit that Samuel “Zoom” Ndhlovu consistently championed.
If this position triggers discomfort or hostility, it may be worth reflecting on why. A transparent, merit-based, and geographically diverse selection framework should not threaten anyone acting in good faith. Resistance to such a call often signals vested interests rather than genuine concern for the growth of the game.
Football thrives when opportunity is widened, not narrowed. The objective is national excellence, not provincial convenience.
I am just telling you what a lot of people are thinking but can’t say it and truth pains. Any way do a mirror check I have not mentioned any specific tribe or province.
The coach of the national football team selects the best players available from top clubs. The players in the squad right now are our best players but our best are simply not good enough to make an impact at Africa’s premier football tournament. And since sport is not war and competition continues in perpetuity, there’s always time to rebuild and try again. Zambia will rise again and conquer.
Next game, you will see the entire team coming from that region MWEETWA wants. This tribalist MWEETWA has the full backing of HAKAINDE. The same thing as MWEEMBA.
The only jobs that will be left for those from other regions will be cleaning and grave digging jobs. These people are on a mission to dominate, purge and cleanse Zambia.
REJECT TRIBALISM, CORRUPTION AND OPPRESSION.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
I agree with you ba Indigo. This Dr. Larry Mweetwa is not any different from Mr. Kambwili. They are cut from the same cloth.
I have followed the gentleman’s utterances and there are clear tribal overtones. He must be condemned in the same way Mr. Kambwili is condemned. His message is trash and he should not disguise it as truth. What was the composition of the national team when Zambia lifted the Afcon cup in 2012? Who was in the team when Zambia battled Zaire in the 1974 Africa Cup in Egypt? How about the time Zambia lost to Morocco (remember Diramba the ref?) just after the Gabon disaster?
Dr. Larry Mweetwa is a danger to the unity of our country. He sees everything with tribal/regional lenses and seems to have a deep seated hatred for Northerners/Easterners. It is important to realise that tribalists are in every region of Zambia. The scourge is not the preserve of Northerners/Easterners.
Good observation my brother. You are a true patriot.
Selecting from all places does not guarantee you winning, but how tactical, fit or health is the entire assembly. The boys look small, no stamina, tactical sense, coaching stuff disorganized, lost etc…, restart
Dr Larry Mweetwa is brewed from the Same Tribal pot which made some People Party Presidents…and eventually country Presidents..the same Pot which produced Tribal Praise Maniacs.
Only a Tonga can Succeed a Tonga ideology when Engr Anderson Mazoka passed away re – birthed the Pre Independence Tribal Lenses which some people see in Every thing…
The Zambia Council of Catholic Bishops is Tribal..We should have our own in ZCCB.
The Zambia National Team is Tribal, our own should be at the helm so that our names are on the Jerseys.
The ZCTU is Tribal. Our own should take over.
The Law Association of Zambia is Tribal.
The LAZ President should be removed so that we have our own.
Too much of these Songs on radio , our Own songs should be on the Airwaves.
Remember how one ZNBC presenter was almost fired for just saying I can’t understand a language from a caller!
Go ahead and make a National Team full of Players from Monze Bullets, Zimba Bulls, Mazabuka Warriors so that you start winning.
Just tired of how Tribe has been elevated to everything in this country… Even Kindergarten children are now asking about which Tribe their friends are coming from. This was never part of our discussion when we were kids..All we knew was playing, and that was all.
How did we get here?
The Pre – Independence Tribal Lenses re – birthed in 1998 and 2006, whose Agenda we are living with now , got us here.
Come 13th August,2026 these Tribal Lenses should be Crushed, we revert back to a normal country.
The author of this article has some hidden agenda to say certain tribes can not perform unless from certain provinces. Players should be picked on merit not on tribal lines. Our league is not performing on international platforms which results on poor quality of players when copperbelt was well funded from copper they had best talent because they were going round identifying talent from rural areas. Talent is not nurtured despite being identified Morroco under 17 recently won world cup what do you expect until we have school league, provincial league we shall be the crying babies and play the usual blame game of the past four years and glorify themselves. Other countries have improved their talent identification and we have remained behind
The ills of Zambian football are deeper than Dr. Mweetwa is making out. Previously, the national team coach had a large pool to select from and leagues were well organised. We had tournaments involving primary schools, secondary schools, higher institutions of learning and local youth leagues.
When I was growing up, we used to play as what was called curtain raisers, local youth teams, before the reserve team and finally the first team. This was on the Copperbelt during the then National Football Legue. Obviously, football was better organised in the urban than the rural areas and hence the biased representation in the national team even today.
It is simplistic for Dr. Mweetwa to say football skills are equally distributed throughout the country. How many kids in rural areas get to play football on a make shift pitch? Even the rain he is referring to is not equally distributed throughout the country. Some areas are drought prone whereas others record higher rainfall figures.
Football needs to be radically reorganised. Maybe we should take a break from international football for five years and just focus on building up the game from the basic level to national level. Equal representation is not the problem but poor organisation. You can give each region quotas and I can assure you the result will be worse than what is obtaining now.
Dr. Larry Mweetwa just seems to be obsessed with victimisation of some regions and reads that in every situation.
I agree with even the world know that Zambia football team is made from three provinces. They will and shall never see any trophy as long ax the attitude does not change . Stamina or small does not matter , try to keep coaches who have experience not poor untraveled Zambian coaches full of corruption