Zambia is now an Authoritarian State
By Kanyanta Chanda Kapwepwe
Let us stop pretending. Let us stop tiptoeing. Let us stop decorating the truth with polite language. Zambia is now an authoritarian state under President Hakainde Hichilema. The signs are no longer subtle. They are loud, aggressive, coordinated, and unmistakable.
Today in Zambia: chiefs are threatened with treason. Priests are publicly intimidated. Students are suppressed. Civil society is terrorised. Dissent is reframed as tribal hatred. Protests are banned. Critics are labelled enemies of the state. Cadres are unleashed on citizens. Parliament suspends opposition MPs for speaking their minds. And now, even constitutional debate is treated like a personal attack on the President.
What exactly is left of democracy?
When the President’s feelings become national policy, when his insecurities become national threats, when his critics become national enemies, that nation is no longer free. And when citizens and civic institutions receive death threats simply for opposing Bill 7, it becomes clear that this is no longer a democracy in distress. This is a democracy under attack. A government that tolerates death threats against civil society is not democratic. It is repressive.
But the most disturbing part of Zambia’s authoritarian climate is the behaviour of President Hichilema himself. A head of state who repeatedly describes criticism as “hatred”, who paints dissent as a tribal conspiracy against him, who warns protesters that he will unleash “those who are stronger” on them, is not practising democratic leadership. He is flirting with political intimidation. He has mastered the language of fear. He is turning disagreement into an existential threat against the presidency. This is how authoritarians behave. This is how authoritarian states are born. Not through coups. Not through tanks. But through the slow, deliberate criminalisation of citizenship.
Let President Hichilema hear this clearly:
A government that fears dissent fears democracy. A President who criminalises criticism criminalises the people. And a nation that normalises intimidation is no longer a democracy; it is an authoritarian state in disguise.
Zambia is at a crossroads. We can either defend the democratic freedoms our forefathers fought for, or we can surrender them to a government that believes it is above scrutiny. But history teaches a hard lesson: authoritarian regimes always fall the moment citizens stop being afraid. Right now, chiefs, bishops, students, professionals, women, youth, civil society, and the people of Zambia in general are running out of fear. And when fear disappears, authoritarian governments collapse under the weight of their own arrogance.
That is the path we are now on. And unless this government pulls back from its obsession with intimidation, it will not escape the fate of every authoritarian state before it. Zambia is not the President’s personal property. Zambia is not a private company. Zambia does not belong to Community House. Zambia belongs to its people. And the hungry people are angry.
Kanyanta Chanda Kapwepwe is a governance analyst and senior lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He writes in his personal capacity.
The courts on two occassions has stepped in an made a decision on the matter.
How then do suggest its an authoritian state just because a few of you have made noise.
Do the few of you represent the will of the people? When you sit down and think through the reasons you oppose.
Are the reasons not presumptous and spectulative? You make assumptions as to what the bill means. You read into the bill insteadof reading the bill. What are you witchdoctors or fallible humans like all of us?
Stop being self rightous in your actions.
If the people of Zambia were against the bill they would be in the streets. But its just a few of you. What is so special about you to want to bring the nation to its feet.
As for #BBC be objective and balanced in your reporting. This is why you DG was forced to resign.
You got the views of Beauty Katebe. Are those the views of Zambians? And indepth exploration into the issue. To allow both sides of the story to be reported. Instead you blasted one view of the issue. Anyone listening to the report filed would walk away with a skewed picture of what happened and the situation on the matter. Whose interest do you serve? It seems #BBC and its prejudice thrive where they report anarchy around the world. They enjoy the misery of others just so that they can have some utilitarian existence. Change or rge world lose faith in the ideals you stand for.