Zambians Are Not Lazy, They Are Betrayed: A Cry Against Failed Leadership
By Dr Mwelwa
Mr. Kabesha’s words are not just careless—they are a dagger to the heart of every struggling Zambian. To call the people “lazy” in a time when they are waking up at 04:00 to push wheelbarrows in Soweto Market, when women rise before dawn to carry tomatoes to the roadside, when bus drivers spend 18 hours behind the wheel just to meet impossible cashing targets—this is not leadership, it is mockery.
Scripture teaches in Jeremiah 29:7 that God told the exiles in Babylon, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city… for if it prospers, you too will prosper.” No man can be richer than his country. No minister can thrive while the economy is collapsing. Zambia’s problem is not laziness but a hostile environment that favors the rich and foreigners over its own citizens.
Our people pay levies and taxes but cannot access affordable capital because the Monetary Policy Rate sits above 20%, designed not to grow SMEs but to strangle them. Borrowing is impossible, and when they dare to borrow, they are crushed by interest.
Mr. Kabesha must remember he was once an ordinary Zambian with limited means, struggling like every other man in Kabwe’s broken economy. The marketeers he insults spend all day in the sun, but customers are broke. The charcoal burners he mocks are merely trying to survive in an economy where even basic energy is unaffordable.
Students he ignores are selling airtime and their dignity to pay for rent because their parents’ crops have been destroyed by drought. Colleges are collapsing under unpaid fees, failing to pay lecturers, NAPSA, and PAYE. And when the youth, desperate and disillusioned, turn to crime or depression, leaders blame them instead of the environment they have created.
Dr. Kenneth Kaunda once reminded us that “a leader is a servant of the people, not their master.” True leadership does not insult its citizens; it lifts them. It creates an economy where work is rewarded, where farmers are paid on time, where bus drivers have rest, where welders have electricity to work, where marketeers have customers who can afford to buy.
To brand Zambians lazy is immoral. It is a failure to see the truth. Our people are not lazy—they are betrayed. Betrayed by leaders who fail to fix energy, who fail to fix agriculture, who fail to fix liquidity, and who now seek to absolve themselves by blaming the victims.
Leadership is stewardship, not scapegoating. As long as this government continues to insult the people instead of empowering them, the cries from villages, markets, and bus stations will grow louder until the very foundation of power shakes. Because, as Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
And today, Zambia is groaning.
#zambianwhistleblower #ZWB
Do you have a farm mwelwa???? always writing nonsense articles no substance.
Dr. Mwelwa try to look at things objectively instead of viewing things with political lenses all the time.
If you were to log what an employee does every hour, you would be shocked to find that little time is spent on work related activities. Just watch field workers for Zesco, Zamtel or the water reticulation companies. If they are ten, you will find that eight will be standing idly by while two are engaged in the actual work.
They start the work late and knock off early.
Just walk into any public office and see their dedication to their phones.
Admitting that we are lazy is the first step towards addressing this malady. It is a serious national cancer.
Seeing things thru tribalism
Both are wrong and right. Wrong in the sense that they’ve generalised. Right in the sense that yes some people are lazy and others hardworking to the core..
Catch phrase is an appeal to create an enabling environment eg in agriculture. Please pay farmers who supply to FRA in time to enable them plan & prepare for next season well..
Zambians are lazy don’t defend the indefensible. After discovering that there is social media They spend 20hrs every day posting rubbish
on social media, instead of engaging in productive work. Others spend most of their time insulting the president daily. Imagine how much food they would produce if all that time was spent on the farm? A few years ago most Zambians got glued to their tvs watching “No one but” or Ziworld to an extent of knowing every character in the film. Isn’t that laziness? And stupidity waisting time on such useless things without working. All they know is complaining about everything ni “boma iyanganepo”. Always talking pabwali. Nishibushilu?