ZNBC, PRIME TV WILL CAUSE WAR IN ZAMBIA, PRESIDENT HICHILEMA MUST ENSURE THEY STOP INFLAMATORY DOCUMENTARIES
WITHDRAW THOSE TOXIC DOCUMENTARIES
…UPND inflaming ethnic hate, regional rivalry.
THE Patriotic Front is appalled and alarmed by the malicious and dangerous documentaries the UPND has again started airing on ZNBC TV and Prime TV which are aimed at whipping up ethnic hatred and regionalism.
We are worried that President Hakainde Hichilema could unleash such a hate campaign against his predecessor and his administration while pretending to promote national unity.
It’s the first time in the history of this country we are seeing such desperation and insecurity from a sitting head of State, where he unleashes mercenaries at his opponents and perceived enemies.
Zambians must reject this dangerous adventurism by this excited regime. Let them pause for a moment and imagine if our late founding father, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, and Nelson Mandela had unleashed such hate-mongering documentaries against their erstwhile oppressors.
Where would Zambia and South Africa have been today?
It is cheap and base propaganda to depict Hakainde Hichilema as a victim of political persecution while deliberately ignoring the man’s highly provocative behaviour and open disrespect towards incumbent presidents, the late Mr Michael Chilufya Sata, and Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu whom he called all sorts of derogatory names without suffering any consequences while he was in opposition.
Many times his utterances and actions bordered on criminality but nothing happened to him.
It’s laughable that even his incarceration for 127 days triggered by his mischievous behaviour in Mongu where he directly challenged and endangered the safety of a sitting head of State is being shamelessly laundered as persecution. How cheap!
Wasn’t Mr Hichilema warned by independent observers, including respected foreign media personalities, that in other countries he would not have survived the consequences of such hot-headed adventurism?
When the UPND started showing the documentaries on the two media outlets a few months ago our deputy chairman for information and publicity, Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, expressed alarm and warned of the dangerous consequences of peddling such hate against one group of citizens and a certain region.
This abuse of ZNBC, a government owned media outlet, and the UPND-inclined Prime TV is a dangerous trajectory which could lead to ghastly consequences if not stopped immediately.
It is disappointing that the two media houses could offer themselves to be used as tools of division and regional hatred.
What is the difference between the toxic hate-laden TV documentaries the Hichilema-led UPND regime is using to set one region against another and one ethnic group against another and what the late Chanda Chimba was airing against Mr Sata and Dr Fred M’membe before the 2011 general elections?
What will happen if others start showing counter-documentaries showing the atrocities visited upon hapless Zambians by the violent UPND in the past?
We urge the UPND, Mr Hichilema and their foreign media advisors who are behind this nonsense at State House and UPND Secretariat to pause and think about the bloody Mapatizya Formula, the ethic displacement of Northerners and Easterners by UPND in Namwala, the brutal and cold-blooded murders of Jackson Kungo in Solwezi and a youth in Kanyama, the maiming of defenceless citizens in Mufumbwe and many other atrocities.
If all these atrocities are documented and aired on TV of what benefit will they be to the nation?
The UPND documentaries must stop immediately. We warn ZNBC and Prime TV to refrain from serving as platforms for fanning ethnic rivalry and hate by a despatate regime which has failed to rule the country and is now bent on annihilating the opposition.
Should they continue airing such toxic content the PF reserves the right to use all legal avenues available to halt them and hold all the individuals who are behind them accountable.
Issued by:
EDWIN LIFWEKELO
PF Deputy Media Director.