Zambia’s main opposition party, the Patriotic Front (PF), has warned President Hakainde Hichilema and members of his governing UPND against being “reckless” for stage-managing protests against Zimbabwe’s assumption of the SADC chairmanship at next month’s summit, saying that sows divisions in the region.
The warning comes after Zambia Police on Wednesday acknowledged receipt of a notification to “protest” by purported Zimbabweans and citizens from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa resident in that country, which according to the PF’s secretary-general Mr Rafael Nakacinda was cleared.
The protests were cleared on the days the SADC bloc is holding the 26th Ordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO) on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation from July 11-12 in Lusaka.
President Hichilema is the outgoing chair of the organ. Mr Nakacinda yesterday told The Herald in a telephone interview that under President Hichilema Zambia had deviated from its non-alignment foreign policy position by getting into closer proximity with the US and the collective West, hence risking the stability of the region.
“Lusaka and HH (President Hakainde Hichilema) have been reckless towards good neighbourliness. From independence, Zambia has been pursuing a foreign policy of non-alignment from Kenneth Kaunda to Edgar Lungu. What is causing Hichilema to do this, clearly, is that he is a puppet of the West and we have spoken hardly against his proximity to the US.
“He is consistently on the path of being provocative to neighbours,” Mr Nakacinda said.
According to Mr Nakacinda, President Hichilema has deliberately provoked Zimbabwe, especially by “sending Nevers Mumba to lead the SADC Election Observer Mission to Zimbabwe” last year.
“What he is doing on Zambian soil is not only threatening Zambia, but the region. We condemned his decision to send Nevers Mumba to Zimbabwe’s elections saying his choice was an interested party. Now the antics of mobilising people purported to be Zimbabweans and bringing in other countries is petty and we condemn that.
“Zimbabwe and Zambia are Siamese twins, we are one people. This move to orchestrate protests against a neighbour is petty. He is trying to respond to President Mnangagwa and President Putin’s meeting in Moscow. What he is doing is a lack of protocol and SADC should consider censuring him. He is a junior president in the region and he is short of that basic understanding of regional unity,” added Mr Nakacinda.
The PF party is accusing President Hichilema of failing to uphold the rule of law, criminalising free expression and entrenching political intolerance which is threatening the “One Zambia, One Nation” principle by the late founding President Dr Kenneth Kaunda.
Zambia’s Information and Media Permanent Secretary Mr Thabo Kawana’s mobile number was not available. Efforts to get further comments from Zambia’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Derick Livune were fruitless as he was not in office.
Recently, a senior Zimbabwean Government official told our sister paper, The Sunday Mail, that the country was aware of opposition members who had visited a country in the region to coordinate protests to besmirch Zimbabwe ahead the SADC Summit.
