The August 2021 UPND Rigging Machinery in Southern Province & Zambezi Regions was brutally horrific and so historic: 12 Reasons Why that will Never Happen Again as Bally is Going Home
The August 2021 UPND Rigging Machinery in Southern Province & Zambezi Regions was brutally horrific and so historic: 12 Reasons Why that will Never Happen Again as Bally is Going Home
…..We are talking about known ECZ polling officers having the liberty to walk out of the polling station with ballots boxes, mark them for HH in hidden places outside, bring ‘their results back inside, compute and announce them as HH’s landslide victory results against ECL. In this manner, they voted for the sick, dead and those who were drinking kachasu and mabisi at home-they voted Bally for the whole village. In our electoral life since independence, this only happened on 12th August 2021 in Southern province. But both in Southern province & entire Zambezi regions, it will never happen again in 2026 or beyond because their zeal to risk & fight for HH has been undermined, weakened, betrayed and destroyed by HH himself…..
By Dr. Chris Zumani Zimba
Introduction
It is now over three years since Hakainde Hichilema (HH) of the UPND won power after scoring 2,852,348 votes (58%) against sitting President then, Edgar Chagwa Lungu (ECL) of the PF who scored 1,870,780 votes (38%). However, today, we want to scrutinize what exactly happened and how HH found himself with a lion’s share of votes and consequently the winner for State House. This article critically examines all electoral facts by comparing the voting patterns in all the ten provinces so that you appreciate the historical and horrific UPND rigging machinery that swept the Zambezi region on 12th August 2021.
1. The total rejected ballots for 2021 ‘performed’ better in third ranking with 126,569 votes (3%) in a presidential poll which attracted 4,959,332 voters countrywide against 7,023,499 total registered voters in Zambia representing a 71% voter turnout. Clearly, it was purely a two men’s political horse between HH and ECL. The fourth scorer was a presidential candidate who in this case is number three dwarfed by the top two and ‘rejected ballots’ in Harry Kalaba of DP who scored 25,231 votes (0.5%).
2. Generally, we don’t have problems to accept that HH won the 2021 presidential elections. But the manner in which he won especially in the Zambezi region is of paramount importance in this discourse. In these elections, ECL won in the four (4) traditional PF provinces while HH won his three (3) Zambezi provinces plus the three (3) line of rail industrial provinces (battleground economic regions). Let’s examine everything in critical details and in brutal truth!
3. ECL won (1) in Eastern by 54% versus HH at 38%, (2) in Northen province, ECL won by 56% votes while HH scored 37% votes, (3) in Luapula, ECL won by 61% against HH who got 31% (4) in Muchinga, ECL got 62% while HH got 31%.These figures clearly show a normal voter behavior and unquestionable voting pattern in the four PF provinces between ECL and HH as the winning and losing percentages are within acceptable and anticipated margins.
4. 2021 elections were free and fair in the four PF strongholds as HH even won in some constituencies such as Sinda, Chadiza, Malambo, Chiengi, Senga Hill, Mbala, Mpulungu and Kaputa. In total, HH won in eight (8) constituencies in these PF strongholds! When you combine the total votes of Eastern, Muchinga, Northern and Luapula, ECL scooped 946,081 votes while HH got 571,227 (more half a million votes). This is normal electoral pattern and indeed sober voter behavior.
5. In the battleground provinces of Central, HH got 62% versus ECL at 38%. In Copperbelt, HH won by 57% versus ECL at 40% and in Lusaka, HH won by 54% while ECL got 43%. In these economic provinces, we see HH winning across board but again ECL was losing with normal and unquestionable margins: here, elections were still free and fair. In these three rail line blocks, HH got a total of 1,139,370 votes while ECL 816,685 votes. Yes, HH won most constituencies here but ECL equally won in many too and only lost with a margin of 322,705.
6. The last three provinces are the RED UPND strongholds popularly known as the Zambezi region of HH. In North Western, HH got 88% versus ECL at 9% , in Western, HH won by 82% while ECL got 13%, and in Southern, HH brutally won by 92% against ECL with only 6%. This whole voter behavior and voting pattern is a big RED flag and an electoral malpractice disgrace just on face value! This is where HH and UPND rigged big in a historic and horrific manner!
7. Strange enough, the three UPND RED provinces had the highest voter turnout with 88% for Southern, 78% for North Western and 75% for Western province. Why? In Southern, North Western and Western provinces, UPND thugs employed a “scatter the opponent and vote or mark ballots for yourselves strategy”. PF polling agents, election observers and monitors were harassed, beaten, physically chased and in case of the Solwezi episode of Jackson Kungo, PF North Western Chairman was brutally mobbed and cruelly murdered in cold blood at the polling station in full view of everyone by known UPND members.
8. Neither HH or his SG has apologized for this barbaric murder nor talked about Jackson Kungo in any of their public comments! Consequently, HH got the total of abnormal 1,141,751 votes while ECL shamefully only got 108,014 in Southern, Western and North Western provinces. HH got his FREE OVER ONE MILLION VOTES and scooped the landslide victory into State House from these RED provinces.
9. The fact is, in Southern province, the UPND rigging machine was horrific and historic in all aspects. By having the liberty to carry ballot boxes outside the polling stations as seen in video evidences online, known polling officers even voted for the dead, sick in hospital and those who didn’t come to vote on 12th August 2021 in favour of HH and artificially made sure voter turnout was at its highest ever above every region.
10. And the Southerners artificially made HH win abnormally with 92% total votes in one province while a Republican President got less than 6%. This was the worst tribal voting experience for Zambia. With HH getting 88% and 82% respectively, North Western and Western provinces also vomited the worst regional politics and voting pattern in 2021. In these three provinces, a sitting president failed to get 13% of total votes. It was and is horrific and historically bad. Today, HH is not even ashamed that he got above 38% in Eastern, Northen, Muchinga and Luapula provinces of PF and ECL.
11. With all the gross and aggravated rigging by the UPND in the three provinces in August 2021, which gave them more than 1.1 million votes excess for HH, the good news is that in entire Zambezi regions, that will never happen again either 2026 or beyond because their zeal to risk & fight for HH has been undermined, weakened & betrayed over this New Dawn Rule by no one but HH himself. Bally has has totally failed them and has not met their tribalistic and regionalistic political expectations at all, not even by 40%.
12. Even in the four PF strongholds regions of Eastern, Muchinga, Northern and Luapula where HH got more than half a million votes in 2026 due to a mountain of promises he showered them, that will not happen again in 2026 or beyond. Across the economic three provinces of Lusaka, Central and Copperbelt where Bally overall votes in 2021, the vote of no confidence in HH is above 70%.
Conclusion
No matter what they UPND can do, there is no compelling reason, room or hope for HH to both rig and win in 2026 or beyond as most Zambians see him as a terrible liar, political conman, addicted tribalist, thieving kleptocrat, political dealer and worst president ever in Zambian history. This is why HH will truly fall, politically embarrassed and shamelessly be defeated in two years time regardless of what he tries to do by the signature of his main rival, ECL.
In the last by election in Chirundu, HH’s tribesmen protested against their 2021 rigging machinery strategy, caught district officials who wanted to steal ballot boxes to artificially count and win for UPND as per practice and made sure an independent councilor won. This is what will happen everywhere in 2026 for HH and UPND!
Dr Chris ZUMANI Zimba is a Political Scientist, Researcher, Author & Consultant specialized in Comparative Global Governance and Democratic Theories. He holds a PhD, MA, BA and Cert in Political Science. Zimba was President Lungu’s Political Advisor from December 2019 to August 2021. By philosophical approach, Dr. Zimba is a Pan Africanist as well as Afro-Christian by religion.
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