VIOLENT UPND THUGS ATTACK SP
….in full view of the police after successfully filing in nominations for Chidi ward by-election
Zimba District…. Thursday, August 22, 2024
UPND cadres, on Tuesday, vici0usly attàcked Socialist Party members in Zimba District during the filing in of nominations for Chidi ward by-election.
According to SP Campaign Manager in Chidi Ward, Zimba District Mr Teinson Munsanje, this happened in full view of police officers.
Mr. Munsanje, who is also SP Southern Province Acting Youth Chairperson, said this was after the Socialist candidate Tonka Mapulanga successfully filed in his nominations to contest the seat.
Mr Munsanje also alleged that the UPND have been enticing the SP candidate and offered to pay him K70, 000 to withdraw from the race.
“I just want to report an incident that happened yesterday during the by-election nomination in Chidi Ward, Mapatizya constituency, Zimba district. What happened yesterday is that the UPND attàcked us, they vici0usly attàcked us after filling in our nominations. Their plan, I am told, was to disrupt our nomination, to try and stop our nomination by instilling fear in our people. But unfortunately, the time they thought we were going in is the time we were coming out of the nomination centre,” he said.
“So the time they came to attàck us, they discovered that actually we went in to file in our nominations on another political party at the time. Four days before nomination day, they first started by visiting our candidate’s parents, offering money. They were actually saying we will give you K70,000 if you pull out of this race. So the relatives to the candidate called me to say you need to take your candidate to safety. Because they have been trying to buy him and we are refusing as a family and even him is refusing. They said if he remains here, they may try to attàck him so that he just pulls out of fear.”
Mr. Munsanje stated that he had to take the candidate to his house in Kalomo for safety.
“So I had to get the candidate and kept him at my house for three days. Before nominations, he was at my house in Kalomo for three days. So when they noticed, they couldn’t get hold of him for almost three days before nominations, they kept going to his house. They were not finding him, just finding his relatives and friends. On the actual day of nominations, that’s when they tried to do it, but unfortunately it didn’t work for them,” he added.
“So our candidate was attàcked just after the nominations, when we were leaving the nomination center. While we were celebrating, there was a bush behind us, UPND cadres just came out of nowhere behind the bush with stícks and started hittíng our people and that’s how they started attàcking us. And I am reliably informed, that the person who brought these cadres is Mweemba Malambo from Magoye.”
He further alleged that this is not the first time the UPND cadres are attàcking the Socialist Party members.
“And this is the same Mweemba Malambo who f!red gunsh0ts at us in Gwembe during the ward by election that we had in Gwembe. This is the same man who came with his people and cadres and started causing f!ghts there and firíng gunsh0ts. Even yesterday during nominations, he came with his cadres,” he added.
He claimed that the UPND cadres barricaded the road leading to the center for an easier àttack.
“Mweemba Malambo is the one who brought these cadres. He was present during the nominations. The cadres from the UPND camp are the ones who gave me this information. So we reported this issue to the police,” he disclosed.
He said these cadres are not from within the district but that they were imported from another district.
Mr Munsanje narrated that police managed to apprehend one cadre but was later released after the UPND cadres started charging against the police.
He said in as much as the police wanted to apprehend the cadres, they feared of being attacked because these individuals are brutal.
Mr Munsanje said these brutàl attàcks are becoming rampant under the UPND administration.