Zambian Diaspora Groups To Protest At UN Over Disputed Election, Killing Of Kafwaya

Zambians living in the United States plan to protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York this week, timed to the UN General Assembly, over what organisers call a stolen general election, the arbitrary arrest of Opposition leaders and the killing of former minister…

Zambians living in the United States plan to protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York this week, timed to the UN General Assembly, over what organisers call a stolen general election, the arbitrary arrest of Opposition leaders and the killing of former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya.

The demonstrations are planned for Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the day Zambia is due to address the Assembly. Among those organising the protest is Augustine Mukoka, a Zambian governance activist and communications specialist based in the diaspora.

Speaking on Channel Africa with veteran journalist Peter Ndoro, Mukoka said the demonstrators want the restoration of what they consider a democratically elected government, alleging that the military played a role in altering the outcome of the August 13 election, in which President Hakainde Hichilema was declared winner of a second term.

The European Union’s election observation mission said polling day itself was largely calm and voters had a competitive choice, but it also raised concerns about an uneven playing field and later reported what it described as serious incidents and procedural irregularities during counting and tabulation. Regional and continental observer missions identified areas of concern and called on political actors to pursue any disputes through peaceful, established legal processes.

The activist claimed pockets of violence broke out at some polling stations immediately after voting, which he alleged the ruling party used as a pretext to suspend vote counting. At the point counting was suspended, he said, tallies from individual polling stations showed the Opposition with a wide lead.

He alleged the military was then deployed to those polling stations, after which the numbers began to change once counting resumed. The Electoral Commission of Zambia, he further claimed, did not allow observers at the national totalling centre to verify results against what had been recorded at polling stations, and the figures announced nationally differed from what had been recorded locally.

The most serious of the allegations concerns Kafwaya’s death. Soldiers under Lieutenant General Geoffrey Choongo Zyeele, the Zambia Army Commander, are alleged to have raided the private residence of Brian Mundubile, the Tonse Alliance’s presidential candidate, with Kafwaya killed during that raid.

The government initially denied any abduction or killing had taken place, according to the account given on Channel Africa. It was roughly six days later, after Kafwaya’s widow filed a habeas corpus application in court, that officials confirmed the killing. Authorities then claimed a militia had been operating from Mundubile’s residence, a claim disputed on the programme, which noted that Mundubile himself was released after being detained and questioned during the raid.

Eleven other people who were at the residence were arrested and held in different police stations without access to lawyers, their families not initially informed of their whereabouts. They were later charged with treason and have now been held for roughly 37 days.

Asked why the organisers were protesting abroad rather than relying on Zambia’s courts, Mukoka said legal avenues had been closed off. Soldiers, he alleged, were deployed to the courts on the final day for filing election petitions, the Supreme Court registrar was arrested for opening the court gates, and the court’s online filing system was also taken offline.

Civil society leader Linda Kasonde had emailed a petition directly to the Chief Justice, who referred it to the Constitutional Court, but no action was taken on it, he said. A sitting Member of Parliament and a former Constitutional Court judge had also been arrested after speaking publicly about the post-election situation, and several figures aligned with the Tonse Alliance had had their passports cancelled.

Protesters’ demands include the unconditional release of those detained, and justice for Mundubile and Makebi Zulu. They are also demanding sanctions against Lieutenant General Zyeele and Brigadier General Moses Shapwaya, commander of Zambia’s special forces, along with accountability for Kafwaya’s killing.

The group is further calling for the restoration of passports for a group of Zambians it says have been targeted, including Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, Hon Binwell Mpundu, Hon Emmanuel J.J. Banda, Madam Lillian Mutambo and Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa of Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Hichilema will not travel to New York for the Assembly himself. Foreign Affairs Minister Mulambo Haimbe, recently appointed to the post, will represent him at the UN General Assembly instead, and it is Haimbe who will receive the protesters’ message and carry it into the Assembly on Zambia’s behalf.