By CORRESPONDENT-
ONE of the reasons some members of the United Party for National Development (UPND) have grown impatient with President Hakainde Hichilema is his apparent slow pace in dealing with atrocities that were perpetrated by the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF), in its 10-year rule.
These UPND members thought immediately Mr Hichilema was declared winner of the August 12 presidential election, it would be time for retribution, vengeance and an orgy of destruction on anything with the green PF colours.
But it appears Mr Hichilema must have read into former President Rupiah Banda’s concession speech after the September 2011 general elections which he lost to Michael Sata of the PF.
“The Zambian people have spoken and we must all listen. Treat those you have vanquished with the respect and humility that you would expect in your own hour of defeat,” Mr Banda had said on the morning of Friday, September 23, 2011, at State House.
But did the PF listen?
They went on rampage, turning themselves into the Zambia Police and effecting arrests on a number of the defeated Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) members countrywide.
Some of the MMD members who experienced the toxic wrath of the PF was the then Lusaka Province chairman William Banda and Munali Constituency chairman Dauzeni Tembo.
The duo were attacked by PF cadres at a lodge in Chipata district, handcuffed and driven back to Lusaka while their money was stolen.
As that was happening, Banda’s house and his lodge in Bauleni Township in Lusaka were ransacked by PF cadres.
About 10 years later, the PF had outlived the patience of the Zambian people and were shown the exit as they lost with a margin of nearly one million votes.
Now in power were the UPND who had fought a 23-year battle in opposition, with the winning President Hichilema having lost five previous attempts at the highest office in the land.
The impatient UPND members were itching for revenge and began, in earnest, to attack property belonging to PF members who had disappeared in thin air.
But before they could get into full throttle, their hopes were thwarted.
On Monday, August 16, 2021, President-elect Hichilema held his first post-election press conference at his residence, known as Community House, in Lusaka.
One of the subjects he touched on was violence, as there had been reports that victorious UPND cadres were going round attacking PF members who had victimised them when they were in opposition.
Mr Hichilema emphasised that despite the UPND having suffered the brutality of the violent PF Government, they needed to prove that they were a different breed from the vanquished ruling party.
“We are victims of violence; we are victims of demonisation, mudslinging, for years. You all know that. We are victims of retribution. We are not about to take public office, replace those that have been very violent against our people and only to start a new wave of violence. We are not about to do that,” Mr Hichilema told the nation.
That was just how the President-elect saved the PF members from possible attacks by cadres of the ruling party who had, for years, endured the brutality of not only the ruling party, but also a heavily politicised and ruthless Zambia Police.
After a few days, when the violence appeared not to be petering out, the President-elect repeated his message by urging outgoing President Edgar Lungu to ensure that he managed the situation as he was still commander-in-chief of the defence forces.
That was the show of leadership that has led to a peaceful atmosphere prevailing in the country, far much different from what the Zambian people have been used to over the last 10 years of the PF reign.
Had it not been for Mr Hichilema’s timely intervention, Zambia could have been engulfed in bloodshed because the Zambian people were seething with anger at the untold misery they went through at the hands of gun-toting and panga-wielding PF cadres.
Memories are still fresh of how UPND member Lawrence Banda was shot dead by an alleged well known PF member during the Kaoma Council chairperson by-election in 2019.
Neither have the people forgotten how a chopper carrying UPND officials, including former First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, was almost brought down by stone throwing PF cadres in Shiwang’andu during the campaign for the 2016 general elections.
What about Mr Hichilema’s savage arrest and inhuman incarceration over a trump-up treason charge in April 2016?
It is not true that the Zambian people have a short memory; they still remember the magnitude of their suffering and were ready to take the law in their hands after the August 12, 2021 elections.
But the leadership that Mr Hichilema provided even before he was sworn in on August 24 saved a potentially explosive situation from manifesting.
“I will be President of all Zambians, of those that voted for me and those that did not” was another statement that proved that the new President wanted to provide leadership beyond his own UPND.
This was a complete departure from what used to happen in the past when certain leaders conducted themselves as though they were only presidents of their political parties.
To them, only the interest of their political parties mattered and never condemned acts of violence committed by their members.
One of the other issues that appears to be nagging UPND members and the Zambian people in general, is the length of time it is taking to effect arrests of those who may have plundered State resources during the time the PF was in power.
But this was Mr Hichilema’s response to on the matter:
“We are not going into office to arrest those who arrested us. We will foster a better democracy… rule of law, restoring order, respecting human rights, liberties and freedoms.”
Again, this is in sharp contrast to what became the norm under the PF rule when political opponents were locked up for no apparent reason and only released when it was convenient to the power that be.
Zambia is now experiencing a new dawn of freedom, which has made PF members and other opposition leaders begin using abusive language against President Hichilema.
They, probably, take his accommodating stance for weakness and do not realise the rest of the Zambian people had wished for revenge against the despotic rule of the PF.
Instead of the confrontational stance the PF have taken, they should thank Mr Hichilema for creating an environment in which they can walk about freely without fear of attacks from the public.
Dauzeni Tembo, the former MMD Munali Constituency youth chairperson, has a vivid recollection of what the PF did to him and others after the September 2011 general elections.
It is for this reason that he recently described Mr Hichilema and the UPND as a tolerant lot who have treated the PF as if they were not sworn political enemies prior to the August 12 elections.
He urged the PF to be grateful that the UPND had not conducted themselves in the manner the PF did after dislodging the MMD from power in 2011.
Hopefully, the PF will realise that it is because of MrHichilema’s tolerance and forgiving spirit that the country has been saved from a potentially ugly catastrophe that could have ensued as a result of Zambians craving to avenge the brutality they were subjected to for 10 years.