Special Assistant to the President for political affairs Kaizer Zulu says he did not take part in the beating of a school bus driver who was involved in a road accident with him, Tuesday morning.

But a witness has revealed that in fact, Zulu beat up the driver and verbally abused the owner of the school where the children were being ferried to.

Meanwhile, police say the Tuesday accident was a result of Zulu’s careless driving as he tried to overtake the bus wrongly.

In an interview, Zulu complained that people were drawing conclusions before hearing the truth.

“This happened very close to home. It was 07:30 in the morning, I was going for work. Even the dress code as I am dressed now, I am still in the same suit, the same shirt, I have not even changed. I was overtaking, but this driver decides to accelerate and wants to overtake me within my overtaking, on my left. Meanwhile, where he was going was 20 meters away. My windows were open and I saw as he was coming to hit into my car. It’s not me who hit into him, it’s the other way round. If I hit into him, the bus was going to go into the ditch, but it stayed on the road,” Zulu explained.

He said he ended up in a ditch to save the children who were on the bus.

“When you look at the pictures, you can see who bumped into who. If I bashed into the minibus with my [Toyota] Land Cruiser, was the minibus going to survive? Look at where my car ended up! As a matter of self restraint, I chose to save the children who were in the bus, and that’s how I went into the ditch,” Zulu said.

“This accident would have been worse because he hit me on the left, and when I looked into the bus, mwenze bana ba skulu fulu mudala (it was full of pupils). That’s how I swerved to protect the children. I was not injured and there were no injuries that I’m aware of from the bus.”

When asked about the beating of the bus driver which is attributed to him, he said he had no hand in it.

“If he was beaten, it was not me. He could have been beaten by people, but I had nothing to do with it. They are saying when the accident happened, I started beating this other driver, but you can imagine chief, that’s not true. All I did was that when the accident happened, I made a call to one institution that is supposed to come in and assess. I made a second call for Stately to say can I have a toll truck. My car was pulled out and there was no other vehicle involved,” said Zulu.

A witness has, however, explained that when the accident happened, Zulu got out of his vehicle and started beating up the bus driver.

“People were there and they saw what happened. Even when the owner of the school where the school bus was going came, Kaizer started insulting him and harassing him. He started asking the owner of the school to say ‘what are you doing here?’ He started using the ‘F’ word. Then he started calling RTSA whom he gave the number plate of the vehicle that came on the scene and demanding that they give him the names of the registered owner of the vehicle. I think it was unfortunate that someone can harass traumatized accident victims,” the witness narrated.

Soon after, a horde of PF members attacked the bus driver in full view of other motorists who looked on in shock and disbelief.

Owner of Lyndhurst school John Kapalu, whose bus was involved in the accident, narrated how he was also bundled and harassed by the said PF cadres on Zulu’s instruction.

“Our driver, who drives our school bus…went into ZAF to pick up the kids to bring them to the school and on the way, he was involved in an accident with Mr Kaizer Zulu. And from what we gathered, Mr Zulu was the one who was in the wrong but instead of being remorseful, he decided now to call upon all his cadres, bundled our driver and started beating him up in Ibex. All this happened in Ibex. Anyone who tried to reason with him, he started brandishing his gun, pointing at different people in full view of the pupils. I think this is not right, no one can accept such behaviour in this society. We all have guns; what the political advisor should have done was to be remorseful. Those are school going children; he should have even taken them to the clinic but he decided not to do that,” said Kapalu.

“What kind of a political advisor is he to the President? Should we be living in fear just because of Kaizer Zulu? I went there at the accident scene and I, too, was equally bundled by his cadres. He told me openly to say “ta wanjishiba bwino bwino, kuti naku ponona ine” (you don’t know me well, I can beat you up). Should I be scared honestly? I never got a loan from the bank to do what I am doing and I never got anything from the government. It is through my initiative that I have started this business and why should people from other offices come and kill my business which I have developed personally?”

And Police spokesperson Esther Mwaata Katongo, in a statement, stated that the cause of the accident was Zulu’s careless overtaking.

“Police recorded a damages only Road Traffic Accident which occurred today (yesterday), 19th November, 2019 at 07:00 hours along 1st street road in Ibex. Involved was Denis Musopelo Musopelo of Mtendere East aged 35 who was driving a Motor Vehicle Toyota Hiace registration number BAF 9274 who’s damages are right front door and right slide door. Also involved was Kaizer Zulu of Ibex Hill who was driving a Motor Vehicle Toyota Land Cruiser [VX V8] registration number AJD 8961. The accident happened when the driver of the Toyota Land Cruiser was over taking improperly, hence hit into a Toyota Hiace which was turning right and the Land Cruiser fell in a drainage,” stated Mwaata-Katongo.

“We have not yet received any official report of assault from the driver of the Toyota Hiace as he is reported to be at Levy Mwanawasa Hospital for medication. Information will be availed once the matter is reported.”

Asked if Zulu would be charged for careless driving, Katongo said; “Of course yes. He will be charged. Waiting for those details from officers.”