PF pretends to be a Christian party and pretends to be humble when in church but once they face their political rivals they become very brutal, UPND deputy secretary general Gertrude Imenda has observed.

And Imenda says the ruling party’s victory in the ended by-elections did not reflect their popularity but their corruption and violence.

And NDC secretary general Mwenya Musenge has asked the PF not to fool Zambians by condemning violence when they are the major perpetrates.

On Friday, Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya called upon political parties to condemn violence and to practice intra-party democracy.

“Government has noticed with great concern the continued violence during elections. Elections should be a time when citizens can freely choose the leaders they prefer. As government we condemn in the highest order violence elections and we are calling upon all well meaning political parties to do the same. It is the reason why government continues to encourage all political parties to practice intra-party democracy because without intra-party democracy we will continue to see violent traits,” she said.

But in an interview with News Diggers! Imenda charged that it was the PF who were perpetrating violence.

“The PF should practice what they preach. They preach something else but they don’t practice, they pretend they are Christians but they are devils in their hearts. They pretend to be very humble when they are in church but when they are outside church and face their political rivals they are very brutal, they don’t care. So what kind of non violence are they indicating when they are practicing violence?” she asked.

“If you followed events in Luapula, Shiwang’andu, our people were stopped from voting. And you know that madam Nalumango was surrounded at the guest house were she was in Luapula. They wanted to beat her up or something. Now, if that’s not violence then what is it? Is that love, is that peace? No. You know what happened at Nampundwe where they (PF) perpetrated violence. They picked the former MP for Nampundwe and took him to police, you know the police are also working with PF, then they abducted one of our members beat him up and then injected him with poison. Right now he is battling for his life in Levy Mwanawasa Hospital. Now if that is not violence, what is it? And that is from PF.”

Imenda said PF’s victory in the ended by-elections reflected their corruption and violence and not their popularity as they claimed.

“I know that they are rejoicing that they won a number of wards. But it was not free and fair because they got government money and bribed voters. Let them rejoice for now but we know that people don’t want them. Those that have been bribed to vote for them, okay fine they have been bribed but when we come to the general elections they will see what’s going to happen. It is not the reflection of their popularity no. its just a reflection of their corruption and their violence. There was violence in most of these places, maybe only two places where there was no violence. People were not allowed to vote. So it is not the reflection of their popularity,” she said.

And Imenda said UPND practiced intra-party democracy.

“On the issue of intra-party democracy, we go through an intra-party democracy. If what they are talking about is maybe going for a convention and so on, we will be going to for a convention. We are still preparing. Going for a convention costs money, we are an opposition party. Before 2021 there will be elections to elect office bearers for the Wards, constituencies, province…so we practice that. I don’t know about them. I can’t speak for PF,” she said.

Meanwhile Musenge retaliated that the by-elections were not free and fair because of the violence which was perpetrated by PF.

“The truth of the matter is that these elections were not free and fair. The violence we saw in these by-elections perpetrated by PF are the worst kind of violence I have never seen before in the politics of this country. The Secretary General for PF (Davies Mwila) will do Zambian people a favour by accepting that the elections that we had were not free and fair and that there was unprecedented levels of intimidation, violence which were mostly perpetrated by them. We only have one Zambia and it is the duty of us who are in politics to try and put our heads together and find means of eliminating such activities during and after elections,” he said.

Musenge said it was difficult to take seriously what the PF were saying because they did not practice what they preached.

“The unfortunate part is that these political leaders in government are not walking the talk. Dora Siliya is a culprit on instigating violence. In Eastern province NDC was attacked, NDC was forced to retreat out of Eastern province by PF cadres and the police. So it is very difficult, extremely difficult to take their word. It is so sad that the party in government, the PF, are the ones who are in the forefront when they are supposed to be giving us leadership. They are supposed to be showing us that indeed this is wrong but they are the ones perpetrating it, they are the ones starting all these things,” said Musenge.

“I have come to discover that they have created a militia team in the provinces who are being funded. And all of them have been given a land cruiser each. The vehicle that attacked me in Lundazi was a land cruiser, the vehicle that attacked us in Mwililansolo was again a land cruiser. These people are actually being funded and assisted with transport to attack the opposition. So let them not fool us. Let Dora Siliya not fool us we know what they are doing.”