The UPND now has a higher chance of successfully impeaching President Edgar Lungu because of his eSwatini plot revelations, says secretary general Stephen Katuka.

Commenting on suggestions from stakeholders that the party move a fresh impeachment motion following the eSwatini land saga that erupted last week, Katuka said there was no need for moving a new motion to the floor of the House because the saga had strengthened the current impeachment motion.

He disclosed that the UPND would now focus on ensuring that the current motion was tabled before Parliament before deciding what to do next.

“Ubushiku usheme nechimbala chilaocha (The day you are unfortunate, even left-over nshima will burn you.) That’s what the Bemba’s say. Imilandu walepanga shonse balekwelela, nomba uyu waleta balekulonga. (You were forgiven all your misdemeanours, but this offence you have committed, you will be arrested) It might not be immediately or now, but you will be arrested. And what you have done is given us the opportunity to strengthen our impeachment motion, and that is what we will do. Uyu nomba uyu, balekuingisha, uyu naukulisha, tabakakwelele pali uyu. Lyonse ulepangafye imilandu. (For this one, you will be apprehended, this one is too big. You are always committing offences) Because he has been a habitual breaker of the law. He has broken a lot of laws but this one, this is too overwhelming. This is overwhelming evidence. In fact, even the Swaziland Times must help us to get documents on this one,” Katuta said.

He said UPND would study the merits and demerits of presenting a new motion before doing so.

“We have heard people talk about that and our team will analyse the pros and cons of such a move. We have our MP (member of parliament); a lawyer who is the leader of the opposition in parliament. So, he is aware and has been following what people have been saying. So, they will analyse those merits and demerits of the whole thing. But like I have said before, you know that the motion of impeachment first is just to allow it to get on the floor of the House. And once the motion is on the floor of the House, a lot of other issues will come out as people debate that motion. You are not restricted to only what you put in the motion. As you debate the motion, anything that you know even the eSwatini saga will come up in the subsequent debate. That would be my view; that the motion should first be allowed on the floor of the House. There are people with extra information that is not in the motion. But because the motion is already on the floor of the house, everyone will be free to debate the motion. And as the debate ensues, a lot of issues will come out. So, what is important is for the motion to be tabled. Once it is tabled all these things will come out on the floor of the House,” said Katuta.

“So, we will cross the bridge when we get there. It is difficult for now to say we are considering this or that because we have not sat at any time to do that. But I believe we are part of this country, and the debate that is going on in this country we are all following. So, those whose task it is to move the motion are also following. So, they will advise us. Those who are in the House will advise us how to better address that motion. The most important thing is that this saga has strengthened the tabling of the motion before the floor of the House. I’m sure this saga has strengthened our motion because this one is a clear test [indicator] of corruption. Even as members of parliament, there is restriction to what gifts you can receive outside the country or locally. You can’t receive [a] gift like [that]; I know we have refused to receive cell phones; we have refused to receive TVs, even being catered for. Lunch, dinner these you can’t accept. Otherwise, it compromises you. So, we advise strongly not to accept such gifts. So, if you receive them, you must come back to the clerk and declare that where we went this is what was given to us.”