Jean Kapata and her Mandevu Constituency chairman Joseph Tamba are the ones who will destroy the party with their bickering, President Edgar Lungu told a cheering crowd on Wednesday.

And President Lungu observed that when some party members are given money by members of parliament and ministers, they start spreading lies about other people.

But before President Lungu spoke, PF Secretary General Davies Mwila warned that he would kick out party leaders who were not loyal.

“In PF we need unity. Anyone who brings confusion shall be kicked out of the party. I am telling you on a very serious note, the mandate of the MP runs for five years. After five years, thats when you people are supposed to decide. All those who are campaigning starting now are violating the rules of the party and I shall take action, and I am very good at that…Our party is growing and as it is growing, we do not want confusion. And if I remove you, even if you were a ward chairman, there are so many people who can replace you. Everyone should just respect themselves. Your Excellency, you allow me to talk about this matter because I will never talk about this matter again. The party is bigger than individuals,” said Mwila.

“You will be kicked out, the party will remain the way it is. Above all, we need leaders who are loyal to the party because if you are causing confusion, then you are not loyal to the party. I don’t want you to pick the smoke and leave the fire that’s why we have to continue inviting others to come to the party. The boat is not yet full so we need more members.”

Mwila then called on President Lungu to address the crowd and the Head of State paraded Kapata, who is the Minister and Lands and Tamba, telling the crowd that the two were destroying the party.

“Let me say it explicitly because the Secretary General, Davies Mwila, was beating about the bush. Ukufunda umwana kifikapo (They say when teaching a child, you have to be explicit). The issue which is here is about Ms Jean Kapata and Mr Tamba. The issue which will destroy us here in Mandevu is the chairman and Jean Kapata,” President Lungu said, ordering Kapata and Tamba to stand on front of the crowd.

Once both of them were standing next to him, President Lungu said the duo would destroy the party.

“Aba abantu babili aba, aba abantu balili balatu onaula babili aba. Ine nshilefwaya ukupita mumbali, nalanda kale Davies Mwila. (These two people, these two people will destroy us. I do not want to beat about the bush, Davies Mwila has already spoken),” President Lungu said before pausing to allow the cheering crowd to calm down.

“Amashiwi bacilanda ba secretary general yakutila ati ala ino inshita, lekeni Jean Kapata abombe. Pantu nga mulekana ukutila ati Jean Kapata abombe, muumfwikishe sana pantu uyu mayo nga tale bomba, ukachululamo nimwebo (What the Secretary General said was that at this time, allow Jean Kapata to work. Because if you are making it hard for her to work, I want you to listen very carefully because if this woman isn’t working, you are the people who will suffer),” he said.

“Allow Jean Kapata to work for you people because that’s the mandate you gave her. She must work until her time is over…it is the same thing I am telling the opposition that ‘move out of my way, let me work’. I have the mandate to work for the people of Zambia. So if they distract me, the people who will suffer are the Zambian people, please hear me…What you need to do now is to allow this member of parliament to work for you and then when her time is over, you decide whether to vote for her or not. What I can see is, everyone wants to be president of Zambia, everyone. ‘I am also a president’, that’s not how it is.”

President Lungu also cautioned Kapata to stop interfering in the work of the Constituency chairman, urging her to stick to her lane.

“You are just destroying your own peace because you have an MP up to 2021. You will choose for yourselves, you will tell us. This chairman of ours in Mandevu, he has got a job to do. Every time I keep telling people in Cabinet that please, keep to your lane. Even in a car, there’s ‘keep left’, if you go to the right, you are hit. I want to make it very clear, they have to work together these two. You are the ones who are confusing them. They have to work together. If you love PF, you have to tell these two to work together as MP and chairman…In English they say that divided, a house does not stand, so you have to get along,” President Lungu said as he switched from English to vernacular.

He then observed that party members were full of lies and love for money.

“Ubwafya twakwata mu Zambia, bufi! Ubwafya twakwata mu Zambia kutemwisha aka (gesturing a signal for money). Mwalitemwesha sana aka. Nga bakupelako, instead yakweba ati ‘natotela ba MP’, [iwe kulanda] ati ‘natotela ba MP nomba umfweni Tamba ifyo alecita’. (The problem we have in Zambia, too many lies! The problem we have in Zambia, people love money too much. You love money too much. When you are given some money, instead of just saying thank you, you start saying ‘let me tell you what Tamba has been doing). Nga mwaya mukumona ba MP ba Kapata, mulepoka fye nokulanda ati nasantika, chapwa. Not ukulalanda pali Chanda iyo. Nga mwaya kuli Tamba, ku landa ati niwebo, kuti wabapo niwebo. Kuti abapo nga Lesa alefwaya but ninshita,” said President Lungu.

“Mr Sata gave us PF but we will destroy it because of talking too much. But let me warn you that as long as I remain President of PF, I will not allow PF to be destroyed by your greed. My SG has already made it very clear, and this is not a warning, it is just a promise. Nga walufyanya, kuya bebele. We have reached that point whereby PF doesn’t even need to campaign. PF has reached a point where people just bring themselves. That’s why when people leave, we just say ‘let them go, they will be back’, and they do come back.”