NDC chairperson for gender Saboi Imboela says the thuggery behaviour that was recently portrayed by Lands Minister Jean Kapata in Parliament may have a negative impact on young girls who look up to her.

And Chiengi FDD member of parliament Given Katuta says it is uncalled for for a Honourable member of parliament to insult her colleagues right inside the House.

On October 09, UPND members of parliament walked out of the House after Higher Education Minister Professor Nkandu Luo charged that the opposition party was responsible for the riots at UNZA which claimed the life of fourth year student Vespers Shimuzhila.

Following the opposition’s protest walk, some PF members of parliament, led by Lands Minister Jean Kapata, hurled insults on their colleagues, branding them Satanists and suggesting a physical fight between the two camps.

“Bye bye polio… elo beshile nabafwala nefya black (they even here came dressed in black), get out! Nabafwala nefya black kwati balewamya (they are even dressed in black like they are doing the right thing) [How can you be] politicking when someone has lost a child? Ata bane [more insults], one day members tukaiponone one by one, tukamone uwakosa ninani (one day we should engage in a physical fight as members of parliament so that we see who is stronger). Ala imwe baice! Fi satanist (you little kids, [you are just] satanists),” said Kapata as her colleagues on the right agreed with her whilst others added their own unprintables to the fracas.

But commenting on Kapata’s remarks in an interview with News Diggers, Imboela regretted that Kapata who is also PF chairperson for women affairs, was not cautious of the influence she possessed as a female leader.

As a women and for someone that most of us look up to, it is unfortunate. We would be very happy if the kind of debate or comments, are something which is inspiring to most of us young people who look up to her. So such comments where Parliament now starts looking like a battlefield, its not good for anyone and especially young girls who are aspiring for these leadership positions. Moreover, there are few women in Parliament, so our leaders should remember that when they are there in Parliament they are not just there for themselves, they are there for all of us. The percentage of women in Parliament is very small. So the way they conduct themselves has a huge bearing on the number of women that the country is going to take to Parliament,” Imbolea said.

Imbolea advised Kapata to guard her own mouth, saying most of the comments the minister makes during her debates in Parliament were very retrogressive and had a bad impact on women.

“So I can just give her a word of advise to say, we look up to her. And the comments that she makes and the issues that she tackles are very very retrogressive and they also have a bad impact on us women. It has that impact because people now will start saying ‘women are like this’, which is not good. So there has to be a difference with women leadership, there just has to be a difference. You know women are mothers, women are known to be care givers. So there is a way in which a woman should conduct themselves which has to be different from the men. So our Honourable should remember that we look up to her and we would be happy of she desists from some of these things. She should inspire most of us so that one day we can be inspired to be where she is,” said Imboela.

Meanwhile, Katuta condemned her Mandevu counterpart saying she was setting a bad example.

“You know, initially I thought she was doing chimbuya [tribal jokes] with her traditional cousins… but really that was unnecessary, it was unnecessary and uncalled for. As one of the senior members of parliament, honourable Jean Kapata is expected to lead by example. But with what she is doing, she is such a bad example of the leaders that are in PF,” explained Katuta in a text message.