Patriotic Front cadres have beaten up their Ngebe ward councillor Fabian Siwale for allegedly not revealing who the NDC candidate in Roan Constituency was.

The PF cadres believe that Siwale, whom they accuse of being former Roan member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili’s close ally, knew who the NDC candidate was but did not tell the party structures.

During a PF party meeting in Luanshya at Mpatamato secondary school, Saturday, the cadres pounced on Siwale and beat him up.

Siwale confirmed the incident to News Diggers! and has since reported the matter to the police.

“My fellow party cadres beat me up. I was attacked and beaten because the cadres say I did not reveal the name of NDC adopted candidate for Roan whom they thought is a threat. What they did was wrong and those allegations are wrong. How can I know a candidate from a party I don’t belong to? I have reported to the police and a medical report was issued to me,” said Siwale.

And according to a police report, Siwale suffered painful neck, ribs and general body pains.

“Painful neck, left ribs and general body pains. Slaps and kicks were used to inflict the said injuries and pain,” read the police report.

And in an interview, Kambwili said the PF was worried because his candidate was very popular.

“Yes, he was beaten and his clothes were torn. He has since gone to the hospital to get a medical report. It is because the boy (NDC candidate) is very popular. He was the chairman of the Mine Workers Union of Zambia and he was fired by the Chinese for speaking on behalf of the miners so they are so jittery and scared to the extent that they now even want to bribe people by telling that they are going to give them plots. How can a mayor be telling people that ‘I am going to give you plots, vote for us, that is corruption of the worst kind and if we had a proper Anti Corruption Commission, that is an issue over which the mayor can be arrested and impeached,” Kambwili said.

Meanwhile, Kambwili said the PF was using the Black Mountain to mobilize their party.

“Giving them a license as small scale miners is not a problem but the question is who are those youths mining there? It is just a PF organization. It is like they have taken an asset from the people and given it to the youth because no any other youth from any political party can be allowed there. So it is a PF thing. What we called for when we said give the youth the Black Mountain was to give the youth of Wusakile who had no jobs but what has happened is that they have given the PF youths, it is controlled by the PF youth chairman on the Copperbelt. So that is also another case of abuse of authority that you can get an asset and use it to mobilize a political party in a multi party political dispensation and that is not acceptable. They should have opened up the Black Mountain to all youths. This is typical of a government that has no plan for the people,” he said.

He said PF had been lying to the people about mining activities.

“They want to lie to the people that they are going to open 28 shaft. And that they are going to give people the Black Mountain. It is all lies. I was in a meeting where the Chinese told them that running 28 shaft is not economically viable and the Chinese have no plans whatsoever of opening the shaft…And for me, that is a good reason for government to ask them to abandon the mine so that the mine can be given to other investors but because PF has been corrupted by the Chinese, they can’t take that action so this story of opening 28 shaft is fake, typical of them when there are elections and they want to mislead the people. And the Black Mountain, the Chinese have said the ore at Baluba is low grade so if they grab the Black Mountain from them and give it to the youths, then they will close Baluba Mine, that’s what they have told them in straight terms,” said Kambwili.

“They have no plan whatsoever for the people of Roan. The people of Roan must know that what is important is the people of Roan, not the lives of these PF guys who have no plan for this country. How can the government be failing to pay salaries? You think that is a government worth its salt? They have nothing to tell the people of Roan and they will be taught a lesson.”