COMMERCE and Trade Minister Christopher Yaluma says anyone wearing PF regalia in Southern Province is beaten and not allowed to use public transportation.

But UPND deputy secretary Patrick Mucheleka has asked Yaluma to publicly apologise to his wife and other family members who hail from Southern Province over his tribal remarks.

While launching his re-election bid as area member of parliament at Mumba village in Malole constituency, Northern Province, Yaluma charged that Tongas didn’t want to see any other tribe in Southern Province.
He further said there were no UPND members of parliament in other provinces other than Southern, North-Western and Western provinces.

“UPND, chinama nshi? Mwe bantu imwe mwe benda, ako mufwele kukanwa akalembelwepo PF, teti upite mu Southern Province naufwala, baka kuma. Namu bus tawa ka ninemo. Ta kwaba ukulumbula ishina ya PF nangu party imbi. Aba bantu baishibana fye beka beka. Tabafwaya. Takwaba nangu umo MP ku Northern Province, Muchinga, Luapula, Central Province uwa UPND. Except ku North-Western Province and Western. Bushe chinshi GBM afuminamo? Bali itemwa. Taba fwaya ukumonaumutundu umbi kano umutundu wabo. Lungu akawina pantu ifyo alebomba fikulu sana. Naine nkawina. Ulya umbi umulumendo akafwa, nangu fye mu 2080, nga kafikako awe akafwa ne chikonko…(What animal is UPND? You people who travel, the PF face mask that you are wearing, you can’t pass through Southern Province while wearing that. They will beat you, you won’t even board the bus. There is no mentioning the name PF or other parties [in Southern Province]. They just know themselves. There’s not even one MP in Northern, Muchinga, Luapula [and] Central Province who is UPND, except for North-Western and Western Provinces. Why has GBM left UPND? Because they love their own and don’t want to see any other tribe unless their tribe. Lungu will win [in 2021] because he is working. I will also win. That other gentleman, even in 2080 if he will be there, he will die of grief),” said Yaluma, who also distributed some bags of mealie meal to the villagers. 

But in a statement, Tuesday, Mucheleka said it was sickening to see a cabinet minister planting hateful messages against the peaceful people of Southern Province. 

He added that the more President Edgar Lungu neglected to take action against ministers who preached tribalism and hate speech, the more Zambians would assume that he tolerated and agreed with them.

“A video footage has yet again surfaced in which Malole MP Christopher Yaluma, who is also Commerce Minister, is addressing a public gathering in Northern Province where he is planting extremely hateful and vitriolic messages against the peaceful people of Southern Province. This is indeed sickening. President Lungu will do well to understand that Zambians frown upon the tribal talk and tribalism. The more the President ignores or neglects to take action against his own Ministers who preach tribalism and hate speech against a section of the country, the more the Zambian people take it that he tolerates and agrees with them,” Mucheleka stated.

“It’s not a long ago that the nation was treated to a divisive tribal, hateful and baseless disparaging speeches by Lungu’s Ministers like Ms Nkandu Luo and other senior party officials targeted at the people of Southern Province. What crime have they committed? Typical of Mr Lungu, he did nothing to these PF leaders despite his national address during parliament condemning tribalism.”

Mucheleka charged that PF had lost all manner of lies to tell Zambian voters over the failed economic policies, hence resorting to politics of divisions.

He called on Yaluma to resign and publicly apologise to his wife, children and in-laws, who hailed from Southern Province.

“We know the PF leadership has lost all manner of lies to tell the Zambian voters over the failed economic policies, hence now resorting to politics of divisions based on tribal hatred against those they think have better alternatives. Yaluma is among the PF politicians who could be looting public resources for personal gains without any benefits to their constituencies but now wants to scare our citizens from voting for those who offer better services to the country. No wonder he was expelled from his party’s Central Committee, he is of no tangible value,” he stated.

“We call on Mr Yaluma to publicly apologise to his wife, children and in-laws, who hail from Southern Province and do the honourable thing by resigning as cabinet minister. If he won’t, we call on the President to fire him like all Presidents before him would have done. For those who don’t know Mr Yaluma, his wife is a Haamanenga, a Tonga from Monze who’s father John Haamanenga from Chikuni, Chief Ufwenuka, was Monze Central MP in the 80s. What does Mr Yaluma tell his Tonga wife, children, and in-laws from both families? If there was to be tribal conflict in the country, would Yaluma pick up pangas and hack his wife, children, in-laws and other Tongas extended family members of Chiyobola Village, Chikuni Mission in Monze East where his wife comes from.”

Meanwhile, Mucheleka wondered how government and PF officials had defied the mandatory guidelines on combating the spread of COVID-19 in relation to public gatherings.

“To start with, we are wondering how the PF ministers, government and party officials have completely defied Mr. Lungu and the Ministry of Health mandatory guidelines on combating the spread of Coronavirus. These bunch of tribalists are busy organising and addressing public gatherings without any adherence to social distancing and mandatory wearing of masks especially by the poor villagers they are addressing. These PF ministers, party and government officials are coming from Lusaka, which is the epicentre of COVID 19 and going to rural communities where they are freely mingling and politicking ahead of the 2021 elections. While they safely talk from the safety of their masks, they don’t bother to share with the people they are addressing who are unwittingly made to defy social distancing,” stated Mucheleka. 

“Even more worrying was how Mr. Yaluma could stoop so low as to engage in tribal politics based on lies such as UPND has no MPs anywhere else other than Southern, Western and North-Western Provinces yet as an MP, he interacts with UPND MPs from Central and even Copperbelt.Yaluma equally knows UPND has elected councillors even in Northern Province and the rest of the country. With such people surrounding Edgar Lungu who can tell such lies, you wonder what lies they feed him as a basis for policy implementation.”