HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Joseph Akafumba says the ministry and the Immigration Department are not aware of former president Edgar Lungu’s political advisor Kaizer Zulu’s movements.
On Monday, Lumezi independent member of parliament Munir Zulu said Kaizer was in Sandton, South Africa and he believed some immigration officers aided him to leave the country.
“[Kaizer Zulu] was spotted yesterday and the day before yesterday in Sandton, yes…How does someone leave the country when his passports are with the courts? His passports are with the court. And the officers in their own wisdom chose to pick me up. Who was leading them to say KZ is supported at this place? So, I will be vindicated eventually. Someone could have aided him, I suspect the same Mr Friday from immigration, Juliana Shoko, Albert Mwanza and Aaron Zulu, because the last time people saw them refuelling their vehicles, it was at Total Filling Station in Ibex Hill. So, after refuelling, that’s how they disappeared. So, it seems like some people pushed him all the way to Chirundu then he crossed and some people picked him up from the Zimbabwean side and off he left. And then they had me arrested so that the focus is on me and then the suspect has a way out. The game was to bring attention to myself. On the other hand, they sneak him out. That’s what they did and they achieved that,” said Munir.
Commenting on this in an interview, Tuesday, Akafumba said government would institute an investigation into allegations that immigration officers aided Kaizer to escape.
“Immigration and Ministry of Home Affairs are not aware of Kaizer Zulu’s movements. We are also not fully aware of how he managed to cross the borders. What we know is that he is supposed to be appearing before the courts of law and he has failed to do so on several occasions for reasons best known to himself. And because of the absence, the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest. So, to allege that he was aided by immigration officials, unless if Munir Zulu has proof of specific individuals, we would be more than happy to receive [it],” said Akafumba.
“If Munir Zulu has specific immigration officers who he thinks and believes, and has proof that they aided Kaizer Zulu to run away from the arm of justice, we would be more than grateful to receive that information from him. But government has got completely no hand in his running away from the courts of law. We’ll follow up on those [mentioned immigration officers believed to have aided Kaizer]. We’ll follow up on those and within the immigration, we have our own investigation team. So, we are not going to investigate ourselves but Ministry of Home Affairs is composed of security and investigative wings. We are grateful for that information. We will investigate and establish if there is an iota of truth in it. If it is proved true, then we’ll know what to do with the officers”.
