Maravi

Levy, Bingu are fragile - Sata

Levy, Bingu are fragile - Sata
By George Chellah
Friday March 30, 2007 [02:00]

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday said President Levy Mwanawasa and his Malawian counterpart Bingu Wa Mutharika are politically very fragile so they have found comfort in each other. And Sata said Lusaka mayor Susan Nakazwe should not think that PF was stupid to make her mayor. Meanwhile, Sata refused to condemn Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe over the current political crisis in that country.


During Hot FM radio’s Hot Seat programme yesterday, Sata - who was commenting on his expulsion from Malawi recently - said the problem in Malawi was about succession. He said just like former president Frederick Chiluba appointed President Mwanawasa as his successor, former Malawian President Bakili Muluzi did the same with Wa Mutharika. “Just like in Zambia, Bingu is being haunted by Bakili’s ghost who is more popular now. Bakili appointed him just like Chiluba did with Levy when he left some of us. My expulsion from Malawi is subject to speculation. Politically Bingu and Levy are very fragile so they have found comfort in each other. We are old friends with Bakili Muluzi and neither Levy nor Bingu can separate us,” Sata said.

On the Wynter Kabimba-led PF disciplinary committee’s recommendation to the central committee for Nakazwe’s expulsion, Sata said anybody who did not stick to PF rules might as well go elsewhere where there was lawlessness. “The office of the mayor is a very important one and people should go to the mayor and not the mayor going to them. There are so many civic functions but not to go and parade and smile at the airport...it’s not to go and be a spectator and be insulted by MMD cadres,” Sata said. “They are failing to address what is civic duty like cholera and other things. All they are doing is drink tea. Sylvia Masebo has not functioned, even MMD councils are not functioning because her aim is to fight PF.”

Sata wondered how the council could be effective when the mayor was ineffective and did not provide leadership. “... a person comes from nowhere and wants the limelight. Without PF, who would have known that a madam like Nakazwe existed? They want the limelight without providing anything,” Sata said. “We have had three streams of different mayors and they have all ended up defecting to MMD. They have destroyed their political careers. She should not think that PF was stupid to make her mayor. We were not stupid because that’s the highest position wherever you go in the world.” Sata said the PF organs were dealing with Nakazwe’s matter and would announce their conclusions in due course. “I am president of PF, I am not chairman of the diplomacy committee. The entire central committee will sit and read that report. The party has organs; this matter has gone to the disciplinary committee. It’s not for me to get excited over one simple person Nakazwe. She is being dealt with appropriately,” Sata said.

On the Zimbabwean situation, Sata refused to condemn President Mugabe. “We don’t have facts with what is happening in Zimbabwe; we are listening to BBC. Unless we have the facts, we cannot condemn President Robert Mugabe,” Sata said. “It’s surprising for our President to go to Namibia and say that he is not happy with Zimbabwe’s governance, what governance is in Zambia?”

On the demolition exercise currently being carried out by the government, Sata accused the media of encouraging mediocrity in the ruling of our country. He said all over the world, there were street vendors including in Europe. “We are going to court because the land in Kalikiliki does not belong to the council or government. The land belongs to an individual whom Sylvia Masebo is acting on behalf of. That’s the reason we are going to court,” Sata said. “The woman is so greedy, she is not successful on anything except greedy. She knows the President is not very well, she knows the President can’t remember anything so she is above him. If it’s illegal, who has complained because the land doesn’t belong to government or council? “If the owner of the land had complained, he must have gone to the ministry of lands. There was no notice. It’s a terrorist act Sylvia Masebo is doing. She thinks she is doing it to PF but most of those people are MMD.”

Sata said Masebo would be humiliated in court more than ever before. “She is a mother, what type of a mother is so brutal ... a mother being so cruel? Evicting people at midnight? When we fought for independence, we thought we were all going to be equal,” Sata said. He said there were 1,370 people that are affected by the demolitions. “We are demanding a minimum of K50 million compensation for any small Kantemba that was demolished. We are going to prove that in court that this government is callous, it’s cruel and do not deserve to be in government,” Sata said.

He said street vendors were everywhere including in Europe. “If you go to London or Germany, there are street vendors...nobody wants to be a street vendor. If you don ‘t have employment....ubucushi bupa amano (desperation brings innovation). They should provide an alternative,” said Sata.

Labels: SATA

posted by MrK @ 10:18 PM