Katele’s wife seeks action against MMD ‘gang rapists’

Katele’s wife seeks action against MMD ‘gang rapists’
By Patson Chilemba
Sun 24 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba's wife Lumba has asked her husband to take action against the MMD 'rapists' who have threatened to rape FDD president Edith Nawakwi.

Commenting on the threat by Lusaka Province MMD youth chairperson Chris Chalwe and other party cadres to rape Nawakwi, Lumba said if Chalwe thought raping was politics, he was in a wrong place and needed psychiatric treatment at Chainama Hills Hospital.

“I would be ashamed to be related to that man Chalwe. I have complained to him Katele, yes I have as his wife, as a woman, and as a member of MMD. I have complained to him that something must be done, it's disgusting. I don't think there is any female in Zambia who can say Mr Chalwe has said a wonderful thing,” Lumba said.

“Nawakwi is a woman, she could be our mother, she could be our sister, she could be somebody close to us. Regardless of what she has said, she has an opinion. If her opinion is not to someone's liking, then they give a counter-opinion back. But to threaten someone to say 'we are going to gang-rape you', that is criminal.”

Lumba asked Chalwe to put himself in Nawakwi's shoes, assuming he was married or had daughters and then someone threatened to gang-rape them.

“Would his wife be happy to hear that my husband is going to gang-rape that person?” she asked.

Lumba asked Nawakwi to follow up the matter to its logical conclusion, saying threatening rape was a very serious crime.

“Rape is one of the worst things you can do to a woman. People who talk about rape are cowards because they want to use physical force,” Lumba said.

“If he has got any infatuation over Nawakwi, he should approach her properly. The party should condemn him, as a woman I am disgusted, insulted, shocked, and any man who supports that also needs psychiatric treatment. Just imagine that is your mother, or your wife, or your sister they are talking about?”

Lumba asked Chalwe to apologise, not only to Nawakwi but to all the women in the country.

“If he said that to me, honestly he would not sleep at night,” said Lumba.
MMD cadres recently threatened that they would gang-rape Nawakwi for her critical stance on governance matters.