Maravi

Cadres harass Rev Mutale at Chiluba's funeral

Cadres harass Rev Mutale at Chiluba's funeral
By Chibaula Silwamba and Edwin Mbulo
Tue 21 June 2011, 04:02 CAT

VIOLENCE has characterised the funeral of former president Frederick Chiluba where MMD Lusaka Province chairperson William Banda-led cadres harassed and insulted the late head of state’s preacher Rev Edith Mutale and chased some journalists.

In an interview yesterday, Rev Mutale, a close ally of Chiluba and his family, narrated that MMD cadres manning the entrance to the house of mourning on Sunday harassed and barred her from mourning the former president and was only protected by the deceased’s step children.

“When Dr Chiluba died in the early hours of Saturday, I was one of the first people to be informed. The whole day Saturday I was at the funeral house from 04:30 hours to 22:00hours and there was no incident at all. I stayed with Mrs Regina Chiluba because people know that I have a relationship with that family,” Rev Mutale said.

“On Sunday, about 16:00 hours, I went to see how Regina was doing and how things were. When I dropped by the gate, the first person I saw standing by the gate was Mr William Banda. I ignored him and I proceeded to go to the entrance of the house so that I could get into the house.”

She said she found MMD women dancing and singing at the entrance.

“I tried to get into the house but the MMD women blocked me. They started to push and shouted at me: ‘You are PF! We will not allow you to enter the house’. I was amazed because that house had been open to me as and when I wanted because I have a relationship with Dr Chiluba and the family. Even in times when he needed help, I was there. In times when the Levy Mwanawasa government took him to court, I was in court most of the time supporting him. Even on the day of his last judgment I was there,” Rev Mutale said.

“When he went to hospital in South Africa, Regina phoned me that ‘mum please come, your son is very sick, he has collapsed.’ She called me like on a Thursday, on Friday morning I flew into South Africa and I stayed there for two weeks and prayed with him. He would tell his wife that ‘I want ba mayo mother Edith Mutale to prepare food for me not any other person’. I would prepare food.”

She said it was sad that MMD cadres could harass and insult her.

“MMD women told me that ‘get out through the gate. If you don’t, we shall undress you!’ They started to hurl insults at me. Anyway, I did not leave. I went through the kitchen. Then Bwalya and Mando – Mrs Regina Chiluba’s children – heard and came and said, ‘mama, what is going on?’ I said, ‘I have been barred to get into the house’. They were very upset because those children know that in me, they have a grandmother,” Rev Mutale said.

“Bwalya and Mando took me inside. I did complain a lot to Mrs Regina Chiluba because I felt humiliated. Mrs Regina Chiluba was very sad. She cried a lot because she knew that she found a mother in me.”

Rev Mutale said Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata, whom William Banda and MMD cadres barred from attending the funeral was very close to Chiluba.

“When I was at the funeral on Saturday, Mr Sata phoned me saying ‘I hear you are there. I can’t come for the funeral. Tell Mrs Chiluba’. I told Mrs Regina Chiluba that Mr Sata phoned and said ‘he can’t come because there are plans to harm him’. Mrs Chiluba said ‘that is not right’,” Rev Mutale narrated.

“Mr Sata phoned again. Then I gave Mrs Chiluba the phone and said, ‘speak to Mr Sata’ and she got the phone. She was still crying and I heard her say, ‘bashiChilufya Chilufya’s father, please come. Those who are stopping you don’t know how you and Dr Chiluba were close and loved each other. You could differ on political ground but not on a personal level’. She was speaking on the phone telling him ‘that please come, I need your help. I need the love of everybody who was friends of my husband’.”

Rev Mutale said Sata and Chiluba had been friends for many years and the former always supported the latter at the expense of losing an election.

“Mr Sata was always supporting Chiluba, always seeing him off and welcoming him from South Africa. Some of the people that are even saying they are friends with Dr Chiluba were not friends. My heart is bleeding. We need to allow Mr Sata to mourn a colleague. Mr Sata and Dr Chiluba traversed, did things together and governed this country for 10 years,” Rev Mutale said.

“William Banda comes from Malawi to come and confuse us. Did William Banda love Dr Chiluba more than Mr Sata? Sata loved Dr Chiluba whom he worked with more. William Banda was in the UNIP government which harassed Dr Chiluba.”

Rev Mutale urged President Banda to prevail over William Banda and his cadres.

“We should all mourn Dr Chiluba because he was president of Zambians and not just for MMD. Chiluba touched so many hearts. William Banda and his vigilantes must be caged so that we mourn Chiluba with dignity, he deserves it. Chiluba was president of Zambia for 10 years; he deserves to be mourned in a manner that is befitting a leader,” Rev Mutale.

“I call upon President Rupiah Banda to cage William Banda and all the vigilantes so that people can mourn Chiluba in an acceptable manner. William Banda cannot be a gateman at the Chiluba residence to refuse people to mourn Dr Chiluba. That is unacceptable.”

She said William Banda was a deportee.

“When was he a Zambian? The man was deported. He is still living in this country illegally and he has come to destroy the peace of Zambia,” Rev Mutale said.

She said the conduct of William Banda was bad.
“This is not the time to bring things like this. This can cause anarchy and confusion in the country. I plead with President Banda. In any case, President Banda was in Chipata mourning his uncle, they buried, why didn’t he come back to be part of the people that are mourning. How does a head of state be absent from another head of state’s funeral? He should have been the first person to receive people,” Rev Mutale said.

“This violence has just started; it’s saddening and disturbing. This is unacceptable. We have gone back to the one-party-state and vigilante era of William Banda whom they have again brought back to come and kill the Zambian people.”

Rev Mutale said the MMD cadres’ conduct at the funeral was unfair for the Chiluba family. “Dr Chiluba’s children are still alive and will still need the help of Mr Sata and he can play a father figure for them. This is not good for the family, Regina and children. Even relatives of Dr Chiluba are feeling bad. They want their son to be mourned in a dignified manner,” said Rev Mutale.

And a group of state security agents and MMD cadres yesterday chased and barred a Radio Phoenix journalist from entering the Belvedere lodge which has been turned into a house of mourning.

Narrating her ordeal, Nancy Chenge, who was assigned to cover the Anglican Church literacy workshop at nearby Mary’s Magdalena Parish, mistakenly drove to Belvedere Lodge.

“I had not realised that we had bypassed the church and when we turned into Belvedere Lodge some security officer in green attire and a woman wearing a G4 Security uniform tried to stop us but the driver did not see the signal to stop,” Chenge said.

She said the security officers followed them and asked why they were there and ordered them to leave.

Chenge said when she saw women clad in MMD chitenge materials singing solemn, she realised that she was at the mourning place for Chiluba and left.

She said even after leaving the lodge security personnel pursued the journalist up to the church and parked by the road side for a moment but later drove away. Chenge said the security personnel were moving in a green bus registration number GRZ 555BY.

Meanwhile, Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi wondered why William Banda, who was deported by Chiluba to Malawi, was harassing and chasing people like herself that served in the Chiluba-cabinet from the funeral.

Nawakwi said it was strange that William Banda, who never worked with Chiluba, could be chasing former ministers in the late president’s 10-year reign.

“Ask President Rupiah Banda why William Banda is chasing people like Edith Nawakwi from Chiluba’s funeral? I worked with Chiluba as his minister for 10 years. How can William Banda who was deported to Malawi be chasing us?” Nawakwi asked.

“I met president Chiluba late last year and we discussed a lot of things, William Banda can even ask Regina Chiluba, and now he wants to chase us from the funeral. Let William Banda allow Zambians to mourn Chiluba in peace.”

On Saturday, Lusaka Province minister Charles Shawa and party provincial youth chairperson Chris Chalwe harassed opposition leader Cosmo Mumba. Earlier that day, MMD cadres were looking for The Post journalists so that they may beat them up, but after being alerted, the media personnel dodged the trap. The Post has avoided going to the funeral house since then. William Banda’s cadres have also vowed to beat up Sata.

Labels: CADRES, FUNERALS, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, WILLIAM BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:01 PM