Mpezeni okays UTH pictures with Sata

Mpezeni okays UTH pictures with Sata
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 02 July 2011, 04:01 CAT

PARAMOUNT chief Mpezeni says there was nothing untraditional in Michael Sata’s visit to him when he was admitted to the University Teaching Hospital.

Reacting to attacks on PF leader Sata in the state-owned and government-controlled Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail that it was untraditional for him to have carried photographers when he visited Mpezeni at UTH, Mpezeni’s cousin George Zulu said the government media misrepresented facts.

“The visit was arranged between paramount chief Mpezeni and president Sata. There was nothing untraditional where people are saying it was not traditional to have brought those pictures in the paper The Post,” said Zulu who was by the chief’s bedside when Sata visited.

“There was nothing untraditional about those pictures. Paramount chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni of Eastern Province wanted to show that the University Teaching Hospital is just a good hospital as those in South Africa, India and elsewhere. And showing leadership is what he did to show that even paramount chief Mpezeni, paramount chief Chitimukulu of the Bembas go to the same hospital.”

Zulu said Mpezeni was grateful that Sata visited him when he was admitted to the hospital.

“He is saying muyako nipamabvuto A friend in need is a friend indeed. All those who are claiming this or the other, none of them visited him in hospital. He wants to emphasise love. What Sata did was expression of love for a fellow man,” he said.

Zulu said the nation should promote the tradition of loving and visiting those in hospital.

He said the doctors at UTH were as good as any other.

“His short stay there was exciting because those Tonga nurses and Bembas were smiling throughout that stay,” Zulu said.

And speaking in his own capacity, Zulu wondered what was untraditional in visiting the sick.

He said the Ngoni tradition was about doing things transparently, the reason Ngonis did not mask their faces when they performed their traditional dances.

“I was hurt when the Times of Zambia referred to inkosi yama nkosi king of kings, Mpezeni as senior chief. Maybe there is a senior chief Mpezeni calling himself senior chief Mpezeni. But what we Ngonis know is only one inkosi yama nkosi, Mpezeni. This time we have Mpezeni 4,” Zulu said.

He said The Post and other newspapers and television stations had carried pictures of Chitimukulu and Dr Kenneth Kaunda before in the same UTH.

Zulu said UTH was a public institution where citizens and leaders alike went to be attended to and journalists were free to go there.

He said Mpezeni was a public figure, who was admitted in a public hospital.

“You can’t hide him. So we want all those who are saying Sata did not act to tradition to look back at our Ngoni tradition. Nsengas have their tradition, if they don’t want to be seen. We have got 73 tribes in this country, all following different traditions. But we must at the end remain as one, accept, respect each other’s traditions,” said Zulu.

The state-owned and government-controlled media have been condemning Sata for having carried along a Post photographer when he recently visited Mpezeni who has since been discharged from UTH.

The Post’s edition of June 29, 2011 carried a front page picture of Mpezeni in a hospital bed with Sata at his bedside.