Maravi

C/Belt PF vow not to accept rigged polls

C/Belt PF vow not to accept rigged polls
By George Chellah and Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Fri 16 Sep. 2011, 13:55 CAT

THOUSANDS of PF supporters on the Copperbelt have vowed not to accept defeat if the elections are rigged in favour of President Rupiah Banda. And the emotional cadres openly warned PF leader Michael Sata that they will not entertain any appeals for calm from him once it becomes apparent that the elections have been rigged.

Meanwhile, Sata told the crowd that President Banda is scared of leaving State House because he knows that he has vandalised the country. During a mammoth public rally at Freedom Park, the slogan-chanting cadres pledged not to allow those scheming to interfere with the electoral process and subsequently steal the people's victory.

The thousands of cadres and sympathisers who thronged Kitwe's Freedom Park were led into taking the oath by Get Involved Zambia executive director Fr Frank Bwalya.

"…balefwaya ukuchita rig ama elections nomba tafyakabombe, bushe mukasumina? (…they MMD want to rig elections, are you going to accept it?" asked Fr Bwalya as the jubilant crowd shouted: "Awe! (No!)."

"Bushe mukasumina?" Fr Bwalya repeated: "Awe! Awe!" shouted the crowd again.
At this point Fr Bwalya requested everybody present to raise their right hand symbolising the taking of an oath.

"Kanshi pakulekelesha bonse imyeni ukuboko mwakulakonkeleshapo ifyo nakulalanda. Ifwe fwe bena Zambia, Ifwe fwe bena Zambia! twasosa apabuta tatwakasuminishe umuntu ukutwibila amavote, pantu nishi atwibila future, ninshi aiba future yabanabesu. Uyo muntu tatwakamusuminishe natumona ichilangililo kufyalo fimbi uko bashisuminisha ama nonsense naifwe bene tatwakasumine. Nachi ilanga ati Ba Sata ebakawina!" (In conclusion, I would like each one of you to raise your right hand and repeat after me: We the people of Zambia, we the people of Zambia, we affirm publicly that we shall not allow anyone to steal our votes because that would amount to stealing our future and that of our children. Such a person we shall not allow because we have seen examples from other countries where they do not tolerate such nonsense; even us we shall not allow. It is very clear that Mr Sata will win!)", the PF supporters passionately repeated the words after Fr Bwalya in unison.

And the cadres warned Sata that they will not entertain any appeals for calm from him once it becomes apparent that the elections have been rigged.

These sentiments were being passed as Sata's vehicle struggled to pass through a sea of people mostly comprising youths that wanted to catch a glimpse of the PF leader.

"Bashikulu uno mwaka nga baiba amavote mukatuleke tukachite efyo tulefwaya pantu fwebalechula nifwebo not filya mwatemwa ati lekeni. Nga mwatweba ati lekeni naimwe bene tukamichinjisha ilinso pantu ninshi twaishiba ati naimwebene mulalyamo! (Grandfather, please this year just let us do what we want to do if anyone steals our votes because we are the ones who suffer; please do not make your usual appeals for calm. If you stop us from doing what we want to do, then we shall turn on you because we will conclude that you are also a beneficiary of this regime)," shouted one of the youths while banging on Sata's window in an attempt to catch the PF leader's attention.

And Sata's helicopter which landed at Kitwe Basic School had problems with taking off for the return trip to Lusaka as scores of excited youths clang onto it to prevent it from taking off.

"Bashikulu tabaye lelo! (Our grandfather is not leaving today!)" shouted the youths as they dusted the chopper with handkerchiefs.

The situation created panic among Sata's security personnel who swang into action by pushing the surging mob away from the chopper.

But the crowd pushed back in retaliation: "Iwe wilatutamfya tulekefye teiwe tukonkele. (Please, do not push us, we did not come here for you.)" It took passionate pleas from the PF officials in order for the crowd to allow the chopper to fly to Lusaka.

"Iwe ubenshe bwino bashikulu waumfwa ayi? (Make sure you grant our grandfather a safe flight, do you understand?)" one of the youths was heard shouting whilst pointing at the pilot.

And Sata told the crowd that President Banda is scared of leaving State House because he knows that he has vandalised the country.

He said people who were responsible for destroying the country through corruption would never go scot-free when PF forms government.

Sata said only President Banda and Dora Siliya were in a position to tell the nation how much they had received from the sale of Zamtel.

He said after September 20, the PF would bring in a new practical approach of developing the country by wiping out corruption and giving meaningful empowerment to the people.

"This country would have been destroyed further without your voice through members of parliament like Chishimba Kabwili, Wylbur Simuusa, Yamfwa Mukanga and many others. Dora Siliya and her man Rupiah Banda wanted to sell all government schools. You Zambians must say no to this corrupt MMD government," Sata said.

He said it was sad that President Banda had continued to cheat people of Kitwe that he had performed wonders through the construction of hospitals when the town still had old infrastructure.

He said the hospitals that were in Kitwe like Central Hospital and Wusakile were old and the residents have never seen any meaningful development in terms of the health sector.

Sata said the people of Kitwe have never seen development even in the education sector because schools like Helen Kaunda, Kitwe Boys and others were built by the first Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda.

He said the people of Kitwe should never pay attention to the lies of the MMD who were busy cheating people that Sata would destroy houses and Chisokone market in Kitwe.

Sata said he would not destroy Chisokone market because he initiated it when he was local government minister.

He said the focus of PF would be to improve the market so that people could have conducive trading places.

"I started selling council houses when I was minister of state. Chiluba came to take over from me in the selling of houses. Today they say Sata will take out houses. Where will I take them to? When Rupiah Banda gave away the houses, he never thought about the defence and security personnel," Sata said.

Sata further said he had received reports that Chinese investors wanted to block miners from voting by denying them permission.

He said investors must refrain from such schemes because they had no right of stopping miners from exercising their right.

Sata said it was sad that despite working hard and contributing greatly to the national treasury, miners were left with nothing by the MMD government that had abandoned the people.

He said the PF would work hard to correct the situation in the mining sector so that the country could see true benefits of its national resources.

Sata advised people to ignore MMD propaganda.

"These people they are saying ‘Sata is going to remove ARVs.' I brought ARVs. These people they say ‘Michael Sata will kill all old people.' Am I young myself? They say when Sata comes he will make boys marry other fellow boys," said Sata as the crowd erupted into chanting slogans: "We want change! We want change!"

Sata then called his three children Mwelwa, Chilufya and Mwango to the podium and asked them to introduce themselves to the people.

"Now can someone who is married to a man have these children?" he asked.

He also warned the state media namely the Times of Zambia, Daily Mail and ZNBC against their biased coverage of the elections.

"Ukutangila tekufika" warned Sata.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, COPPERBELT PROVINCE, MICHAEL SATA, PF

posted by MrK @ 3:57 PM