Commission on Barotse killings will bring healing - Inyambo

Friday, October 28, 2011

Commission on Barotse killings will bring healing - Inyambo

Commission on Barotse killings will bring healing - Inyambo
By Chibaula Silwamba
Fri 28 Oct. 2011, 08:20 CAT

THE Barotseland killings Commission of Inquiry will bring healing to Western Province, says Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta of the Lozi people.

President Michael Sata, who was elected last month, appointed a nine-member Commission of Inquiry, headed by former legal affairs minister and Lusaka-based senior lawyer Dr Rodger Chongwe, to investigate the Barotseland killings of January 14 that left two people dead on the spot, while others died later. Several people were injured and over 100 arrested.

In an interview at State House on Monday during the 47th Independence anniversary celebrations, chief Inyambo Yeta welcomed the Chongwe-led Commission of Inquiry.

"That is the only way we can bring healing to the province," chief Inyambo Yeta said. "This particular issue has been a very emotive issue in Western Province and we welcome the setting up of the Commission of Inquiry because it will help us to bring out the truth and the truth shall set the province free. The truth shall help the province to move on."

He recollected that countries like South Africa, which underwent a bloody apartheid era, used a similar inquiry to heal from that experience.

"As you know, in South Africa, Nelson Mandela when he became president appointed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission because he realised that that was the only way healing could come to South Africa," Chief Inyambo Yeta said. "That is the only way South Africa could move away from that apartheid era."

President Sata pardoned the 27 Barotseland activists that were facing prosecution over the January 14 riots.

Some people in Western Province rioted in the provincial capital Mongu on January 14, demanding reinstatement of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 in the Zambian Constitution to ensure development in the region. The protestors warned the Rupiah Banda-led government that if it failed to heed their demands, they would secede. The stampede left many people injured, infrastructure damaged and police camped in Mongu for months to quell any recurrence of violence.

Labels: BAROTSE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, CHIEF INYAMBO YETA, MICHAEL SATA