Africa-Press – Zambia. TONSE Alliance president Brian Mundubile says he is ready to be arrested every week if that is what it takes to fight for Zambians.
Mundubile has also accused the police of attempting to slap treasonable charges on him and interrogating him about his interactions with Chief Mwata Kazembe, among others.
Meanwhile, Mundubile has advised President Hakainde Hichilema to aim to win the August polls through the ballot, not through what he described as “imingalato”.
Speaking on BM8 Unfiltered, Friday, when asked how he felt about the arrest, Mundubile said if the fight against what he called injustice required him to end up in police cells weekly, he was prepared.
“I don’t know how to describe the feeling but I’ll be quick to say it’s not about how I feel, it’s about how the Zambian people feel. It’s not so much about me as an individual, it’s about the Zambian people, this fight is about the Zambian people.
If this is what it will take for me and Tonse to fight for the Zambian people, I want to say that we are ready to go in those police cells every other week. So if the fight against poverty, the fight against injustices, the fight against the violation of people’s rights will end us in police cells every other week, I want to tell you that we are ready,” he said.
Mundubile described how law enforcement interrogated him and accused him of planning to set the country on fire.
“What is very clear is that the officers of the law enforcement agencies have lost their conscience to operate within the law. Their fidelity to the law is now put in question. They are not scared that they are breaking the law, they can work in whatever way they want without following the law.
What happened yesterday (Thursday) is that we get to the airport and waiting to jump on a plane to South Africa, these gentlemen come, they start issuing very alarming statements. They tell me that they are very worried with my activities that border on national security. They told me they were very very worried, they thought I was one such a leader that would want to defend and protect this country. And I was very quick to mention that that’s the sort of leader that I am. And I asked them what they were talking about, they began to throw names saying, ‘you have huge plans to set this country on fire,’” he narrated.
“I said ‘officer wait a minute, I can never have such intentions, I can never have [those] intentions,’ that’s what I said to him, to set the country on fire, a country that I want to lead? And I continued asking ‘why don’t you get to the point?’ He couldn’t get to what he wanted to deliver but then he began to throw names, he asked me about Mr Valden Findlay, he said ‘do you know Mr Valden Findlay, I said ‘of course I know Mr Valden Findlay’, he went to the next name he said ‘do you know Xavier Chungu?’ I said ‘of course that’s my big brother’.
‘Do you know Moïse Katumbi?’ I said ‘I know the name, I know the gentleman but I have never met him before, never spoken to him’. And he went on even asking about leaders from the region whose names I may not want to mention here”.
Mundubile added that the most disturbing part was when he was questioned about his interaction with Chief Mwata Kazembe.
“But the most disturbing [part], was them asking me about my interaction with my chief, my interaction with the Mwata. So after all that drama they even proceeded to conduct a thorough search on my three phones without any warrant. I wondered whether they knew that whatever they were doing was illegal. I asked them whether they had any right to proceed and search my phones in the manner that they did in an absence of a warrant. I still don’t have my phones, at the time they got them there was no arrest but they had full access to the phones and they went on for hours searching my phones,” he added.
Mundubile said during his period of detention, he had a difficult night thinking about the women, men and youths who got soaked while showing their support at the police station.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank all the people – the youths, the women, the elderly and men who came to Ibex Police Station. You braved the rains for over five, six, seven hours. The youths and grandmothers were at Ibex braving the rains. I looked and said this grandmother is supposed to be taking care of children and grandchildren but is here because she has seen that what this government has started doing will destroy that hope that she has to get out of poverty.
The youths that turned out in their numbers, the youths came there with a belief, they have their hope in the Tonse Alliance, they believe in the leadership of the Tonse Alliance and they turned up in numbers soaked the whole night, I was touched. I watched through the window because they put me in the police cells after 01:00 but before that I could peep through the window. In my mind, I felt so bad. Those people could have been sleeping, most of those people left their homes without even eating, they left their homes without even knowing what they were going to eat the following day. On top of that, they risked their health by standing in the rain the whole night with no guarantee, no assurance that should they fall sick, they will walk up to a hospital where they are going to find drugs, very very unfortunate indeed. I felt very sad, I had a very very difficult night thinking about the people that had turned out in support of me at the time I was being incarcerated,” he said.
Asked how he responded to the charges slapped on him, Mundubile accused President Hichilema of attempting to technically knock him out of the August polls through prolonged arrest.
“First of all, like I said earlier, the officers came in with alarming statements that I was involved in activities that border on national security – the reason why they had access to my phones, they grabbed my passport and everything, that was the reason. But even at the time they took me to Ibex Police station, I was not formally charged, I was not arrested, even the detention happened without any charge and without any arrest, I think this must be made very clear. What is clear is that President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND are out there trying to avoid winning or losing this year’s elections through the ballot, they are trying to bring in technicalities, what you may call imingalato,” said Mundubile.
“President Hakainde Hichilema, Zambia is a constitutional democracy. What we expect, in the same manner that you went for elections in 2021, coming from the opposition, won the election and became President, you must understand, that if you have failed to perform to the expectation of the Zambian people that is the same way you are going to go. And I want to remind you my dear brother, President Hakainde Hichilema that this time you should look at winning this election through the ballot.
I want to discourage you from using imingalato and technicalities, going round fishing charges as serious as treasonable charges that you want to level against other competitors so that you stop them from campaigning. That’s exactly what was happening yesterday (Thursday), I could see it, I’m a trained lawyer, I saw the games that were being played. They wanted to slap BM8 with treasonable charges so that he’s detained for a very long time”.
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