Hakainde Hichilema – leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND)
Before I got down to pen this article, I took a knee in protest against tribalism in Zambian politics. This was after reading comments made by PF member Davies Chama back in 2015: “If at all they (UPND) will ever be in power, maybe a 100 years from now, not in my generation, maybe a 1000 years from now. They [Tongas] are polygamous by nature, so maybe as they have more children, they can be history and in power.”
The above abusive and prejudicial language is no different from that of racism, neither is the one uttered by Bizwell Mutale: “Zambia is not ready for a Tonga president in 2021 and beyond. It will never happen;” nor the one by Chishimba Kambwili: “Tongas cannot vote for Jesus if he stood in that part of Zambia on the basis of his tribe.” Kambwili was later linked to a statement in social media that alleged he would eliminate Tongas given the opportunity.