By Mubanga Mubanga
Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance presidential spokesperson George Chisanga says President Hakainde Hichilema is feeling the weight of Brian Mundubile and his running nate Makebi Zulu
During the rally at Heroes Stadium grounds on Sunday, President Hichilema described Mundubile and Zulu as “boys” who did not know how national reserves worked.
Responding to President Hichilema in an interview with Daily Revelation on Monday, Chisanga said the popularity of Mundubile and Zulu had placed President Hichilema in a state of “panic”
“That is undoubted from the time that Mr Mundubile and Mr Makebi Zulu produced themselves as the ticket that the Tonse alliance and Pamodzi alliance was what they were using to present themselves for leadership.This has drawn the UPND, especially the president into a clear state of panic,” Chisanga said.
“If you see what the President has been doing, wherever he hears that the two were in the Copperbelt, he goes back to the Copperbelt, to go and figure out what is happening. If he hears that they are about to cross into another province to continue with their rallies, he sends the police to go and brutalise them. Right now as l am speaking to you, they have cordoned off the grounds in Mpika where we are supposed to hold a rally.”
However, Chisanga said Tonse-Pamodzi alliance was not going to be discouraged or deterred by the schemes of the UPND using the police to stop them from campaigning freely.
“That shows you that it is only when a President has heard ukufina kwa muchele (he has felt the weight of the salt), that is why he is behaving the way he is behaving. But we are not deterred, we are not discouraged because people are prepared to listen to our message. If we are not going to do it through a rally, we are going to do it through different means, to ensure that the message that we have brought for the Zambians sinks with the people, and people accept that we are here to provide an alternative government,” Chisanga said. “So, we are not worried about the pressure. We know he is feeling the pressure, but we are going to move as originally planned.”
On the remarks made by former Transport and Communication minister Frank Tayali that Mundubile’s level was that of a ward councillor, not that of a president of a country, Chisanga said Tayali was just making a political “joke” and Zambian people did not need to take him seriously. He said Tayali was equally in a panic mode, just like the rest of the UPND members.
“And they think that by making the response they are making now, they will be given some kind of gratitude. But it is all gone, the UPND is gone. They are bidding farewell to the people. So, what they had at Heroes was a farewell concert,” said Chisanga.
