By Mwansa Kaumba
Award winning Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono says when a government begins confiscating the passports of academics and critics on vague national security grounds, it is no longer protecting the nation, but “protecting an insecure and extremely paranoid dictator from scrutiny.”
In a statement on X, Chin’ono stated that when Zambia’s founding president, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, warned the world that he saw no danger to Zambia from any of the political actors except through Hakainde Hichilema, many people dismissed him as an old man rambling.
”But wherever Dr Kaunda is today, I am sure he is watching with vindication because his fears have now come to pass. The revocation of Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa’s passport by the Zambian dictator, Hakainde Hichilema, is something I never imagined would happen in Southern Africa in 2026. Dr Sishuwa, who holds a PhD from the University of Oxford, is a highly regarded international academic and a professor at Stellenbosch University. He also recently lectured at Harvard University in America,” Chin’ono stated. “Revoking someone’s passport simply because he disagrees with your leadership and criticises your government is one of the most vindictive and authoritarian acts a government can commit. A passport is not a political favour to be granted to loyalists and withdrawn from critics. It is a citizen’s legal travel document and a gateway to freedom of movement, professional work and engagement with the world.”
Chin’ono stated that President Hichilema once presented himself as a victim of authoritarianism and promised to restore democracy in Zambia.
”Today, he is using the same tools of repression that he once condemned,” stated Chin’ono. “When a government begins confiscating the passports of academics and critics on vague national security grounds, it is no longer protecting the nation. It is protecting an insecure and extremely paranoid dictator from scrutiny. Kenneth Kaunda warned Zambia. People laughed. Today, Hakainde Hichilema is proving the old man right!”
