By Patson Chilemba
Southern Province minister Cornelius Mweetwa has challenged UPND deputy national youth chairperson Steven Chikota to immediately report the corrupt ministers he said have been bribed by the foreigners to conduct mining activities they are not licensed for, to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)
But Mweetwa said should Chikota fail to report the matter, the ACC must summon him to prove his claims in the same manner they summoned Lumezi Independent member of Parliament Munir Zulu after he alleged that some officials from the ACC tried to bribe him.
Mweetwa also said that not all the 2.8 million people who voted for UPND are UPND supporters, saying within that there was an “enclave of UPND supporters”, but the others voted simply because they wanted change.
Speaking with Daily Revelation on the video where Chikota castigated the police officers to their faces that they were protecting foreign miners because they had been paid money, and also that he had a list of corrupt ministers who had received bribes from the foreigners to mine the minerals they were not licensed for, while denying the indigenous Zambians, Mweetwa said he congratulated Chikota for saying what he said, saying it showed that the UPND was a transparent government because a person in Chikota’s position would not have come out to allege corruption involving ministers in the previous administration “because they could be beneficiaries in the loot.”
Mweetwa, the UPND spokesperson, said those who have followed President Hakainde Hichilema will attest to the fact that the President has said no to corruption, and therefore Chikota should not end at raising the matter in the media, but must rush to the ACC to report the corruption allegations.
He said “this was the best way to fight corruption.”
“We must name and shame corruption. So let him rush to the ACC before the end of business and report those ministers so that they are prosecuted,” Mweetwa said.
However, Mweetwa said should Chikota fail to report the matter to ACC, the commission must summon him to give information over his allegations, saying “we should end this thing where issues of corruption are first reported in the media.”
He said there was a risk that people’s names might be dented, as people begin to speculate on who is involved once the allegations have been made.
Mweetwa said for instance there were mining activities in the province where he was minister and if someone were to mention that some ministers were involved in corruption in that province, the public would begin making assumptions that maybe it might be him as provincial minister, the mines minister plus other ministers.
“This is a government of laws, no drama. Let him go and report and if he doesn’t let ACC find out because we do not want to be associated as a government with corrupt people,” Mweetwa said.
He said the party had fought this battle of non-tolerance to corruption for over a long period of time, and even when greener pastures provided themselves plus gratuity exceeding beyond 2026 in order to vote for Bill 10, they stuck to their principles.
Mweetwa said he watched Chikota’s video, and that “if the police were lawfully there”, it should not have been the case that they should be confronted in the manner Chikota did, as the ruling party and its government could not be at variance with itself.
“Police need to be interacted with decency and respect,” Mweetwa, who is a former police officer, said, adding that they were trained specifically not to react to insults.
He said Zambians did not want to go back to the old regime where cadres used to say “ba Bowman umfweni efyo alelanda uyu police. Alelanda ati tabakapite ba Lungu (Mr Bowman Lusambo listen to what this police man is saying. He is saying that Lungu will not win).”
He reminded that people must be mindful that police officers also vote, going by the results which emerged in several police camps, including Sikanze and State House compounds, which posted a landslide for President Hichilema over incumbent Lungu.
“First of all I do not have the full facts, but the only thing I can say is that we are a party of laws. We do not have enough space for individual citizens to take the law into their hands,” Mweetwa said.
And Mweetwa said the results from Kabwata came out as expected, that the UPND would win and that there would be low voter turnout, describing the 25,000 voter turnout as impressive considering that the day was not even a public holiday, as most people had gone for work in an an area he said was populated by mostly white collar and blue collar workers.
“It’s normal. In fact me I was happy when I saw low voter turnout. Whenever you see low voter turn out just know the ruling party is winning,” Mweetwa said, saying ruling party supporters have more energy to defend their government as opposed to those in the opposition, speaking as someone who was in the opposition for a long time.
Mweetwa said there was also voter fatigue as people were from voting barely five months ago, saying regardless the outcome of the by-election, it was not going to change the government.
He said Zambians usually communicate their sentiment during the general elections as “when you see long queues just know that Zambians are bracing for change.”
“So what that means is that generally people who go to vote should not be taken for supporters of the party…don’t take that the 2.8 million who voted for UPND are UPND supporters. They are not. Within that you have an enclave of UPND supporters,” said Mweetwa, adding that the citizens voting for change did not vote on party lines but they voted because they wanted change.
