Two Police officers involved in the death of the soccer fans in Mazabuka last night have been arrested and charged with murder.
Police Spokesperson Ndadula Siamana told ZNBC News in Lusaka today that Police have ordered the transfer of all senior officers from Mazabuka district.
Ms Siamana said that Zambia Police Command regretted the death of the two youths. Her sentiments were also echoed today in parliament by Home Affairs Minister Mkhondo Lungu who issued an apolgy to the nation and the families of the two people who were killed in a stampede when police tear gassed a tavern were the patrons were watching the Barclays premier league match between Manchester United and Chelsea.
According to Ms Siamana, the incident happened when the two officers, in the company of two reserve officers, attempted to close the bar as it was operating beyond the legal hours.
Ms Siamana said the patrons refused to leave the bar as the football match was still going on.
She said it was at this point that the police officers tear gassed the bar leading to a stampede that resulted into the death of the two soccer fans.
Mazabuka residents this morning run amok, following last nights incident. All shops in the town centre including banks and some filling stations remained closed for business due to the riot.
The situation in the district is now calm and police officers are keeping vigil.
Good work! they deserve to be arrested and punished! Even in the bush where I come from, normal beings behave!
Baza choka as long as those cops hold MMD party cards and some s.tu.pid vice president will justify the killing and call it professionalism.
I didnt know that bars in Zambia close at 22:30pm. Since when? Funny how they close early but are allowed to open as early as 7:00am. Go to Chaisa you will find a dude drunk as early as 10:00am.
LT, that picture is not of mazabuka town centre!
Good.Let them face th law they failed 2 protect.
# 2 there nothing political about the incidence so, we don’t expect GK to misbehave. Zimangeni mbala izo!!
The ‘police’ will continue murdering innocent people because George Kunda tells them that they are being professional by their actions. The nation has lost direction, now it’s like Somalia. This habit of transfering failures from one place to another as a form of discipline is sickening, while move those so called senior officers from Mazabuka to wherever instead of sacking them on the spot?
Our police officers lack basic common sense.
why transfer them to another instead of firing them? Mazabuka residents please continue protesting
Is there a state of emergency in zed, why teargas pipo who are peacefully enjoying a game mwebantu, does this also amount to riotious behaviour warranting what GK would call justified use of reasonable force. I am afraid with the rate at which riots have become a normal thing in zed due to gross negligence. This left unabated is a breeding ground for anarchy and wud soon become a nationwide phenomenon. MA! CHITA YAAYA! NKUBALEKA BOO.
fire kabonde immediately
#3 You are right, this looks like Mongu town and really Mazabuka
we have got worst leader in the name of rb and gk. no wonder zambia has such intolerance
Ndayanda khopu (cop) ali jisi tear Gas!
Please lets not call the guys
who tear gassed the citizens
as ‘Police Officers’ they are
Policemen’ At dinner time
this evening some seats are
empty becoz some citizens
are in the mortuary, sent to
a place of darkness, to an
early grave becoz of life
threatening decisions by the
Policemen. It is sad & I can
only pray my Father Almight
to comfort our bereaved
brotheren. May the LORD be
with u now and longer than
forever. AMEN
# 6 i agree with you, why should the government transfer these fools as a way of punishing them, let them be fired on the spot. What will be the difference if they are serving in Mazabuka or Shangómbo. Just because you sent them to a remote area doesn’t make them better cops actually it makes them worse cops because those areas have more people who do not know or understands their rights as citizen, so those cops will be able to abuse their authority even more! Lord help us!
Kunda should not justfy this again as he is ever contrary to justice.
”The cops acted with professionalism because the tarven was operating beyond working hours,. The local authority rules are clear on this one, ‘all bars/tarvens/public place should close by 22:30pm, with or without league game’ reads the statutes in part. I however regret the passing on of the soccer fan”.
Surely there must be a clause in the respective statute regarding the operations of nite clubs and other pubs to allow them go beyond stipulated hrs whenever there is an event happening or likely to run beyond closure time, or I might be wrong, but the law should be flexible. Someone should be held accountable for the loss of human lives over the game of football.
@ Dawa 1 no# 7 in every nation world wide, most policemen not their female counterparts lack common sense. You are very correct and observant though great comment.
Great job miss Siamana. I have stated and will always state, put a woman in the right position at mid to high level and proper work shall be carried out. Make the police chief a woman and Zambia’s police service shall be like non other with high excellence. Mostly because for women charity begins at home; there is also the fact of wanting to out-do other females.
helo checking one two
The best thing to do is to divide zambia into states like nigeria and let its state manage its home affairs..by doing so,development will be a must,law and oder too..together with education,health,agriculture and other social sectors of society
Tragic as this case may be, let us ask ourselves a few questions.
1) According to the law, what is the latest hour that a tavern/bar should remain open?
2) Did the tavern/bar owner break the law by remaining open after that hour?
3) Are there any exceptions to this law, and if there are, is the watching of a football match part of the exceptions?
4) If the law had been broken, then were the policemen not in order to force the closure of the tavern/bar so as to maintain law and order?
5) Two lives were lost in a tavern/bar that was operating illegally, hence is it not the fault of the bar owner who should be held accountable and to pay damages for his illegality?
6) Is it right to charge those police officers with murder for trying to implement the law and avoid anarchy?
yes let them be charged. its only fair. police need to know that they have duty of care to the citizens. u cant just be acting like zambia is your backyard. we say abash police brutality.
#23 Ule, ask those questions to your RB, what time does he leave Tandiwe. Who the hell should not allow people to watch football? You #%$ police teargassed football fans and not beer drinkers. Anarchy banoko, you piece of mumbwe.
#23 no one is disputing that the tavern was opened beyond the time it was supposed to close. But did the police need to tear gas the patrons who were simply watching a soccer match? You seem to want to justify what the police did. If you say the police acted appropriately then you would also find it ok if a police officer shot and kill an over speeding driver, in the name of trying to stop him. Does that make sense to you?
The question is, did the police need to throw teargas into a tavern full of people (who were not unruly by the way) watching a soccer match? Why didn’t they just issue a fine to the bar owner, after all its not the patrons duty to know what time the bar closes its the owners duty. If am in a bar why should i care what time it closes?
IS that not a picture of Kapiri Mposhi?
We really live like animals, far from being human! Why should the police ALWYS hav to use force (especially tear gas)? It appears they dont put in any thinking before hey act. I think these grade 12 dropouts need a refresher course. for the most part, problems/issues are not solved by using force but wisdom, now its apparent that wisdom left our police force along time ago. Just a couple of months ago another fool opened fire on a Barotse activist. Surely why are they killing our own people? Ine cilankalipa ifyabupuba. If I had a way, I wouldnt go back to my country, I would rather continue living with these wise (and more human) homosexuals.
Gee, another justified murder!!!!
The policemen did not use their brains before they acted. #23 must be a policeman. Common sense is so rare amongst you guys. Shame on all of you.
Can someone one instill sanity into police services, bring
Can someone one instill sanity into police services, bring
Can someone one instill sanity into police services, bring
Can someone one instill sanity into police services, bring
Can someone one instill sanity into police services, bring
Lizzy Machina, the Officer Commanding has been sending police reservists to arrest people for shishita as a way of fundraising for renovations at the police station. Mazabuka Police is currently one of the few Police stations in zambia with floor Tiles. But see what Lizzy ***** Machina has now caused. And that Head of Traffic(Fenete) should also follow Lizzy to hell before he causes an uprising due to his Traffic fundraising.
Lelo ba Buju. U are in trouble, No stoga mu ma cells. Seluka pa nsapato,chosa belt and gena mu kati.
Who sent these officers to do such nonsense? investigate before rushing into conclusions. We need more senior officers to be charged with murder ASAP.
#23.we understand all that u are trying to tell us.But u must also know that two wrongs does not make one right.are u trying to say that the police acted accordingly.can u tell us,when are the teargas supposed to be used? i for one believe that teargases can only be used on the unruly people bt those in the pub were they unruly? why didnt they call in the reinforcement and arrest them? and if anything they are not supose to arrest them in the pub they can only arrest them when they get out, that is if there is shishita.all that they were supose to do was to force the owner to close the pub and switch off the TV set and not to teagas people who were sitting peacefuly.wat kind of a human being are u that u suport that kind of an act? even if u ar a policeman u need sometime to reason
Though the tarven was operating beyond the stipulated closure time, the policemen should have acted in a more professional manner to disperse the growd rather than teargas the tarven/bar.
Though the tarven was operating beyond the stipulated closure time, the policemen should have acted in a more professional manner to disperse the crowd rather than teargas the tarven/bar
As at today 3 march 09 hrs, no one had been transfered from mazabuka. lizzy machina who failed to manage her unrully officers is still jumping up and down trying to impress her master kabonde. We know that she is favoured for reasons best known to ig. Police public relations at work. Ask me next week if anyone will leave
Im told the police command even knows that officer commanding mazabuka has a forged grade 12 certificate and are just quiet about it. She was almost arrested but instead they transfered and promoted her to go to mazabuka. that is why she cant perform, she is a form three
#20: The officer commanding for Mazabuka is a woman, so what’s the hype about!
Shame on men and women in uniform (people in eastern province say ‘shaba imodzi ikaola ,zonse ziipila pamodzi’, from my own observation poverty also played a role,if those guys in bar had dstv in their homes i dont think they will be in a bar around 23hrs, its time for government to increse jobs in z to avoid such shameless behaviors of P.O , I think in zambia 1million out of 12million have DSTVs or any satelite dish, that is excluding foreigners
The cops behave as though they are law themselves and dont learn from past mistakes. Not long ago Ngombe residents in Lusaka pulled down a police post after an over excited cop killed a boy who was attending a funeral. In Garden compound cops killed a loiter in their custody and residents razed down the police post. In Matero a young man in the compny of his girl friend was killed in cold blood by a cop claiming he was known criminal and wanted to flee from law enforcers. In Mongu cops kiled two in cold blood during a protest over BA of 1964 and the His Honour the Veep told parliament that police acted professionally. Now its Mazabuka. Where on earth can police fire teargas canisters in a building full of pipo watching soccer on TV. Are these cops there to kill and not protect us?.
Answers to Mule #23
1 22:00
2 The bar owner broke the law.
3) No the watching of a football match especially from colonial master Britain cannot be an exception
4) The police dont have to close the bar. They can forego the closure in the interests of keeping peace but charge the owner later.
5) Yes the bar owner is liable for the deaths of the two. The police too.
6) They are charged not convicted.
Calm down, calm down…… There is no need to be emotional and make irrational statements (typical Zambian style anyway).
Be rational in your debates so that a solution could be found and such incidences do not recur in the future. Debate the law on loitering (shishita) if it is there and see how it can be harmonised in this age, debate the harmonisation of police duties and the community, etc. This is what progress is all about and not just politics in all issues of national importance.
#25 Nostradamus: I cannot reduce myself to your low level thinking and hence will not react to your statement.
Say all you want, the whole police FORCE is irrelevant!!!!
No.23 Mule your comments are sickening. Whthe the patrons broke the law not theose cops should have a sense of judgement. Was there a state of emegency declared by RB to warrant shoot on spot. Its insane for one to through a tear gas canister in a public place. Life once lost its never recovered not even compensation. I wonder if you have ever lost a beloved one in such circumstances or not. Mule as you blog dont forget some one in Mazabuka has lost a a beloved one and death that is caused by violent means does not erase from one’s mind. Wait one day when these cops will rain bloes and slaps on yu or one of your beloves one if at all yu ve any. There is no calming down. The best would ve been to detain them over night and impose a fine. The current cops are worse than the colonial ones.
Those two cops will be released and simply transferred to somewhere far from mazabuka where the public won’t realise the scum.
WHAT ARE THE UPDATES IN MAZABUKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MORE FIGHTING AS OS 3TH MARCH?
It’s 3rd not 3th !
no wonder they now require recruits to have atleast a minimum of certificate
NAMBALA 51,U R A GENUINE CITIZEN,THANKS SO TELL ME THE UPDATES I UNDERSTAND 2 MORE HAVE BEEN KILLED IN MAZABUKA?
this is very uncalled for ..we shall not allow overzealous cops to kill innocent people..Gary nkombo..you did a good role..campaign my man its your time..
# 48 “MASTER”S VOICE: I am not arguing that the police were right in their actions.
I understand that the English language is not our mother tongue but lets be objective in our blogs. What I have asked are questions that should help the Zambians come up with future policy as to police conduct in relation to the community. Why debate starts with “Tragic as this case may be, let us ask ourselves a few questions.”
Only by analysing such incidences will we be in a position to eliminate such conduct by the police.
For instance, under what circumstances should the police arrest a person for so-called “loitering” (shishita) when there are so many street kids and other homeless people who sleep in the shop corridors.
Lets be objective and look for solutions as a nation.
which law did they break in the first place? they were watchin football and not been unruly to warrant such action from the police. with pipo like number 23 we are doomed because according to him the people were already guilty by watchin football at that hour thre no one should question the action of the police. tell the law allows buses to start off from lusaka at 19 hour and reach choma by 23 hrs and if you are found walkin home at that time you are guilty of shishita unless the law should stipulate that its an exception such. stupid
@55
mule- Though sad, I see a humourous side on your reference to the street kids. Go to Kitwe at 02hrs you will be amazed by the number of these kids walking the streets
This story has found space on BBC news. Read it online BBC.CO.UK. I am sure the British are concerned that two innocent lives were destroyed because they were part of the group watching English soccer. I hope Kunda wont justify this murder and call it professional killing.
It is true two more people have been killed by the police. They claim they were hit by stray bullets
I thank Home affairs Min for Apologizing to the nation and family. In future lets us prevent that be all means. We want a ful report thou, were they stepped on,shot or what,Zambian’s in Mazabuka give us details. Those policemen should be jailed. I think our police are so dull that they even fail to reason. Anyway what do you expect of a 6months course. Its time we reviewed this course.
Too excited about unmerited promotions & appointment…….ba Lizzy Machina mwa ona. U concentrated on throwing parties & cleaning the police station but lacked management qualities. See u in Vubwi.
The police are very unruly everywhere in this country. Ask people who frequent a bar called Fyakufilwafye in Lusaka along Makish road. A cop called Kamfwa has sprayed them with teargas several times and people just cough and cry and do nothing about it.
People in Zambia need to lose their docility! These policemen/women should be arrested and prosecuted for causing death or manslaughter.
Shame on the patrons, MTSRIP.sad that police used tear gas to well behaving and soccer fans
What is the right thing to do ? To summon the bar owner to court or to start fighting ? Village ….shit police……
Could the honourable Minister of Home Affairs clamp down on police brutality which seems to be growing by the day. The change from “Police Force” to “Police Service” does not show and it seems we are going back to a police state. There seems to be more brutality now than there was before the change of name. By the way are we so poor that we cannot afford better methods of unruly crowd control like rubber bullets and all that stuff? Please Bakapokola lekani kupaya bantu.
#23 you are very right to pose those questions. However, do you agree that reporting the bar owner to the local authority the next day would have been a more sensible law enforcement act than being unnecessarily cocky simply because the *****s had tear gas cannisters that they wanted a rare chance test?
These bakapokola have become trigger happy, something should be done before more people are killed.
why dont you tell Sata to pay them.its his government now