Police Arrest and Charge UPND District Youth Chairperson for Assault and Damage to Property

Police in Mazabuka District of Southern Province has charged and arrested UPND District Youth Chairperson Bright Hamweenda aged 44 for Assault and Malicious Damage to Property.
The arrest follows a complaint against him by Mazabuka Mayor Vincent Lilanda who together with his wife was over the weekend allegedly assaulted by the suspect at Mazabuka Golf Club.

Zambia Police Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga has confirmed the arrest of Mr. Hamweenda who is in detention awaiting a court appearance.

And Police in Lusaka’s George Compound has instituted investigations into the death of a 36-year-old woman identified as Jelin Mwandila of the Soweto compound who is alleged to have been murdered by her husband.

The body of the deceased who was found laying unconscious by her mother who went to visit her was found with a cut on the head and her husband was not found at home.
Zambia Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga has confirmed that the incident is alleged to have occurred yesterday at around 22 hours and today at around 10 hours.

Meanwhile, The Young Christian Women Association (YWCA), in Mazabuka says drug abuse and strong beliefs in rituals are major contributing factors to the increase in Gender Based Violence, (GBV) cases in the district.

YWCA Project Coordinator Nora Namakando says some men who were defiling their biological daughters believed they would get rich, while other perpetrators of GBV engaged in the vice under the influence of drugs.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS, Ms Namakando said defiling innocent children in hope of getting rich and acquiring the necessary influence to get away with committing such crimes was a myth.

She further said people had continued engaging in GBV such as child defilement in spite of the stiff punishment for offenders, as they were confident of not getting caught.

“Engaging in GBV is like stealing. People know when you steal you get punished but steal anyway, and always hope to get away with it,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms Namakando called on the clergy to sensitise members on sodomy.

She said sodomy had been happening in society for years, but there was little awareness on it, as survivors of the vice were reluctant to go public.

Ms Namakando said for someone to get to a point of sodomising another person, chances were that they were sodomised themselves and they also wanted to cause pain to others.

“When someone is sodomised and they are not counselled, they nurture a monster within them. They grow with so much pain, confusion and low self-esteem, there is need for a lot of awareness on the subject,” she said.

And Mazabuka Pastors’ Fellowship Chairperson Shern Kaumba said currently, there was no deliberate program in place to sensitise communities on GBV and its effects on survivors of the vice.

Bishop Kaumba however, said previously the Pastors’ Fellowship used to partner with Expanded Church Response (ECR), to sensitise communities but lack of funding had brought the sensitisation campaign to a halt.

“ECR is currently not active, so we are trying to use the platforms available to us to continue sensitising the masses on this detrimental vice called GBV,” he said.