By Sishuwa Sishuwa
Jason Mwanza, a 28-year-old unemployed youth activist in Zambia, has been in police detention without charge for almost two weeks now. His offence? Conducting a peaceful lone protest against acute unemployment, continued high-level corruption in government, the cost-of-living crisis, rolling power blackouts formally lasting a minimum of 21 consecutive hours a day, and the perceived failure of President Hakainde Hichilema to honour his campaign promises on these issues.
After completing secondary school in 2016, Mwanza, who grew up in an orphanage in the capital city after his dad died when he was 9 months old, went on to study hospitality management and graduated in the expectation that he would find a job. In the 2021 election, he voted for Hichilema, at the time Zambia’s main opposition leader, who had promised to create employment opportunities for young people like him. Three years later, he remains unemployed and has had to withdraw from further studies due to financial constraints. Deprived of a formal job and with his ability to make ends meet curtailed by crippling load shedding – officially, electricity is guaranteed to ordinary Zambians for only a maximum of up to 3 hours per day – Mwanza notified the police, as per the law, about his intention to hold a one-person peaceful protest against the status quo that threatens his very existence or life.
As if to convey an enlightening statement, he chose the Freedom Statue as the venue for his lone protest. The Freedom Statue – a 12-foot artwork designed by British sculptor James Butler and constructed after the achievement of independence from Britain in 1964 to represent Zambia’s triumph from the chains of over 70 years of colonial subjugation – was the same place where Hichilema, then in opposition, had conducted a lone protest before the 2021 election to draw attention to the same issues that Mwanza now sought to bring to President Hichilema’s attention. Unlike Hichilema, who was not arrested for his lone protest or for stating that corruption, load shedding, unemployment, and high cost of living are a result of poor leadership, Mwanza was arrested on accusations of unlawful assembly and seditious practices.
Two other youths – Thomas Zulu and a 30-year-old unemployed female graduate of the University of Zambia named Chanda Chikwanka – who later expressed support for Mwanza’s right to protest, in the belief that they live in a liberal democracy that provides for free expression, were also arrested in the aftermath. They too remain in police detention without formal charges and have been denied police bond.
These latest infringements on fundamental freedoms have been aided by a pliant Judiciary that effectively operates as an extension of the executive and primarily sees its role as that of pushing the presidency’s agenda. The latest infringements also come in the wake of recent damning reports from the United Nations Human Rights Council and Human Rights Watch on the worrying state of human rights in Zambia today. The reports show growing intolerance for political opposition and dissent, cases of arbitrary arrests and detention, and continued violations of the rights of expression, peaceful assembly, and protest.
Embarrassed by the bad publicity generated by these reports, the Zambian government, instead of stopping to supply the material that feeds that bad publicity, tried to dismiss the UN report, claiming that it was misleading and false. Yet around the same time when the government spokesperson was extolling its supposed commitment to protecting human rights, the police were arresting Mwanza, Zulu, and Chikwanka for reminding President Hichilema to fulfil his campaign promises.
To its credit, the Hichilema administration has abolished the notorious law on defamation of the president, long used by successive incumbents to deter legitimate criticism through the threat of arrest and numerous convictions. However, the administration has since employed other repressive laws that remain on the statutes to suppress human rights. A key example is the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act that inhibits the right to free speech. In opposition, Hichilema condemned this “bad law” and vowed to repeal it, if elected: “Our first task once you elect us this August”, Hichilema wrote in August 2021, “will be to repeal this bad law!”
In power, his administration has deployed the same law he previously denounced as “bad” to arrest and imprison critics and political opponents on charges of hate speech, among others. The government has even announced plans to expand the restrictions of this law in order to curb what Hichilema recently called “the abuse of social media in the name of democracy.” As shown in greater detail elsewhere, the Hichilema administration has also regularly employed the Penal Code Act, a colonial-era relic that contains provisions that criminalise free speech, to arrest critics and political opponents on a variety of charges ranging from sedition and the use of insulting language to criminal libel.
The modus operandi of these arrests is generally the same: arrest the activists and opposition leaders, keep them in detention for a period longer than authorised by law, and either release them on police bond without ever taking them to court or drop the charges after court appearance. Even members of the clergy have not been spared from this continuing onslaught on human rights. For instance, in January this year, police on the industrial Copperbelt arrested and detained pastor Duncan Simuchimba of Kings Church for speaking out in defence of marketers.
Arrests and court cases have a demonstrative effect on even those who are not caught up in them: the costs of participating in political activities deemed inappropriate by the government. Strongly discouraging them from challenging the government, activists and the opposition are made aware that at any time they could have their lives upended and spend weeks or even months in detention and protracted legal cases.
For a long time now, several civic institutions and prominent individuals have repeatedly raised alarm about the increasing restrictions on human rights in Zambia. For instance, in March this year, the highly-regarded retired archbishop of Lusaka, Telesphore Mpundu, petitioned the United States to impose targeted sanctions on State actors seen as primarily responsible for this sustained assault on political and civil rights.
Earlier, in November 2023, the influential Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a strongly-worded pastoral letter in which it reprimanded the government for exhibiting authoritarian tendencies and failure to guarantee fundamental freedoms. A month before, in October, a consortium of 12 civil society organisations expressed deep concern about the spiralling infringements on human rights.
Yet the government remains unrepentant, consequently leaving so many human rights on death row. Under international human rights obligations, the Zambian state has three responsibilities: (a) to ensure that all persons under its jurisdiction enjoy their rights (b) promote human rights and investigate violations; and (c) punish violators of human rights. President Hichilema is later this month scheduled to address the UN General Assembly at which he is expected to extol (!) his human rights record. This realisation might explain why his administration is desperate to discredit the fairly accurate UN report, even as the repressive actions of the Zambia Police Service continue to paint a more realistic picture.
You asked for it. I warned people including my nephews that voting for Upnd would be the biggest mistake they were making. They shouted Bally will fix it. Me I have stopped going to my club after being taken to the police just for saying that what was being reported on znbc news was not what was obtaining on the ground.
Peaceful protest is an integral part of democracy. A lone protester does not constitute a mob and poses no threat to anyone. If I was a public official, I would invite a lone protester to my office. That said, public protest should be accompanied by a petition to an identified public office for attention. The public office so petitioned should then be obliged to respond in writing to the protester(s) itemising what they would do or not do and why. After that the protester(s) should go home as the protest would have ended.
Even when death sentence is abolished in Zambia, human rights have already received a lethal injection on the death. and most people like Laura Mitti are clapping and cheering the government owing to their deafening silence on the matter. Who will save us? This is why Sishuwa will always be heroic.
Give me Sishuwa anytime for President! He is very principled as can be seen in his articles
Deja Vu what mistake was it, many students are now getting funding for their education. No more bribing people to get employment. University students have their meal allowances and many including PF member have themselves or relatives employed in the health and education sector. No government has eliminated the things on that man’s placard .
As a country you have one hydro since indenpence with super high unemployment which this man wants to be fixed before the 5 year term is even over. What are you complainers contributing to Mother Zambia rather just giving demands. You have been unproductive and poor from maybe KK’s time to now HH. You exepecting manna with zero contributions
Iwe those of you who are getting funding for both school and medical overseas are connected. Don’t think everyone is enjoying those things.
@China best believe that even the previous government they were still a few selected Individuals that were benefiting from all that you have listed. What do you expect us to contribute to this dying Economy? How do we contribute? in what capacity? … you know that people being employed is a way for people to contribute to the economy?
Lets criticise what’s wrong and everyone be held accountable to their promises.
Your president promised Mana so people want that mana… simple
You are wrong on many points
#China# This is a very absurd way of thinking. Your president is not a “god” he is just a man like any other man. He can be criticised like any other past presidents. In case you have the memory of an ant your president stood right at the same point in a black suit when he was in opposition demanding exactly what the young man was demanding from a person who calls himself a head of state or CEO. So what is your point if it is not just tribal blindness. Your statements in this blog shows how sallow you are. Bribing, corruption and outright thieving have gone through the roof under your president’s reign.
Zambia needs to re-look this students meal allowance thing. You should see how the hostels have been destroyed by students’ pathetic attempt at cooking their own food. In most countries colleges and universities are serviced by professionally run catering companies. Perhaps the university should resort to KK style catering????
Hard to say, but HH has proven to be worse than Lungu. Not only has he been violating Zambians’ human rights, he has also damaged the economy beyond recognition. Load shedding under his watch is now on steroids, and has killed thousands of businesses, leading to job loses across the country and immense suffering. His clueless administration displays extreme poor planning, with no evidence of concrete solutions to the issues Zambia is currently facing. In short, HH was not qualified to be anywhere near the presidency in the first place. Vote this clueless corrupt bunch out in 2026 to save Zambia from further damage.
So in short HH knew that he can’t fix the Zambian economy while he was busy campaigning and making false promises….and its safe now to say that HH was just looking for employment and to recover the money he kept losing for more than 20 years whilst in opposition…HH is just a demagogue Politician and a big pompwe
You describe him so well you should be a mind-reader.
Viva Jason Mwanza!! Abash HH! Abash Mwiimbu!
This China freak on top is so foolish really, useless hungry praise singer..my God!!!!!
Today just have to shut up do not ask hh to account to his promises he made. You complain it is a crime. Time is coming for ZWAAAAAAAAA
Today just have to shut up do not ask hh to account to his promises he made. You complain it is a crime. Time is coming for ZWAAAAAAAAA
I saw in one of the news paper hh saying that pipo must stop complaining and mount solars, my question is; how will pipo mount solars if they cannot afford food, have no money, loadshedding works against pipo?
Because HH was not even qualified to be a dog catcher in the first place. He has no clue as to how to run a country, and is currently only good for one thing: Being a Western puppet. He talks like every Zambian lives in their own home. What about renters? How can they install solar panels on a rented property? And not to mention the fact that most people in Zambia are currently living hand to mouth with little to no money…where are they going to get the money to install solar panels? Does this guy even have advisors to tell him that his suggestions don’t make any sense? HH has managed to take Zambia back to the stone age.
Cry my beloved deceived nation, and you hear praise singers boasting & criticizing anyone with different views…. politicians are all demons
Yes indeed HH has not got his ear to the ground or in full control of his underlings
One cannot deny he hasnt lived up to any of our expectations, Being so excited in the beginning and funding gernerously it all boiled down to the same old same old
What a dissapointment !!!
This cruel treatment is intended to 1) intimidate others in Zambia from exercising their democratic rights, 2) crush the spirits of Jason Mwanza, Thomas Zulu, and Chanda Chikwanka (who are unlawfully detained), 3) disrupt any budding momentum in society to hold the UPND government to account for its lack of performance in office 4) provide a perverse sickening satisfaction to Minister of Home Affairs Jack Mwiimbu and his henchmen in uniform in the Zambia Police that they have the power to torment lives as if it were a mere plaything in their hands. Our response must be the continuous drumbeat of support for Jason, Thomas and Chanda!
I fear these people will do anything to stay in power.
The youth of Zambia voted for UPND
I work for a NGO that is registered with the UN. We campaign & promote international human rights, equality & Diversity & democracy. When HH was campaigning for the presidency, I was so enthused by his honourable ethos, his vision & democratic principles. Especially after the turmoil & corruption of the Lungu administration. It is so disappointing to now see his administration retreating along the well worn path of most African leaders & resorting to soft quasi legal oppression of human rights! I had hoped that we would see a second Mandela in HH, but obviously he has not the stature nor the ability to fill the great man’s shoes. Shame on this administration for surrendering previous principles & good intentions for a quick political expediency
We all have the same sentiments
So sad
All our politicians when in opposition always have “honourable ethos, vision & democratic principles.”
They “chameleonise” into the atmosphere of State House the moment soldiers start saluting them
The problem is with the Zambian people who put their trust in politicians, little do they know or realise that these men and women are there to serve themselves and those they consider family and friends. A simple reminder, Mr ECL recently informed the nation that he came back to active politics to rescue his family and friends who are being persecuted/prosecuted for amassing unexplainable wealthy. Fred M’membe was equally on the wrong side of the law when they took his Post Newspaper, the next he formed a political party, who do you think he wants to serve? Let us learn to work for our own good and never think politicians will serve you or this country.
So true
Load shedding a good opportunity, stop crying, install solar – HH… Baly bwafya sana, is installation & solar equipment given by government for free sir? Bcoz where will citizens get the money for such
This is not an issue the young man Jason Mwanza will be compensated as well.
It depends on how you are saying it
With cadres running the ECZ, we are in big trouble.
Slowly but surely the temperature is rising through out Zambia
If you put across your comment or you act with a view to destroying the nation’s or other people’s character, or by deliberately misrepresenting the true state of affairs in the nation, the law provides for dealing with whoever transgresses. Freedom of expression must not be confused with anarchy or anarchist behavior. Do not take the silent for granted.
Of late they have been paying each other from our taxes for alleging Lungu detained them. Yes for just such cases as Mwanza’s. The boy should be paid for wrongful detention. Laura Miti and your gang why are you so loudly SILENT???
@ Where are Zambia’s Human Rights Bodies, don’t expect Laura Miti’s Human Rights bodies to speak for the people when their rights are abused because it’s indecent for one to speak with a full mouth full!
Hakainde has outlived his usefulness as a leader of our great nation. This explains in part why he did not go to state house. He knew that he would soon be removing his goods away from the official residence of a head of state. By the way there has been deafening quietness from those chaps (Hakainde’s tribesmen) who used to write against PF from America and South Africa etc. Was this their level of thinking.
There is no way such human rights abuses can be happening in Zambia!
What SiSure SiSure has written must be directed at Zimbabwe where there is no democracy. Where we not recently told that the UNHRC report was in error attributed to Zambia where no such violations have occurred?
Dispute having a patriotic party in government, what was found was unpatriotic acts of economic damage. That is patriotism to some people