Two former Patriotic Front (PF) officials yesterday recounted how they were instructed by senior party officials to beat up or ‘sort out’ their former secretary general Edward Mumbi because he had been compromised by the MMD.
But PF spokesperson, Given Lubinda has dismissed the allegation saying these are signs of desperation by people who wished ill of the PF/UPND Pact.
The two former party officials’ allegations are unrelated to the latest incident in which Mr Mumbi’s house was attacked by unknown people who attempted to set it ablaze.
Former PF Lusaka provincial information secretary, Chiwele Maimisa who has since reported the matter to the police revealed yesterday the leaders of the opposition party instructed him and other youths to locate the place were Mr Mumbi socialised from.
“We were told that it is easy to sort out Mr Mumbi. We were instructed to locate where he drinks from so that we could loosen some bolts on his car so that he would have an accident,” he said.
The PF leadership also instructed him to mobilise some youths to disrupt Mr Mumbi’s Press conference where he was to announce his resignation from the opposition party.
[pullquote]“We were told that it is easy to sort out Mr Mumbi. We were instructed to locate where he drinks from so that we could loosen some bolts on his car so that he would have an accident,” he said.[/pullquote]
“On that day, I was told that I should organise youths to disrupt the Press conference which I did. The buses we used were even paid for by the party,” he said.
He said he witnessed the beating of former University of Zambia Student’s Union (UNZASU) president Emmanuel Tembo for authoring a document ‘The Destruction of the Cobra Part I.’
Former Mandevu Chairperson Frank Lombe also recounted how he was assigned in 2008 to ‘sort out’ Mr Mumbi.
Mr Lombe said in an interview yesterday that he received instructions from the provincial office to the effect that Mr Mumbi must ‘vanish’.
He said the former PF secretary general was to be sorted out by the youths because he had sold out to the MMD.
“We were told that the MMD had bought him (Mr Mumbi) a Benz and therefore, he must vanish. These were instructions that came from the secretariat that we must flash out Mr Mumbi from his office and he must vanish,” he said.
He said the youths had been instructed to deal with Mr Mumbi because he had misused monies that were donated to the party by well-wishers.
“When we were campaigning during the 2008 presidential elections, we were told Mr Mumbi was paid by the Government through the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and that the Government had bought him a Benz. As youths that were commanding, we got annoyed and there were plans that he must be sorted out. In fact, information was coming from the top,” he said.
Mr Lombe said he had even started implementing the instructions by confronting Mr Mumbi at the Supreme Court grounds during the presidential petition hearing.
He, however, said he realised that Mr Mumbi was innocent and denounced the action of the PF on national television.
“After we did that, my house was burnt in Garden compound by suspected PF youths who were commanded by a named member of Parliament from the PF,” he said.
When contacted for comment, Mr Lubinda said the allegations by the two were a sign of desperation for people who want to derail the pact.
“How come they are going to newspapers instead of going to the police? I’m sure the police would be very happy to arrest Mr Sata if such allegations were true,” he said.
He urged the two to report the matter to police if they have evidence to show that they were indeed instructed to sort out Mr Mumbi.
“If a person is hired to kill, it means that they are criminals themselves. They will do well to report themselves to the police. It actually means they are known assassins so they must tell us how many other people they have killed. If I want someone to fly a plane I won’t go to a journalist but I will hire a pilot,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lusaka province police chief Green Ng’uni said the police were still investigating the break-in at Mr Mumbi’s house and no arrests have been made.
“We have instituted investigations and police officers are on the ground,” he said.
Asked if the voter’s card, which was found at the scene, would lead to the arrest of the owner, Mr Ng’uni refused to comment for fear of jeopardising the investigations.
He said police were also investigating the matter in which Charles Chimumbwa had accidentally received calls from some cadres on the Copperbelt who were allegedly hired to stone former president Chiluba’s motorcade while in Kitwe.
[ Times of Zambia ]
