The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has charged that it is hypocritical and fraud to disqualify citizens above the age of 45 from the ongoing teacher recruitment programme by the Government.

The Government through the Ministry of Education is in the process of employing 30,000 teachers, with about 100,000 practitioners having applied for the jobs.

According to the Zambia Daily mail report, Teaching Service Commission (TSC) chairperson Daphne Chimuka said applicants aged above 45 and foreign nationals were eliminated from the recruitment.

The Teaching Service Commission (TSC) has already finished scrutinising applications in the teacher recruitment process at district level.

But EFF Secretary General Changala Siame said his party was disappointed by the decision of the government through the Ministry of Education, to disqualify teachers aged above 45 from the enrolment.

Mr. Siame observed that some of the unemployed teachers aged above 45 have been denied an opportunity to be employed in the previous governments for many years.

He said leaving out qualified teachers that completed earlier and prioritizing those that completed recently is a signal of corruption and demanded ACC to take interest in this process.

“The disqualification of citizens above 45 to be enrolled as teachers is hypocritical. As Economic Freedom Fighters EFF, we are disappointed by the decision of the government through the Ministry of Education, to disqualify any person who is a qualified Teacher but has attained the age of 45 years or above. This is a very unfair approach to enrollment of citizens who for a long time have been denied an opportunity to be employed in the previous governments. Actually as Economic Freedom Fighters EFF, our expectations in terms of criteria for employment were supposed to be; first completed first to be considered for employment,” Mr. Siame said.

“This was the most suitable and equitable approach as the selection will only be based on papers submitted without personal interviews. If anything, any selection that will leave out qualified Teachers that completed earlier and prioritize those that completed recently, is a signal for corruption and we demand ACC to take interest in this process,” he continued.

Mr. Siame questioned why the same government that has sent senior citizens in foreign missions is denying teachers aged above 45 a chance to be employed.

“Besides, this government has double standards that render it to be hypocritical. How than did Mr. Steven Katuta, Mr. Panji Kaunda and many other senior citizens qualify for jobs and yet deny people that were youths then who became adults with no job opportunities in the past? Therefore, as Economic Freedom Fighters EFF are demanding that the Minister of Education Mr. Douglas Siakalima to reverse this clause and treat all citizens fairly, equitably with a lot of consideration for their misfortune in life,” Mr. Siame said.

The Teaching Service Commission is expected to start announcing names of successful candidates on June 1.

The commission has indicated that the verification process ended on Wednesday last week and that names of people who qualified have been submitted to provinces.

Outspoken opposition Economic and Equity Party ( EPP ) leader Chilufya Tayali has been released today, on police bond.

Zambia Police Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga has confirmed the development in Lukulu adding that the nature of the case requires consent from the Director of Public Prosecution’s office.

Mr. Hamoonga said Mr. Tayali will appear in court once the DPP gives a go ahead.

Mr. Tayali was arrested last week for the offence of defamation of the President Contrary to Section 69 of the penal code chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia.

His arrest comes after Lukulu East constituency UPND Chairperson Jameson Mpidi and Mwika Paul Chisala popularly known as ‘Papie’ lodged a complaint at Lukulu Police station on Sunday 15th May, 2022.

ZANIS/ENDS/RK/MM…………. DRY

The Former ruling Patriotic Front(PF) Media Director Antonio Mourinho Mwanza has said that the statement by United Party for National Development (UPND) Sesheke Member of Parliament, Romeo Kan’gombe that ‘98 per cent of the civil servants are PF and must be FIRED’ makes a very sad reading.

In a statement released to the media, Mr Mwanza said that Mr Kan’gombe’s narrative feeds into very dangerous rhetoric that UPND has been pushing against all those that worked or did business under the Patriotic Front administration.

Mr Mwanza said that the UPND is on a mission to cleanse the whole country of anyone who does not belong to or support UPND, adding that, to them, anyone who is not UPND does not deserve to live, work or do business in this country and that, worse, if you are PF you don’t even deserve to be alive, you should be ostracised and banished from Zambia.

“This is a very dangerous scheme that must be stopped before this country is turned into a one-party UPND Nation,” Mr Mwanza said.

Below is the full statement

ROMEO KANGOMBE MUST STOP SCANDALISING CIVIL SERVANTS ZAMBIA DOES NOT BELONG TO UPND IT BELONGS TO EVERY ZAMBIAN
Monday 23rd May, 2022

The statement by UPND Sesheke Member of Parliament, Romeo Kan’gombe that ‘98 percent of the civil servants are PF and must be FIRED’ makes very sad reading and feeds into a very dangerous rhetoric that UPND has been pushing against all those that worked or did business under the Patriotic Front administration.

The UPND is on a mission to CLEANSE the whole country of anyone who does not belong or support UPND. To them anyone who is not UPND does not deserve to live, work or do business in this country. Worse, if you are PF you don’t even deserve to be alive, you should be ostracised and banished from Zambia. This is a very dangerous scheme that must be stopped before this country is turned into a one party UPND Nation. According to the UPND philosophy Zambia gained its independence the day they won elections in 2021; before that, Zambia was a nation in turmoil and civil strife, the country was a ‘war’ zone until they came to power to give us peace and freedom of expression. How delusional can one be? It’s an insult to our founding fathers who fought for this nation’s independence we all enjoy today and yes, it is a slap on the face of the gallant men and women who fought for the multiparty democracy that gave this same UPND a chance to participate and win an election.

On the outset the UPND must understand that not everyone can or should support them. Zambia is a multi party democracy and people must be free to support any political party of their choice without fear of retribution or fear of loss of work or business.

It is clear that UPND does not understand who civil servants are, let alone, they don’t understand the structure and scope of the civil service. The civil service is the apolitical administrative and management institution of government and it lives in perpetuity beyond any political party or political establishment. UNIP, MMD, PF all came and went but the civil service remained; like wise, UPND will also go but the civil service will remain. So to look at the civil service as an enemy and not an arm of Government’s administration and management that will outlive all political parties and political administrations is to lack both knowledge and foresight.

Who is a civil servant? All public service workers including government administrators, teachers and health workers are civil servants. So according to UPND all the teachers, nurses, doctors, administrators etc that they found must be fired and replaced with UPND cadres. How? What kind of warped thinking is this? Who tells them that this country belongs only to UPND cadres? Does it mean that every party that comes to power must chase everyone and replace them with their cadres? Do they even know that not every civil servant in today’s government was employed by the administration, some were employed by the MMD? Does it mean that everyone now must belong to UPND for them to get employed? This is very backward and dangerous thinking and time has come for UPND to stop this kind of hatred and discrimination against fellow Zambians on account that they don’t belong to their Party.

We are not naive to note that at the heart of Romeo Kang’ombe’s statement that the UPND should fire 98% of the current civil servants is the UPND’s scheme to target and get rid of all the civil servants who come from certain regions. This is not even a secret, everyone knows how this Government is targeting people from certain regions. UPND must get rid of this hatred against fellow Zambians. We are all Zambians whether PF, UPND or any other political party. olitics is a service to the people and should not be reduced to personalities and tribal hegemony.

For their own information, UPND must know that these same civil servants they are harassing today actually voted for UPND.

No Zambian must lose a job or be denied business opportunities based on the political party they support. Instead of harassing them, the UPND must embrace and work closely with our teachers, nurses, doctors and all the other civil servants to push the development agenda for Zambia forward.

Lastly UPND must always remember that they will not be in power forever, one day they will be voted out and their turn to be held accountable for their actions will surely dawn upon them. Let them be cautious in the manner they are treating Zambians.

Issued by
Antonio Mourinho Mwanza
PF Media Director