UPND cadre charged over Nalolo attack

A 25-YEAR-OLD man of Senanga suspected to be part of a group of United Party for National Development (UPND) cadres who beat up children and smashed windows at Vice-President Inonge Wina’s private home in Nalolo has been charged with malicious damage to property.
On Saturday, suspected UPND cadres, who were in Nalolo in Western Province to accompany their president Hakainde Hichilema, beat up children at Mrs Wina’s home and damaged property in the house.
Western Province commissioner of police Charles Lungu said in an interview yesterday that police have charged and arrested Kwitu Kanyanga for malicious damage to property.
Mr Lungu said Mr Kanyanga was allegedly in the company of other people suspected to be UPND cadres.
He said Mr Kanyanga was arrested for allegedly stoning a shop belonging to a Patriotic Front (PF) official.

By press time, Mr Kanyanga was scheduled to be put on an identification parade.
An identification parade is where the police put a suspect in a line-up of people. They ask a witness to look at the line-up to see if they can pick out the person who committed the offence
“Apparently the suspect and his friends travelled to Senanga after attacking the Vice-President’s family and they were arrested after the group stoned a shop belonging to a PF member. The owner of the shop even identified the suspect during an identification parade in Senanga,” Mr Lungu said.
He appealed to political cadres to be tolerant of divergent views to avoid clashes.
“We are not at war. We should respect and know that we are in a multi-party democracy. People should respect each despite belonging to different political parties,” he said.
And STEVEN MVULA reports that Authentic Advocates for Justice and Democracy (AAJD) says it was an act of terrorism for suspected UPND cadres to attack Mrs Wina’s private home.
AAJD chief executive officer Longe Mulenga said in an interview yesterday that it is barbaric, inhuman and dictatorial for suspected UPND cadres to attack innocent and defenceless people.
“We wish to condemn in strongest terms the violence unleashed on Mrs Wina’s family. People must reject any political party that perpetrates violence,” Mr Mulenga said.
And the PF in North-Western Province has condemned the attack on Mrs Wina’s private home and family, BUTTYSON KANDIMBA reports.
PF North-Western Province information and publicity vice-secretary Edwin Sekelechi said in an interview yesterday that the party is deeply saddened by the development.
“We understand that Zambia is a democratic country and people are free to belong to any political party of their choice but we condemn in the strongest terms attacks on the Vice-President’s home,” he said.
And the PF in Choma has described as barbaric the beating up of children at Mrs Wina’s private home, JIMMY CHIBUYE reports.
PF Choma constituency secretary Joel Kamoko said yesterday that it is cruel and disrespectful for UPND cadres to attack Mrs Wina’s private home.
“The attack on Vice-President Wina’s home in Nalolo is barbaric and unacceptable in our society. This is stone-age politics and it cannot be accepted in this time and era,” Mr Kamoko said.
And HONE SIAME reports that PF Copperbelt chairman Stephen Kainga has called on the police to tame the violent behaviour of UPND cadres following an attack on Mrs Wina’s private home and family
“We are saddened by the violent behaviour of UPND cadres. It is unacceptable to attack innocent people. They have shown us that they don’t mean well for this country by attacking our Vice-President’s private home in Nalolo,” Mr Kainga said.
But in his Facebook posting, Mr Hichilema called on law enforcement agencies to fully investigate the incident and bring culprits to book.
“We don’t condone any acts of violence, whether by UPND or any cadres, and we condemn the incident in the strongest terms,” Mr Hichilema said.

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