UPND damage control on leaked audio laughable
IT IS laughable how the United Party for National Development (UPND), through its media team, is trying to do damage control on a leaked audio between rebel Patriotic Front (PF) Mafinga member of Parliament Robert Chabinga and Minister of Community Development and Social Services Doreen Mwamba. It is ridiculous and poor damage control by UPND media director Mark Simuuwe and his colleagues to claim that the audio is Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated. You can surely do better than this, people.
This is obviously a botched attempt, and it shows how desperately President Hakainde Hichilema and his minions are trying to secure the mortal remains of former president Edgar Lungu for selfish political gain. As Chabinga admitted in the leaked audio, this is not about showing sympathy for the Lungu family and providing a respectable funeral; rather, it is about trying to restore Hichilema’s damaged reputation in the eyes of the public and reviving his waning political fortunes.
On the other hand, Zambia’s reputation as a respected member of the United Nations (UN) and regional organisations such as the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has suffered greatly as a result of Hichilema’s desperate attempt to have access to his predecessor’s remains.
Firstly, trying to bribe a judge in a foreign jurisdiction demonstrates how deeply rooted corruption is in Hichilema’s administration and the fact that he and his minions have done it before with Zambian judges and now they want to take the infamous Imingalato to the South African judiciary. This is an insult not only to the judge handling the Lungu case but also the independence of the judiciary of South Africa.
Second, by suing the South African government and the Lungu family in the Pretoria Division of the Gauteng High Court over the late Lungu’s burial, Hichilema’s New Dawn administration has undoubtedly violated the Vienna Convention. Chabinga’s own admissions that he was dispatched by Hichilema to sponsor demonstrations in South Africa have made this even worse. Given that it amounts to meddling in the domestic affairs of a sovereign nation, this is a grave diplomatic blunder.
Hichilema and his administration’s meddling in South Africa’s domestic affairs has major repercussions for Zambia’s bilateral ties with that nation as well as multilateral ties on a regional and continental scale. This has the potential to destroy Zambia’s long-standing, friendly and warm relationship with South Africa.
It is regrettable that Hichilema and his UPND comrades have abandoned national unity and patriotism in favour of political gain and personal survival. Well-meaning Zambians should not put up with the alleged well-planned state-sponsored public demonstrations to be staged in Lusaka, the Copperbelt, Eastern Province and other areas of the country that were intended to give the false impression that there was widespread public outrage against the Lungu family’s decision to bury the former president in South Africa.
Such maneuvers are only harming bilateral relations with our longstanding friends such as South Africa, while also increasing political tensions within the nation. When Lungu is ultimately laid to rest, Hichilema will have a difficult time fostering reconciliation with the the Lungu family and the millions of Lungu’s supporters.
A heartfelt public apology to the people of South Africa and Zambia for the events of the last few days must be the first step in this.
Zambians are not gullible people and it is an insult to their intelligence to claim that the audio is AI generated as Simuuwe shamelessly claimed yesterday. Dishonesty must have a limit. As Chabota Mweetwa has said: “AI knows that you don’t talk while chewing. AI has manners.”
We also add our own. Mr Simuuwe, sir, AI doesn’t have eyes for it to see and recognise specific people on a plane and even mention their names through a mouth full of food. Let Zambians see some decency for once in the way the UPND conducts public affairs.
