Senior citizen blasts violent UPND cadres
By Mast Reporter
A SENIOR citizen in Sinda District of Eastern Province says cadres are a curse to the nation because political leaders use them to humiliate their opponents.
Alfred Chioza condemned the abduction and torture of a Lusaka resident and member of the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) known as Black Apple by suspected United Party for National Development (UPND) cadres.
Chioza was commenting on the incident, which has been widely condemned.
“Zambians voted out former regime Patriotic Front because they wanted to get rid of cadreism. Cadreism itself is not a bad thing because they [cadres] tend to be the future leaders of a particular party and act as security forces to protect their leaders. But now, cadres have become a curse in the sense that political leaders use them to have their opponents beaten up and humiliated. They stone their cars and this is something people don’t like at all. But we politicians feel we are protected with the cadres around,” he said
Chioza reminded the UPND that the worst thing the electorate did not like was cadreism and did not hesitate to vote any government out as long its political cadres became a danger to their peace and freedom.
“But people are enlightened now. You treat them bad using cadres now, but when an election comes you will see their revenge. They give a protest vote. What happened to PF? We recall how they could beat the police, the arms that provided security but they were beaten and humiliated by PF cadres and lawlessness became the order of the day in the past because of cadres,” he said.
Chioza, who is a committed supporter of President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND government, was worried that if the violence by UPND cadres was not addressed, chances were high that Zambians might boot out the current government the way they did PF just to get rid of cadres.
“Let’s not forget that PF was voted out because of cadres because they beat headmen. They took the first share in maize distribution, they behaved like M23 rebels and people protested by booting out PF. And we were so excited when our man, President Hakainde Hichilema, promised to end cadreism in bus stations and market places. This is the covenant which was made with voters and people were so happy but sadly, we are descending back into cadreism to the point of beating people at funerals,” Chioza once served as Zambian ambassador to the United States (US) in Washington DC under the MMD government.
