FREE M’MEMBE, LUNGU BODY
…HH must allow the family to bury ECL – Lubinda
By George Zulu and Adrian Mwanza
THE Zambia Police Service must immediately release Socialist Party (SP) president and People’s Pact Movement (PPM) presidential candidate Dr Fred M’membe unconditionally from detention, Patriotic Front (PF) acting president Given Lubinda has demanded.
Commenting on the arrest and detention of Dr M’membe yesterday, Lubinda said government should allow the body of former president Edgar Lungu to be buried instead of arresting those commenting on the issue.
Dr M’membe was arrested yesterday after being warned and cautioned at Chilenje Police Station in Lusaka.
Lubinda urged government to stop targeting political opponents but release Lungu’s body and allow the family to bury him.
Dr M’membe has been charged with prohibition of harassment and humiliation contrary to section 22(2)(a)(b) of the notorious Cyber Crimes Act No. 4 of 2025.
The arrest emanated from the interview Dr M’membe had on Kwithu FM radio station, during which he urged President Hakainde Hichilema to exercise compassion and allow Lungu’s family to bury their loved one.
Dr M’membe said allowing Lungu’s body to lie in the morgue for nine months was like imprisoning a body of a dead person.
“All of us must brace ourselves. I want to remind Zambians of what I’ve been saying all the time, that we should all brace ourselves for harder times as we get towards the August 2026 elections,” Lubinda said.
He said Zambians would be arrested for expressing themselves in whichever form.
“We are going to be arrested for all manner of expression. Even asking questions has become a crime in this country. We know of a number of opposition leaders who are facing court processes for informing the country about the health risks they carry for eating particular foods that have been scientifically proven to be poisoned. People have been arrested. They are facing a court process right now,” Lubinda said.
He said it was not only Dr M’membe who had expressed concern about the long delay of Lungu’s burial but even the international community.
“And many people world over are asking the same question that Fred asked. When are you going to bury the remains of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu? Fred is not the only one who has asked that question. Many people internationally have asked the question, when are you going to bury the remains of Edgar Lungu? But because it is Fred who asked, because he is leader of an opposition political party, he has committed a crime,” Lubinda said.
Lubinda said arresting opposition leaders would not change the situation that Lungu had remained unburied for nine months.
“Locking us up for asking the government to give us answers to which we are entitled shall not stop us from asking. We shall continue to ask. All I can say now is, Brother Fred, this is not the first time that you have been slapped with trumped-up charges. We have walked this journey before and we are all ready to walk it again. And we shall walk this journey with our shoulders high, with our heads lifted up, because we know that we are not committing any criminal offences by asking the government to account to its citizens on all its policies and on all its programmes.”
He said the abuse of police would only stop when Hichilema was voted out of power in August.
Dr M’membe was arrested after being interrogated for over an hour at the Zambia Police Service Headquarters.
He arrived at the offices looking ready for the arrest and detention in the presence of his wife, Mutinta Mazoka, and a horde of both People’s Pact and SP officials around 11:00 hours.
The supporters, young and old, were on hand to escort their leader, who encouraged them to remain resolute.
After about an hour of interrogation, Dr M’membe was secretly whisked to Chilenje Police Station, where he was officially warned and cautioned, and charged before being detained.
Efforts by his lawyers to bond him proved futile as his arresting officer went for lunch leaving people speculating that he had done so on orders from politicians.
