MWEETWA LIED ON VOTING
…Help Southerners to change pattern, stop defending it – Msoni
By Mast Reporter
THE United Party for National Development (UPND) should stop defending the regional voting pattern in the South because doing so will continue hurting the country, All People’s Congress Party (APC) president Nason Msoni says.
In an interview with The Mast, Msoni said it was embarrassing and troubling that Minister of Information and Media Cornelius Mweetwa was busy defending a tribal voting pattern by dismissing facts which were in the public domain.
“This is what happens when reality is haunting you. How do you dismiss a fact when the evidence is all over? Has Mweetwa forgotten that in his constituency, Choma Central, President Hakainde Hichilema got 20,819, the late Rupiah Banda got 4,412 votes, while Michael Sata, who became President of Zambia, only got 1,655 votes [in 2021]?” he said.
Msoni said the voting pattern in Southern Province was consistently regional and inclined towards UPND, a practice which did not promote the national unity the ruling party had been singing about.
He warned that dismissing concerns raised by most Zambians meant the divisive practice would continue haunting the UPND while hurting Zambians who believed in One Zambia One Nation.
It was also a lie for Mweetwa to suggest that the Southern region supported former president Frederick Chiluba in 1991 because they believed in him.
Msoni said the support for Chiluba in the region was because the people there did not have an option.
“They did not have their own political party run by their own son,” Msoni said.
He said Southerners shifted allegiance from a Zambian agenda to a Southern agenda after the formation of the UPND in 1998, and the voting pattern changed ever since.
“This is a mistaken belief by Mweetwa because in 1991 Zambians were fatigued with Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s 27-year rule, hence they unanimously resolved to change government. In fact, Southerners did not have a local choice of a political party of their own led by their own son [that time],” he said.
“Southerners had no option at that particular time, but no sooner had Anderson Mazoka formed UPND from 1998 to 2001, had block voting by Southerners begun. Let’s go to the data available at the Electoral Commission of Zambia [ECZ]. That is the genesis of regional voting, which we are against,” Msoni said.
Msoni said Southerners ought to change their mindset and begin to co-exist with other citizens from other regions as shown by the residents of Kasama in Northern Province who voted for a UPND candidate.
He said Kasama voted for unity and not a tribe or a region, which should be encouraged.
Msoni said citizens were hurting with Hichilema and UPND’s style of leadership, which entrenched regional politics.
He said he would not want to go deeper into the 2006, 2008, 2015 and 2016 elections results to show how regionalism was deeply rooted in the UPND.
“Let’s check the much-talked-about 2011 elections that ushered Mr Sata into government, and our focus should be on Southern Province, a point of reference by Mweetwa. I have talked about what Ba Sata, a good friend of mine since UNIP and MMD, got in that election in that region,” Msoni said.
In Mbabala constituency, Sata got 197 votes against Hichilema’s 11,756, while former president Banda got 2,762.
Msoni said the trend was not different in Pemba where Hichilema got 12,532 against Sata’s paltry 153 votes and Banda’s 2,193.
He said Mweetwa should realise that both Hichilema and Sata were in the opposition, with Gweembe giving the UPND leader then 12,361 votes against Sata’s negligible 236.
“In Dundumwezi in rural Kalomo, Hichilema got 15,253, RB 1,060 and Sata 114 votes. In Kalomo Central, Hichilema got 16,569 votes, RB got 3,470 and Sata got 594 votes. In Katombola, HH got 13,790 votes against RB who got 7,956 while Sata managed 998 votes in that election. These are figures sitting at the ECZ and I wish Mweetwa and the UPND could think twice and reflect if this type of voting is promoting One Zambia One Nation,” Msoni said.
He said regionalism was dangerous for national unity and all well-meaning Zambians, including Mweetwa, should speak against it without fear of favour.
“Look at Mapatizya, HH got 10,151 votes, RB got 4,060 votes while Sata got 266 votes only. It is only in Livingstone because of its metropolitan nature. Hichilema lost by 2 votes to RB, who got 13,255. HH got 13,253 and Sata got 11,591. Chikankata HH got 11,543 votes against Sata’s 713 and RB’s 3,468,” Msoni said.
The overall vote in the region exposed the regional voting of the South contrary to Mweetwa’s lies.
On Wednesday Mweetwa, the chief government spokesperson, told the nation that the people of Southern Province were on record to have supported and voted for former presidents Frederick Chiluba and Michael Sata in 1991 and 2011, respectively, despite them originating from other provinces.
Mweetwa, explained at length how Southerners backed the candidature of Chiluba and Sata, while denying the perception of the historical regional voting pattern associated with the province.
But Msoni dismissed the claim a lie aimed at masking the truth reflected by the data at ECZ.
“Just look at the total votes in 2011, which will show that regionalism is real in politics under the UPND. Hichilema got 266,754 against 24,609 for Sata [in Southern Province]. The difference is 242,145,” he said.
Msoni said had he given the 2011 elections results for all the constituencies in Southern Province the picture would have been even more gloomy.
