No political anger, no political differences, no electoral malpractices or violations can justify atrocious acts such as the physical elimination of political opponents.

No crime can be committed in the name of politics, elections or protecting the vote.

If people are caught trying to rig elections or commit any crime, it is not right to instantly kill them. This is lawlessness. It runs contrary to the rule of law. Make a citizen arrest and subject them to prosecution.

In our last virtual rally on Wednesday I said, “We go into these elections with blood on the hands of some of members of the PF and UPND. Its votes covered in blood. Theirs are not clean votes; they are blood soiled votes. They have confused electoral campaigns with a battlefield where the aim is to destroy the other.”

The killings have continued. The leaders of these two ‘siamese twins’ parties have failed to stop this violence. They are very quick to make condemnations when it is their own members at the receiving end. They are literary mute when it is their own members doing the killing. This is not leadership. To them, it would seem, the life that is valuable is only that of their members.

But all human life is sacred, holy, and precious. The sanctity of life is inherent as man cannot create life. Therefore, man has no authority to destroy life. It is the only way for humankind to exist.

We demand that the leaders of these two violent, and unfit to govern, parties take responsibility and stop these killings. These elections are competition to serve and not a ‘do or die’ contest.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party

August 12, 2021

Lusaka