HH’s Relatives Left Traumatised After Police Raid

Relatives of UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema say they were left traumatised after heavily-armed police officers raided their homes in Mpolobe village in Shibuyunji District.

Jones Mpolobe, who is a cousin of Hichilema’s wife Mutinta, said that police burst into his home at 5 o’clock on Friday morning to search for supposed weapons. The officers ransacked buildings and maize fields in the surrounding village but found nothing.

According to police reports, a team of officers headed up by Rodrick Mwale left from Lusaka in search of the weapons. Eye witnesses say they forced members of Mutinta Hichilema’s family to sign statements saying they had not been threatened.

Mr Hichilema has described the police’s behaviour as “dictatorial” and has urged the Patriotic Front government to find solutions to the many challenges Zambia is facing, rather than wasting time in harassing his relatives.

The opposition leader visited Mpolobe village on Monday, alongside UPND parliamentary leader Jack Mwiimbu and Lusaka Province Chair Obvious Mwaliteta. 

He later wrote on social media that such raids were a “waste of government resources” and urged Zambians to vote the PF out of government in August.