Pilato: Sishuwa Sedition Accusation Proves Zambian Authoritarianism

Musician and social activist Fumba Chama – otherwise known as Pilato – has spoken out against the accusations of sedition levelled against University of Zambia lecturer Sishuwa Sishuwa, saying the charges only serve to prove Dr Sishuwa’s worst fears about Zambia’s crumbling democracy. 

Writing in the online magazine African Arguments, Pilato says that the accusations of sedition brought against Sishuwa by Zambia’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Emmanuel Mwamba, are “alarming” and “another worrying sign of Zambia’s slide towards authoritarianism”.

It follows a request by Mr Mwamba to the Inspector General of the Zambian Police to arrest Dr Sishuwa after the academic sued the ambassador for claiming he had written a “paid for opinion” article.

Sedition is an incredibly serious offense usually reserved for acts of violence or revolt against the government. It carries a seven year prison sentence with no chance of bail. 

The feud between Dr Sishuwa and Ambassador Mwamba dates back to mid-March, when Sishuwa published a ground-breaking article to News Diggers entitled ‘This is why Zambia may burn after the August election’.

The piece discussed a number of factors that could lead up to large-scale political unrest in the aftermath of the upcoming general election, chief among which was an increasing lack of public trust in democratic institutions such as the judiciary and the Electoral Commission of Zambia as a result of the PF government’s actions. It was later republished in the Lusaka Times, the Mast and South Africa’s Mail & Guardian.  

In response to the Mail and Guardian version, Ambassador Mwamba accused Sishuwa on social media of trying to “sow a false narrative and deliberately cause unjustified international alarm and …untold reputation damage” to Zambia.  He further accused the academic of being paid to write the op-ed disingenuously. 

Sishuwa publicly denied that he had received any payment for the article and demanded that Mr Mwamba apologise immediately or face legal action. Following several weeks without an apology, Sishuwa filed a case to sue the ambassador for defamation.

On Monday, Ambassador Mwamba circulated a latter that he had sent to Kakoma Kanganja, the Inspector General of the Police, in which he called for Sishuwa to be arrested for sedition in relation the Mail & Guardian article. He accuses the academic of peddling “dangerous lies” and “false assertion that this government was holding unto power unconstitutionally”. 

So far the police have not yet responded to Mr Mwamba’s request but Pilato points out that the incident proves Sishuwa’s initial point that supposedly neutral institutions like the police and judiciary are being politicised by government officials. 

Pilato says the incident also serves to highlight the fear among Zambia’s political elite, “who are clearly panicking under scrutiny” as well as the continued failure by international institutions to hold Zambia accountable.