Global Academic Community Comes Out In Support Of Sishuwa

Academics from renowned institutions around the world, including the University of Oxford, Yale and University of Cape Town, have signed a letter supporting University of Zambia lecturer Sishuwa Sishuwa and calling for the sedition charges against him to be dropped.  

The academics say they are “extremely concerned” about the threat made against Dr Sishuwa and say it is being used “to silence the legitimate expression of belief by one of the country’s most prominent early-career scholars”.

It follows a request to the police by Zambia’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Emmanuel Mwamba, for Dr Sishuwa to be arrested for sedition in relation to an opinion piece he wrote for South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper. 

In the piece, Dr Sishuwa argued that Zambia was teetering on the edge of civil unrest in the lead up to elections in August, as a result of the PF government’s work to undermine democratic institutions, including the judiciary and the electoral commission. 

Sedition is an incredibly serious charge usually reserved for those who incite violence against the state. It carries a penalty of seven years in prison with no chance of bail following arrest. 

The academics, who are largely historians and social scientists with a personal connection to Zambia, say Sishuwa’s was in fact trying to remedy the social unrest that is building in Zambia and avoid violence.

“Far from inciting popular rebellion (as the term ‘sedition’ implies), he seeks to address the underlying causes of societal tension as a way to reduce it. We believe it is both his right and his patriotic duty to bring such concerns into the public eye,” they wrote. 

The researchers say they are also “alarmed” by the University of Zambia’s decision to disassociate itself from Dr Sishuwa. They say they “wholly reject” the allegations that Sishuwa is pursuing a “personal agenda” and call on UNZA to guarantee his continued employment and right to academic freedom. 

The full list of signatories is as follows:

Professor David M. Anderson, Professor of African History, University of Warwick

Professor Kate Baldwin, Associate Professor of Political Science, Yale University

Dr Nicole Beardsworth, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Pretoria

Professor Michael Bratton, Emeritus Professor of Government, Michigan State University

Professor Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy, University of Birmingham

Dr Grieve Chelwa, Postdoctoral Fellow, The New School

Dr Boniface Dulani, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Malawi

Professor Samuel Hickey, Professor of Politics and Development, University of Manchester

Professor Alan Hirsch, Emeritus Professor of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

Professor Faizel Ismail, Professor of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

Dr Walima Kalusa, Senior Lecturer in African History, University of eSwatini, and former Head of the Department of History, University of Zambia

Professor Chammah J. Kaunda, Assistant Professor of World Christianity and Mission Studies, Yonsei University

Professor Miles Larmer, Professor of African History, University of Oxford

Professor Adrienne LeBas, Associate Professor of Government, American University

Professor Robert Mattes, Professor of Political Science, University of Strathclyde

Dr Duncan Money, Researcher, African Studies Centre, University of Leiden

Dr Patience Mususa, Senior Researcher, Nordic Africa Institute

Professor Manenga Ndulo, Professor of Economics, University of Zambia

Professor Muna Ndulo, Professor of Law, Cornell University

Professor Lise Rakner, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen

Professor Brian Raftopoulos, Research Fellow, University of the Free State

Dr Sara Rich Dorman, Senior Lecturer in African Politics, University of Edinburgh

Professor Chris Saunders, Emeritus Professor of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town

Professor Jeremy Seekings, Professor of Political Studies and Sociology, University of Cape Town

Dr Neo Simutanyi, retired Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Zambia and Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue

Dr Morris Szeftel, Senior Lecturer Emeritus, Political & International Studies, University of Leeds

Professor Blessing-Miles Tendi, Associate Professor in African Politics, University of Oxford

Professor Nicolas van de Walle, Professor of Government, Cornell University

Dr Michael Wahman, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University