CCMG Reports On Violence, Election Latest
The Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) has published its latest report on its observations ahead of the upcoming elections. The report covers electoral activities that took place between 29 March and 25 April, with information gathered by 330 long-term observers tasked with monitoring activities such as voter education, electoral information sharing, political campaigns, politically-motivated violence, hate speech and use of language to incite violence.
Perhaps most concerning were the incidents of political violence and intimidation or harassment that were detailed in the report.
“There were 3 incidents of political violence and 3 reports of intimidation or harassment. These incidents of politically motivated violence took place in: Muchinga Province, between PF and UPND following the destruction of UPND campaign materials, resulting in four arrests (2 PF, 2 UPND). Six people were hospitalised. In Copperbelt Province police shot and wounded two UPND supporters at a funeral for unknown reasons. In Lusaka Province where PF cadres attacked UPND members resulting in the use of tear gas by police. Three reports of intimidation/harassment took place in Lusaka Province, one involving PF cadres against a government civil servant who was accused of belonging to the opposition. The second incident involved PF cadres blocking the road against UPND supporters. The third incident was a confrontation between PF and UPND cadres.”
The report also catalogued incidents of destruction of campaign materials, including the destruction or removal of UPND posters and flyers by PF cadres. More recently, the UPND’s billboard near Heroes Stadium in Lusaka was burnt just one day after being mounted. While UPND Alliance presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema urged supporters not to retaliate, PF Media Director Antonio Mwanza has since claimed that the UPND burnt their own billboard, and previously their T-shirts, in order to make the PF look bad.
There were some reports of people buying or collecting NRCs and voter’s card details, however these were less easy to attribute. According to CCMG five of these were done by individuals associated with the PF and one by someone associated with UPND.
Reports of UPND activities being halted in Kasempa (North-Western Province) and Choma (Southern Province) were also detailed, with tear gas used by police in the case of the latter.
“CCMG expresses grave concerns over the use of tear gas by the Zambia Police when they were shutting down the UPND event on 31st March and the wounding of citizens at a funeral associated with UPND. CCMG calls on the police to respect citizens’ human and political rights and refrain from using violent tactics in its policing of the pre-campaign and campaign periods,” the organisation stated.
CCMG concluded by urging government employees to maintain political neutrality throughout the campaign period and calling on political parties to hold their members accountable for politically motivated violence and other offenses.