Wed, 05 Jul 2017 14:40:59 +0000
CONTINUED economic sabotage through sporadic burning of commercial enterprises, government infrastructures and causing damage to vital installations such as ZESCO pylons must be condemned in the strongest terms by all well-meaning Zambians.
Though perpetrators of these acts of terror are not explicitly known because no arrests have been made so far, one thing is certain – the scale of destruction to property is politically motivated.
The acts of arson are a well-calculated manifestation of some politically orchestrated ploy by an opposing group to undermine the security, economic and social well-being of the Zambian people.
Their objective is simple. It is to deliberately discredit national leadership with the hope of negatively influencing citizens to revolt against Government. Probably, this explains why the opposition has remained mute and failed to publicly condemn such acts of sabotage.
It is, however, common knowledge that in the run up to the August 2016 general elections, some politicians are on record to have threatened chaos, Armageddon in Zambia if they did not win that election.
When a fire swept through Kamwala market, it was suspected that an electrical fault caused the inferno. No sooner had investigations been launched to establish the cause of fire than many other government buildings and markets been gutted in other parts of the country.
These destructions are not spontaneous, they are sponsored and directed for a purpose. The sooner the sponsors are exposed, the better to safeguard the economic and social well-being of majority innocent citizens who often times are caught up in the fray.
It is high time Government through relevant security wings intensified investigations into determined campaigns aimed at making Zambia ungovernable.
It is rather ironic that the target of the sabotage appears to be the mining industry which is the backbone of Zambia’s economy. The destruction of ZESCO pylons and burning of feeder cables supplying power to the Copperbelt is retrogressive.
These acts of sabotage are not punishing the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) but small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) whose preoccupation is establishing a base on which to raise income to enable them take children to school and support their family.
For instance, when the Lusaka City Market was gutted in the early hours of yesterday, over 4, 000 stalls were destroyed, hence shattering the lives of innocent citizens whose survival solely depends on conducting business. This is criminal.
Are marketeers the ones that voted against the opposition? Will setting public markets ablaze reverse the 2016 general election results?
We do not think setting markets and other public places on fire for political expediency will make electorate revolt against the legitimately elected government.
Zambians are not stupid to be manipulated by a handful greedy individuals. They are fully aware these cases of arson are politically orchestrated and that perpetrators behind this spate of destruction do not deserve leadership in government.
As rightly observed by President Lungu, acts of sabotage will not bring about regime change in Zambia. Instead, it will simply reverse the infrastructure development that Zambia has recorded so far.
Therefore, as cabinet meets today to look at measures to curb this wanton destruction of public property, it is vital that Government acts swiftly and decisively to deal with enemies of the people.
