CHIEF CHALLENGED TO FIST FIGHT

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 12:50:14 +0000

By Bennie Mundando

 CHIEF Ngabwe and a member of the royal establishment, Dennis Mubanga, allegedly clashed at a funeral in Kabwe last week after the later refused to recognise and pay homage to him, deepening the existing wrangles over the chieftaincy.

Sources who attended the funeral said trouble started after Mr. Mubanga refused to acknowledge the traditional leader, saying he was not the heir to the throne but had just hijacked it.

“We were just surprised to hear the two arguing. The chief tried to quell their differences, saying there was no need to argue at a funeral.

He said if the confusion continued, he had no other option but to report the matter to the police so that they could come and arrest Mr. Mubanga for his behaviour,” sources told the Daily Nation.

When contacted for a comment, Mr. Mubanga said he was ready to get arrested by the police because he would never be cowed into succumbing to pressure of recognising the chief because he was on the throne illegally.

Mr. Mubanga, who is the chairperson to the Ngabwe Royal Establishment (NRE) faction, said he did not believe in fighting with anyone at the funeral but said he was provoked and that there was no way he would keep quiet.

“Yes, I can confirm that I clashed with the so-called chief at the funeral because he wanted to intimidate me. He expected me to bow down and recognise him but I refused because as far as I am concerned, he is not the chief and will never be recognised as such by people who understand the Ngabwe lineage.

After I refused to recognise him, he threatened to get me arrested but I told him to go ahead.

“I got annoyed by his behaviour. He dared me to a fight and I told him it was not logical to fight at a funeral house and asked him to follow me so that we could fight from a neutral place that is how he backed down when he realised that I was serious,” Mr. Mubanga said.

He maintained that there was no chief in Ngabwe and that people in the area were living in fear because of certain things that were happening in the chiefdom.

“If you come to Ngabwe now, you will find that this same man has brought a witchdoctor called Kolopa who is targeting people opposed to him while hiding in the name of cleansing the chiefdom from wizards.

People are suffering as those who are said to be found practicing witchcraft have had their wealth looted as part of payments to the same witchdoctor.

“Where have you found someone who is the right heir to the throne forcing his subjects to recognise him as chief? Ask him if he has the instruments of power and let him tell you where they are.

The rightful heir to the throne is Allan Lupenga and that is the one with the instruments of power.

There is no one who campaigns to become chief and that is what he did but this fight will never end until the right thing is done,” he said.

Efforts to get a comment from the chief proved futile as his mobile phone was constantly switched off.