By BARNABAS ZULU and GIDEON NYENDWA
CONFUSION surrounds the 10th memorial service of late President Michael Sata with the government announcing the service will be at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, while the Patriotic Front (PF) and the family have told the nation the event will be hosted by the Catholic Church in which Mr Sata was an ex-seminarian.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Thabo Kawana, the Information and Media Permanent Secretary announced that the memorial service for Mr Sata was to take place at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Monday next week instead of his original church, the Catholic Church to which he was a devotee.
The announcement by Mr Kawana surprised Mr Sata’s family and the PF, with the former ruling party insisting Mr Sata’s memorial was going to be hosted by the Catholic Church, advising that the government was free to hold its own.
Raphael Nakacinda, the PF secretary general stated in a statement yesterday that the 10th memorial service for Mr Sata shall be held at either the Cathedral of the Child Jesus or the St Ignatius Parish in Lusaka contrary to what Mr Kawana had announced earlier.
Mr Nakacinda said Mr Sata was a staunch Catholic devotee and that it was out of order and inappropriate for the government to attempt to hijack the event and force the family to take the service to the church he was not a member.
He said the family and the PF had decided that the service should be hosted by the Catholic Church to which Mr Sata was not only a dedicate faithful but an ex- seminarian.
Mr Nakacinda said it was understood that government was supposed to participate in this year’s memorial and was only expected to be facilitators of the event and not to dictate how the memorial was to be celebrated.
“What Kawana announced might have been taken over by events, and when he said the family to Mr Sata has agreed to the service being held at the Cathedral of the Holy cross, he was wrong because we (PF) are the family and we have not agreed to that,” Mr Nakacinda said.
Mr Nakacinda, in the presence of the press called Mr Mulenga Sata, the son to late President Sata to confirm with the decision of the PF and the family on the Catholic Church hosting the memorial service.
Mr Nakacinda also stated that Zambia’s Sixth President Edgar Lungu and PF vice president Given Lubinda would be among the speakers at the memorial service.
However, Mr Kawana in a statement claimed that Government and the family to late President Sata had agreed that the service would be hosted by the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and not the Catholic Church.
“The 10th memorial anniversary for our late President His Excellency Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata will be held on Monday, 28th October, 2024 at 09:30 hours at the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
Following the church service, the procession will move to Embassy Memorial Park, where the late president is buried,” Mr Kawana said in his statement.
“It is important to note that we are commemorating the memorial anniversary of His Excellency Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata, who was a President for all Zambians regardless of political or religious affiliation,” he said.
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