THE Electoral Commission of Zambia has registered thousands of foreigners who have been mobilised by the ruling PF to take part in the August 11 general elections.
And the UPND has lodged a complaint at Woodlands Police Station against ECZ and the Department of National Registration for issuing Zambian identity cards to foreigners who are not even domiciled in the country.
In December 2015, PF cadres identified as Jay Banda and Mike ‘Rasta’ Tembo beat up Post reporter Peter Sukwa and Chipata’s Feel Free Radio journalist Kelvin Phiri after they were found taking pictures of PF officials conducting a voter registration exercise in Vubwi.
The two reporters were investigating reports that the ruling party had mobilised Malawians who were getting Zambian National Registration Cards and registering as voters along the border area of Chikoka in Vubwi Constituency.
The PF cadres, however, beat the journalists, attempted to burn them alive and urinated in Sukwa’s mouth, who further sustained “a perforated tympanic membrane in the right ear as he could no longer hear”, according to a medical report.
The two cadres are currently appearing in court in Vubwi facing charges of assault.
But according to the evidence gathered, PF officials facilitated the registration of thousands of Malawians to register as voters in Zambia between November and December 2015, promising them jobs and money if they vote for the ruling party and President Edgar Lungu in August.
The Malawians who have registered to vote in Zambia include police officers, teachers. Also registered are some villagers from Mozambique.
Although ECZ issued voters cards to the alien voters, the identified foreigners also possess voters cards as well as national registration cards for their respective countries.
According to the ECZ mobile verification system, some of the foreigners are eligible to vote in two different constituencies.
Investigations have revealed that foreigners like Alina Banda from Malawi has a Zambian national registration card number 129055/55/1 and a Zambian voters card obtained on November 5, 2015. She, however, also possesses a Malawian voters card and national registration card.
And when you attempt to verify Alina Banda’s eligibility to vote in Zambia using the advertised ECZ mobile phone verification method of dialing the code *214# and entering the NRC number, the name Alina Banda born on January 1, 1981, appears twice with the same details as eligible to vote in Vubwi and Chadiza constituencies.
The investigation has further revealed that named PF officials have managed to register thousands of Mozambicans, Congolese and some Angolans to vote in the coming general elections.
During the registration process in Eastern Province, village headmen in Malawi were offered money if they cooperated by taking their subjects to register for voting across the Zambian border.
“It has taken too long, but I am happy that the story which almost cost my life has finally been told,” Sukwa, the Chipata-based reporter, said.
“They almost killed me and at that time, nobody believed that this story was true, people thought we were pursuing a fake report. But this evidence of Malawians registering to vote in Zambia vindicates us.”
He said the villagers in Malawi talked to expressed excitement to come to Zambia to vote for President Lungu.
“They are happy, they are saying they were given PF chitenge material so that they can study the face of the person they should vote for in August. Some of them say they were promised jobs and others money. When you ask them to prove if they are Malawians, they easily show you their Malawian IDs and most of them are registered voters in that country so they also have Malawian voters cards,” Sukwa said.
“Some of them are civil servants like police officers and teachers. They know the illegality of what they have done and it may not be easy to hear confessions from them and to have a look at their documents, but the chiefs who were involved in the operation are talking. Some of the border villages around Vubwi include Chikota (Mgwazo Primary School), Kalikwembe, Muchilikileni, Thomogwaza, Zakaliya, Chisaka, Chimwanga 1 and 2, Mwatete, Muchengeza, Mdzomba, Sekani, Chingwe, Mthunzi, Mukundika and Tambala.”
He said in Chadiza, some Mozambicans were registering at Chadiza district council, Chimphoyo village in chief Mwangala at Kapilika school, Chanida and in chief Mlolo’s area.
“In Lundazi, some Malawians were registering from Chizuwe, Ponda, Yakobe, Chilungu, Kamucho, Khulamayembe, Kamuzoole, Kamuzati and Lusuntha area of chief Phikamalaza,” Sukwa explained.
He further wondered how the national registration office was issuing NRCs to underage children from Malawi.
“Some of them are very young like 13, 14 years old; and they don’t seem to understand what the documents they have are used for. What is also interesting is that the old people were getting NRCs without police reports. And the registration seems to have been done hurriedly, so some names are misspelt. Some were submitting different dates of birth. They were bringing them in numbers and they were cooking for them,” said Sukwa.
Meanwhile, the UPND has reported the ECZ and the Department of National Registration to the police.
UPND chairperson for energy Garry Nkombo and former Chongwe member of parliament Sylvia Masebo took the complaint to Woodlands Police Station on Friday.
“We came to lodge a complaint against two institutions of government namely the [Department of] National Registration issuing office and the Electoral Commission of Zambia. We have information that is impeccable that in certain border towns in about five provinces, they were issuing these national documents to foreigners with the view to put an inbuilt vantage in terms of numbers,” said Nkombo.
“We came to the police to get assistance that we target those areas to go and verify what our suspicion is. The police have told us that they are going to institute investigations as soon as the voters roll is publicised on Sunday. We are starting from Vubwi.”
And Masebo said the PF had created an inbuilt majority votes for the August presidential election using the Department of National Registration and the Electoral Commission of Zambia that had registered foreigners as voters.
“It was true what those Chipata reporters reported that Malawans were coming into Zambia, Mozambicans were coming into Zambia and they were being issued with NRCs and voters cards. This exercise, we are told, did not just end in Eastern Province but it went to Copperbelt , Muchinga and Luapula. For places like Northern, foreigners from Tanzanian side were brought. These people have been captured as citizens and registered as voters and these voters are on the voters’ roll. There are Congolese, Angolans, Mozambicans and Malawians on the voters’ roll,” said Masebo.
First Posted: Post Zambia