SOUTH AFRICAN OPPOSITION LEADERS REFUSE TO MEET ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT

Zambians blame his advisors for the diplomatic blunder but state blames it on interference from a Zambian opposition leader

President Edgar Lungu’s attempt to dialogue with leading South African opposition party leaders Mmusi Maimane and Julius Malema  on the sidelines of the SADC summit in South Africa backfired terribly, sparking a heated debate on a diplomatic blunder that should never have being.

The two opposition leaders from South Africa were vocal in criticizing President Lungu on the arrest and detention of his main rival on treason charges, a matter that has since been discontinued by the state. Zambian High Commissioner to South Africa Emmanuel Mwamba announced that the Zambian President had summoned the two leaders over their continued interference in Zambian politics. The background to this call for dialogue stems from among other incidents, Maimane’s attempt to attend a court session for the Zambian opposition leader and show solidarity and lobby for his release, which only resulted in his deportation before he could step foot on Zambian soil by the authorities.

Maimane refused to meet President Lungu at the weekend and instead gave President Lungu conditions on which he could accept such a meeting, among them an apology from him for the arrest of Hichilema and five others over treason charges. Maimane also demanded that President Lungu first reconvenes Parliament which was adjourned after the approval of the threatened state of public emergency.

Malema on the other hand told President Lungu that he was not a god and that he would put him in his right place. The EFF leader further said he could not meet President Lungu through a summon but told him to do so on a live public television show where he could repeat his sentiments about his dictatorial tendencies in Zambia.

Zambian political analysists, bloggers and other commentators have expressed displeasure at the manner the matter was handled by the president’s handlers. A Lusaka based activist Laura Miti wondered how President Lungu’s advisors thought summoning South Africa’s opposition to a meeting was a good idea.  

“Why would anyone go looking for trouble for the President like that? Well, predictably, the two SA politicians rejected the invitation to meet the President. And again, predictably, the two jumped at the opportunity provided for them by the President’s own diplomatic team to insult him for imagining he could summon them.  The two of course did not fail to also say what they thought about the President generally. As if that debacle was not enough, by end of day, videos of PF cadres in full party regalia clashing with protestors from other countries, were doing the rounds. The protestors who had listed President Lungu among the presidents whose ‘dictatorial tendencies’ they were calling for an end to also took their chance to hurl insults at the President as they demanded that the PF cadres leave,” Miti stated.

“In short, Emmanuel Mwamba managed to turn the SADC Summit into a veritable dog’s dinner as a diplomatic context. He seems to have totally lost the plot and is repeatedly calling unflattering attention to the President whose image it is his job to build.” Miti further argued.

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She stated that President Lungu needed to completely change his advisors. Some other commentators felt that perhaps Miti was pointing the finger too readily at his advisors. After all he is the President it is his responsibility to ensure his advisors and staff behave correctly and carry out appropriate diplomacy – it may have in fact been his directive to summon SA’s opposition leaders and Emmanual Mwamba merely a porn in a what appears to be the most poorly executed foreign diplomacy stunt to date.

Former State House spokesperson George Chellah described President Edgar Lungu’s summoning of South African opposition leaders Mmusi Maimane and Julius Malema as amounted to scoring a diplomatic own goal.

 Chellah, who served under Micheal Sata, wondered where government’s affinity for committing diplomatic blunders was coming from.

“Browsing through DA leader Mmusi Maimane and EFF leader Julius Malema’s sarcastic responses to the ‘summon’ issued by Zambia for them to dialogue with President Edgar Lungu pertaining issues to our country’s democratic order and governance sent shivers down my spin [sic],” Chellah wrote on his facebook page. “I don’t know about you but for me, as soon as I read the ‘summoning’ statement, I saw fire on the mountain; I smelled sulphur; I knew that a volcano of sarcasm was about to rapture. To be honest, I was left wondering where this affinity for scoring ‘diplomatic own-goals’ is coming from. Why would we be so reckless as a country to yet again throw ourselves back in a strategic trap owing to our own diplomatic blunders at the behest of overzealous public officers?”

He noted that the public summoning of Maimane and Malema was inappropriate and was always going to end in embarrassment.

“It’s always a concern when you notice unwarranted diplomatic blunders with a striking potential of placing the Presidency in an awkward situation taking a pole position in our international relations and international media; and the ‘summoning’ of Malema and Maimane falls in that category of such diplomatic blunders. It doesn’t require rocket science for anyone to see that the ‘summoning’ of Malema and Maimane was bound to end up the way it has ended – in embarrassment. Whose idea was it even anyway? What was the calculated end -game? Where in the globe do diplomats publicize a consultation involving the Head of State when confirmation of attendance by the invited or is it ‘summoned’ parties hangs in the balance? Be as it may, was special attention even paid to the wording of the press statement issued because the word ‘summon’ was not only inappropriate, but also expectedly deserving of the backlash it invited? What really informed this drama and was it even necessary?

A blogger on Zambian eye identifying himself as Chibwe wrote

Lungu and his advisers’s thinking is flawed. Lungu deports Maimane from Zambia and visits South Africa and summons the deportee in his own Country to a Meeting. What arrogance is this? Lungu should have first apologised to Maimane and then diplomatically invited him to Lunch.How can Lungu summon Maimane to a meeting in South Africa when he has not invited or summoned any Opposition Leader to a meeting in Zambia? Charity begins at home.We have a Disputed and Petitioned 2016 Election. Lungu should meet with HH and discuss this Crisis.Why is Lungu blocking the Petition Hearing? This is the root cause of Tension and disharmony. Let the Petition be heard in an Independent Court.Period.””

President Lungu’s press aide, Amos Chanda however blamed the flopping of the meeting on interference from opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema. He said  President Lungu was ready to meet the two South African opposition leaders after he was informed of their planned picket at his hotel.

 “When President Lungu arrived in Pretoria last night August 18 2017, he was informed that supporters of the opposition EFF, DA and UPND of Zambia planned to picket at his hotel for some undefined grievances,” Mr Chanda said.

Mr Chanda said the two parties agreed to the meeting and the South African mission started making preparations for the meeting but later u-turned after consultation with Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema as stated by DA leader Mmusi Maimane on a posting on the DA website.

“South African authorities were also informed of the planned meetings. But later this afternoon we read on the Internet the two opposition leaders were no longer coming after a telephone consultation with a named opposition leader in Lusaka,” said Mr Chanda.