Terry

Accountant | Businessman|Farmer| Manchester United

[Terry @terrykasonda]

@ChilumbaKBwalya W Smith

[Distant Relative @LankyObserver]

Long day from earning my keep. Got home to a barrage of responses to my earlier tweets about voting in Southern Province. I haven't the time to respond to every last reply, so will do this one post to address the questions raised and comments made.

I will try and tend to the substantive arguments raised here, not the lazy ones. I don't have the patience for people who refuse to cognitively apply themselves.

Here are the counter-arguments made, simplified:

1. Democracy is about choice. We mustn't police people's choices.

2. The Opposition didn't campaign in Southern Province. How were they expected to do well there?

3. Southerners have historically supported other political parties. Therefore, it is unfair to interrogate their overwhelming support of the UPND.

These are the main ones. There were countless others made, but like I said, we will not waste time on lazy arguments here. So let's get to it:

My comments:

1. Democracy is about choice, but that choice is not without basis. What is that basis? Does it change when circumstances and the evidence change or is it unalterable like the Laws of Physics?

2. The opposition did, in fact, campaign in Southern Province. Given Chansa's Movement for Economic Emanincipation has spent considerable time in the South, for example, among other opposition figures. That is within this open campaign season. However, have we also forgotten that the Opposition could not effectively campaign in the last 5 years because of the UPND clamping down on their right to do so? How many parties were given permits to hold rallies since 2021?

3. Southerners have historically lent support to other parties. That is correct. MMD used to win elections in the province for many years. A question, however; how many ethnic Southerners headed a political party competing for power against the MMD there at the time? Zero. Why do people think UPND launched so strongly from Southern Province soon as Anderson Mazoka, a Tonga, formed and led it? Why did that support move so quickly to the UPND?

Stating these things isn't being spiteful or mongering hate. Patriotism isn't blind support for anyone, it is support for what is in the best interest of your country. Sometimes that means taking a hard look into the mirror and addressing the things you see in the reflection.

The plain truth of it is that our relatives in the South have serious reflection to do on this they call their democratic practice. If we continue on this trajectory, the rest of the country will follow suit and our elections will turn into even fiercer ethnic censuses. That's not the Zambia we should be looking to build.

If we love Zambia, as I believe we do, we must be honest enough to point these things out and nip them in the bud before they render us apart. That's what Patriots do. That starts with the very people within that community, of which I am a part.

We, the Tonga, must call each other out on our nonsense and not play mental gymnastics to justify the unjustifiable. It has gone on far too long.

The end.

[Dean N Onyambu @InfinitelyDean]

This is one of the more interesting things about Zambia. People become extremely sensitive around the word tribalism, even when the voting pattern is plainly tribal or ethnic.

In Kenya, we are much more willing to call it what it is. People are proud of where they come from, ethnicity influences politics, and voting often follows those identities. You can dislike that reality, but pretending it does not exist does not make it disappear.

Zambia’s “One Zambia, One Nation” identity makes this conversation more uncomfortable. But that discomfort also exposes a vulnerability: strong regional voting blocs still exist even when people do not want to describe them in ethnic terms.

Southern Province is the clearest example. For roughly 25 years, its presidential vote has been overwhelmingly anchored to one political tradition. That is tribal or regional voting behaviour. And strategically, given how little time Mundubile had to campaign, and the security risk, there was very little electoral logic in spending scarce time trying to move a vote that has barely moved for a generation. The rational play was to concentrate on genuinely contestable provinces.

Calling the pattern tribal does not create it. The voting record already does.

[Kamwala Harris @idlidosa2]

Ppl died directly and indirectly from 22hrs load sheddinga day. Food was rotting in the grocery stores. Ppl werent even able to charge phones at work. Your entire day was spent trying to think when/if power would come??

[Chonya @DrCh0nya]

Mr. Hakainde Hichilema is not fit to rule Zambia.

The man clearly has no understanding of how government should function.

It is time for him to step down.

To all those praise singers out there—are you truly certain that we are willing to sink to such a new low as a country? Is this really what we want—to become a fully and utterly corrupt nation, with the head of state driving the agenda? From enticing MPs to vote for Bill 7, to pressuring aspiring candidates to withdraw from elections, to asking unemployed citizens to attend rallies just so the president can pad his crowds, feed his ego, and reward attendees with jobs—this is not leadership.

Fellow Zambians, our country stinks under the UPND, and the stench is only getting worse.

@HHichilema

[PinkyFreaky @PinkyGeesh]

@Mish_clinton The day where Carrick made Pep Guardiola stressed 👏

[kvng Baff @kvng_baff]

Another reason why people hate Manchester United fans. We are too annoying 😂😂

[Cousin skeeter Say’s @EscobarChim]

Ladies and gentlemen; in their finest form and possible EPL champions, Arsenal are outplayed, out classed and exterminated by Manchester United!!!

[(fan) Trey @UTDTrey]

This wasn’t just a win for Manchester United btw, it was a win for football.

Beautiful goals and football won against set piece and own goal FC.

MANCHESTER UNITED DID IT FOR FOOTBALL❤️

[mufcmpb @mufcMPB]

Manchester United’s starting front 3 vs Brighton tonight:

Bryan Mbeumo ➡️ 2 goals
Benjamin Šeško ➡️ Assist
Matheus Cunha ➡️ Goal

WOW! ❤️😍

[SimplyUtd @SimplyUtd]

🚨🗣 Bryan Mbeumo:

"I came to a big club and we're going to fight for the best places."

[UtdDistrict @UtdDistrict]

Senne Lammens appreciation tweet.

WHAT. A. SIGNING. 🧤🇧🇪

[Janty @CFC_Janty]

One of the biggest upgrades in football history.

[JosinaZMachel @JosinaZMachel]

Pai,

It’s been 39 years of missing you.
It’s been 39 years of waiting to know what happened to you

It’s 39 years of seeking justice!

I cry for you
Mozambique cries for you
SADC cried for you
Africa cries for you… a giant of its land

#samoramachel

[Hopewell Chin’ono @daddyhope]

On this day in 1986, the apartheid regime in South Africa assassinated Samora Machel by tampering with the navigation beacon of his plane, causing it to crash in South Africa.

Samora Machel was a real leader, a thinker, and a revolutionary who did not run with the wind. Take a moment to listen to what he is saying in this clip. Politics is about strategy, not wishes.

Rest in Peace great leader!

[De Christian Life @DeChristianLife]

How long should dating be?

[UF @UtdFaithfuls]

🚨 - JUST IN!

PGMOL boss Howard Webb has acknowledged to Man Utd  that the decision to not send off Brentford's Nathan Collins last weekend was INCORRECT. [@MikeKeegan_DM]

This is painful because the game was 2-1 at the time, and United could've possibly gotten something from the game if Nathan Collins was sent off.

Surely, there has to be consequences for terrible decisions like this.

[Typical African @Joe__Bassey]

Never forget, Argentina 🇦🇷 systematically erased black people from its history.