By A Correspondent- Zambia’s incoming president Hakainde Hichilema sent dozens of invitations to foreign leaders for his today’s inauguration and broke the old tradition by inviting opposition leaders from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Botswana – among other African countries – to come along.
Hichilema was a perennial opposition challenger since his first run for president in 2006, and he forged alliances with several opposition parties in the region, including Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which said it was inspired by his landslide victory at the sixth time of asking.
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa was set to arrive in the Zambian capital Lusaka shortly after midday on Monday. Botswana’s president Mokgweetsi Masisi, meanwhile, gave a lift on his presidential jet to opposition rival, Dumelang Saleshando.
The United Party for National Development (UPND) on Monday said its decision to invite incumbent leaders and the opposition “is sending a very strong message not just in Zambia but across Africa that we must do away with the politics of division based on opposing views.”
Writing on Twitter last Saturday, UPND spokesman Joseph Kalimbwe said: “My support for the struggles of friends and comrades across our continent [Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania – Africa] is unwavering – it will not stop. They chose the hard path of supporting our UPND struggles when others refused to associate with us in the opposition.”
Gift Ostallos Siziba, the secretary general of the MDC Youth Assembly, travelled to Zambia at the weekend at the invitation of the UPND.
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF party has been touchy over the MDC’s close relations with the UPND. President Mnangagwa said last week that “if anyone dreams of what happened in Zambia crossing over here, they must wake up and brew beer, ancestral spirits have deserted you.”
Chamisa said Hichilema’s victory had reignited their determination to remove Zanu PF from power.
“It started in Malawi and swept into Zambia and now we can smell the sweet scent here in Zimbabwe. It is coming,” Chamisa said. AFP