STOP HATEMBO SAGA

IF anything happens to the Hatembo family in Kalomo, who took Hakainde Hichilema to court over the 2, 000plus hectare land fraud, we are going to hold the police responsible.

It is the height of irresponsibility that the two complainants have been left to fend for themselves and have now been subjected to all manner of torture and harassment to the extent that they have now fled their homes and gone into hiding.

As a newspaper, we have been on the ground and have talked to relatives, who confirmed that on the night of February 13, unidentified people attacked the couple, injuring them to the extent that they ended up at Macha hospital for treatment.

It is not clear who attacked them.

There are allegations that the Patriotic Front attacked the couple for recanting the original statement they made complaining about the fraudulent acquisition of the 2, 000-plus hectare plot by the UPND president, Mr Hichilema.

On the other hand, it is believed that it is UPND cadres in Bweengwa who sought vengeance against the couple for reporting the matter and ultimately bringing the cause before the court.

It does not matter for us whether it is the PF or the UPND brutalising this family. Our concern is that the police who publicly summoned Mr Hichilema to their headquarters resulting in the loss of two innocent lives have remained mute about the investigation and inquiry they were conducting.

We know for a fact that the Hatembo family has been in turmoil for some time with regard to the status and ownership of the land left by their father, who was in debt with Lima Bank.

We are therefore expecting that a very thorough investigation will be undertaken so that the two who died as Mr Hichilema was being interviewed on that fateful day, will not have died in vain and that the Hatembos who are now being brutalised will not be suffering in vain over a matter which the police have the capacity to investigate to its entire conclusion. The country will either vindicate Mr. Hichilema or hold him to account, or if indeed the Hatembos have been fabricating the issue they too will be held to account.

Our main concern is that the police have been entirely negligent in ensuring the safety of the people involved in this saga, which has deep roots and almost interminable directions that can only be resolved and concluded by a specialised investigation that goes to the liquidation of Lima Bank and how those properties were treated and indeed how administrators of properties that were in debt to Lima Bank were finally acquitted.

We do not want any more lives lost and indeed we do not want a police cover up that fails to expose the full dynamics of the current impasse.

There is of course a general impression that our law enforcement agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Commission, Drug Enforcement Commission and the police itself are selective and often partial in the manner they select cases to investigate, in favour of the powerful.

An impression has been created that unless the matter involves senior government officials little will be done to investigate. Corruption or wrong doing is supposed to be the preserve of those in authority – this is the new normal.

It is such cases as the Hatembos that will bring faith to the police, who must redeem themselves by proving that they are not infiltrated and are impartial.

Anything short will not do and we believe that the first step for the police is to find the whereabouts of the Hatembos who are now in hiding.

They must be provided security and shelter until such time that this whole matter has been concluded comprehensively and is either dismissed or brought to court.

The police have the resources, the means the funds and the expertise to ensure that this is realised. Anything short, we shall hold them accountable.