11 August 2023
Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

Solidarity with the Socialist Party of Zambia

The repressive regimes across Southern Africa are highly intolerant of independent progressive organisation. There is sustained repression in countries like South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe including arrest, torture and murder.

When the notoriously authoritarian Edgar Lungu was voted out of office in Zambia in 2021 there was hope that the new President, Hakainde Hichilema, would allow space for political freedom.

On 8 August former journalist and newspaper editor Fred M’membe, who is now the leader of the Socialist Party in Zambia, was arrested on a ridiculous charge and detained overnight. The arrest came after months of threats to arrest M’membe.

The actual crime of the Socialist Party has been to expose the reasons why the Zambian people are kept poor, and how the Hichilema government is failing to build an economy that works for ordinary Zambian people.

We condemn all repression everywhere, and are in solidarity with all people resisting repression everywhere. Any government that unleashes the army, police, informal militia or assassins against people thinking and organising for themselves is an enemy of democracy. When a government begins to use the police as a tool to repress democratic political activity it cannot credibly claim to be a democratic government even if it was elected to power.

We send our solidarity to the Socialist Party in Zambia, and to all our comrades across the region, the continent and the world who are confronting political repression.

Thapelo Mohapi: 084 576 5117
Mqapheli Bonono: 073 067 3274
Snenhlanhla Mncanyana: 073 832 3331