Stone-hurling anger unnerves Zambia’s ‘fix-it’ president

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema has come out combating after a bruising month that noticed him come below assault by stone throwers as he was making an attempt to make a speech.

Video clips of him crouching after which being whisked away from a rally within the Copperbelt province shocked Zambians and many individuals, no matter their political affiliation, condemned what occurred.

However with 9 months to go till elections and a run for a second time period, the president is below strain.

On Tuesday, in his first press convention for 18 months, Hichilema got down to defend his file and laid out his achievements on the important thing problems with the financial system and energy technology.

“This degree of hatred is stunning, you’ll be able to see and even contact the venom,” he mentioned, whereas interesting for Zambians to like one another.

However the message could not hit house with those that are persevering with to battle everyday.

The president has misplaced contact with “the actual pulse of the folks”, in line with an opposition candidate to be mayor of the capital, Lusaka, Simon Mwila, who was making an attempt to clarify why folks had been throwing stones “relatively than flowers”.

Sishuwa Sishuwa, a Zambian historian and senior lecturer at South Africa’s Stellenbosch College, argues that the president has turned his again on what he as soon as stood for.

“In energy and during the last 4 years, Hichilema has turned out to be practically every little thing he detested about his predecessor, Edgar Lungu, and, in some instances, a lot worse,” the educational informed the BBC.

It is a cost rejected by the president, who identified his file on fixing the debt disaster that he inherited and stabilising authorities funds.

On 8 November, Hichilema could have hoped for a friendlier reception in Chingola city, notably as he had arrived with $450,000 (£340,000) to go in the direction of rebuilding an area market that had been destroyed in a hearth.

As a substitute, an offended crowd compelled him to desert his deal with.

Police blamed the difficulty on “unruly members of the general public” who had been allegedly looting native retailers. At the least 27 folks have been arrested for violence and arson.

At his press convention this week, Hichilema accused unlawful artisanal miners of being behind the violence as his authorities was making an attempt to crack down on this unregistered work.

“We is not going to enable any thuggery to return ever once more,” he mentioned.

Within the 2021 elections, Hichilema, who had already made 5 unsuccessful runs for the presidency, surfed a wave of recognition that swept him into energy in a landslide victory over Lungu.

By polling day, the nation had defaulted on its money owed, annual value inflation was touching 25% and there have been frequent energy blackouts.

Underneath the slogan “Bally will repair it” (“bally” is Zambian slang for father), he positioned himself as the answer to just about all the issues the nation confronted.

Debt repayments have since been renegotiated and inflation has come down.

This week, Hichilema mentioned that whereas 4 years in the past there was a “large debt mountain” and “we had been dwelling past our means”, now Zambia’s credit standing had improved and it was attracting funding from all around the world.

He additionally argued that the nation’s important mining sector was rebounding.

However with the August 2026 election approaching, Hichilema is discovering out that he’s not essentially thanked for what he has achieved however relatively criticised for what has not modified.

Economist Trevor Hambayi has described the progress with the nation’s funds as an “overriding success story”.

Higher budgetary controls have helped enhance funding in infrastructure, schooling, social programmes, well being and the recruitment of important authorities staff.

Annual inflation has come down to simply beneath 12%, and the foreign money, the kwacha, has not too long ago strengthened following a precipitous decline within the early years of the Hichilema presidency.

However Mr Hambayi informed the BBC that the failure to resolve the facility disaster had had a huge impact on folks, together with the “excessive price of dwelling and the dearth of employment alternatives”.

“These are the metrics that talk to the abnormal Zambian.”

In its October report, the Lusaka-based Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, which displays the price of dwelling, mentioned folks had been being squeezed by excessive costs for important meals and non-food objects that “proceed to soak up a rising share of family revenue”.

It added that though inflation had eased, “many households nonetheless can not meet fundamental wants with out decreasing meals high quality or skipping meals”.

The president did acknowledge the vitality drawback in September, saying that the federal government feels “the ache and frustration of energy outages confronted by our residents”.

And this week he mentioned Zambia’s technology capability had been “decapitated” by a current drought owing to its reliance on hydroelectricity.

“This problem was a wake-up name. Now we’ve woken up,” he added, promising extra photo voltaic and thermal vitality tasks.

All through his 15 years in opposition, Hichilema portrayed himself as an upholder of democratic values.

However as soon as in state home, he has been accused of passing oppressive measures which he had beforehand opposed, such because the Cybersecurity Regulation.

This laws, whereas seen as crucial for coping with issues like on-line fraud and youngster pornography, has been criticised for permitting the surveillance of anybody the state sees as undesirable.

Educational Dr Sishuwa additionally accused Hichilema of utilizing the legislation in opposition to his opponents – precisely what he had criticised below the earlier administration.

“After he commendably abolished the legislation on defamation of the president, he rapidly turned to different repressive statutes to arrest critics and political opponents on quite a lot of prices resembling sedition, prison libel, hate speech, espionage and illegal meeting,” he mentioned.

The president insists that his authorities respects the rule of legislation and has not focused anybody for political causes.

Hichilema has additionally backed a controversial constitutional overview course of, together with a plan to extend the variety of constituencies so there could be extra MPs in parliament.

Whereas in opposition, he efficiently campaigned in opposition to a overview that integrated an identical concept, saying this could allow then-President Lungu to remain in energy and that it was too near elections to embark on such an enormous change.

He now argues that, in line with the structure, Zambia must create new constituencies each 10 years.

The president says that the delimitation train, or the rise within the variety of constituencies, is essential to make sure that assets are distributed equally.

And he has hit out at critics who’re planning to carry nationwide prayers to protest in opposition to the method on Friday, saying there’s already a session course of and discussions at state home, in addition to authorized avenues to object.

With the clock ticking down in the direction of subsequent yr’s election, the president seems involved about the best way that individuals are responding to him.

Whereas calling for tempers to chill, Hichilema has urged endurance, saying it takes time for long-term growth and funding programmes to have an effect.

However because the volley of stones thrown his manner attests, endurance could also be carrying skinny for some.