AS the election day, August 11,  2016, draws near, campaign activities in all parts of the country are hitting up and political songs composed by various musicians to drum up support for their candidates blares from early  morning hours till late.
While the activities and music are the order of the day, political violence has also been recorded in various parts of the country.
Despite party leaders advising their cadres to campaign peacefully, violence appears to be on the upswing as I noticed recently.
Three days ago, (Tuesday), I was at home as I received a visitor, my sister-in-marriage and sister-in-law to my wife.
Having been broke and spending the long weekend with the family, it was a blessing in disguise that this sister-in-marriage had come because she invited me for one(beer).
When she came, I was sure she was going to send for some take away lagers to consume at home, but fortunately, she confidentially beckoned me and we went outside where she told me that she wanted to have a beer, but not at home because our mother-in-law was around and she did not want her to know that she drinks.
“Kuti twayanwako kamo kamo kumbifye. Nshilefwaya ukuti abapongoshi beshibe ukuti ndanwa,” (we can go and have one, one somewhere. I don’t want our mother-in-law to know that I drink), said my sister-in-marriage and I thought this was a good idea.
So we left and went to one of the bottle stores at Chifubu market centre and my sister bought a number of beers instead of one, as she had earlier said.
As it was getting late, my sister said she was leaving because she did not want to get to Masala late because the place was violence prone especially during this time of campaigns.
I agreed with her. When I escorted her to the bus station to catch a mini bus, she opened her hand bag and produced a wad of notes and selected a K 100 note.
“Bandume, mushale mwanwenamo kamo,” (Brother, remain and have one,) she said as she proffered me the money.
To tell you, I was so broke and the K100 looked like a lot of money to me at that time. I even started making a budget out of it, but suddenly, I heard someone calling me.
As I turned to see who was calling me, I found it was a colleague by the name of  Chimalizeni (popularly known as Chima), the man I used to work with at the same company but in different departments.
“Mulishani baTembo. Muleya kwisa?”(How are you Mr Tembo. Where are you going?).
With that K100 in my pockets, I wanted to go and have one more for the road, but I told Mr Chima that I was going home.
“Teti mukwateko kamo. Iseni munweko kamo,” (You can’t have one? Come and have one) said Mr. Chima.
Well, one more beer never killed a man and I certainly agreed to the offer. We went to a bottle store he had been drinking from and I found that there were more women than were men. Actually, there were only three men – Mr Chima with a friend he was with and another man on his own, making it four with me joining their company.
As Mr Chima bought me a beer, I heard the women start discussing political issues going on around the country.
As discussions progressed, the men joined into the discussions. I later discovered that the women were staunch cadres of a political party.
From their point of views, I knew they had been cadres for a long time because of the way they were driving their point’s home.
One thing I liked about these women was that they strongly denounced the political violence which was currently taking place in some parts of the country.
“Tufwilefye ukuvota ukwabula ifimfulunganya. Amakadazi ayalelete fimfulunganya nefyongo bafwile ukubekata no kubakaka,” (We just have to vote without confusions. The cadres who are causing confusions and political violence should be arrested and jailed,) one of the women pointed out.
Soon after her statement, a young man walked into the bottle store and bought himself an Eagle Lager and started dancing before he even had a swig.
From the look of things, the young man had had one two many from wherever he had come from.
After a political song blaring from a campaign truck parked outside the bars he was dancing to finished, he got himself a seat.
Shortly, another man walked into the bottle store and approached the young man.
“Boyi, ufwele T-shirt yaba UPND mukati elyo neya PF kunse. Ni patenshi usapota,” (My friend, you are wearing a UPND t-shirt outside and a PF t-shirt inside. Which party do you support?) asked the man.
Apparently not concerned about the question, the young man replied:”Bamudala, lelo ni Hilozi and uniti day. Tufwile ukwikatana,” (Big man, today is Heroes and Unity Day. We are supposed to be united.)
It was then that I noticed that the young man was wearing the UPND and PF regalia at the same time. Recently, I have heard the double dealing political cadres using the term: Chinja simbo ukolewe (Change the symbol for you to get drunk). Could this young man be one of the double crossing and dealing cadres? I wondered.
The man who approached the young man went out and within a few minutes, he came back with a group of cadres belonging to a certain party and straightaway headed for the young man.
One of the cadres firmly grabbed the young man on the neck and demanded to tell them which party he belonged to between the ruling PF and the opposing UPND.
Then from all the directions, cadres of the party surrounded the young man. “Kuli abantubesu abanshikwete ifitenge na ma t-shirt elyo iwe naukwata ifyakonsekonse. Salapocimo,” (There are our people who do not have chitenge materials and T-shirts and yet you have for both parties. Choose one,) said one of the cadres.
The cadres said if one of the regalia the young man was wearing was not for their party, they were going to burn it and if it was for them they would give it to one of their supporters who did not have the attire.
As the young man struggled to explain why he had dual attire, the irate cadres grabbed him and dragged him outside and led him to I don’t know where.
A few minutes later, a team of police officers came to the place where a campaign truck was parked and some cadres of one of the political parties was churning out campaign music for their candidates.
I heard one of the women cadres who were in the bottle store tell her friends that the police had come because some of the political party cadres using the truck were involved in some political violence which had happened in Pamodzi Township in Ndola and one of the cadres had been injured and the police wanted them to help with some investigations.
“Ninshi kanshi onomuku kubelele ifyongo kumapate makamaka ba UPND naba PF?(Why is it that this time around there are political violence among political parties especially the UPND and the PF?) ,one of the women asked.
Indeed, why should this be so?
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