CLEMENTINA

When you listen carefully to this young woman, there is a striking level of confidence in what she is saying-a confidence that can only come from believing that, regardless of what you say or do, there will be people powerful enough to shield you from the consequences. During the campaigns, we saw a video of an elderly man openly peddling tribal sentiments, wrapped in such intense hero worship that his words were almost treated as sacred. To this day, much of the commentary I have seen about those tribal and hateful statements has been praise rather than condemnation. Apparently, he is a defender of a “sacred” region that has supposedly been marginalised for generations-although Zambia’s actual history and evidence make that claim far more complicated than the mythology suggests. And now we have this young woman. She is openly calling Zambians who voted for anyone other than Mr Hichilema in Southern Province “dogs” and telling them to leave the region because, apparently, they are not wanted there. The implication is even more disturbing: that someone who genuinely belongs to Southern Province could not possibly vote for anyone other than Mr Hichilema. In that worldview, political loyalty has become the test of regional belonging. That is precisely where we should be concerned. There is ample evidence of people facing arrest or serious consequences for sentiments arguably far less inflammatory than what is expressed in this video. Yet many people seem strangely selective about when tribal rhetoric becomes unacceptable. When the target is someone on the “wrong” political side, outrage is immediate. When the rhetoric comes from people perceived to be defending Mr Hichilema or his political interests, suddenly everyone develops a remarkable capacity for silence, excuses and philosophical analysis. And that is the real problem: selective condemnation teaches people that tribalism is only wrong when the wrong person commits it. If this young woman genuinely believes she can publicly insult an entire group of Zambians, question their right to belong to their own region and face no meaningful consequences, that should concern every Zambian-regardless of political affiliation. The lesson we should be learning is not how to protect “our” people when they cross the line. It is how to apply the same standard to everyone. Zambia cannot be united on the basis of political loyalty, regional entitlement or tribal exceptionalism. Southern Province belongs to Zambians who vote for Hichilema, those who vote against him, and those who vote for nobody at all. A vote does not determine your tribe, your region or your right to belong. We must learn from this moment and build a Zambia where no region is sacred, no politician is beyond criticism, and no citizen is treated as less Zambian because of how they vote. Nalekela apapene.