Kalimbwe also said the newly-appointed War Veterans
minister Christopher Mutsvangwa should not be allowed to set foot in Zambia.
Relations between Zambia and Zimbabwe turned frosty
following Harare’s sham election held last month which was widely condemned by
observer missions.
A Sadc election observer mission led by former Zambian
Vice-President Nevers Mumba released a damning report stating that the
Zimbabwean elections did not meet standards set by the region.
Relations between Zambia and Zimbabwe quickly turned icy
with the ruling Zanu PF party attempting to discredit the report labelling
Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema as a Western puppet.
“Patrick Chinamasa and Christopher Mutsvangwa must be
banned from ever setting foot on Zambian soil. We can’t have folks like Patrick
mock the passing of our leader and still be allowed entry into our country,”
Kalimbwe said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
“Tomorrow (yesterday) at a local police station in Lusaka,
I will in my constitutional right, be opening a criminal case against Zanu PF’s
treasurer Patrick Chinamasa over his death threats on our nation’s leadership
so he can be jailed on sight the first time he sets foot on our soil.”
This latest development comes shortly after Hichilema’s
United Party for National Development supporters staged a protest denouncing
the ruling Zanu PF party over death threats targeted at their leader at the
re-opening of the Kongola copper mines in Chingola and Chililabombwe,
Copperbelt province.
Asked for comment, Chinamasa said: “I will first have to
read what he wrote and then I will comment,” he said.
Chinamasa triggered the war in his efforts to defend the
sham election claiming that Sadc election observer mission head Nevers Mumba
was going to fail in the same manner Mwanawasa did. Mwanawasa died in August 2008 before an
African Union summit.
There are claims in Lusaka that the ruling Zanu PF is
working with Zambian opposition to kill Hichilema.
Copperbelt provincial minister Elisha Matambo said the
Zambian government would petition international and regional bodies to
investigate the threats on Hichilema’s life.
“I have received the petitions on the threats on the life
of President Hichilema by Chinamasa and Rutendo Matinyanyire. I will deliver
your petition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that it can be taken to
Sadc, AU and UN. Chinamasa has confessed that he killed President Mwanawasa and
is now planning to tamper with the life of President Hichilema,” he said as he
addressed protesters.
When contacted for comment Mutsvangwa refused to speak
directly on the matter saying the bond between the two countries would remain
strong.
“Our bond with the Zambian people is forever. No matter
what, we will never have any area of disagreements with the people of Zambia.
There may be hiccups here and there, but it does not mean it changes the
fundamentals of our relationship. We are bonded together,” he said.
He added: “Anything else is frivolous. As Zanu PF
spokesperson, I do not comment on that.”
After the August 23 elections, Mutsvangwa ripped into
Mumba, discrediting him as an election observer and describing him as “a mere
preacher”. Newsday
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