By Augustine Mukoka
FAZ MUST ACT ON UPND CADRES: Assaulting FAZ President Keith Mweemba Is UNACCEPTABLE & May Attract FIFA SANCTIONS
Yesterday’s incident in which FAZ president Keith Mweemba was physically assaulted at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola by known UPND cadres is unacceptable and must be dealt with sternly without any reservation.
Failure to deal with the hooliganism by UPND cadres which occurred in the VIP section in full view of Ministry Of Sports Permanent Secretary Kangwa Chileshe and former Transport Minister Frank Tayali will open Zambia to sanctions by FIFA.
During half-time, UPND cadres accosted Mweemba in the VIP lounge where they accused him of being a “weak” president who was allowing “pe lampi” to thrive at football matches.
In addition to the false accusations on Mweemba, they went on to hand him some serious slaps on his smooth face. Mweemba’s untrained bodyguard attempted to intervene but was sholved off while the Sports PS Chileshe, a part time bodybuilder, was awarded an elbow to his neck to stay clear of the cadres onslaught on Mweemba.
They even warned Tayali to stay away as they allegedly had the blessings of State House to tell Keith Mweemba to stay away from matches because he had failed to help the party (UPND) which they claimed helped him become FAZ president
This incident has been documented by the Match Commissioner who officiated the second round of the LA 2028 Olympics qualifying match Zambia’s Copper Queens won 4-1 to pull through 5-3 on aggregate against Uganda.
Should the Match Commissioner make strong recommendations to FIFA, Zambia may be banned from using Levy Stadium and would be forced to find venues for home fixtures in neighboring countries.
It is surprising that nearly 24 hours after this incident, FAZ is mute on the matter. That to me is a serious concern. Is FAZ abetting such criminality because UPND cadres were involved? Would FAZ have acted the same way if those who assaulted Keith were known opposition Tonse Alliance cadres?
Football is a game of divergence and sharp differences, but it has no place for hooliganism. We may strongly disagree; we may trade firm words and we may walk different paths but NEVER should we encourage physical harm on each other.
I don’t agree with Keith Mweemba on many fronts, but harming him in the UPND style is unacceptable and unsportsmanlike.
The ball now rests on him. As a lawyer, Keith knows the right thing to do. The people who attacked him are known cadres. They can easily be identified. Therefore, the right thing to do is
1. report them to the police so that the law takes its course as this is a clear case of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
2. submit a comprehensive report to the FAZ disciplinary committee to take action against the characters that assaulted the FAZ president.
Failure by Keith Mweemba to take action on these assailants is problematic. They are inviting more chaos to the stadium.
How will Keith and FAZ uphold safety regulations against others who may not be UPND if they don’t do it on this one?
And this is not different to what they did when they allowed the UPND slogan “Salt Sana” to thrive in our football. Now that the moment has come for “Pe Lampi” which is an opposition anthem, the UPND can’t contain the shame they invited into stadiums.
Further, failure to take action would mean the UPND cadres are above the same football law that Zambians are expected to respect.
It’s time to act. I hope those FAZ Executive Committee members who have turned themselves into excess baggage are learning something.
I had hoped they were coming into ExCo to serve. But it appears they are in ExCo to eat. The end result for those who are in FAZ ExCo to bootlick will not be pleasant. This is a sad lesson to all ExCo members who want to hero worship.
Anyway, that’s a topic for another day. I feel sorry for Keith Mweemba (even if I don’t agree with him as much as I previously did) and demand that authorities must take action to preserve the game.
In fact, I am upset that they assaulted my former comrade who could not even marshal enough man power to defend himself.
It took military police to provide cover at the end of the game and guarantee his safe passage out of the stadium. This is not what Keith signed up for when he offered himself to serve Zambian football as FAZ president.
Those UPND hooligans must be brought to book both by the Zambian laws and indeed football laws. They have no place in our football.
I submit.