Jack Zimba

Prof. He Ye Quing at her restaurant in Lusaka. Jackie during the graduation ceremony. Toddlers graduating at the Chinese school. By Jack Zimba A young waitress pours a steaming brew of green tea into a small cup in front of me. The cup is so small I could have emptied its honey-coloured content in one gulp. But, of course, that would be rude and disrespectful to my host seated on the other side of the small table. My host, Ye Quing, is a spritely Chinese entrepreneur operating a restaurant called Tina’s Restaurant in the up-market Millennium City, a complex of villas situated behind Hotel InterContinental Lusaka. As we both sip on our tea, we discuss China and its growing influence across the globe. Occasionally, Mrs Ye scurries off the table to welcome her customers, mostly young Chinese men dropping in for lunch. Fried rice, chicken noodles with lots of dried red paper are high on the menu. Green tea, served without sugar or milk, is complimentary. Open

1.        Bob Sichinga – Whereby he was heard in a secret recording downloading state secrets to a woman – supposedly his mistress – and expressing his fears about the President’s health. 2.        Rupiah Banda – whereby he lost an election in 2011 and publicly announced his retirement from active politics, but decided to swallow his own words.  3.        Father Frank Bwalya – whereby he was so in love with the PF and its leader Michael Sata before the 2011 elections that he sacrificed a chicken to invoke the gods at a public rally addressed by Sata on the Copperbelt. Barely two years later, the failed priest was busy denouncing Sata and, in fact, pronounced him dead long before the doctors did. Today he is back in the PF and begging for a job.  4.        Daniel Munkombwe - whereby he supported the Guy Scott camp and mocked the Lungu camp and is now clearly “Left Behind” in the political wilderness by the Lungu train.

By Jack Zimba ON June 1, 2012, Nevers Sekwila Mumba walked to the podium at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka and delivered an epic inaugural speech as MMD president after winning a popular vote. Flanked by former president Rupiah Banda, who had just announced his retirement from active politics, the charismatic former tele-evangelist announced the dawn of a new era within the former ruling party and on the country’s political scene as a whole. He also promised, rhetorically, politics practiced on a platform of integrity and honesty. “Today signifies the rebirth of our party; a new and hopeful beginning,” the gifted orator told a cheering crowd of his supporters spellbound by his eloquence. But the “new and hopeful beginning” Mumba heralded never really began. A few months at the helm of the former ruling party, Mumba was fighting for survival against old-timers within the party, who did not approve of his leadership style. The accusations rang