Jack Zimba

Water is a major challenge in the constituency, forcing residents to walk many kilometres to fetch the commodity. JACK ZIMBA AFTER driving for over an hour through a maze of dirt roads, and making several stops to ask locals if we were still on the right track, we sighed with relief when we burst into the gravel road leading to Dundumwezi. Here, motorists have curved a network of bush tracks to avoid the actual road which is in a bad state, becoming impassable in the rainy season. On the way, we came across several trucks laden with farm produce headed for Kalomo or Choma. And when we arrived at Kasukwe, one of the main outposts in this vast constituency, we found welcoming locals too eager to help strangers. Photojournalist Brian Malama and I had travelled to the remote constituency, south-west of Kalomo district in Southern Province, whose name has now become a byword for something negative; a mockery or scorn word, or just something to laugh about; all because of an

 Bronah Muntemba (right) standing in her burnt-out house. Picture by Eddie Mwanaleza JACK ZIMBA THE extent of devastation was clearly visible from 300 metres above as the military helicopter swooped over the landscape – burnt-out houses dotted the banks of the Kafue and Namwala rivers. And as we came to land in a cloud of dust, there was no soul to welcome us, not even children, who would normally get attracted by the huge helicopter. Two scruffy dogs, abandoned by their owners, seemed happy to see us. We had landed in Chikwato village in Namwala district, a scene of one of the worst political violence in many years. After some minutes on the ground, a horde of villagers came out of their hiding to meet us, each one of them eager to tell their story about the night their houses and livelihoods went up in flames, torched by suspected United Party for National Development (UPND) supporters. “This is where the sofas were, and that is where my bed used to be,” Gilbert Mwal

 Bronah Muntemba (right) standing in her burnt-out house. Picture by Eddie Mwanaleza JACK ZIMBA THE extent of devastation was clearly visible from 300 metres above as the military helicopter swooped over the landscape – burnt-out houses dotted the banks of the Kafue and Namwala rivers. And as we came to land in a cloud of dust, there was no soul to welcome us, not even children, who would normally get attracted by the huge helicopter. Two scruffy dogs, abandoned by their owners, seemed happy to see us. We had landed in Chikwato village in Namwala district, a scene of one of the worst political violence in many years. After some minutes on the ground, a horde of villagers came out of their hiding to meet us, each one of them eager to tell their story about the night their houses and livelihoods went up in flames, torched by suspected United Party for National Development (UPND) supporters. “This is where the sofas were, and that is where my bed used to be,” Gilbert Mwal