When the Sata-nists gathered, but who must take steer the boat?

 AND so after punching holes in the PF boat, leading to its epic shipwreck in the last general election, Chishimba Kambwili had one last despicable act – to desecrate the grave of the man who built it – Michael Sata.

Of course I’m referring to the incident during Sata’s memorial last week, when Kambwili’s supporters thought they could turn the event into a rowdy political rally to flaunt him as the party’s next leader.

It seems the leopard will claw at anything to get up the tree, but he must remember that ultimately it is the people of Zambia who decide the destinies of political parties and their leaders, and that based on their conduct and what they have to offer.    

And let us just call it as it is, Kambwili was the one significant minus to the PF’s and Edgar Lungu’s campaign for the August 12 elections with his rantings that usually bordered on tribalism.

But why those within the party saw the opposite is both confusing and shocking.

At a time when the Zambian voters were done with Kambwili, the PF still saw in him a man they could elevate to the rank of savior.

But anyway, that is not the biggest problem dogging the former ruling party.

What the PF is currently suffering from is the former ruling party syndrome, and unless a remedy is found, and found quickly, the party’s existence is not guaranteed.

There is a political jinx that the party must break - an unwritten rule, so it seems - that a former ruling party must be banished forever, consigned to a political grave with no possibility of resurrection.

That fate suffered the United National Independence Party and its successor the Movement for Multiparty Democracy. The former is typically dead despite having a brilliant brain at the helm, while the latter is in all essence a dying party.

This is why “Saint” Nevers Mumba, with all his seeming good intentions for the country, and with all his eloquence, has never scored more than one percent in a general election.

The once mighty blue is now a wishy-washy entity, unrecognisable from the party that Frederick Chiluba or Levy Mwanawasa led. 

It seems the Zambian political road has no roundabout; it only leads forward.

It is, perhaps, what causes political hopelessness, leading those who lose power to defect to the new ruling party.

But then, people should not leave a political party like a house party – once the music stops and the barman pours his last bottle then the party is over.

There surely must be something valuable to stay and fight for; something called ideology or doctrine of the party; or how about standing up in defence of its legacy.

However, the tragedy we see now is that belief in a political party does not go beyond a T-shirt or a chitenge, and instead of patriotism, we have patronage.

Even self-proclaimed diehards will jump out in order to serve their own selfish interests. They have nothing to stay for. They will crawl away like ticks off a dead animal with outrageous claims of not ever having belonged.

And this should offer valuable lessons about political parties that are galvanised around a person rather than the ideals and beliefs they espouse. What we end up having is a personality cult – the great leader syndrome.

And when the great leader dies, he does not die alone, but with everything he stood for, unless those who believed in his ideals carry on his dream and vision.

It is the fate that awaits the UPND once HH is out of the picture, unless, of course, they quickly realise it and change their approach.

And so with the death of Sata, the PF began to slowly die, and although it won two subsequent elections, it was largely thanks to the great leader who, though dead still spoke to the hearts of the electorate.

But what those who took over the leadership did not realise that the wind in their sails was coming from a place yonder, perhaps until last week when they gathered like a bunch of defeated ninjas at the grave of their master?

Yet some within the party will still speak with the same arrogance that alienated them from the people and talk about the party bouncing back whether the people like or not.

The truth is that no matter how hard you throw it, a deflated ball doesn’t bounce back.

What the PF needs now is fresh air, and it will not come from the same people the Zambian people rejected.

How about trying the young and youthful leaders within the party, those that are untainted by its record?

The PF has a few of such even in parliament in the likes of Christopher Kang'ombe.

There could still be hope for the PF, but first the real Sata-nists must arise – those who still hold dear what he stood and lived for.

jackzimba777@gmail.com, jzimba@daily-mail.co.zm