By EditorZambia
The Root of The Hate: The
Unconformable Ethnic Truth
Zambia Must Face
“The level of hatred for me is shocking… you can touch the venom… I didn’t choose where I was born.” — President Hakainde Hichilema poured out his heart. 
On surface, one would wrongly think President Hakainde Hichilema is overplaying the tribal thing concerning the hatred against him.
Yet this is real and the primary reason we have the wolf pack baying for his blood. It is ethnic and nothing else.
It can be seen. Yes, it can be touched. It’s hatred of the worst kind. Look at Catholic Archbishop of the Lusaka diocese Alick Banda’s hatred against Hichilema.
Socialist Party leader Fred M’membe, funeral spokesperson specialist Makebi Zulu, Zambia Must Prosper leader Kelvin Fube Bwalya and many others all hate President Hakainde Hichilema with a passion.
When you critically scrutinize this group, they are all from one region. They are all coming from the northern region.
Archbishop Banda is solely the architect of this hate crusade against President Hichilema.
The only crime President Hichilema has committed is to become president of Zambia. They never wanted him to rule this country, and the reason is his heritage, his origin and his ethic belonging. This is a dangerous path for a man of the cloth to champion.
Archbishop Banda even caste his net wide to capture as many of his Catholic priest and some of his followers in the civil organisations to preach hatred against an innocent soul. What wrong has Hakainde Hichilema done to be subjected to this inhumane treatment?
This hostility has become so extreme and so personal that it can not be explained by governance disagreements. It is not about Bill 7, nor inflation, nor mining reforms, or foreign trips. It is about one thing and Zambia must finally be honest about it: the identity of the man in State House.
For many, Hichilema’s statement comes out as uncomfortable. But it was not reckless. It was not divisive. It was simply the truth spoken aloud in a country that has preferred to whisper it in corners for decades.
The Core of the Hostility: A Presidency Outside the Traditional Power Corridor
Since independence, political power has circulated largely within the Northern–Luapula–Muchinga–Eastern (NLME) axis—what analysts call the Chambeshi Corridor.
This pattern became normalised, repeated across administrations, political parties, and civil service structures.
In 2021, that pattern was broken. For the first time in nearly 60 years, the presidency moved decisively into what chosen ones trrmed “the Zambezi region,” which comprise Southern, Western, and North-Western Provinces and parts of Central Province.
This was not a small shift. It was a disruption of the deepest unwritten rule of Zambian politics: that national leadership comes from predictable places and predictable people.
President Hichilema became the first president whose cultural, historical, and linguistic background sat outside that centre of political gravity.
From the moment he took office, the backlash made it clear that this was not going to be accepted quietly.
The Attacks Are Not About Governance — They Are About Geography
Criticism is a democratic right. No president is above scrutiny. But Zambia must distinguish critique from venom.
With President Hichilema, every action, whether routine, progressive, or even widely beneficial, meets hostility long before facts are considered.
Audit mining licences?
Attack him.
Negotiate debt relief?
Attack him.
Speak on unity?
Attack him.
Propose constitutional reforms?
Attack him.
Visit foreign investors?
Attack him.
This is not political disagreement. This is identity-based rejection.
A glance at the loudest voices politicians, clerics, commentators, and online activists reveals a pattern too consistent to dismiss as coincidence.
Their criticism is not of what President Hichilema does but of who he is.
Historical Patterns Prove the Point
