UPND challenges PF on violence

By SANFROSSA MANYINDATHE United Party for National Development (UPND) has advised the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) to end violence within the party.UPND Copperbelt Information Publicity Secretary, Lawrence Mwanza, said that the PF being the party in power should condemn and end violence.This comes a few days after a video of two PF camps fighting one another at the graveyard during the burial of one of their members in Kitwe went viral.Mr Mwanza said that violence should never be tolerated in a democratic country like Zambia and that the PF should end the feuds within its ranks.He was speaking in Kitwe in an interview.“We warned the PF to stop promoting violence because we know violence bleeds violence. True to our words, today we are seeing them fighting each other within their circles,” he said.He said that the earlier the party changed its behaviour the better, stating that violence would not help the party prolong its stay in power.Mr Mwanza said that the violence demonstrated within the PF circles left much to be desired for a ruling party.He said that the same youths that some senior party officials use to fight members of other parties, were today threatening them with the same violence.“We have witnessed a few incidences where some PF senior officials are beaten by their juniors, these people that have been watching them when they were harassing others,” he said.Mr Mwanza however maintained that the UPND on the Copperbelt would always condemn violence regardless of who the perpetrators were.