Chilufya Tayali
Zambian Voice executive director Chilufya Tayali has caused a social media firestorm after he laid bare what he really thinks of the people of Southern Province.
Tayali, who has openly declared his support for President Edgar Lungu and the PF, yesterday angered opposition UPND sympathisers and neutrals on Facebook when he referred to southerners as “cows”.
Reacting to the reported high number of new voters recorded in the UPND stronghold of Southern Province and it’s possible implication on the outcome of next year’s general elections, a clearly frustrated Tayali wondered whether cows had been issued with national registration cards for the province to beat Lusaka and Copperbelt in the latest voter registration figures.
“Meanwhile I was in Chibombo looking for land and advise Kaizer Zulu (Lungu’s political advisor) to do like wise if Southern Province remains the highest on the ECZ voter’s register. I wonder where the population has come from in Southern Province to beat Lusaka and copperbelt, could cows be having NRCs as well??? Just wondering,” reads part of his Facebook post titled “ABALEYA TO STATE HOUSE” which he has since edited.
His comments attracted a barrage of criticism from Facebook users, many of whom accused the eccentric political activist of harbouring hatred for a certain tribe.
“Awe nimwe ba Tayali this is the type of language which is destroying our land rather stick to your topics someone will mis quote and issues will arise how do cows get NRC’s surely…” One bloger responded.
Another one weighed in, “I enjoy reading your postings Tayali but when you go tribal or look down on a tribe as you have done i go mad. Respect others for you to be respected. The cow and voter registration thing is offensive bro. Kindly remove it. Tongas are not your tribal cousins.”
The negative backlash forced Tayali to edit the “cow” part, although he stubbornly refused to apologise for his inflammatory comments, instead choosin to justify himself by posting:
“You guys can be so sensitive about cows, come’on, don’t over do it. Gee….I never even thought of a tribe but there you go because you yourselves are tribal.”
According to the latest voter registration figures, Lusaka province recorded the highest number of new voters at 241,301 followed by Southern province with 205,259 registrations.
