Anthony Kunda and Stefaans Brmmer
APPARENTLY faked documents saying that Zambian President Frederick Chiluba’s wife visited South Africa for drugs treatment adds to a litany of irregularities as the Zambian election race enters its final stage.
The Mail & Guardian was provided this week with immigration computer printouts, and what appears to be first lady Vera Chiluba’s account details at Johannesburg’s upmarket Riverfield Clinic, indicating she had received treatment for “substance dependency”.
But the supposed referring doctor, Mark Oliver, this week denied ever treating Chiluba, while Riverfield said it had reconstructed what had been an elaborate hoax.
Riverfield manager Lyn Dick said they first became aware of the slur when it was posted on the Internet last week. She said it followed inquiries by a former patient into “where and for how long Vera had been here”. When he was denied any information, he asked for a copy of his own account – which could have formed the basis for a doctored version implicating Chiluba.
Dick said the clinic had “no records” of Chiluba receiving treatment and that she had made a sworn affidavit to the Zambian High Commission saying Chiluba had not been at Riverfield.
Allegations of irregularities in the run-up to next week’s presidential and parliamentary elections include:
* President Chiluba and government ministers are using government vehicles and aeroplanes in their campaign travels. Chiluba has defended himself by saying that “anywhere you go in the world, it’s the same practice. The incumbent uses state facilities.”
* Chiluba has been making donations to schools and orphanages from what he calls a Presidential Fund. More than 10 schools and five orphanages have each received R90 000. Chiluba said: “I am empowered to use funds in the presidential coffers to help the poor.”
* In some constituencies, Chiluba has given his party’s candidates up to R400 000 each to woo voters with last-minute renovations to dilapidated schools and church buildings. Foreign Affairs Minister Christon Tembo, who is standing in a large constituency south of Lusaka, openly assured Chiluba of votes after making donations in the area.
* Coverage of the election campaign in the public media, which forms 90% of the media, has been biased against the opposition parties. National radio and television stations have been airing campaign meetings and rallies of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy. Opposition leaders are given little, or distorted, coverage. Ben Kangwa, controller of Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) television, was recently suspended for allowing the airing of a political advertisement from Kenneth Kaunda’s United National Independence Party (UNIP). It was a paid advertisement.
* The voters’ registers are deeply flawed. Monitoring groups have found they contain more than 100 000 “ghost” voters. Some names appear more than three times in different areas. Nikuv, an Israeli computer firm which conducted the registration of voters, has admitted to the errors. Manager Gershom Korda said: “We are looking into that urgently.” But strangely, Justice Bobby Bwalya, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), has denied the existence of ghost voters.