Zambia’s electoral commission has confirmed that last week’s presidential election was won by the opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema (pictured above).
Hichilema of United Party for National Development defeated his main rival, the outgoing President Edgar Lungu, by more than a million votes.
In its final tally, the electoral commission said Hichilema had won 2,810,777 votes to Lungu’s 1,814,201 in Thursday’s election. There were seven million registered voters.
The landslide win means Hichilema will not have to fight a run-off contest.
Hichilema nicknamed HH has contested five times in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016 and won the 2021 election.
Hichilema is married to Mutinta and has three children. He is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Hichilema is a millionaire and the second-largest cattle rancher in Zambia.
He was born to a poor family in the southern district of Monze, but says his “grit and determination” at school won him a scholarship to the University of Zambia. He graduated with a degree in economics and business administration before getting an MBA degree at Britain’s University of Birmingham.
By the age of 26, he was CEO of the Zambian branch of a large international accountancy firm, according to his party.
He worked his way up to become one of the country’s wealthiest men, with business interests spanning finance, ranching, property, healthcare and tourism.
Critics view him as a political outsider, an economic jargon-touting corporate leader who was catapulted into politics following the 2006 death of Anderson Mazoka, former leader of the UPND, a party Hichilema bankrolled then.
In December 2014, he denied being a Freemason and labelled people accusing him as malicious. He also sued Bishop Edward Chomba of the Orthodox Church for defamation after the former called him a Satanist and a Freemason.
Early life and career
Hichilema was born on 4 June 1962 in a village in Monze District in present-day Zambia. The businessman received a scholarship to study at the University of Zambia and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration. He thereafter pursued an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. He served as the chief executive officer of both Coopers and Lybrand Zambia (1994–1998) and Grant Thornton Zambia (1998–2006).
Political career
He is a member of the opposition United Party for National Development, a liberal political party. Following the death of Anderson Mazoka in 2006, he was elected as the party’s new President. He also served as the leader of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), an alliance of three opposition political parties.
In the 2006 election, Hichilema was the candidate of the UDA and ran against incumbent president Levy Mwanawasa of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy and Patriotic Front candidate Michael Sata. He received the endorsement of former President Kenneth Kaunda. The election was held on 28 September 2006 and Hichilema took third place with about 25% of the vote.
Hichilema ran as the UPND candidate in the 2008 election, which was called following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa.
He came 3rd with 19.7% of the vote. In June 2009, Hichilema’s party, the UPND, formed a pact with Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front (PF) to contest the 2011 election together. However, indecision on the pact candidate, deep mistrust and accusations of tribalism from both sides resulted in the collapse of the pact in March 2011.
He was one of the two main candidates in the January 2015 presidential election, which he lost by a narrow margin of 27,757 votes (1.66%) against the ruling party’s candidate, Edgar Lungu. Hichilema denounced the election as a sham and urged his supporters to remain calm
He again faced Lungu as the main opposition candidate in the August 2016 presidential election, and was again narrowly defeated.
In April 2017, he was arrested on suspicion of treason and charged with attempting to overthrow the government. He was in prison for 4 months before being given a Nolle prosequi.
Arrest & treason charge
Hichilema was arrested on 11 April 2017. On the night of 11 April 2017, the Zambian Police broke and entered Hakainde Hichilema’s compound to arrest the country’s main opposition leader, ordered by President Edgar Lungu’s government and charged with treason after he was accused of endangering the president’s life after his motorcade allegedly refused to give way to the one transporting President Lungu, a case which many viewed as a minor traffic offence and not one that could amount to treason. Hichilema strongly denied the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of death penalty.
Police misconduct during arrest
The police used excessive force to enter Hichilema’s residence damaging his home and property, beat up all his workers, stole colossal sums of money, jewellery, as well as underwear, shoes, speakers, blankets, carpets and food from the kitchen and defecated on Mr. Hichilema’s bed.
Teargas canisters were thrown inside Hichilema’s home gassing Hichilema, his asthmatic wife, and his children, who collapsed several times due to inhaling the gas.
Hichilema’s arrest was widely condemned. The United States, the European Union and the European Parliament denounced the arrest. The Africa Liberal Network condemned the arrest as an attempt by President Lungu to silence dissent and opposition. The Catholic bishops strongly condemned the arrest and said Zambia had become a dictatorship under President Edgar Lungu
Time in jail
Hichilema said in an interview on HARDtalk that during his time in prison he was held in solitary confinement for eight days without food, water, light or visitation, was tortured by having his private parts pepper sprayed, and accused president Lungu of having tried to kill him.
His wife, Mutinta, was turned away by prison officials when she took food for him.
Hichilema’s arrest was the subject of the episode of Al Jazeera’s The Stream TV program titled Is Zambia’s Democracy in Danger which aired on 30 May 2017.
High-profile jail visitations
Zambia’s first president Kenneth Kaunda was turned away by prison officials when he visited Hichilema in Prison.
Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa) was also turned away by Zambia Police when he came to Zambia to attend Hichilema’s court appearance, he was not allowed to disembark from the plane, had his phone confiscated and was roughed up.
This prompted South Africa’s Foreign Ministry to summon Zambia’s Ambassador to South Africa Emmanuel Mwamba to explain the actions of the Zambian regime.
Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo visited Hichilema in prison.
Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Baroness Patricia Scotland visited Hichilema in prison twice.
State of emergency
While Hichilema was in Jail, President Lungu imposed a state of emergency, a move critics saw as an effort to tighten his grip on power.
Protests
Protests broke out in Zambia, South Africa and the United Kingdom demanding the release of Hichilema and condemning Edgar Lungu’s authoritarian rule and deteriorating human rights in Zambia.
Release from prison
Celebrations took place throughout Zambia when Hichilema was released from prison on 16 August 2017 and scores of people lined up the roads of Lusaka to have a glimpse of Hichilema as his motorcade left prison.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, congratulated the Zambian authorities for dropping the treason charges against Hichilema and releasing him from prison.
Thanksgiving prayers were held to celebrate Hichilema’s release from jail at the Cathedral of Holy Cross in Lusaka on 29 August 2017 and Hichilema was present at the event which drew large crowds and was aired live on television. The event was originally scheduled to take place the previous week on 24 August but was blocked by heavily armed state police who sealed off the venue.
Hichilema became more popular after his release and was awarded the Africa Freedom Award in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was invited to speak at Catham House in London and was also invited to speak in South Africa by Democratic Alliance Members of Parliament.
A book about Hichilema’s time in Prison called Hakainde Hichilema’s Prison Diary was released on 29 September 2017 by Journalist Fredrick Misebezi. Hichilema endorsed the book and urged the public to read it.
Awards
Hichilema was conferred with the Africa Freedom Award by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom on 27 October 2017 at an event held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Speeches
Hichilema was invited to speak at The Royal Institute of International Affairs, commonly known as Chatham House, on 31 November 2017. He was the first Zambian to speak at Chatham House.
-Agencies
