Police arrest four over planned loadshedding protests in Lusaka, as vehicle runs over one-year-old

Police in Lusaka have arrested four individuals for attempting to protest against loadshedding at ZESCO Headquarters.

According to Police Deputy Public Relations Officer, Danny Mwale, the four suspects were apprehended at ZESCO Headquarters around 08:30 hours on Wednesday.

In a statement, Mwale identified the suspects as Rizchy Pataky, aged 35, Thomson Luzandi, aged 35, Muputa Ngalande, aged 32, and Nawa Sitali, aged 25, all of Lusaka.

“They are detained in custody for the offence of idle and disorderly conduct,” he stated.

Meanwhile, good governance activist Wesley Miyanda has urged the public not to pressure ZESCO.

“People should understand that this is a natural calamity,” Miyanda said.

He told Zambia Monitor in an interview that ZESCO was doing everything in its power to ensure that power was readily available for all its customers and that the police did not infringe on anyone’s rights by arresting the protesters.

“The police were doing their job,” he added.

In a separate incident, Mwale reported that a one-and-a-half-year-old baby was run over by a car parked at a neighbor’s house in the Six Miles area of Chibombo District.

“Police investigations revealed that the incident occurred on July 9, 2024, around 9:30 hours when the deceased left home to play at the neighbor’s house, about 200 meters away. The baby went under the vehicle, a Toyota Noah bearing registration ABT 9503,” he said.

The driver, not noticing the child under the vehicle, started moving, thereby running over the baby and killing him instantly.

“Police officers rushed the baby to the University Teaching Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The body is in the hospital mortuary awaiting post-mortem,” Mwale pointed out.

He stated that the police have opened an inquiry file into the incident.

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