Mr Chabota C. Mweetwa, spokesperson for the Movement for Good Governance, called on people from Southern Province who reject the region’s dominant politics to stop hiding their views. Those who think differently, he said, face rejection at home, in church and in their villages, but are far more numerous than they realise. He urged the community to rally behind one another, reminding them that they should prioritize their identity as Zambians, resonating with his own motto: ‘I Am Zambian First, Tonga Last’. Mr Chabota Mweetwa’s voice is crucial in this movement.

A Tonga and a campaigner with the Tonse Alliance, Mr Mweetwa is better known to his online following as ThatRantingGuy. He delivered the message in a video addressed to his “free-thinking brothers and sisters from the South,” speaking as one of them.

Mr Chabota Mweetwa encourages everyone to embrace their diverse backgrounds while standing united for a common cause.

Mr Chabota Mweetwa believes that unity among diverse voices, including his own, is essential for progress in Southern Province.

“I want to tell you that you’re not alone. In fact, we are many,” he said. What holds them back, in his view, is not numbers but nerve: “The issue we are facing is the courage to step out and speak out, to prove that we are diverse in mindset. We need to support leaders like Chabota Mweetwa who encourage open dialogue and inclusiveness in our communities.”

To illustrate the point, he read out a message from a man in the province who had written in his comment section. The man said he too spoke out against the conduct of fellow Tongas, had been treated as an enemy since the United Party for National Development (UPND) was formed, and regarded the deep tribal attachment among his people as a very huge problem.

The reaction to his own views told the same story. One commenter wrote to him: “You are the most useless Tonga I have ever seen. Why do you always attack Southern Province?” His reply was blunt. “If being Tonga means subscribing to a primitive mindset, then I don’t want to be Tonga anymore. That’s what I believe.”

Such hostility, he explained, grows out of heavy social pressure within the province to move as one. “Anyone that thinks differently from the flock is automatically a black sheep.”

The church offers no escape. After some followers questioned why an earlier message of his had referred to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he used the video to set the record straight. “I have nothing wrong with the SDA. I’m SDA,” he said. “What I have a problem with is the people who attend the church and then behave in a primitive manner.”

His own place in the pews did not survive his politics. Because he backs the opposition and criticises the administration of President Hakainde Hichilema, which he described as a democratic tenet, the atmosphere at church turned against him. “Immediately I go to church, you just see the looks they give you,” he said. He eventually stopped attending, though his belief in Adventist doctrine remains intact.

In his telling, the pressure begins long before the church door. Within families, a relative from the South who supports the opposition can be branded a disgrace, and some households go as far as trying to disown them. “We face it at church, we face it in our homes, we even face it when we go back home to the village.”

That fear keeps many silent in public. People who share his views write to him privately rather than comment openly, worried about upsetting relatives or being seen differently at work.

Mr Mweetwa acknowledged the cost of breaking that silence. “I know how hard that is, and I know how difficult it is to step out of the dark. There’s so much there to lose,” he said. “But one thing I’ll tell you for sure is this: our country matters more.”

He drew a contrast with other regions under previous governments. When Edgar Lungu was President, people from Eastern Province criticised him heavily, while Bemba-speaking Zambians were openly hard on Michael Sata. In the South today, many are afraid to say a word against the government of the day.

“That’s not right. That’s not healthy at all,” he said. “We shouldn’t live in fear to speak out simply because you’re afraid to not be part of the group anymore.”

He closed by inviting those who feel isolated to reach out to him, and with the line that carried his whole message. “The country is bigger than a tribe. I am Zambian first, Tonga last.”

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