IS THE TONSE ALLIANCE IN FREE FALL – AND WHO IS TO BLAME?
Political Commentary | Lusaka, Zambia
What we are watching is not confusion. It is consequence. The Tonse Alliance is not collapsing because of enemies outside. It is fracturing because of failures within. This week did not create the crisis. It merely exposed it, brutally and in daylight.
Within hours, the country was served three irreconcilable realities. A formal withdrawal letter from Patriots for Economic Progress. A public disowning of an “illegal” Tonse Alliance meeting by the Patriotic Front. And a sweeping declaration by Prof. Danny Pule announcing constitutional changes, interim leadership, and a fast tracked presidential selection process. These positions cannot all be true at the same time. Yet they exist together. That is the point. That is the problem.
At the centre of this wreckage sits Honourable Given Lubinda.
Leadership is tested in moments of uncertainty. Tonse Alliance has been uncertain since the death of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. Under Lubinda’s watch, that uncertainty has hardened into paralysis. Meetings are contested. Authority is disputed. Allies are alienated. Parties are exiting. This is not bad luck. It is failure to lead.
You cannot preside over an alliance where one hand issues directives while another nullifies them. You cannot call for unity while allowing chaos to become the organising principle. Tonse is sliding, and it is sliding under Lubinda’s stewardship.
Then there is Chris Zumani Zimba.
He must be confronted with a hard truth. The ECL legacy does not belong to him. It never did. He holds no moral, political, or historical mandate to speak for President Lungu posthumously. The public knows this. The party knows this. Continuing to posture as the custodian of that legacy is not only dishonest, it is destructive.
President Lungu’s name is not a tool for factional leverage. It is not a shield for political manoeuvres. And it is not a licence for impunity. Zumani Zimba has become a dent in that legacy, not a defender of it. The honourable thing would be to step back and stop dishonouring a name that belongs to the nation.
The PF’s deeper wound, however, remains unresolved.
Honourable Miles Sampa lit the match in 2023 when he convened an illegal convention. That act fractured the party, opened the door to endless litigation, and handed the ruling establishment a permanent weapon of interference. Since then, the PF has refused to deal honestly with that original sin.
This is the part many want to skip. You cannot heal what you refuse to acknowledge. Miles Sampa must own his role in this mess and do whatever it takes to repair it. Pride has already cost the party too much.
The ruling party did not create this disorder, but it has certainly exploited it. The continued confusion around Robert Chabinga is not accidental. It is strategic. And it works only because the PF keeps handing over ammunition.
Then came the shock.
Rev Dr. Danny Pule’s actions are not merely controversial. They are a betrayal of process, trust, and collective discipline. Convening a virtual meeting that purports to dissolve PF’s standing within Tonse, amend the constitution, and install interim leadership while court matters remain unresolved was reckless.
The result was predictable. Mr Sean Tembo walked. His letter is not emotional. It is clinical. It cites bickering, paralysis, and loss of public confidence. That is not the language of a man looking for drama. It is the language of someone cutting losses.
And let us be clear. Pastor Peter Chanda’s earlier exit was not accidental either. The vehicle President Lungu left for electoral participation was the NCP. Internal manoeuvres, particularly by Lubinda, strangled that option. The cost of that miscalculation is now obvious.
This is no longer about Tonse versus PF versus personalities. It is about maturity.
The PF presidential hopefuls need to snap out of this stupor. Ego has replaced strategy. Narcissism has replaced calculation. No one beats Hakainde Hichilema in 2026 while compromised, divided, and litigated into paralysis..
Reality is unforgiving.
Only Counsel Makebi Zulu can legitimately claim and represent the ECL legacy. That is not sentiment. It is fact grounded in loyalty, consistency, and political posture.
Honourable Chishimba Kambwili remains the only figure with raw, organic crowd pulling power, regardless of venue or circumstance. Ignore that at your peril.
And Mr. Willah Mudolo flirting with Robert Chabinga is not strategy. It is tragic comedy. Chabinga will take the money, leave the wreckage, and move on. History is not subtle about this.
As for Honourable Brian Mundubile, the truth is uncomfortable but necessary. You cannot fight Hakainde Hichilema while compromised. You cannot posture as opposition while entangled in contradictions that sap credibility.
What is unfolding now is not a temporary storm. It is a reckoning.
The question is simple. Will the PF and its allies confront reality, clean their house, and think rationally? Or will they continue this slow, public unravelling while pretending it is strategy?
History is watching. Voters are watching. And unlike internal meetings, they do not accept null and void excuses.