LILLIAN MUTAMBO AND THE POLITICS OF MISINFORMATION: A CALCULATED AGENDA AGAINST HON. MAKEBI ZULU
…her calculated effort is to promote propaganda on behalf of Hon. Brian Mundubile, while simultaneously working to discredit, undermine, and politically eliminate Hon. Makebi Zulu…
By Michael Zephaniah Phiri Political Activist
Those who have consistently followed the public commentary and political activism of Lillian Mutambo can clearly attest that her recent conduct has nothing to do with objectivity, patriotism, or unity.
What we are witnessing is a deliberate, sustained, and calculated effort to promote propaganda on behalf of Hon. Brian Mundubile, while simultaneously working to discredit, undermine, and politically eliminate Hon. Makebi Zulu.
Lillian Mutambo has positioned herself not as an independent voice, but as a political megaphone one that praises Hon. Mundubile uncritically while threatening to decampaign him the moment her personal views or directives are not followed. This alone exposes the transactional nature of her activism: loyalty is demanded, not earned.
Most troubling is her repeated public insistence that Hon. Makebi Zulu had stepped down as a presidential candidate a claim that was false, misleading, and clearly designed to psychologically edge him out of the race to pave the way for Hon. Brian Mundubile. This was not a mistake. It was political engineering through misinformation.
The same pattern emerged when Lillian Mutambo loudly championed calls for the arrest of Hon. Makebi Zulu upon his arrival at the airport. No arrest was made. No charges were announced. Yet she persisted in pushing a narrative that the UPND government was planning to arrest him a narrative meant to provoke sympathy for Hon. Mundubile while portraying Hon. Makebi Zulu as a political liability. When reality refused to cooperate with her storyline, she did not retract. She doubled down.
Today, the question is simple: how can the nation trust someone who openly wished to see a fellow citizen and political leader imprisoned for doing nothing wrong?
Anyone with open eyes can see how this political chess game is being played. The same camp that loudly claims it has “moved on” from the Patriotic Front leadership cried the loudest over a perceived expulsion by President Given Lubinda. If the so-called train they claim to be on was truly moving and full, such panic and emotional responses would never have surfaced. The truth is unavoidable: the train is stuck.
Those who have been using Lillian Mutambo to push factional agendas must seriously rethink their strategy. Political manipulation may work for a season, but it never survives truth.
Contrast this with Hon. Makebi Zulu’s return from South Africa. His message was not one of insults, fear, or threats but of unity, peace, and national healing. On Let the People Talk, hosted by Frank Mutubila, he made it abundantly clear that his ambition is secondary to unity. He went as far as stating that if unity demands it, he is prepared to step aside even to serve as a councillor so long as the opposition fields one candidate and the country remains peaceful.
That is LILLIAN MUTAMBO AND THE POLITICS OF MISINFORMATION: A CALCULATED AGENDA AGAINST HON. MAKEBI ZULU.
That is leadership.
What clearly unsettles Lillian Mutambo and her allies is the undeniable momentum Hon. Makebi Zulu has generated in just three to four months. While Hon. Brian Mundubile has been pushing his ambition since 2022, the public response has not matched the effort. The numbers speak. Hon. Makebi Zulu’s social media following and public engagement surpass that of Hon. Mundubile, and that reality has made certain quarters deeply uncomfortable.
The truth many fear to admit is this: Hon. Makebi Zulu carries the political and moral face of the late President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. He stood with him when it was unfashionable, when it was risky, and when opportunists chose silence. That history cannot be erased by online propaganda or coordinated misinformation.
Lillian Mutambo would be better advised to focus her energy on pushing the political project she believes in, rather than attempting to downplay or demonize Hon. Makebi Zulu. If President Given Lubinda truly “wasted time,” as her allies claim, then why the tears? Why the desperation to remain associated with PF structures they themselves declared empty shells; especially, after former Secretary General Davies Mwila publicly stated that President Lubinda was left with nothing?
One cannot abandon a house, declare it empty, burn it in words, and then cry when the door is closed.
Zambians are watching. They are listening. And they are no longer fooled by loud voices that mistake propaganda for truth.