POLITICAL | Mwila Declares PF “Dead” as Civil War Deepens
The Patriotic Front is back in headlines after former Secretary General Davies Mwila publicly declaring that “PF is dead” and urging members to “join other political parties.” His remarks, made during a News Diggers interview, have triggered a fresh round of internal brawls, counter-attacks, and loyalty tests ahead of a still-suspended convention.
Mwila, a long-time power broker and current Mundubile ally, did not hold back. He said Given Lubinda, who is acting party president, lacks both legitimacy and capacity to reunite the fractured organisation.
“There is no difference between Hakainde Hichilema and Given Lubinda,” Mwila said.
“They are all destructive, they always bring divisions in leadership.”
That line has become the most circulated among PF structures on WhatsApp. It is a politically loaded comparison. Mwila is accusing Lubinda of the same national-level failures PF attributes to Hichilema: division, confusion, and loss of cohesion. It is a message designed to isolate Lubinda from the PF base while drawing sympathy toward Mundubile’s camp.
Yet, within hours, the counter-punch came.
Miles Sampa, Lubinda’s ally, who continues to speak for a growing faction, dismissed Mwila as the author of PF’s 2021 defeat.
“Davies Mwila should shut up,” Sampa wrote.
“He made PF and President Lungu lose through violent cadres and wrong MP adoptions he sold to the highest bidders.”
This is the first time Sampa has publicly named Mwila as the centre of 2021 failure in such blunt terms. And it sets the stage for three competing narratives in PF:
• Mwila’s narrative: PF is dead under Lubinda; save yourself and leave.
• Lubinda’s narrative: PF is intact; the confusion is manufactured by expelled or suspended members.
• Sampa’s narrative: Mwila and Kambwili destroyed PF’s cohesion long before 2021; Lubinda is protecting the remnants.
The party’s internal processes remain frozen. The postponed general conference has no new date. Court injunctions, parallel structures and rival secretariats have created a constitutional vacuum.
Mwila says this paralysis is deliberate, alleging Lubinda “knows he cannot win” and is avoiding the conference to preserve control. “If he can fail to unite PF, what about a country?” Mwila charged.
PF insiders who spoke anonymously to The People’s Brief say the current hostility reflects the final collapse of PF’s succession matrix, which was never resolved after President Lungu’s exit.
These sources argue that Mwila’s declaration of PF’s death is designed to pressure Lubinda’s camp into releasing control of the party leadership and conference agenda.
The public reaction has been equally fierce. PF purists are mocking Mwila’s “political prophecy” record, arguing that his warnings of PF members going to jail were self-fulfilling because he oversaw the same violent ecosystem that collapsed the party.
Meanwhile, Sampa supporters are celebrating his counter-attack as evidence that he means well
For a party heading into a general election cycle, these divisions are catastrophic. PF is yet to present a unified candidate, a unified ideology, or even a unified secretariat. The convention suspension deepens the uncertainty.
The only political certainty today is this: PF’s internal fights have reached a level where leaders are telling supporters to walk away.
This is unprecedented.
© The People’s Brief | Goran Handya