China’s Premier LI to Visit Zambia

By Masauso Mkwayaya

Premier of the Chinese State Council, LI QIANG, will undertake a two-day official visit to Zambia from November 19 to 20, 2025.

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister MULAMBO HAIMBE says the visit aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries and advance key development programmes.

Mr. HAIMBE says Premier LI is travelling at the invitation of President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, with discussions expected to deepen collaboration in trade and investment, transport and logistics, energy, mining, agriculture and technology.

The visit follows President HICHILEMA’s State Visit to China in September 2023, during which Zambia and China elevated their long-standing relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership.

According to the Ministry, Premier LI’s visit reaffirms the continued growth of the historic and mutually beneficial ties between the two nations.

While in Lusaka, Premier LI will hold bilateral talks with President HICHILEMA at State House.

The discussions will include a review of progress on existing agreements and flagship projects such as the revitalisation of the Tanzania–Zambia Railway Authority -TAZARA.

The two leaders are also expected to explore new areas of cooperation under the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation -FOCAC.

Premier LI is scheduled to depart Zambia at the conclusion of his engagements on November 20, 2025.

This is according to a statement issued to ZNBC News by Mr. HAIMBE.

THE CHURCH SHOULD BE FREE TO ADVISE GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION – HON MUNDUBILE.

………says past incidents of insulting or belittling church leaders must never be repeated.

Kabwe………..16th November, 2025 (Smart Eagles)

Patriotic Front Presidential Aspirant Honourable Brian Mundubile has urged the public and Political leaders to frown upon any acts that disrespect church leaders.

This came to light when he addressed congregants at United Church of Zambia (UCZ) St Marks congregation in Kabwe during the service to celebrate 20 years of unbroken service for Rev. Gift Kyembe.

Hon Mundubile said unruly behaviour targeting the Church Leaders undermines the dignity of the church and the order of society.

He said the trend where politicians  get carried away and exchange words with the clergy must come to an end.

Hon Mundubile said respect for the church is non-negotiable and that the church must remain free to advise both the ruling party and the opposition.

“what has been witnessed in the past where the church is called names and disrespected must never be repeated.  The church should be free to advise politicians whether they are in opposition or ruling party. The dignity that should be accorded to the church remains fundamental for us to have an orderly society,” he said.

And Hon Mundubile has called for stronger interaction between the church and government.

He has also noted the need for the revival of the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs and the speedy completion of the House of Prayer.

“There is need for increased and enhanced interaction between the church and government.  The church continues to give spiritual guidance .  We feel there is a strong relationship between the church and government. There must be respect given to the church if we are to have a strong relationship,” said Hon Mundubile.

He said the opposition will continue to provide alternative policies to government in various sectors.

WHY HAKAINDE HICHILEMA HAS FAILED
[Lessons for  others intending to lead Zambia]
______________
Dr. Canisius BANDA, a once close ally of HH now writes ✍️….   

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema has publicly acknowledged that “both government and the nation have failed…’

He has taken responsibility and described the situation as a wake-up call.”

Hakainde Hichilema
President of the Republic of Zambia
October 2025

In-depth Reasons

1. His severe lack of grounding in both domestic and African nationalism. This is a vital requirement for any leader intending to occasion the continental renaissance.

2. His unbridled and unquestionable faith in foreign-led private sector governance.

3. His disdain for the public service and ,view of it as a hindrance and not the required tool for governance and economic anchorage. His sense of being outside the framework of Zambia’s Republican Constitution and capacity to flout and run roughshod with it.

4. His insistence in running government as a business and firm but false belief that government has no business in business. Government is a social construct.

5. His lack of depth on geopolitics and naivety about national strategic positioning. Pandit Nehru and Kenneth Kaunda should have have been his guide posts for non-alignement.

6. His willingness to easily trade moral principle for personal ambition.

7. His social awkwardness with people. His lack of emotional intelligence and people skills. He fails to connect with people as people.

8. His lack of sincerity in dealing with his own team, his overblown sense of self and lack of fearless and competent advisors. He views his Vice President Mutale Nalumango and most of his cabinet ministers as only utilitarian and as redundant/mere padding. His know-it-all attitude is his nemesis.

9. His excessive faith in non-Africans and willingness to dance to their tune regardless of how manipulative it may be.

10. His failure to effectively use the the IDC as a national development vehicle, and the absence of original thought in developing and implementing a home-grown economic recovery and growth plan. His view of debt as a problem. Debt is an asset. The whole world runs on debt.

Dr Canisius BANDA
Development Activist

16 November 2025
__________________

.

 BUILD-UP | PF’s Legal Firestorm Escalates as Sampa Drags Chabinga & Ng’ona to Court; Convention Hangs in Balance

The Patriotic Front (PF) has entered another volatile chapter of its internal breakdown, with fresh court filings by Matero MP Miles Bwalya Sampa escalating a power struggle that is now running parallel to police lockdowns, violent clashes, factional standoffs and a stalled convention process.

This morning, Sampa’s lawyers filed a 36-page affidavit before High Court Judge CC Zulu, seeking committal proceedings for contempt of court against Morgan Ng’ona and Robert Chabinga, two figures at the centre of last week’s Kabwe High Court injunction that shut down PF offices across the country.

The documents, stamped 17 November 2025, mark Sampa’s most aggressive legal counteroffensive yet. In his sworn statement, Sampa argues that Ng’ona (the so-called PF Secretary General) and Chabinga (Mafinga MP) acted “fraudulently” and in “clear disobedience” of the Lusaka High Court ruling of 25 March 2025, which had discharged an earlier stay, restoring Sampa’s decisions to expel Ng’ona and remove Chabinga as Leader of the Opposition

Sampa insists that the Kabwe injunction obtained last week was grounded in misrepresentation and amounts to contempt of court.

These filings come only days after violence erupted at the PF Secretariat in Lusaka, prompting the police to seal off the building. The state claims the move is to prevent further clashes. But online sentiment tells a different story. The People’s Brief monitoring data shows a strong belief among PF supporters and political observers that police presence is serving a secondary political function: enforcing the Chabinga injunction by preventing Lubinda-aligned structures from accessing the Secretariat ahead of the long-overdue PF convention.

The allegations of “state enforcement” have gained traction because Chabinga’s injunction effectively froze PF activities and halted the convention machinery. The PF constitution requires a valid Secretariat and functioning central structures to run a lawful elective conference.

With the Secretariat shut, the convention clock is stuck. And with the police camped at the gates, the Chabinga order whose legitimacy Sampa is now challenging, remains the de facto status quo.

Sampa’s affidavit paints a picture of a party running two parallel states. He recounts the 2023 PF extraordinary conference at Mulungushi where he claims he was legitimately elected president. He outlines the disciplinary measures he took against Ng’ona and Chabinga in 2024.

He lists court rulings that, in his interpretation, validate his authority. And he accuses his rivals of defying binding judicial decisions. The language is unmistakable: Sampa says they have “with impunity disrespected and disobeyed the dignity, authority and jurisdiction” of the court.

Chabinga’s faction, on the other hand, insists it is acting within the law and that the Kabwe injunction reflects the true leadership. Their camp has framed Sampa’s filings as a panic move, arguing he fears the injunction will collapse his claim to the presidency.

The timing is politically sharp: PF presidential aspirants are already campaigning informally. Names like Makebi Zulu, Brian Mundubile, Chitalu Chilufya and Given Lubinda are intensifying their ground work. A locked Secretariat creates a leadership deadlock that benefits factions seeking to delay the convention until their numbers consolidate.

For the ruling UPND, this is politically useful chaos. After the attack on PF Secretariat, Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa condemned the violence but distanced the party from it. He also reminded the public that PF must resolve its internal crisis.

The online reading, however, is far more suspicious: much of the PF base sees the police lockdown as a continuation of the Chingola stoning aftermath, a moment that has shifted political policing into sharper national focus.

With the PF convention now suspended in mid-air, the latest court filings show the party moving deeper into a legal minefield. Sampa wants Ng’ona and Chabinga jailed for contempt.

Chabinga wants PF structures shut. The police want calm. The factions want control. And the 2026 race wants clarity.

For now, PF remains frozen. Two court orders, two centres of power, one sealed Secretariat and a convention nowhere in sight.

© The People’s Brief | Build-Up | PF Convention

THE EDUCATION SECTOR UNDER THE UPND GOVERNMENT IS COLLAPSING, CLAIMS MAKEBI ZULU

He Writes  

Fellow Zambians,

Our education sector is collapsing.

If we were to assess the United Party for National Development’s (UPND) investment in higher education since taking office, we would rate it one out of ten. Since the Patriotic Front left government, there has been no significant development of universities, colleges, or skills training facilities in any part of the our country. We in the Patriotic Front had a clear vision to decentralise education and reduce the need for youths to travel to Lusaka and the Copperbelt just to access it. That vision has been abandoned.

In all our 10 years in office, we built Trades Training Institutes in the following locations:

• Kalabo, serving Sikongo, Kalabo, Mitete, and Nalolo 
• Sesheke, serving Sioma, Shangombo, Mwandi, Sesheke, Mulobezi, and Kazungula 
• Kafue, serving Kafue, Mazabuka, Chikankata, and Chirundu 
• Lundazi, serving Lundazi, Chasefu, Chama, Lumezi, and Chipangali 
• Isoka, serving Isoka, Nakonde, and Mafinga 
• Mwinilunga, serving Mwinilunga, Ikeleng’i, and Kabompo 
• Mumbwa, serving Mumbwa, Itezhi-Tezhi, and Shibuyunji 
• Mwense, serving Mwense, Nchelenge, and Chiengi 
• Kaoma, serving Kaoma, Lukulu, and Nkeyema 

We built Robert Kapasa Makasa University in Chinsali. We modernised Mulungushi University and Kwame Nkrumah University in Kabwe. We upgraded Mukuba University in Kitwe. We constructed a new medical campus in Ndola. We expanded Chalimbana University in Chongwe. We built the Levy Mwanawasa Medical University in Lusaka, to name a few.

And so we urge you fellow Zambians, Do not lose hope. With your support, we shall reclaim the vision and restore Zambia’s educational infrastructure development which will ultimately culminate into our people accessing quality education. We believe that for our country to be successfully developed, her people need to be educated.

MZ

#2026Nyuuuuu  #M8

⬆️  MONITOR | Cadre Tensions, Police Seals PF Secretariat, & The Narrative Control Battle

The People’s Brief has been tracking the escalation around the PF Secretariat since Saturday’s attack. What is unfolding now is no longer just a security story. It is a political perception war, an information battle and a test of state neutrality as Zambia edges toward 2026. The police presence at the Secretariat, the government’s insistence on peace and the online interpretation of these developments form a triangle of tension that needs careful unpacking.

The first development is the visible police deployment at the PF Secretariat. News Diggers and other outlets have reported that officers are camped outside the building. Officially, this is framed as an attempt to prevent further violence and maintain order after Saturday’s chaotic scenes. But online perception tells a different story.

Our sentiment monitoring show a dominant narrative suggesting this police presence is being viewed as the state indirectly enforcing the Chabinga court order. In the eyes of many PF supporters, law enforcement is not keeping peace, but locking down PF operations on behalf of Robert Chabinga, who insists he is the legally recognised PF president. That perception has spread fast because it aligns with existing fears inside the PF that the state is picking a side in their internal dispute.

The government has tried to push back. Chief Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa condemned the attack on the PF Secretariat and distanced the UPND from the violence. He insisted that no cadres were sent and that there will be “no return to caderism” under President Hichilema.

His tone was firm, but online responses show that the public is divided. Non-partisan viewers welcomed the call for law and order. PF supporters, however, framed it as political theatre. The hardline opposition base says Mweetwa is trying to pretend the UPND is clean while ignoring that the attackers wore ruling party regalia. This gap between official assurances and public trust is widening.

Another layer has emerged. UPND-aligned voices have been quietly defending the presence of police at the PF Secretariat, arguing it is a safety measure. But PF platforms have been posting videos and captions claiming the police are “sealing” the Secretariat, not protecting it.

The fact that Chabinga himself announced that PF offices across the country are “out of bounds” has fed a perception that the state is helping him execute his directive. The timing makes the perception stronger: the attack happened days after the court order, the police arrived soon after, and the party’s structures remain split.
Facts and narrative have diverged.

On the UPND side, the worry is different. Sentiment analysis shows many ruling-party supporters fear infiltration. They believe Saturday’s attackers could be PF coordinated effort to embarrass the government and paint the President as losing control. They also fear that premature statements by UPND officials Father Frank Bwalya’s remarks and others on the Chingola stoning fiasco created communication confusion that weakened the party’s credibility when the police later issued a more serious report contradicting them.

This internal concern resurfaced after Mweetwa stressed that he alone speaks for the party. That signal was not lost on the base.

Inside PF, the mood is chaotic. The party is still split between the Lubinda bloc and the Chabinga bloc. The court order shutting the Secretariat until further notice has added legal uncertainty to the internal war. Scenes of police outside the building are being used by both factions to argue legitimacy.

Lubinda’s faction says the order is selective and politically assisted. Chabinga’s faction says law is finally being followed. Meanwhile, aspirants pushing for the convention are unsettled, because without access to the Secretariat, mobilisation and verification processes are compromised.

Across social media, the dominant narrative is that the state has entered the ring, whether intentionally or through perception. In Zambia, perception often eclipses fact. If large sections of the opposition believe the government is helping Chabinga, the state risks being framed as partisan even if it is not.

If sections of the ruling party believe there is an attempt to destabilise the President through manufactured violence, the UPND risks sliding back into the opposition mindset that has already damaged its communication strategy.

What is clear from our monitoring is that the PF meltdown has now become a national mood influencer. The violence in Chingola, the stoning of the President, the arrests, the attack on the Secretariat and the police deployment have created a charged environment where every move is politicised.

The government must manage perception. The PF must resolve its internal war. And law enforcement must demonstrate equal application of the law. The stakes are rising, and the battle for narrative control has already begun.

© The People’s Brief  | Monitor Desk

Hamaamba Has Crossed the Line Into Cadre Behaviour – Njobvu

Democratic Union President Ackim Antony Njobvu says Deputy Inspector General of Police, Fred Hamaamba, has “crossed the line into cadre behaviour” after issuing partisan remarks in Nakonde.

This follows Hamaamba’s own assurance that the Zambia Police Service under his command would not tolerate caderism a pledge Njobvu says now rings hollow.

While addressing residents, Hamaamba urged citizens and state institutions to fully support President Hakainde Hichilema, describing him as a visionary leader. The comments have sparked outrage, with critics arguing that such endorsements have no place in the mouth of a senior civil servant.

Njobvu says the Deputy IG’s statement is not only careless but openly partisan.

He insists the police must remain neutral and not be seen taking sides, especially from someone holding the second-highest position in the service.

“The police should be above party politics. What Hamaamba said is deeply concerning and raises questions about the fairness of the police as we head into next year’s elections,” Njobvu said.

He added that such conduct undermines confidence in the service and contradicts the professional principles Hamaamba claims to champion

According to Njobvu, the Deputy IG’s remarks are “hypocritical and unbecoming of a civil servant,” particularly one entrusted with national security responsibilities.

He questioned whether citizens can expect impartial law enforcement when those at the top are making politically coloured statements.

Njobvu, speaking in an interview in Lusaka, urged the police command to uphold its constitutional mandate and avoid dragging the service into partisan politics.

©️ KUMWESU | November 17, 2025