TONSE ALLIANCE’S GOLDEN CALF: WHY SHORTCUTS AND DECEPTION WILL NOT DELIVER VICTORY
The biblical narrative of the golden calf serves as a stark warning about human impatience and the dangerous allure of political shortcuts. While Moses delayed on Mount Sinai, the Israelites grew highly anxious, panicked, and demanded an immediate, visible object of worship to bypass their long journey. They melted their gold, fashioned a hollow idol, and engaged in wild, artificial revelry to celebrate a false god.
Today, this exact narrative mirrors the strategy of the Tonse Alliance. Growing impatient with the discipline required to rebuild a shattered nation, they have manufactured a political golden calf in the form of Brian Mundubile. They are hoisting him up as a quick-fix messiah to a frustrated audience, promising instant solutions to complex national challenges.
However, much like the original idol of Exodus, the Tonse Alliance’s golden calf is entirely blank on substance and policy. The alliance and its vocal supporters are actively trying to deceive Zambians by manufacturing imaginary crises out of thin air. Where real economic bottlenecks and financial pressures do exist, they conveniently omit the truth: these very problems were created by these same politicians during their previous disastrous tenure in power. Realizing they lack a credible, structured plan to legitimately govern, they have abandoned rigorous debate for a frantic political shortcut, gambling that the electorate has forgotten the origin of Zambia’s economic wounds.
This opportunistic impatience exposes an opposition coalition that remains corrupt to the core. They cannot wait for the legal, democratic process to yield results because their primary objective is a rapid return to the feeding trough of state resources. Transforming a damaged national economy requires laying a solid foundation, which demands time, transparency, and structural reforms. The Tonse leaders despise this methodical approach because it blocks the avenues of corruption they previously enjoyed. They are offering a hollow idol precisely because they have no genuine desire to serve, only an urgent hunger to reclaim power through manipulation and deceit.
Shockingly, those supporting this manufactured alliance are already forgetting the intense suffering, violence, and economic decay they endured under the Patriotic Front (PF) regime. Today, some misguided voices are effectively declaring that they miss the “whipping and slavery in Egypt.” They are romanticizing an era defined by hyperinflation, lawlessness, and systemic oppression simply because the current reconstruction process requires patience. To long for the return of the very perpetrators who crippled Zambia’s financial standing is a tragic display of political amnesia, trading a sustainable future for the immediate comfort of familiar captors.
In sharp contrast to this chaotic posturing, President Hakainde Hichilema is focused on building a strong, resilient economy by methodically laying a bulletproof foundation. True national development cannot be conjured out of thin air or through empty political promises. The current administration’s systematic reforms are designed to fix the structural rot inherited from the past, ensuring long-term stability and genuine prosperity for all citizens. This disciplined governance is the antithesis of the opposition’s frantic shortcuts, prioritizing the actual welfare of the country over superficial political wins.
Ultimately, all the deceptive efforts of the Tonse Alliance will be utterly condemned when Zambians head to the polls. On August 13, voters will definitively reject the false promises of a blank golden calf and the corrupt shortcuts of a desperate opposition.
The citizens of Zambia will see through the manufactured narratives and remember the true source of their past hardships. By casting their ballots for stable, proven leadership and tangible economic progress, the electorate will shatter this modern political idol once and for all, ensuring the nation continues moving forward rather than retreating into past subjugation.
Guest Article
(c) Shipungu June 27, 2026