🇿🇲 POLLING BRIEF | Tonse Rejects Claims Russia-Trained Security Team Planned Electoral Disruption
The Tonse Alliance has rejected government allegations linking three of its security personnel who trained in Russia to plans to disrupt Zambia’s electoral process.
Speaking for NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile, George Chisanga said the three men travelled to Russia for VVIP security training, following what the alliance says were threats against Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu during the campaign.
Chisanga identified the men as Victor Muziamba, Dixon Tembo and Gideon Kalopa. He denied their training had any treasonous or election-related purpose, maintaining it was intended solely to strengthen security around the alliance leadership.
The government has previously said security agencies intercepted three Zambians returning from abroad and alleged they had undergone military-related training. Authorities have treated the matter as a national security investigation.
Chisanga has meanwhile alleged the three are being held without access to lawyers or relatives and called for the accusations to be tested before a court. Those claims about their conditions of detention have not independently been established.
The dispute now presents two competing accounts of the same foreign training: the state says it raises national-security concerns; Tonse says it was legitimate protective-security training. The investigation remains ongoing.
-The People’s Brief | Goran Handya