🇿🇲 VIEWPOINT | UPND Must Stop Pretending: Violence is Returning
What happened on Wednesday was not just a nomination dispute. It was a warning sign.
For a party that rose to power promising to end cadre violence, restore order, and civilise Zambia’s political culture, the scenes surrounding UPND nominations looked painfully familiar. Videos circulating online showed former Cabinet Minister Gary Nkombo being confronted and physically attacked in full view of police officers while attempting to file nomination papers as an independent candidate in Mazabuka Central after falling out with the ruling party’s adoption process.
The symbolism could not have been worse.
This was not the opposition disrupting a ruling party event. This was the ruling party turning on one of its own, publicly, aggressively, and almost casually. Even more damaging was the presence of law enforcement officers who appeared unable, unwilling, or hesitant to immediately stop the disorder. Naturally, the opposition moved quickly and mockingly. Social media exploded with sarcasm. “We were told UPND has no cadres,” some wrote. “Those must have been angels doing evangelism.” The ridicule was brutal because it touched a sensitive political nerve.
The UPND must understand the danger here.
It was elected partly because many Zambians had grown exhausted with the Patriotic Front’s cadre culture. Under PF, nomination centres, bus stations, markets, and even police presence often became associated with intimidation and mob politics. The UPND built its moral legitimacy around the promise that it would be different. Calm. Democratic. Civilian. Law-based. That is why Wednesday’s scenes matter far beyond Mazabuka.
President Hakainde Hichilema reacted quickly, which politically was the correct thing to do. “Scenes of individuals trying to prevent the lawful filing of nominations are unacceptable, undemocratic, and a direct violation of the rule of law,” he said. He further directed police to arrest those responsible and warned that Zambia is “governed by laws, not intimidation, violence, or mob conduct.”
But statements alone will not calm public anxiety.
Zambians are now watching for consistency between presidential rhetoric and political conduct on the ground. The real question is no longer whether the President condemns violence. The real question is whether the ruling party machinery itself has begun reproducing the same political culture it once condemned.
And this is where the police become central to the conversation.
What exactly were officers doing while a senior political figure was being harassed publicly? Why do police often appear highly effective when dispersing opposition gatherings, yet strangely passive during ruling party disorder? These are uncomfortable questions, but they are now unavoidable. Institutions are judged not by speeches, but by visible conduct during moments of tension.
The violence also exposes something deeper inside the UPND: pressure.
After nearly five years in power, adoption battles are becoming brutal because political survival is now attached to the ruling party ticket. MPs, mayors, councillors, businessmen, and local strongmen all understand that being adopted under the ruling party dramatically improves one’s electoral chances. That naturally creates desperation, factionalism, and resentment, especially where long-serving members feel discarded or where independents threaten official candidates.
What happened in Mumbwa on the same day reinforced this. Two rival candidates reportedly attempted to file nominations for the same parliamentary seat under the UPND banner. That is not merely confusion. It reflects unresolved tensions inside the party structure itself.
The danger for the UPND is not just violence. It is familiarity.
Because once voters begin saying, “This is exactly what PF used to do,” the ruling party starts losing the moral distinction that brought it into office. Elections are not only fought on roads, schools, and economic numbers. They are also fought on perception, discipline, and political behaviour.
No serious democracy can normalize violence simply because it occurs within the ruling party. If anything, ruling parties carry a heavier burden because state power already tilts the political field in their favour. Once intimidation enters that equation, public trust begins eroding quietly but steadily.
The UPND still has time to correct course. But introspection is needed urgently.
Otherwise, the party risks becoming what it once campaigned against.
© The People’s Brief | Ollus R. Ndomu