Mundubile Pledges to Protect and Work With Hichilema After August Polls

Mundubile Pledges to Protect and Work With Hichilema After August Polls

Opposition candidate vows no persecution of incumbent; announces plans for traditional affairs ministry and youth economic desk at State House

KABWE, Zambia — Brian Mundubile, the presidential candidate of the opposition Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance, used a campaign rally in Kabwe on Monday to make an unusual public commitment: if elected, he would not persecute President Hakainde Hichilema, would provide him with government aircraft for official travel, and would engage him in the kind of elder-statesman assignments that former African heads of state are customarily called upon to fulfil.

The pledge, delivered to thousands of supporters at Makululu Township during the Alliance’s second major rally in two days, contrasted with much of the sharper political rhetoric that has featured during the campaign period.

“I will not persecute President Hichilema when he becomes a former president,” Mundubile told the crowd. “Instead, I will work with him and make use of his experience in areas where former heads of state are needed.”

He added: “I will make sure he is comfortable. I will avail aeroplanes to take him where duty will call for the statesman role that an African former leader plays. We are one people.”

The remarks were directed not only at Hichilema but also at members of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), whom Mundubile explicitly addressed.

“My colleagues and friends in the UPND — this is just politics and it is about the people of Zambia. I will not come with vengeance.”

Zambia is scheduled to hold a general election on August 13, 2026, in which Mundubile, a former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and a member of the National Restoration Party United People (NRPUP), will contest against incumbent President Hichilema, who came to power in August 2021 after defeating then-president Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front.

Beyond the Hichilema pledge, Mundubile used the Kabwe platform to outline key policy commitments for a Tonse-Pamodzi government.

He announced plans to reinstate the Ministry of Traditional Affairs, which was abolished under the current administration. Mundubile said traditional leaders and institutions deserved a dedicated government ministry to acknowledge their role in governance, culture and community cohesion, a position that resonated with an audience for whom traditional authority remains an active part of civic life.

He also pledged to establish a Youth Entrepreneurs Desk at State House, describing it as a direct access point for young Zambians seeking business loans, mentorship and economic opportunity. Positioning the desk at State House, he said, was a deliberate signal that youth economic empowerment would be treated as a presidential priority rather than a peripheral departmental function.

Mundubile’s running mate, Makebi Zulu, addressed the same rally and offered a sharp assessment of the Hichilema administration’s record.

Zulu, a lawyer, invoked an extended analogy to describe the UPND’s tenure: a man who persuades a woman to leave her husband with a grand promise, then four years into the new relationship has still not delivered on it.

“He convinced her that he could do what her husband had failed to do. The woman chased away her husband and accepted the new man. But four years later, the man is still warming up and doing push-ups, without fulfilling the promise that made the woman leave her husband in the first place,” Zulu told the crowd.

He cited specific concerns, including farmers receiving inadequate fertiliser allocations, poor road infrastructure in Kabwe, rising commodity prices, persistent unemployment and cyber legislation that the opposition has long maintained is used to suppress public dissent.

“If people are hungry, how will the government know they are hungry if they are not allowed to speak?” Zulu said. “People must be free to express themselves.”

On cyber law, Zulu, who noted that both he and Mundubile were trained lawyers, said a Tonse-Pamodzi government would repeal legislation he described as being deployed to silence citizens.

He closed his address by framing the UPND’s governance record in stark terms.

“They told people that commodity prices would come down. They promised jobs. They came into office, but they have failed to do what they promised. They have been eating alone while the people are suffering.”

Monday’s rally in Kabwe followed a campaign launch in Kitwe on Saturday, the Alliance’s first major public mobilisation of the formal election period. The back-to-back events, drawing substantial crowds in two major urban centres, signal that the Alliance intends to contest the election aggressively across multiple regions.

The Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance has framed its campaign around three central themes: freedom, jobs and economic reset. Each theme is aimed at a distinct segment of the electorate. Freedom speaks to civil society organisations and journalists who have criticised the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act. Jobs addresses the youth demographic, widely regarded as one of the most influential voting groups in the country. Economic reset is aimed at voters concerned about the rising cost of living since 2021.

The UPND government has maintained that macroeconomic fundamentals are improving, pointing to debt restructuring progress and reductions in the fiscal deficit. The Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance maintains that those indicators have not yet translated into improved conditions for many households.

Zambia, like several countries in the region, has experienced recurring public discussion over how former heads of state are treated after leaving office.

Hichilema himself was detained for four months in 2017 under the PF administration, on charges his supporters said were politically motivated. He was eventually released following domestic and international pressure.

Mundubile’s pledge to guarantee Hichilema’s comfort, mobility and continued national purpose, made publicly before thousands of supporters, therefore carried weight beyond routine campaign messaging. It presented a vision of political transition built around continuity and engagement rather than retaliation.

Whether that pledge, and the broader platform presented in Kabwe on Monday, is sufficient to persuade enough voters by August 13 remains to be seen. What the two-day, two-city rally sequence has established is that the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance intends to contest this election as a serious political force with ambitions that extend well beyond symbolic opposition politics.