By Brian Matambo | Sandton, South Africa
Emmanuel Mwamba Verified (EMV) is no longer just another online programme fighting for relevance in a crowded digital arena. It is being recognised, within Zambia and beyond our borders, as a serious source of news and rigorous analysis. We are seeing interest not only from Lusaka and the provinces, but from South Africa and other corners of the region where people are actively searching for credible updates on Zambia’s political and social trajectory.
On Sunday night, Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba hosted Honourable Makebi Zulu, former Member of Parliament for Malambo, former Eastern Province Minister, constitutional lawyer, family spokesperson for the late President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and leading Patriotic Front presidential aspirant. The show was not just explosive; it was a display of the rise of a real contender for the republican presidency.
Those who watched the show will tell you that Makebi Zulu did not speak with volume. He spoke with depth, clarity, and composure under pressure. He did not posture. He reasoned. Instead of shouting, he dissected. And in a political environment saturated with outrage, that restraint felt almost revolutionary.
One of the most revealing moments came when the conversation turned to persons living with disabilities. Makebi Zulu spoke about learning sign language at a young age because many of his friends at Lusaka Boys School and Munali were deaf and mute. This was not a rehearsed applause line. It was a reflection of lived experience. He expressed genuine concern that major public institutions remain inaccessible to citizens who cannot hear or speak. At the University Teaching Hospital, he observed, only a handful of staff can communicate in sign language. That reality, in his view, is unacceptable.
He proposed something both practical and transformative. Just as wheelchair access has become a non-negotiable feature of public infrastructure, sign language capacity should be mandatory in public institutions. Airports, courts, hospitals such as Maina Soko, passport offices, NRC centres and other government facilities must employ personnel trained in sign language. Disabled citizens are not marginal statistics. They are Zambians. They deserve equal access to state services, not sympathetic speeches.
Finally, Zambia has a rising leader who has genuine empathy.
Another issue worth noting was when Makebi Zulu pivoted to a matter that has defined Zambia’s political culture for decades: how we treat former presidents. In a country where power transitions have too often been followed by persecution and legal warfare, he made a deliberate departure. He committed that under his administration, President Hakainde Hichilema would be respected in retirement. He spoke of ending what he described as the politics of vengeance. He referenced the legal ordeals faced by former Presidents Frederick Chiluba, Rupiah Banda and Edgar Lungu, not to inflame divisions, but to argue that Zambia must mature beyond cycles of retribution.
In a striking declaration, he said he would consult President Hichilema in retirement, learning from his experiences and deploying him as a statesman where appropriate. That was not flattery. It was strategic maturity. It takes confidence to promise dignity to one’s political rival.
In contrast, President Hakainde Hichilema presided over one of the most embarrassing campaigns aimed at persecuting his predecessor. Zambians will recall how President Hichilema’s government prevented former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu from travelling to South Africa for routine medical care. On one occasion, former President Lungu was stopped from boarding his flight.
Another disturbing incident occurred when President Lungu’s residence in Ibex Hill was confronted by police officers who arrived with grinding machines to break down his gate in order to gain access to the property.
President Hichilema’s campaign against Edgar Lungu did not end with his passing in Pretoria. Even in death, the hostility persisted. The government initiated legal action against Edgar Lungu’s widow in a bid to secure control over the former president’s remains. Around the same period, the parliamentary seat of his daughter was declared vacant due to absenteeism, despite the obvious and painful reality that Honourable Tasila Lungu could not reasonably attend Parliament while her father lay in the mortuary.
Most recently, Edgar Lungu’s son, Dalitso, had property seized through the courts on grounds linked to questions about how it had been acquired. The uncomfortable truth is that the principal figure who could have clarified those matters was no longer alive to do so.
It is worth emphasising that Makebi Zulu serves as the spokesperson of the Lungu family. Yet on EMV, he rose above personal proximity and made a profoundly noble commitment: that when he assumes office in August 2026, he will not treat President Hichilema the way President Hichilema treated his predecessor.
That contrast was not accidental. It was deliberate. And it revealed something about the kind of presidency he is seeking to build.
Then the issue of opposition unity surfaced, particularly the question of working with Honourable Brian Mundubile. Makebi Zulu did not evade it. Nor did he surrender ground. He framed unity as reconciliation within the larger Patriotic Front structure rather than fragmentation into smaller formations. Using the analogy of the Prodigal Son, he argued that healing requires a return to the larger house, not the abandonment of it. Unity, in his words and tone, must be a process that heals, not a process that breaks.
As the phone lines opened, callers from Zambia and across the diaspora spoke with unusual conviction. Many described him as calm yet bold. Others praised his measured intellect and deep wisdom. Some spoke of hope in a way that suggested fatigue with the current climate. But Makebi Zulu did not allow the praise to inflate him. He redirected attention to institutions, to constitutional discipline, to widening democratic space.
Addressing his host Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, Makebi Zulu said, “In the government that we are going to form, you are all going to be part of it, because we need to put ideas together.”
That is not the language of exclusion. That is not the language of vengeance. That is the language of a man who understands that governance is not a solo act; it is a collective responsibility. He may have been the last person to come on the scene, but clearly, God serves the best for last.
His call to Honourable Brian Mundubile to return to the Patriotic Front was genuine. You could see it in his eyes. You could sense it in his voice. That was not politics. That was sincerity. If there is a moment for unity, it is now. Honourable Brian Mundubile should immediately pack his bags and go back to PF so that the larger family moves together.
Makebi Zulu presented himself in such an assuring manner that when I called in, I felt compelled to say, “If there is anyone who can be trusted to work with others without insecurity, it is Makebi Zulu. If there is anyone who can look after the Lungu family with dignity, it is him. If there is anyone who can ensure that the remains of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu are handled with honour and that the family is respected, it is him. And if there is anyone who can guarantee that President Hakainde Hichilema will not be persecuted after leaving office, it is him.”
This is not about emotion. It is about character.
In his responses to callers, Makebi Zulu repeatedly returned to one theme: respect. Respect for citizens. Respect for institutions. Respect for the rule of law. Respect for former leaders. Respect for persons living with disabilities. Respect for unity within diversity. In a season where politics often feels like trench warfare, that insistence on dignity sets him apart.
Whether one is PF, UPND, independent, or undecided, Sunday’s EMV broadcast made one reality clear. Makebi Zulu is no longer merely participating in a race. He is defining the tone of it. He is positioning himself not only as a man chasing office, but as a leader seeking to restore constitutional order and national cohesion.
As August 2026 approaches, the Zambian electorate will have to decide what kind of leadership it desires. If the EMV appearance is any indication, Makebi Zulu has stepped onto the national stage with a message rooted in unity, institutional reform and a refusal to govern through vengeance.
And that, in this political season, may well be his greatest strength.
