By EditorZambia
Zambia’s opposition politics has once again been thrust into turmoil after Zambia Must Prosper Party (ZMP) leader Kelvin Fube Bwalya launched a blistering attack on Brian Mundubile, dismissing his ascendancy to the helm of the Tonse Alliance as fraudulent, illegitimate and destined for failure.
In a hard-hitting assessment that lays bare widening cracks within the opposition politics, Bwalya argued that Mundubile’s leadership rests on shaky foundations built on manipulation, internal betrayal, and rejection from his own supposed strongholds. 
Bwalya, who heads the Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP) party, did not mince his words and described the so- called election that elevated Mundubile to chair or president of the Tonse Alliance faction as a sham process engineered by former State House Special Assistant for Politics Chris Zumani Zimba.
According to Bwalya, the electoral college was rigged and structured in a manner that predetermined the outcome long before any ballots were cast.
The explosive claim strikes at the heart of the Tonse Alliance’s credibility by confirming what many grassroots members have whispered for months that the alliance has never held a legitimate, transparent election.
Worse still, its leadership is self-imposed rather than democratically endorsed. Bwalya’s assertion that Tonse has had no proper election at all leaves Mundubile exposed as a man parading authority he does not genuinely possess.
More damaging still are Bwalya’s revelations concerning the late former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
Contrary to public claims that Lungu had anointed Mundubile as his political heir within the Patriotic Front (PF) orbit, Bwalya insists that by the time of his death, Lungu had fallen out of favour with both Mundubile and Zumani Zimba.
The image of unity that Mundubile and his allies have projected, leaning heavily on Lungu’s legacy, now appears deeply questionable.
Bwalya stated that while Lungu initially considered building Mundubile’s leadership after the 2021 electoral defeat, relations later deteriorated significantly.
He alleged that Mundubile knows precisely what actions led to his exclusion from Lungu’s inner circle and that during his own meetings with the former president, Zumani Zimba was deliberately kept away.
These are not small accusations because they suggest internal mistrust at the highest level and a breakdown of confidence that undermines Mundubile’s claim to inherit legitimacy.
The record of Zumani Zimba himself also came under scrutiny when Bwalya reminded the public that Zumani Zimba had been fired by Lungu and questioned why individuals supposedly close to the former president were nowhere near him in his final political chapter.
He pointedly asked where figures such as Given Lubinda, Makebi Zulu, Chanda Kabwe and Richard Musukwa were in the crucial inner consultations, arguing that none of those being paraded as Lungu loyalists truly represented his final political thinking.
Beyond the internal intrigue lies a more brutal political reality. Bwalya contends that Mundubile has failed the ultimate test of leadership, which is the ability to win.
As a former minister in Northern Province and Member of Parliament for Mporokoso, Mundubile operated within a region long considered a stronghold of the PF.
Yet under his campaign stewardship, the party failed to secure the Kasama seat, a symbolic and strategic constituency. For Bwalya, this failure is not incidental but symptomatic of a deeper incapacity.
If a leader cannot consolidate support in his own backyard, Bwalya argues, how can he plausibly aspire to lead a regional bloc, let alone mount a credible national challenge against President Hakainde Hichilema and the governing United Party for National Development (UPND).
In politics, perception is power, and the perception forming around Mundubile is that of a man rejected in his own supposed fortress.
The rejection appears to be coming from multiple fronts. Within the opposition, rival leaders are questioning the legitimacy of the Tonse structure.
At the grassroots level, murmurs of dissatisfaction are growing louder. Nationally, the alliance has struggled to articulate a coherent alternative vision beyond invoking nostalgia for past leadership.
Bwalya interprets this as evidence that Mundubile is sitting on a throne built on sand.
Perhaps the most telling element of Bwalya’s critique is his condemnation of the breakaway Tonse formation itself. He accused the grouping of betraying Lungu’s desire for a united PF and a consolidated opposition front.
Instead of unity, what has emerged is fragmentation, personality clashes, and parallel power centres.
In the midst of these internal crises, Bwalya expressed astonishment that Mundubile, Given Lubinda and Makebi Zulu continue to blame the ruling UPND for their own organisational failings.
According to him, it is easier to point fingers at the government than to confront incompetence, poor strategy, and illegitimate processes within one’s own camp.
He argues that the UPND cannot be held responsible for sham elections or internal betrayals within shaky opposition alliances.
As the political temperature rises, one conclusion from Bwalya’s broadside is clear. The battle for the soul of the opposition is far from settled.
Mundubile’s claim to leadership is being challenged not just by political rivals but by former allies armed with insider knowledge and damning allegations.
Whether he can weather this storm remains uncertain, but the charge that his election was a fraud and a sham will not easily fade.
In a region already known as a crucible of Zambia’s political fortunes, the question now is whether the Tonse Alliance can survive its internal contradictions.
If Bwalya’s assessment holds true, then Mundubile’s ambitions may stall long before they reach national terrain, undone not by the ruling party, but by fractures from within.
