M’membe Warns UPND Against Pursuit Of Survival At Any Cost

Socialist Party (SP) president Dr Fred M’membe has warned the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) that pursuing political survival at any cost risks plunging Zambia into instability, in a strongly worded statement issued as the country continues to grapple with the fallout of the recent general election.

In a statement titled “Which Way Zambia?”, M’membe said the nation was living through a difficult and unpredictable period that called for patience, sober judgement and inclusive national dialogue rather than emotional reactions and divisive rhetoric.

“The path to peaceful change is not completely exhausted. At least for now. Everything has a time. Let’s give peace a chance, even if this calls for stretching our patience to the limit,” M’membe said.

“Conflict and turmoil are not good for the toiling masses and the poor.”

The SP leader said political instability and heightened confrontation hurt ordinary citizens the most, while unverified rumours and hostility circulating on social media deepened national fractures at a delicate moment for the country.

He said socialists were patriots who did not wish to win power on the back of national failure, and argued that the neoliberal policies pursued by his political adversaries would not resolve Zambia’s underlying problems.

Nothing short of far-reaching structural reform, he said, would address what he described as the contradictions of neocolonial or peripheral capitalism affecting the country.

“We need to get our country and its economic and political sovereignty back before we can start harbouring any hope of a reversal of fortunes,” he said.

M’membe called for open, neutral and results-oriented national dialogue in place of political gamesmanship, saying such an approach was necessary to bridge regional and political divides that have widened since the polls.

He said durable change depended on accountability, civic education and issue-based politics rather than patronage or hostility between rival camps.

The SP president noted that both the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and European Union observer missions had called for calm following the election, arguing that this reflected the need for strong democratic institutions capable of managing conflict rather than suppressing it.

“Democratic governance does not destroy conflict; it civilises it. By providing transparent rules, protecting fundamental human rights and encouraging inclusive participation, democracy turns societal friction into a driver of stability,” he said.

M’membe then delivered his sharpest warning yet to the governing party, saying any attempt to cling to power regardless of cost would ultimately undermine the country rather than protect it.

“One thing is certain: the pursuit of regime survival at any cost will lead to instability and not stability. The use of coercion to maintain power may seem to succeed in the short term, but repressed grievances often build up and trigger severe internal conflict or sudden uprisings later on. The choice is yours. Never say you were never cautioned,” he said.

The intervention comes amid a turbulent post-election period that has included the detention of opposition figures Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu on treason allegations, the killing of former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya during a security operation, and the temporary closure of the country’s superior courts just before the deadline for filing presidential election petitions.

Those developments have drawn concern from bodies including the Commonwealth, the United Nations, Amnesty International and the Law Association of Zambia, all of which have called for due process and restraint from state institutions.

The Head of State, Hakainde Hichilema, was declared winner of the national vote with 60.7 percent against Mundubile‘s 38 percent, a result the ruling party has described as a decisive mandate for a second term.

M’membe‘s statement did not name specific incidents but was widely read as a direct reference to the arrests, the court closures and the broader climate of tension that has followed the polls.

He stopped short of calling for street action or confrontation, instead urging both government and opposition supporters to resist being drawn into cycles of retaliation that he said would serve no one’s interests.

The Socialist Party leader has previously positioned himself as a critic of both major political blocs, and his latest remarks continue that pattern of offering commentary from outside the immediate contest between the UPND and the opposition alliance that backed Mundubile.

Whether the warning shapes government conduct in the coming weeks remains to be seen, but it has added to a chorus of domestic and international voices urging Zambia’s institutions to demonstrate restraint as the post-election period unfolds.