Africa-Press – Zambia. Independent Nkana MP Binwell Mpundu has reacted sharply to online claims linking him to the violent stoning of President Hakainde Hichilema in Chingola last weekend. The allegation surfaced after the Zambia Watchdog, a page widely viewed as aligned with the ruling UPND base, published a list of supposed funders of the disturbance.
Mpundu says he dismissed it as a joke, but now believes the claims may be feeding into an active police investigation.
His reaction comes days after Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu announced that police had moved beyond mass arrests and were now targeting suspected ringleaders and possible funders of the Chiwempala unrest.
At least twenty seven suspects have so far been detained as part of the ongoing probe into the stoning of the presidential entourage and the burning of government property.
In a Facebook post written in English and Bemba, Mpundu claimed that an online platform had listed him as one of the people allegedly linked to the Chingola violence. He questioned how his name could be associated with what he called “nonsense in Chingola,” and suggested that some actors were looking for “the quickest way to eliminate” him.
He said if he had wronged those in power, they should confront him openly rather than, in his words, “practising witchcraft.”
Mpundu is already before the courts on a separate charge of seditious practices, a case that has raised his national profile and increased scrutiny around his criticism of the UPND administration. He leads a small movement that has signalled interest in contesting the presidency, positioning himself as an outsider speaking for discontented urban voters on the Copperbelt.
For now, law enforcement authorities have not publicly named Mpundu as a suspect in the Chingola case. Minister Mwiimbu has spoken in broad terms about tracking organisers and financiers behind the violence, while police have confirmed only the numbers and basic profiles of those arrested so far. No official statement has directly tied any sitting MP to the incident.
The Chingola unrest remains a sensitive security issue. Stones were thrown at the President, a police vehicle was overturned and burnt, and a presidential holding tent and other items were destroyed.
Police authorities have treated the events as a serious breach and deployed additional officers to the Copperbelt while monitoring incitement and celebration of the violence on social media.
Until the police brief the country with a clear, evidence based update, his status in relation to the Chingola probe remains a matter of allegation and perception, not fact.
This is a developing story. The People’s Brief will continue to track official statements, court actions and digital sentiment around the Chingola case and its expanding political fallout.
© The People’s Brief | Saturday | 15/11/25
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