WHY MUNDUBILE’ S COUP DETAT AGAINST THE PF MAY SUCCEED
When Attacks Become Campaign Fuel: How Mundubile Turned PF Panic into Momentum
By Amon Chisenga
What the KBN Television panel inadvertently exposed—beneath the noise, exaggerations, and a few factual conflations—is a political truth that many in PF circles are struggling to confront: Brian Mundubile has already changed the game, and the board is no longer where they left it. When commentators begin arguing not about whether a leader is rising but about why attacks are making him stronger, the argument is already lost.
Pastor Kennedy Mambwe’s blunt assertion that Mundubile has outsmarted the PF was not theatre; it was diagnosis. Politics rewards timing, nerve, and structure, not nostalgia. What is unfolding is not accident or impulse, but the disciplined execution of a strategy while opponents exhaust themselves with internal warfare and recycled outrage. Every attack has become free mobilisation. Every insult has amplified visibility. Every threat has confirmed relevance.
Anthony Mukwita’s observation cuts even deeper: the more they fight him, the more popular he becomes. That is not coincidence—it is political physics. A leader under sustained attack only grows if the public senses unfairness, fear, or desperation from the attackers. PF’s Central Committee is not weakening Mundubile; it is auditioning him for national leadership by treating him like a threat worth panicking over.
The KBN analysis also surfaced an uncomfortable institutional failure. PF did not just suffer internal drama; it exported that drama into Tonse Alliance and paid the price. Losing NCP, losing Sean Tembo, losing KBF was not bad luck—it was the predictable outcome of instability. Alliances do not reward chaos. They reward clarity, momentum, and forward motion. Tonse’s insistence that it is not PF is not an insult; it is a survival instinct.
Innocent Phiri’s point on constitutional amendments is politically lethal to PF’s current posture. Once Tonse amended its constitution to remove PF as the anchor party, the entire legal and political foundation shifted. Complaints that made sense yesterday lost force today. You cannot challenge rules you no longer sit under. That amendment did not just validate Tonse’s current actions—it exposed how late PF is to the reality of the field.
The irony is that while PF is shouting about illegality, Tonse is winning elections. Chawama was won under FDD. Kasama mayoral elections are being contested under FDD. Results are speaking while press statements scream. Politics is not won in Facebook outrage; it is won in ballots, structures, and disciplined alliances.
The most explosive part of the KBN analysis was not even the praise—it was the prescription. “Consolidate the East.” That is not commentary; it is a roadmap. Keep Makebi Zulu. Keep Brenda Nyirenda. Keep Chifumu Banda. That is coalition logic, not sentiment. It recognises where numbers, influence, and organisational depth actually lie. It also signals that power is already being reorganised around Mundubile, not waiting for permission from stalled committees.
The call for Given Lubinda, Emmanuel Mwamba, and Celestine Mukandila to “start aligning” is not mockery; it is realism. Politics does not pause out of respect for seniority. It moves with or without you. Leadership that hesitates eventually gets advised—publicly—to catch up.
What PF is witnessing is not betrayal; it is transition. Not conspiracy; but consequence. When a party delays renewal for years, leadership will emerge elsewhere. When conventions are promised and cancelled repeatedly, legitimacy migrates. When discipline replaces democracy, people find other platforms.
Brian Mundubile did not seize power by force. He walked into an opening created by indecision, fear, and endless postponement. That is why the attacks feel hysterical—they are coming too late. You cannot punish momentum. You cannot expel a political moment.
KBN may have conflated a few facts, but on one thing the panel was brutally accurate: this is no longer about PF versus Tonse. It is about whether PF chooses relevance or denial. History is already moving. The only question left is who is moving with it—and who is still arguing at a gate the crowd has already passed through.