Africa-Press – Zambia. The crowds at the PF Secretariat did more than cheer. They sent a message to the ruling party and to the wider opposition. Makebi Zulu walked into the nomination arena in full black attire, a symbolic uniform that cast his candidacy as a memorial and a political resurrection. The sea of supporters, cadres and old PF guards was not spontaneous. It was choreographed energy designed to announce one thing. The Lungu network is awake again.
The chants and raised fists came from a base that has missed power and missed the identity that came with it. PF supporters framed the day as a return to the party’s old rhythm. The dancing women’s leagues, the jeeps, the drums and the chants recreated the Lungu-era spectacle. To them, Makebi is not simply a candidate. He is an inheritance. A political executor of Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s unfinished story.
Makebi leaned fully into that symbolism. “We will give President Edgar Chagwa Lungu a dignified burial,” he told the crowd. The statement was powerful. It played on emotion, memory and grievance. It was also politically strategic. It positioned his candidacy as a mission to restore honour to a man who died in opposition and whose farewell became a national flashpoint.
He carried that theme all afternoon. “I am running for office in honour of President Lungu,” he said. “He believed in a united Zambia.” His appeal was clear. He tied his political identity to Lungu’s final months, a period that produced deep loyalty inside PF and fury across the opposition. The black suit reinforced the narrative. This was a funeral vow turned into an election bid.
Old party figures endorsed the symbolism with their presence. Professor Nkandu Luo stood close by. Mumbi Phiri walked with him. Jean Kapata prayed for him. It was not accidental. The old guard wants a successor who will protect the Lungu legacy. Their attendance created the impression of a coronation. A staged passing of the torch in full public view.
But the political question remains unresolved. What happens if Hakainde Hichilema wins again? Makebi’s central promise is anchored on a future PF victory. His vow to give Lungu a dignified burial assumes a rapid change of power. His speech did not say what happens if UPND stays in office for ten or fifteen years. His pledge depends on a political reversal that is not guaranteed.
PF insiders believe Makebi has the Lungu family’s anointing. The turn-out reinforced that belief. But the geographic composition of the crowd is unclear. The Eastern enclave prefers him. Its structures have shown enthusiasm. Other regions remain silent. No confirmed provincial machinery has stepped forward to claim him as their consensus candidate. For now, the noise is concentrated at the secretariat.
This is why today’s scenes must be understood in political context. Makebi is running on Lungu’s political capital. It gives him instant emotional authority inside PF. It also exposes him to a structural risk. If voters outside the PF base do not accept the Lungu framing, his national appeal shrinks. He becomes a factional candidate, not a national one.
The imagery was re-energizing. The black suit. The loyalists. The raised fists. The sense of a political awakening. It revived PF confidence and unsettled UPND strategists who have dismissed the party as finished. But it also revealed the core tension inside the Patriotic Front. It is a party caught between memory and strategy. Between the Lungu past and the unknown future.
Makebi wants to unite Zambia. His supporters want to return to power for all its glory and impunity. Both needs collide in weeks ahead.
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