HOW HAKAINDE HICHILEMA BECAME UPND’S UNEXPECTED LEADER
By Given Mutinta
HOW HAKAINDE HICHILEMA BECAME UPND’S UNEXPECTED LEADER
In the annals of Zambian political history, the 2006 succession of the United Party for National Development (UPND) remains one of the most clandestine and dramatic episodes.
At its core lies a turbulent narrative of power, loyalty, and tribal chessmanship that forever altered the party’s fate—and arguably the nation’s trajectory.
This is the story that Major Robbie Chizyuka unveiled yesterday at the NRPUP Southern Province online rally about the strategic orchestration behind Hakainde Hichilema’s ascent as UPND president after the death of its founding leader, Anderson Mazoka.
Following Mazoka’s untimely death, the UPND needed to replace Mazoka.
According to Chizyuka, the natural successor should have been Sakwiba Sikota, the party’s vice president.
But Chizyuka who had the backing of a powerful Tonga faction—a political clique that had been quietly strategizing their course.
At a pivotal meeting of the National Management Committee (NMC) held at a place called ZAMCOM, Chizyuka deliberately asked Sikota to move out, removing the key contender from the room to avoid any conflict of interest.
In Sikota’s absence, Chizyuka put forward an unexpected candidate—Hakainde Hichilema, who until then was not an active UPND member.
The rationale was brutally pragmatic: Hichilema had resources, the financial capacity crucial to sustaining the party’s ambitions.
Leadership qualities, Chizyuka candidly admitted, were secondary.
Strikingly, no one initially seconded this proposal, and it seemed set to falter—until Frank Tayali, responsible for the UPND youth wing yet outside the Tonga clique, courageously raised his hand, giving motion to Chizyuka’s plan.
Thus, driven by tribal allegiances and financial considerations, Hichilema was elected to replace Mazoka.
The sidelining of Sikota ignited simmering tensions and sowed seeds of division within the party.
Years later, this move is re-examined with a harsher light.
During a recent online Southern Province rally, Chizyuka issued a public apology to Sikota, the UPND, and Zambia itself—denouncing the installation of Hichilema as a leadership misstep that, in their eyes, has divided the country and weakened democratic governance.