UPND suspends 13 Mazabuka members backing Nkombo

LUSAKA — The ruling United Party for National Development has suspended 13 members in Mazabuka District for backing independent candidate Gary Nkombo, deepening a factional crisis in one of Zambia's most contested constituencies.

The suspensions signal a hardening of the UPND's stance against internal dissent ahead of the 13 August general election. Mazabuka Central has already been the site of a campaign suspension ordered by the Electoral Commission of Zambia, and the party's decision to discipline its own members adds a disciplinary layer on top of the regulatory one. The party gave the suspended members seven days to show cause before a decision on outright expulsion is taken, a timeline that compresses the political calendar in a constituency where campaigning has already been disrupted.

The announcement came from UPND Southern Province Chairperson Billard Makwembo at a campaign launch in Chivuna, Magoye East Constituency. Makwembo said the suspensions followed a directive from Collins Maoma, the UPND National Chairperson, after investigations established that the 13 members had been actively working to advance the campaign of Gary Nkombo, a former UPND stalwart who is now contesting the Mazabuka Central parliamentary seat as an independent candidate.

The party also confirmed the removal of 11 UPND officials from party structures in Mazabuka Central, a step that strips them of any formal role in the constituency's campaign machinery. Together with the suspensions, the measures amount to the broadest purge of party ranks in a single Zambian constituency during this election cycle. The story is part of our continuing politics coverage.

The suspensions and what triggered them

Makwembo said the party had gathered evidence that the 13 members were organising voter support for Nkombo's independent candidacy, attending his rallies, distributing campaign material on his behalf and, in some cases, actively discouraging voters from supporting the UPND's official candidate in Mazabuka Central. The national chairperson's directive treated that conduct as a breach of the party constitution, which bars members from supporting candidates who stand against the party's endorsed nominee.

The seven-day window is significant. Under the UPND's internal disciplinary procedures, a suspension is a preliminary measure; the party's disciplinary committee then decides whether to convert it into a full expulsion or to reinstate the member. In practice, the seven-day deadline means the 13 members must either publicly renounce their support for Nkombo or face permanent removal from the party before late June — well ahead of the August poll.

Collins Maoma, the UPND National Chairperson who issued the directive, sits at the apex of the party's organisational hierarchy below the president. His involvement elevates the Mazabuka dispute from a provincial matter to a national one, reflecting the party's concern that visible defections in a Southern Province seat could encourage similar breakaways elsewhere.

Those members who have chosen to support an independent candidate against the party's official nominee have seven days to explain their actions. Failure to do so will result in their expulsion from the party. We will not allow indiscipline to undermine the unity that has delivered development to Zambia.

— Billard Makwembo, UPND Southern Province Chairperson, at the Chivuna campaign launch

A pattern of Mazabuka unrest

The suspensions do not exist in isolation. In May 2026, the UPND expelled 15 members after violence broke out at the Mazabuka civic centre during the filing of Nkombo's nomination papers. That earlier purge, reported by Open Zambia, was a response to physical confrontations between Nkombo supporters and party loyalists. The fresh suspensions now bring the total number of UPND members formally disciplined in connection with the Mazabuka Central contest to at least 28 — 15 expelled and 13 suspended.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia has already intervened in the constituency. Kwacha News reported the commission's suspension of all campaigns in Mazabuka Central on security grounds, a freeze that applied to every party and candidate. The regulatory suspension and the party's internal crackdown are separate actions with different legal bases, but they converge on the same problem: a constituency where political competition has turned volatile.

Gary Nkombo is a former senior UPND member whose decision to contest as an independent has fractured the party's Southern Province base. He retains a personal following in Mazabuka built over years of political activity, and the party's disciplinary measures are designed in part to force wavering members to choose sides. The Zambian Observer reported the removal of 11 officials from party structures, a step that denies Nkombo's allies any organisational foothold within the UPND in the constituency.

Independent candidates and the UPND's red line

The UPND has drawn a firm line against its own members supporting independent candidates anywhere in the country, not only in Mazabuka. At the Chivuna campaign launch, Makwembo relayed a directive that independent candidates must not use President Hakainde Hichilema's name or party regalia in their campaigns. The instruction is aimed at candidates who left the party but still seek to trade on its brand, and at voters who might confuse an independent candidacy with a party-endorsed one.

The issue goes wider than one constituency. Across Zambia, a number of former UPND members are standing as independents in the August poll, and the party has framed every such candidacy as a threat to its electoral arithmetic. Kwacha News has reported on the Article 51 petition brought by independent candidates challenging aspects of the electoral framework, and on the president's own calls for UPND unity ahead of August. The Mazabuka suspensions are the sharpest enforcement yet of that unity message.

The party's position reflects a strategic calculation. Mazabuka Central is a Southern Province seat where the UPND historically commands strong support, but a credible independent candidate drawing on that same voter base could split the vote and hand the seat to an opposition party. The disciplinary measures are therefore both punitive — punishing members who defied the party — and preventive, sending a signal to members in other constituencies who might be tempted to back breakaway candidates.

For Nkombo, the suspensions and removals narrow his organisational capacity. A candidate who runs as an independent must build a campaign infrastructure from scratch, and losing allies inside the ruling party's structures in Mazabuka Central makes that task harder. The party is using its institutional machinery to isolate his candidacy.

What comes next

The immediate next step is the expiry of the seven-day window. If none of the 13 suspended members recants, the UPND's disciplinary committee is expected to move to expulsion, which would add another cohort to the list of members permanently removed from the party in connection with the Mazabuka Central contest. The pace of the process matters: with the general election set for 13 August, every week of internal party conflict is a week not spent on voter outreach.

The second thing to watch is whether the Electoral Commission of Zambia lifts its campaign suspension in Mazabuka Central. If campaigning resumes while the UPND is still purging its own ranks, the party's official candidate could be at a temporary disadvantage — organising without some of the activists who previously formed the constituency campaign team, while Nkombo's independent operation runs without the constraint of party discipline.

The third is spillover. The UPND has signalled that it will take similar action in any constituency where members support independents, and the Mazabuka precedent gives the party a template for swift, public discipline. Watch for suspensions or expulsions in other seats where former UPND members are on the ballot as independents, particularly in provinces where the party's margin is thin.

Zambia's August election is shaping up as a test not only of voter preferences but of party cohesion. The UPND's willingness to discipline dozens of its own members in a single constituency shows both the seriousness of the internal threat posed by independent candidacies and the lengths to which the ruling party will go to enforce its red lines. The next signal is the disciplinary committee's decision on expulsion.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions Zambian readers have been asking about the UPND suspensions in Mazabuka. Short answers follow, drawn from the party's statements and from Kwacha News election coverage.

Why has the UPND suspended 13 members in Mazabuka?

In short, the party suspended them for supporting Gary Nkombo's independent candidacy in Mazabuka Central. The UPND's national chairperson, Collins Maoma, issued the directive after investigations found the 13 members were organising voter support, attending rallies and distributing campaign material for Nkombo rather than the party's official candidate. The UPND constitution bars members from backing candidates who stand against the party's nominee.

Who is Gary Nkombo and why is he running as an independent?

Simply put, Nkombo is a former senior UPND member who has chosen to contest the Mazabuka Central parliamentary seat outside the party. He retains a personal following in the constituency built over years of political work. His decision to run as an independent has split the UPND's base in Mazabuka, prompting the party to discipline members who back his campaign. The break represents one of the most visible factional disputes within the ruling party ahead of the August 2026 election.

What happens after the seven-day suspension period?

The answer is that the UPND's disciplinary committee will decide whether to expel the 13 members or reinstate them. The seven-day window requires the suspended members to show cause — in practice, to publicly renounce their support for Nkombo. If they do not, the party has indicated it will proceed to full expulsion, adding them to the 15 members already expelled after the May 2026 violence at Mazabuka civic centre.

Does this affect the Mazabuka Central election?

In short, yes, but indirectly. The suspensions are an internal party matter and do not change who is on the ballot. However, they weaken the organisational capacity available to both the UPND's official candidate and to Nkombo by removing experienced party operatives from the campaign. Combined with the Electoral Commission's separate suspension of all campaigning in the constituency, the effect is to compress and complicate the race in Mazabuka Central ahead of 13 August.

Can the suspended members appeal?

The answer is that UPND internal rules allow members to make representations within the seven-day window, which functions as a show-cause period. If the disciplinary committee proceeds to expulsion, members may seek recourse through the party's appeals structures. In practice, expelled members in this election cycle have not been reinstated, and the party's public messaging suggests it intends to enforce its red line against supporting independent candidates without exception.

Sources

Zambian Observer: Eleven UPND officials removed in Mazabuka Central for working with Nkombo. Open Zambia: UPND condemns Mazabuka violence, expels 15 members. Kwacha News coverage: ECZ suspends Mazabuka Central campaigns, Article 51 petition by independent candidates, Hichilema's UPND unity call ahead of August.