'What message is he sending to the younger generation?': Chief Choongo rebukes Dr Kalumba — and explains why chiefs stand with the government of the day

The case against Dr Katele Kalumba is now in the courts, where it belongs. The argument about it continued this weekend in a different arena — the chief's court of public standing. Chief Choongo of Monze District, a former chairperson of the House of Chiefs, used the weekend to condemn the remarks attributed to the former finance minister in the video at the centre of his cyber-harassment charge, and he did so in the language of disappointment rather than outrage.

"First and foremost, it is a disappointment to have a person of the stature of Dr Kalumba," the chief said — a man who served for years as a Cabinet minister in the MMD governments, an accomplished academic, a doctor, "and, above all, a traditionalist". A figure of that calibre, he said, should never have turned on a Head of State in that manner. "What message is he sending to the younger generation? What message is he sending to young politicians and upcoming politicians?"

The chief's wider point was about seasons. Campaign time, with its lies and its heat, had ended; the people had chosen at every level, he said, and "they have decided that President Hichilema should continue". Respect for the presidency should sit above party loyalty — the seat, as he put it, belongs to all Zambians. And to those who ask why traditional leaders work closely with the State, he offered the customary answer with unusual directness: "because that is the leadership which is there at that particular time."

It is a rebuke that will be read in two registers. The government will hear a senior chief defending the dignity of the presidency against an opposition elder. The opposition will note the asymmetry: chiefs condemn insults against presidents on schedule, while the same institutions have been quieter about the detentions, the passport cancellations and the closed courts. Both readings can be true at once, which is precisely why the intervention matters. Dr Kalumba, charged on Thursday under Section 22 of the Cyber Crimes Act and released on police bond, is due in court in due course. His most recent public words before the arrest were an appeal for the release of the post-election detainees and a national indaba — "let the courts do their work where there are genuine criminal matters; let political opponents breathe." The chief wants the insult condemned. The former minister wanted the prisoners freed. Between those two sentences sits the whole argument.

Sources: Lusaka Times, "Chief Choongo Condemns Katele Kalumba Over Attack On President Hichilema" (27 Sep 2026); Lusaka Brief reporting on the Kalumba charge (27 Sep 2026).