'A full-blown police state': Kateka says the security wings are being used to silence dissent — and claims the clampdown was planned before the vote

New Heritage Party president Chishala Kateka has accused the UPND government of turning Zambia into "a full-blown police state", saying the security wings are being used to silence the opposition and anyone with divergent views on national issues.

Speaking in a radio interview on Thursday, Kateka went further than the standard opposition brief: the crackdown, she claimed, was planned before a single ballot was cast. "The army was psyched way back before the elections and they were prepared to clamp down on the opposition," she said.

She also rejected the legitimacy of the 13 August result itself. The UPND, she said, "did not win fairly and squarely", but prevailed "in the manner in which they did things, which included manipulation" — and she said Zambians were still waiting to be told why the Zambia Army was deployed to manage the vote in polling stations where the ruling party had lost. The anger left behind by the polls, she added, has split the nation: "The country is more divided than it has ever been," a division she said cannot be left to fester.

The claims arrive into a well-documented record. Official results gave President Hichilema about 60 per cent of the vote against roughly 38 per cent for the NRPUP's Brian Mundubile. Regional and international observer missions described polling day as largely peaceful, and the European Union's election observation mission — whose leader later called the post-election period a "profound shock" — has yet to publish its final report. The government has previously and repeatedly rejected allegations that it curbs dissent, and says all post-election arrests were conducted in accordance with Zambian law.

Kateka's intervention nonetheless lands at a charged moment: eighteen treason accused, including Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu, remain at Mukobeko without a plea date; Laura Miti this week told the state to charge them properly or free them; and Brussels is pressing Lusaka on the rule of law even as it signs cheques. The opposition's language is hardening in step with the calendar of the detained.

Sources: Lusaka Times, "Zambia Is Now A 'Full-Blown Police State', Says Kateka" (24 Sep 2026); Reuters/AFP results coverage (Aug 2026); Zambian Eye on the EU mission (Sep 2026).