Factionalism in former ruling parties

By Daily Revelation Editor

The Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolutions of Disputes (SACCORD)’s challenge to opposition political parties to avoid conflicts within their ranks and embrace internal succession mechanisms in order to avoid political party factions, deserves serious reflection by all.

There is irrefutable proof that all the parties that once ruled this country have faced serious internal factional issues, with very serious consequences that have ended up weakening their standing. It started with Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s UNIP, which after the decisive 1991 electoral defeat to the MMD of Frederick Chiluba, found itself embroiled in factionalism, particularly after the former president attempted to take over the running of the party he had ceded to others after his defeat.

Then followed the MMD, which shortly after losing elections to the PF in 2011 found itself descending deeper into factionalism. Losing president late Rupiah Banda who voluntarily supported pastor Nevers Mumba to take over the MMD leadership, found the challenge of keeping his political taste buds in check too difficult to handle, when he attempted to take over the running of the party from the person he had anointed.

It took the courts to actually keep him away from taking over the party. Banda subsequently supported the MMD rival faction of Felix Mutati, with both factions now claiming to be the legitimate leader of the MMD, until a court process decided the outcome in Mumba’s favour. But the party had been seriously damaged by the time the court judgment was coming.

After the 2021 general elections, the nation has been dealing with PF factionalism after the former ruling party lost elections to the UPND. To the true faction of former president Edgar Lungu, the state first added the Miles Sampa faction to it, and later the Robert Chabinga faction. The state conveniently used delays in the PF to hold a general conference to replace Lungu as leader of the party, which some argue he did not want to cede in the first place as he waited out the political winds to blow against Hakainde Hichilema, in order to have another shot at the presidency.

It cannot be denied that in all the cases, the ruling party which had just taken over power has spared no time in attempting to destroy the party it had just taken power from, mainly because of insecurities. It doesn’t require a rocket scientist to determine that the MMD played a crucial role in destroying UNIP, just as the PF also played a key role in the factionalism that emerged in the MMD. The UPND is also using all the powers of incumbency to permanently damage the PF.

But these ruling parties have been aided in part by the activities of the parties they had just taken power from, especially the insatiable appetite by the former presidents to want to hold on to the seat they had just lost in the hopes that they would regain office again. If they had just been clever to learn from the sinister activities of ruling parties, they could have avoided some of these missteps. It’s important to learn from the proverbial saying which encourages people to leave the stage whilst people are still clapping, for the better interest of the organisation one represents.