“We had it during Kenneth Kaunda’s presidency, during the switch to multi-party politics but most Zambians are too young to understand what that would mean,” Mr Bweupe says.
The church is also speaking out. In a strongly worded statement from the Conference of Catholic Bishops, it warned that Zambia was slipping towards a “dictatorship”.
Amos Chanda, President Lungu’s spokesman, has defended the court action, which he says must be left to run its course.
He insists the door is open for future talks with the UPND but Mr Hichilema’s party must respect the president’s authority first.
“They have accepted all the official benefits that go with the opposition in parliament but have not accepted who the president is.”
In spite of this political nervousness, Zambia is still very much “open for business” insists Mark O’ Donnell, a Zambia-born British businessman, who runs a company producing steel fixtures for the construction industry.
The country has “weathered the storm during neighbouring liberation struggles in the past,” he says.