The government of Zambia has dispelled rumours circulating on social media suggesting that members of the main opposition party, the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Progress (NRPUP), have been shot by the army.

It all started when the leader of the main opposition, Brian Mundubile, first posted a video on social media shortly after the close of the elections on Saturday that he had won the Thursday elections.

Later that night, he posted another, claiming that his house has been surrounded by the army and that he has been shot at, but the bullet missed him.

He also claimed that his senior member Mutotwe Kafwaya, a former cabinet minister, has been shot twice.

Mundubile's party running mate and vice president Makebi Zulu also posted on social media that the said Kafwaya was battling for his life in Maina Sokon Military Hospital after being shot twice.

This prompted a reaction from the government by the three permanent secretaries of Information and Media, Defence and Home Affairs.

"It's a laughing matter, and we need to be serious as a people. We need to move away from fabricating information. We came to Maina Soko upon reading that Hon Kafwaya was shot at, and he is actually at Maina Soko, and I can confirm to members of the public that that is unfounded. We are at Maina Soko. I have engaged the management, and I have checked the records, and at no time in the last 48 hours have they received a patient by the name of Mutotwe Kafwaya?" said Zambia's PS of Defence, Maambo Hamaundu.

The opposition have, however, continued to claim that their members are missing and that they have been abducted by the army.