Zambia closes courts as opposition prepares election petition

Mundubile petition window closes as courts shut for business

Lusaka, Zambia | LUSAKA TIMES | The window for losing presidential candidate Brian Mundubile to petition the results of the August 13 general election closes today amid the closure of court premises in Lusaka and several other parts of the country, with police deployed at some of the affected judicial facilities.

The developments have placed particular attention on the Constitutional Court because today marks the final day on which Mundubile can challenge the election of President Hakainde Hichilema. There had been no confirmation by Sunday evening that Mundubile had lodged his petition.

Under Article 105 of the Constitution, a challenge to a presidential election result must be lodged within seven days of the declaration. President Hichilema was declared winner on August 16 with 2,965,326 votes against Mundubile’s 1,856,217, making today the final day available for a petition to be filed.

The Supreme Court premises in Lusaka have been closed today for what has been described as “security reasons”, while reports indicate that the High Court and Constitutional Court premises have also been affected. Police tape has been placed around parts of the court premises, restricting access.

Some Local Courts have equally been closed, with scheduled cases adjourned to later dates. Information circulating around the Judiciary indicates that the affected courts will remain closed until further notice.

The closure has immediately raised questions over how litigants with time-sensitive matters are expected to access the courts, particularly Mundubile, whose constitutional window for challenging the presidential election expires today.

The situation is not confined to Lusaka. High Court premises in Ndola, Chipata and Livingstone have also been reported closed or inaccessible, with police officers deployed at the facilities.

In Chipata, the High Court premises were sealed off by armed police officers, with no one being allowed access. Eastern Province Police Commanding Officer Robertson Mweemba referred questions concerning the closure to the Zambia Police Service spokesperson.

In Livingstone, the High Court premises were also closed, with a heavy police presence guarding the area. Similar scenes were reported at the Ndola High Court, where police officers were deployed around the premises.

The simultaneous restrictions at judicial premises have attracted political attention because they have occurred on the final day available for Mundubile to commence his presidential election challenge.

Former politician Muhabi Lungu said he personally visited the High Court premises in Lusaka and found the gates closed and police tape around the facility.

“The High Court premises are closed. Gates closed and are yellow police like tape, the one we see in the movies that screams ‘Crime Scene, do not pass beyond this point’,” Lungu wrote.

Lungu said he had passed the High Court at about 07:45 hours and later returned to the premises, expressing shock at what he witnessed and the information he subsequently received.

Phoenix FM Zambia also reported that the High Court, Constitutional Court and Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security premises were visibly closed with tight security, pointing out that the development had occurred on August 24, the final day for Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance presidential candidate Mundubile to file his challenge against the August 13 presidential election results.

The closures come at a difficult moment for Mundubile, who contested the election under the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP) banner backed by the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance.

Mundubile is reported to have sought protection at United Nations agency premises in Lusaka following security operations after the election. As of Sunday evening, he had not lodged the anticipated presidential petition, according to sources close to the matter.

His position has also become more complicated following developments within his political camp. NRPUP Secretary General Nonde Mubanga announced on Sunday that the party was withdrawing from the Tonse Alliance, saying the party needed to reposition itself around its own long-term objectives.

NRPUP president Ezra Tembo, the party’s legally registered leader and newly elected Member of Parliament for Dag Hammarskjöld, has separately conceded the presidential election outcome and called on Zambians to give President Hichilema and the UPND space to govern.

Resolute Party president Martin Phiri and Tonse Alliance Secretary General Chris Zumani Zimba have also distanced themselves from pursuing a legal challenge. Zimba has warned against continuing with confrontational post-election politics and has instead advocated political dialogue and reconciliation between the competing political camps.

Civil society lawyer Linda Kasonde, who had been exploring a separate citizen-led petition, also said last week that she did not have sufficient evidence to proceed with such a challenge.

Against that background, the closure of court premises today has introduced another dimension to the approaching deadline.

Opposition-linked statements circulating online have accused Chief Justice Mumba Malila, as head of the Judiciary, and Judiciary administrators of deliberately closing the superior courts to prevent Mundubile from filing his petition. Other statements have accused President Hakainde Hichilema of directing the closure.

The Judiciary has cited security reasons for the closure. However, the timing has led to demands for a fuller explanation of what security circumstances necessitated closing the courts on the final day for filing a presidential election petition and what arrangements, if any, have been made for urgent and constitutionally time-bound filings.

Social media commentator Andrew Kazembe raised concerns about the implications for judicial independence, arguing that if courts were closed in circumstances that prevented a lawful election petition from being lodged, serious constitutional questions would arise regardless of which political party or candidate was affected. He called for transparency over who authorised the closures and the reasons behind the decision.

Mwamba Payne Kapema similarly linked the court closures to allegations of election rigging, writing that the developments reinforced her concerns over the handling of the election.

The dispute follows the declaration of President Hichilema as winner of the August 13 presidential election. Final consolidated results from all 226 constituencies gave Hichilema 2,965,326 votes, or 60.49 percent, against Mundubile’s 1,856,217 votes, or 37.87 percent.

Mundubile and sections of the opposition have disputed the fairness of the electoral process and raised allegations concerning vote counting, verification and result management.

Opposition representatives have also alleged that the Electoral Commission of Zambia halted vote counting at a stage when Mundubile was leading, and have linked that interruption to their broader complaints about the final results.

The appropriate forum for determining such allegations would ordinarily be the courts, where claims can be supported by evidence, challenged by respondents and determined under the Constitution.

That is what makes today’s closure particularly consequential. Beyond the political arguments surrounding the election itself, the immediate question is whether Mundubile has practical access to the Constitutional Court registry before the seven-day period expires.

The Wake Up Campaign for a Better Zambia has separately urged Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu not to rush into seeking asylum and instead allow the police to clear them of any allegations through established legal processes.

Government has yet to issue a detailed statement addressing the court closures and their relationship, if any, to today’s petition deadline.

The Judiciary and Zambia Police Service are now expected to clarify the security circumstances behind the closures, which judicial facilities are affected, how long the restrictions will remain in place and, most importantly, whether arrangements have been made to receive urgent filings despite the physical closure of the premises.

For Mundubile, however, the constitutional clock continues to run.

With the petition window expiring today and court premises in Lusaka, Ndola, Chipata and Livingstone closed or under restricted access, attention now turns to whether Mundubile will manage to lodge his presidential election petition before the deadline and whether the Judiciary will explain how access to the Constitutional Court is being maintained on the final day available for the challenge.

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SOURCE: LUSAKA TIMES

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