ATTORNEY General Mulilo Kabesha has petitioned the Constitutional Court to dismiss a case brought by former Lumezi Member of Parliament Munir Zulu, who is challenging the legality of libel proceedings against him in the subordinate court.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16huRAzNNP/?mibextid=oFDknk
Kabesha is seeking dismissal due to what he terms “want of prosecution,” citing Zulu’s repeated failure to appear for scheduled court conferences.
Zulu’s petition stems from a libel charge, which he argues is unconstitutional because the alleged offense occurred on National Assembly grounds, where he claims parliamentary immunity and privileges.
He cited Sections 76(1) and (2) as read with Sections 3 and 4 of the Constitution, asserting that members of parliament are granted freedom of speech and debate within the National Assembly, and this freedom should not be questioned by any court or tribunal.
In his petition, Zulu named Kabesha as the first respondent, Director of Public Prosecutions Gilbert Phiri as the second, and Davies Chibwili in his capacity as a presiding magistrate.
However, the Attorney General, through Comfort Mulenga, acting Chief State Advocate, has filed an affidavit in support of a notice of motion to dismiss the case.
Mulenga stated that the matter has been scheduled twice for compliance conferences, but Zulu has failed to appear on both occasions, despite being served with notice.
“The petitioner has failed to comply with the orders for directions dated May 6, 2025, by not filing in the record of proceedings,” Mulenga’s affidavit reads.
“I verily believe that the petitioner has abandoned and or neglected to prosecute this matter as the matter has come up twice for compliance conference and the petitioner failed to attend to it.”
Mulenga further argued that since Zulu voluntarily initiated the action, he bears the responsibility to see it through.
“The continued failure to do so amounts to intentional delay and inexcusable default, which this court should not countenance,” Mulenga submitted.
“In the premises, we respectfully pray that this court grants the respondents’ application to dismiss the action for want of prosecution, as the petitioner has clearly abandoned the matter and is no longer interested in pursuing it,” stated Mulenga.
The Constitutional Court is now expected to rule on the Attorney General’s application for dismissal.
Previously Kabesha asked the Constitutional Court to dismiss Zulu’s petition where he wanted the court to halt the by-elections for his former seat, which the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) held on June 26, 2025 in Lumezi and Lufeyo Ngoma ended up winning.
Zulu, in his petition wanted the ConCourt to stop the planned elections and sought an order restraining ECZ from holding the by-election on grounds that it was unconstitutional to declare his seat vacant when he had not exhausted his appeal process.
However, Kabesha submitted that Zulu’s ongoing sentence of imprisonment is sufficient to invoke the disqualification clause which is followed by a vacancy in by- election therefore his petition lacked merit.
By Lucy Phiri
Kalemba July 4, 2025
