The Lusaka Magistrate’s Court has ordered United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Hakainde Hichilema to appear in person in court in a matter in which he is facing a charge of defamation of the President.

Magistrate Boniface Mwiinga made the order yesterday when the matter came up for mention but Mr Hakainde was not in court and was only represented by his lawyers.

The State indicated that the accused person was not present in court for a mention but that his lawyers would represent him.

It was at this point that the magistrate refused to have the matter mentioned and ordered that the accused be present in court in the afternoon for a mention.

But by mid morning, Mr Hichilema arrived at the magistrate’s court with Mazabuka Member of parliament (MP) Garry Nkombo and other senior party officials.

This is in a case in which Hichilema is charged with defamation of the President, contrary to section 69 of the Penal Code chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

Particulars of the offence are that Hichilema on January 13 last year in Lusaka with intent to bring the President into hatred, ridicule and contempt did publish defamatory statements.

He is reported to have accused President Sata of ordering the Anti-Corruption Commission to stop investigations against Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba, a story which was carried in the Daily Nation newspaper on January 14 this year.

The matter comes up on April 9 for trial.

Magistrate Mwiinga was informed that Mr Hichilema had arrived and the defence lawyer, Noah Dindi informed the court that following the order they had made efforts to contact their client who was attending a meeting at the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).

Mr Dindi asked the magistrate to consider abridging the time and allow the matter to be called because they were all busy in the afternoon.

He said it was not the defence’s decision to make him stay away from court proceedings but had taken it for granted that since their client was allowed to stay away in the last mention, it would also be the same this time.

Another defence lawyer, Keith Mweemba apologised to the court on behalf of the bench saying it was not their intention to make the accused person stay away from court proceedings hence the reason for making quick arrangements for him to attend court.

In his ruling, Mr Mwiinga accepted the apology but advised the defence to ensure that Hichilema is present in court during hearing once trial commences to avoid unnecessary confusion.

“I hope that such incidences will not happen again during trial. I accept the apology from the defence team and ensure that you guide the court accordingly,” said magistrate Mwiinga.

He said lawyers and adjudicators were ministers of justice and it was therefore important that the law was followed.

The High Court has set May 21st as the date for judgement in the matter in which the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has challenged the Constitutionality of the Public Order Act saying it is discriminatory to opposition political parties.

Judge Evans Hamaundu set the judgement date after the Attorney General closed his defence after Zambia Police Inspector General Solomon Jere’s testimony.

Dr Jere, who was the only State witness, today maintained that the United Party for National Development (UPND) were denied notifications to hold public gatherings for security reasons.

Dr Jere said during cross examination led by LAZ lawyer, Vincent Malambo from Malambo and Company that the refusal of public gatherings complained by UPND was done in the interest of the security of the nation including that of party members.

He said although the police had in writing given reasons to UPND for not supporting the June 6, 2012 demonstration over the independence of the judiciary and the September 9, 2012 Kanyama rally among others, they were not obliged to disclose the details of the reasons for security reasons.

Dr Jere said it was due to security reasons that notifiers intending to hold a public gathering, procession, demonstration or any other meetings were required under the Act to disclose the list of speakers and marshals.
He said knowing would-be speakers for an intended gathering helped police to investigate and be guaranteed of the safety as insecurity usually came through statements that might arise from the reactions of what that speaker might have said.

“There has been instances my Lord where some speakers have purposely used such events to incite, insult and cause anarchy through irresponsible statements and this comes to us through investigations that we undertake before the actual meetings,” Dr Jere said.

He said the police had a task of preventing the breaking of the law by those intending to hold gatherings adding that police had an idea of who was likely to incite the outbreak of the law.

He said “When we foresee that this is a likely event to occur, we prevent such an event from taking place so that we safeguard the public and the decision is made by applying the Public Order Act and other security reasons.”

In the case of the Kanyama rally, he said the event was not supported because of security commitments and that it crashed with a national event, the football match between Zambia and Uganda that was held on the Copperbelt.

He, however, said despite having not supported the gathering, police had created a small reservoir of officers of at least 200 to stop the UPND from going ahead with the gathering.

Dr Jere said the essence of having a Public Order Act in place was to maintain peace and order the reasons why it could not allow people intending to cause the breach of peace to do so.

Dr Jere said the service was aware that the Public Order Act did not require them to grant permission to anybody intending to hold a public gathering but added the same Act was applied in tandem with other pieces of law such as the penal code and Traffic Act but all in the interest of maintaining law and order.

The British High Commissioner to Zambia James Thornton has said that the passing of the long awaited Access to Information Bill in Parliament this year will demonstrate the Patriotic Front government’s seriousness of governing the country in a more open and transparent manner.

Mr. Thornton noted that passing of the bill would also bring Zambia a step closer to becoming a member of the multilateral initiative the Open Government Partnership whose aim is among other things to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency and fight corruption.

Mr. Thornton also observed that in order for the media to fulfill the mandate of providing information to the public there is need for the creation of an environment in which the media can operate without undue restriction or hindrance.

He further observed that it was gratifying to note that PF government had prioritized among other media law reforms the transformation of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) in to a true public broadcaster.

The British High Commissioner was speaking during a Civil Society Workshop on Public Service Broadcasting and Media laws organized by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia.

Speaking at the same event, MISA Zambia chairperson Nalumino Nalumino reiterated the need for the government to fully operationalize the IBA in the country.