PRINCIPAL resident magistrate David Simusamba has charged that he cannot be sued by NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili and his lawyers for executing his duty as he enjoys judicial immunity.
Magistrate Simusamba has since asked the Lusaka High Court to dismiss action against him on point of law for irregularities.
In this matter Kambwili and his lawyers Cheelo Mwiinga and Christopher Mundia have sued magistrate Simusamba for defamation for alleging that they attempted to bribe him in order to deliver judgment in favour of Kambwili in a matter where the latter is facing charges of forgery, uttering a false document and giving false information to public officer.
The trio is seeking exemplary and or punitive damages for defamation of character, compensatory damages, damages for mental anguish and strain arising from the false, malicious and defamatory statements.
They also want a public retraction of the false and malicious allegations contained in a letter to the Chief Justice and an apology to them to their satisfaction in respect of all the defamatory utterances attributed to magistrate Simusamba.
In their statement of claim Kambwili disclosed that magistrate Simusamba is on a deliberate path to personally destroy him especially that he has completely refused to pay to the latter K360,000 which he demanded.
Kambwili said he will provide irrefutable evidence and will call witnesses to prove that he is not the first prominent politician in Zambia that magistrate Simusamba has attempted to extort huge sums of money from under the threat of a malicious conviction.
Kambwili and his lawyers said they will provide evidence and prove that magistrate Simusamaba authored a letter to the Chief Justice between December 18, 2019 and January 22, 2020 in which he maliciously made false allegations against them in order to escape sanction from the Chief Justice, by falsely in turn accusing the complainants of corruption after Kambwili complained against him.
Mwiinga and Mundia said they will equally aver at trial and provide evidence that magistrate Simusamaba’s publication to the Chief Justice has labelled them as unprofessional and unworthy legal practitioners.
However, in his application to have the matter dismissed on point of law, magistrate Simusamba said he has been sued relating to issues which arose in a strictly private and confidential correspondence to justice Irene Mambilima concerning issues which arose in his performance as an adjudicator in a matter between The People versus Chishimba Kambwili.
Magistrate Simusamba said no action can lie against a judicial officer (honorable magistrates included inter alia) in his or her capacity for acts done or words spoken by an adjudicator in the honest exercise of judicial office.
“My correspondence to the honourable Chief Justice in response to a complaint by Chishimba Kambwili was done in my exercise of judicial functions and in strict confidence,” magistrate Simusamba said.
He said the action by Kambwili and his lawyers is misconceived at law as he enjoys judicial immunity.
Magistrate Simusamba said he is not the right party to be sued as he is a government employee and the right party ought to have been the Attorney General.
“The plaintiffs have also not indicated any residential address on the writ of summons and have also not indicated their respective postal and electronic addresses which are irregularities,” said magistrate Simusamba.