CHIPILI, OTHERS SEEK TO SEND MUMBA, SAMBO, CHITIKA AND OTHERS TO PRISON FOR DISOBEYING INJUNCTION
LUSAKA High Court judge Mwape Bowa has granted the operation save MMD group leave to commence contempt of court proceedings against New Hope Movement for Multi-party Democracy president Dr Nevers Mumba and four others for going against a court order restraining them from holding a convention.
“Upon hearing counsel for the applicants and upon reading the affidavit of Geoffrey Mulenga filed herein, it is hereby ordered that the applicants herein be and are hereby at liberty to commence committal proceedings for contempt of court against the alleged contemnors,” ordered justice Bowa.
This is in a matter where former Kamfinsa member of parliament Webby Chipili and 19 others are challenging the election of Nevers Mumba and party national secretary Elizabeth Chitika and are seeking a declaration that the extra-ordinary convention held on March 20 ,2021 which ushered them as leaders of MMD is illegal, null and void, ab initio.
Chipili and 19 others are seeking a declaration that Mumba and his national executive committee has breached the party constitution.
They want a declaration that the national executive committee elected in 2011 and 2012 only had a five-year mandate.
The plantiffs are further seeking an order directing the registrar of societies to appoint an interim committee during the subsistence of the matter.
Geoffrey Mulenga in an affidavit in support of ex-parte summons for leave to issue notice of motion for committal for breach of court order sought the court’s authority to commit Mumba and others to prison for disobeying the restraining order to hold a convention.
Mulenga said that on March 20, 2020, the High Court granted an ex-parte order for injunction restraining the alleged contemnors from proceeding with the MMD party convention.
He said that Chitika and Mumba were served with the ex-parte order of injunction on March 20, 2021 at 08:45 hours.
The second contemnor (Mumba) went on to give a press briefing to ZNBC on March 20, where he stated that this ‘so-called injunction is a bogus injunction’ and further claimed that the ex-parte order of injunction had no seal from the judge,” Mulenga said.
“The effect of the ex-parte order of injunction dated March 20, 2021 was to restrain the alleged contemnors herein in from holding the MMD party convention scheduled for March 20, 2021.”
Mulenga stated that despite serving and directing the first (Chitika) and second (Mumba) alleged acontemnors to refrain from holding the MMD party convention, they proceeded to do so at the MMD party secretariat where Mumba was declared president of the MMD and the same was reported on various media platforms.
“Reuben Sambo, Winnie Zaloumis, Clement Zulu and Gregory Mofu despite being served or being made aware of the ex-parte order for injunction participated in the election where Mofu was the returning officer,” Mulenga said.
“The likelihood of success of the application to issue committal proceedings is very high.I believe the application will not prejudice the alleged contemnors in any material manner.”