FAMILY TELLS COURT MAGANDE HAD A SECRET DAUGHTER
NAMWEEMBA Bianca Magande may finally be recognised as a child of the late Finance Minister Ng’andu Peter Magande after his sister and uncle told the Lusaka High Court that she is indeed his biological daughter born out of wedlock.
The confirmation was made even without DNA proof after the two family members told the court that the former minister personally revealed her existence to them years before his death.
In her witness statement, Eunice Kachelo, 68, told the Court that her late brother confided in her in 1987 that he had a daughter in Livingstone.
“Sometime in 1987, the late told me that he had a daughter out of wedlock,” Kachelo said.
“I have no doubt she is the daughter of my late brother,” she maintained.
She said Magande again spoke about the child in the early 2000s and expressed concern that she was not attending school.
She further stated that the child’s mother was related to the late Mundia Sikatana.
Kachelo also testified that in 2021, when Namweemba moved to Lusaka in search of her father, she stayed with her for six months in John Howard Compound.
During that period, the late minister reportedly called regularly to check on her and sometimes sent money for food.
Magande’s maternal uncle Aaron Mwiinga also confirmed that in 2011, Magande personally informed him that he had a daughter named Namweemba born out of wedlock.
However, tensions erupted during the 2023 funeral when family elders asked that all of Magande’s children be identified.
Kachelo pointed at Namweemba, prompting the widow Joyce Mudenda and her children to react angrily.
“We were chased from the house and went to sit outside. Everyone from our side of the family, including myself and Namweemba, was asked to leave,” Mwiinga said.
Namweemba, 38, has since taken the matter to court after letters of administration were granted in February 2024 to estate administrator Simwaale Magande, widow Joyce Mudenda and Nakanjoli Magande.
She is demanding to be recognised as a rightful heir and has told the Court she is willing to undergo a DNA test using samples from her father’s remains.
Kalemba