Nawakwi in Court over the Hatembos disappearance in 2021
FDD leader Edith Nawakwi will today be in court accused of threatening the lives of the Hatembo siblings and holding them hostage.
The former minister of finance is alleged to have captured Pheluna and Milner Hatembo in attempts to brand President Hakainde Hichilema who was in opposition then as their hostage taker following a land dispute between the parties.
The Hatembos disappeared after High court judge Catherine Phiri threw out the matter in which they sued President Hichilema on allegations that he fraudulently acquired farm no. 1924 in Kalomo district Southern province which belonged to their late father.
Judge Phiri ruled that the case was statute barred as the siblings could not rely on fraud to reverse the hands of time.
The Hatembo’s vanished immediately they lost their case and the opposition leader who labelled the President ‘evil’ for abducting the siblings indicated that he would be arrested when filing in his nomination papers for the 2021 poll.
However a video later emerged on social media where the Hatembos claimed that Nawakwi was their captor and that she threatened to put an end to their lives.
As a result of the Hatembo’s revelation Nawakwi has been indicted for two counts of threatening violence and two counts of abduction with intent to confine a person.
It is alleged that the opposition leader between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2022 whilst acting together with other persons unknown with intent to cause injury or alarm, threatened to kill Pheluna and Milton Hatembo when she said “I will kill you by chopping your head if you tell anyone whatever I discuss”.
Nawakwi on the same dates abducted the Hatembo siblings from Choma to Lusaka with intent to secretly and wrongfuly confine them against their wishes.
The accused whose case has been allocated before magistrate Amy Masoja is expected to take plea on November 21, as she was not before Court.https://kalemba.news/…/nawakwi-in-court-over-the…/
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba