Zambia`s Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo has warned opposition political party leaders against turning court grounds into political fields.
And police in full riot gear yesterday sealed off the Supreme and High Court buildings to keep hundreds of MMD cadres at bay.
Mr Kampyongo says addressing cadres on court grounds is disruptive to court proceedings and Government will not allow the practice to continue.
He says of late, there has been a trend by opposition leaders of going to court with many cadres and addressing them on court grounds.
Mr Kampyongo was speaking at a press briefing accompanied by his ministry counterpart Nickson Chilangwa, Inspector General of Police Stella Libongani, Drug Enforcement Commissioner Alita Mbahwe, and Department of Immigration Director General Moola Milomo.
“We are appealing to political leaders that if they want to go with supporters [to courts] they should know the number they are required to go with,” he said.
Mr Kamyongo said political leaders should know that courts of law are places for redress and cadres should not disrupt court proceedings.
“In as much as it is a right for them to show solidarity, we are also appealing to them to appreciate that courts of law are places for redress,” he said.
Meanwhile, MMD cadres yesterday besieged the court premises to offer solidarity to their party president Nevers Mumba, who appeared in the Lusaka High Court for contempt of court.
But the police prevented the cadres from accessing the judiciary buildings.
Police in anti-riot motor vehicles sealed off all the gates into the judiciary buildings leaving the MMD cadres outside, where they sang solidarity songs for Dr Mumba.
Dr Mumba appeared in the Lusaka High Court for the commencement of contempt of court proceedings for allegedly disobeying High Court judge Eddie Sikazwe’s order not to go ahead with the MMD national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
Justice Sikazwe granted MMD vice-president for administration Brian Chituwo and his counterpart for politics Michael Kaingu an ex-parte order to stop Dr Mumba from proceeding with the meeting but he allegedly refused to accept the order.
When the matter came up yesterday, lawyers representing Dr Mumba, Dr Chituwo and Dr Kaingu were summoned to Justice Sikazwe’s chambers, where the case was adjourned to Friday.
Justice Sikazwe deferred the matter to Friday to allow lawyers to respond to Dr Mumba’s preliminary issues of striking out the injunction granted to the two vice-presidents.
And Dr Mumba has said this is not the time for MMD members to be taking each other to court but unite for the purpose of removing the Patriotic Front (PF) administration from government in 2016.
He said this when he addressed cadres outside the court premises.
“This is Zambia’s jubilee, a time for peace, forgive, forget and rest for Zambia. It is not time to take each other to court. This is a time to reconcile as a nation and have new politics in this country,” Dr Mumba said.
He said people who want to destabilise the former ruling party will not succeed because it is determined to bring in new politics in Zambia.
Dr Mumba said instead of taking each other to court, party members need to challenge the PF government on the difficulties the Zambians are facing. – Daily Mail
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