JUDICIARY SHUTDOWN UNDERMINES ZAMBIA’S CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY – CSOS

A consortium of civil society organisations has condemned the total shutdown of Zambia’s judiciary on the final day for filing a presidential election petition. This is contained in a statement issued by LCK Freedom Foundation Executive Director Linda Kasonde on behalf of Advocates for Democratic Governance Foundation, ActionAid Zambia, Caritas Zambia, Chapter One Foundation, NGOCC, […]

A consortium of civil society organisations has condemned the total shutdown of Zambia’s judiciary on the final day for filing a presidential election petition.

This is contained in a statement issued by LCK Freedom Foundation Executive Director Linda Kasonde on behalf of Advocates for Democratic Governance Foundation, ActionAid Zambia, Caritas Zambia, Chapter One Foundation, NGOCC, and the Zambia Free Press Initiative.

They stated that court premises across the country have been surrounded by armed forces and judicial services suspended entirely on the basis of an unspecified security threat.

The civil society organisations added that this action is without precedent in Zambia’s history and has no place in a constitutional democracy governed by the separation of powers.

They observed that the shutdown coincides precisely with the expiry of the seven-day constitutional window for challenging the presidential election outcome.

The organisations noted that the timing is impossible to ignore and that the effect is to deprive Zambians of their constitutional right to have their challenge heard.

They advanced that access to justice is a foundational guarantee under Article 118 and the Bill of Rights, not a privilege to be switched off at the Executive’s convenience.

The civil society organisations said that the right of access to the courts is meaningless if the courts can be closed when citizens most need them.

They affirmed that justice deprived on a technicality of access is justice denied in substance.

The organisations emphasised that the Judiciary must immediately resume full operations or make provision for litigants to file process freely and without intimidation.

They further called on the Executive and security services to publicly account for the legal basis of the shutdown and to disclose the nature of the alleged threat.

The consortium affirmed its readiness to take all lawful steps necessary to defend judicial independence and the constitutional rights of the people of Zambia.