Mwamba Urges AU to Save Zambia’s Democracy

SAVE ZAMBIA’S DEMOCRACY, MWAMBA URGES AU …Former envoy urges Ndayishimiye to intervene before August 25 petition deadline Former Zambian Permanent Representative to the African Union, Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, has asked the continental body to urgently intervene in the…

SAVE ZAMBIA’S DEMOCRACY, MWAMBA URGES AU

…Former envoy urges Ndayishimiye to intervene before August 25 petition deadline

Former Zambian Permanent Representative to the African Union, Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, has asked the continental body to urgently intervene in the country’s post-election crisis. Mr Mwamba has warned that the constitutional window for challenging the August 13 presidential election expires tomorrow.

In an urgent letter dated August 23, 2026, addressed to AU Chairperson Évariste Ndayishimiye, who is also President of Burundi, through African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Amb. Mwamba said events following the election had now directly engaged the AU’s values, instruments and its own election observation mission.

“The facts set out below were not then on the public record. They are now, and most of them stand admitted by the Government of Zambia itself,” Amb Mwamba wrote.

He referred to the killing of former Cabinet Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya, the reported refuge taken by presidential candidates Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu at United Nations premises, and obstruction of an election petition.

Amb Mwamba, writing for and on behalf of the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance/NRPUP, whose presidential candidate Mr Mundubile was declared runner-up, urged the AU chairperson to exercise his good offices with President Hakainde Hichilema and consider sending a special envoy to Lusaka. He also called for the AU Peace and Security Council to be seized of the situation, arguing that developments had become sufficiently serious to warrant continental intervention.

The former diplomat said the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s suspension of counting and announcement of results on August 14 had raised serious concerns over the transparency of the tabulation process. He said party agents and accredited monitors were withdrawn during the suspension, while the head of the SADC Election Observation Mission stated that his mission was not in a position to observe the counting and collation of results during that period.

He further cited an EU Election Observation Mission update which, he said, found that the conduct of tabulation deteriorated significantly after the suspension, including a decline in verification that electronically entered figures matched paper tally sheets, from 100 percent to 81 percent of observations.

Amb Mwamba said the EU mission also observed returning officers appearing to wait for instructions from ECZ headquarters before announcing results, while a heavy military presence at totalling centres allegedly intimidated participants and reduced the presence of agents and observers. He said an armed group took almost all polling-station result forms from the Makeni Totalling Centre in Lusaka on August 15, and that credible witnesses reported raids on totalling centres in Kabwe by ruling-party cadres.

“We believe the declared figures do not reflect the ballots cast,” Amb. Mwamba said, adding that the claim could be tested through arithmetic against signed result forms held by party agents. He said the alliance had already tendered copies of its result forms to all observer missions, including the AU’s own mission.

Mr Mwamba also placed the killing of Mr Kafwaya at the centre of his appeal to the AU. He said an armed operation was conducted at Mr Mundubile’s Kabulonga residence on the night of August 14, hours after the opposition candidate had held a consultative meeting with the Joint AU-COMESA Election Observation Mission. Amb. Mwamba said Mr Kafwaya, a former Cabinet minister and Alliance finance chairperson, was shot and died that night.

He said the Government denied for five days that the operation had occurred, before the Central Joint Operations Committee, under the signature of Inspector General of Police Graphel Musamba, confirmed on August 19 that the operation had taken place and that Mr Kafwaya had been killed.

“Whatever else is disputed in Zambia today, this is not: the State killed a former Minister of the Republic and concealed his death from his family for five days while calling it a lie,” Mr Mwamba wrote.

He said the Law Association of Zambia and the Human Rights Commission of Zambia had called for an independent investigation, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had urged authorities to stop arbitrary arrests.

Mr Mwamba further told the AU that Mr Mundubile and his running mate, Makebi Zulu, had taken refuge at the premises of a United Nations agency in Lusaka on August 17, fearing for their lives. He said the UN had formally notified the Zambian Government of their presence, but that police subsequently issued a call-out for the two men on allegations of treason and insurrection.

Mr Mwamba said the situation was unacceptable, particularly because the candidates had millions of votes according to the declared results and were now unable to leave the UN compound for fear of arrest or harm.

He also raised concerns over the approaching constitutional deadline for challenging the presidential result. Mr Mwamba said Article 101 of the Constitution required an election petition to be filed in the Constitutional Court within seven days of the declaration, placing the deadline on August 25.

He said the detention of lead counsel, State Counsel George Chisanga, the arrest or detention of other lawyers, the seizure of campaign funds from counsel’s chambers, and warnings against petitioning had obstructed preparations for the legal challenge.

“The evident object of these measures is that the constitutional window should expire with no petition filed, so that it may afterwards be said that no Zambian challenged the result,” he said.

Mr Mwamba cited Kenya’s 2017 presidential election and Malawi’s 2020 presidential election as examples of African courts overturning disputed electoral processes and ordering fresh polls. He said Zambia’s courts should similarly be given the opportunity to determine any challenge to the election through the constitutional process.

Mr Mwamba asked the AU to seek guarantees for the safety of Mr Mundubile and Mr Zulu and to ensure that the inviolability of UN premises was respected. He also urged the continental body to demand the release or court production of detained lawyers, an end to obstruction of the election petition, and recognition that a constitutional remedy prevented by State action should not be treated as having been voluntarily abandoned.

He also asked the AU to support an independent investigation into Mr Kafwaya’s death, including independent forensic pathology with the participation of the family.

Mr Mwamba also called on the AU to withhold any additional step normalising the declared election outcome until the final reports of the AU-COMESA, SADC and EU observation missions had been issued and any lawfully filed petition adjudicated. He urged the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to consider the allegations, including issues concerning the right to life, arbitrary detention and citizens’ right to participate freely in the government of their country.

Mr Mwamba said the alliance had continued urging its supporters to remain calm and had chosen evidence, courts and African and international institutions as its avenues of recourse.

“I know this Union. It was not built to watch such machinations succeed,” he said.