Zambia : Mundubile, Makebi On Hunger Strike?

Uncertainty over what is happening inside Mukobeko Maximum Correctional Facility has deepened after reports emerged that detained opposition figures Brian Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu have stopped eating food supplied by the institution, with their own legal team unable to fully explain why.

Defence counsel Sakwiba Sikota, part of the team representing both men, stopped short of confirming the hunger strike outright, but his account painted a picture of a legal team locked out of the very access it needs to know what is happening to its clients.

“I haven’t been to them today or yesterday, but we will be going there,” Sikota said, describing a pattern of restricted visits that has left even the lawyers uncertain about conditions inside the facility.

He traced the immediate concern back to the question of food safety. According to Sikota, Mundubile and Zulu have specifically asked for meals to be brought to them from outside the correctional facility rather than eating what is prepared internally, a request that prison authorities have repeatedly turned down.

“You see how they refuse the food being provided by the facility… So they have opted not to take food from the facility,” he said, describing the decision as a direct response to that refusal rather than an unprompted protest.

Behind the food dispute lies a broader breakdown in trust, Sikota suggested. He linked the difficulty in visiting the two men to what he called an unhelpful posture from officials at the facility, saying restricted access has made it impossible for the legal team to independently verify what the two detainees are being given to eat.

“There is a real need for them to be wary of the fact that they cannot be sure of what they are being given by the authorities, because the attitude of the authorities has shown no interest in that of goodwill,” he said.

Asked directly whether fears of poisoning were behind the men’s refusal to eat, Sikota declined to confirm this, saying he was not in a position to state it as fact. His caution reflects the wider information gap surrounding the case, in which claims and counter-claims have circulated without official confirmation from correctional authorities.

Sources close to the matter say the current standoff is not the first of its kind. This, according to those sources, is the second occasion since their detention began that Mundubile and Zulu have refused prison meals, suggesting a recurring pattern of distrust rather than an isolated incident.

Additional claims have surfaced regarding who is actually guarding the pair. Sources allege that Zambia Army commandos, rather than the ordinary correctional officers typically assigned to Mukobeko, have been posted around the two detainees, a security arrangement described as unusual and, by some accounts, without precedent in recent Zambian correctional practice.

Compounding the concern is the reported difficulty faced by friends and relatives attempting to visit the two men. Multiple sources say access for family members has been tightly restricted since the detention began, limiting independent channels through which the public could otherwise verify the detainees’ condition.

Taken together, the restricted legal access, the reported presence of military personnel and the refusal to eat facility-prepared food have combined to raise serious questions about the treatment of Mundubile and Zulu more than a week into their detention on treason-related charges.

Correctional authorities and government officials had not, by the time of publication, issued any public response confirming or denying the reports of a hunger strike, the restrictions on visitors, or the presence of military guards at the facility. The silence has left the matter unresolved, with Mundubile and Zulu’s legal team indicating it intends to press for renewed access in the coming days.

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