Mundubile, Makebi face sedition over election victory announcement

By NATION REPORTER BRIAN Mundubile and Makebi Zulu are being prosecuted for seditious practices for announcing that their Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) was showing they had won the August 2026 elections and demanded the publication of electoral records to verify the result. The charge sheet filed in the Solwezi Subordinate Court places that claim at the centre of one of two counts against the two opposition leaders. The charge sheet alleges that, during a Facebook livestream on August 14, Mr Mundubile and Mr Zulu published material intended to raise “discontent or disaffection” among Zambians. “According to the results received and compiled through our Parallel Voter Tabulation, based on information transmitted to us from polling stations and totalling centres across the country, our tabulation indicates that we have won this election,” the statement reproduced in the charge says. “We have won this election both at presidential level and majority seats in Parliament.” The prosecution also cites their concern about delays in announcing and verifying presidential results. In the same statement, Mundubile and Zulu called on the Electoral Commission of Zambia to publish results polling station by polling station and constituency by constituency so that the figures could be checked against the original records. The speech set out allegations about military involvement at totalling centres, missing Gen 20 forms and the handling of ballot boxes. Those claims remain allegations. The charge sheet reproduces the speakers’ demands that the authorities investigate them and preserve the electoral record. It also reproduces an explicit appeal for restraint. Addressing party agents and supporters, the statement urged them to remain “peaceful, vigilant and within the law” and said protecting the vote did not mean engaging in violence or confronting security personnel. That passage raises a question at the heart of the case: how the prosecution says a call to check election results through published records, coupled with an appeal for peaceful conduct, amounts to a seditious publication. The charge sheet states the prosecution’s allegation; it does not establish the defendants’ guilt. The first count concerns a Facebook post on Makebi Zulu’s page announcing: “President Brian Mundubile To Address The Nation Shortly. STANDBY.” Prosecutors describe the post as preparation for a seditious act. The second concerns the subsequent livestream on the two men’s Facebook pages. Director of Public Prosecutions Gilbert Phiri signed the consent to prosecute on September 24. The charge sheet records that Mundubile and Zulu had been arrested without a warrant on September 11 and lists their appearance before the Solwezi court for September 25. Both documents identify the offences as seditious practices under Section 57 of the Penal Code, read with Section 60. Section 58 governs legal proceedings for such offences. parliament.gov.zm

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