KABUSWE CLOSES CASE AFTER 10 WITNESSES AS DEFENCE EXPOSES CONTRADICTIONS
By ALICE CHABI
The Chililabombwe parliamentary election petition closed dramatically yesterday after petitioner Paul Kabuswe, the former Minister of Mines and UPND losing candidate, took the stand and faced a day-long grilling that exposed contradictions in his own evidence.
Kabuswe, who polled 8,986 votes against 10,920 for Resolute Party winner Nsofwa Kabwe Lupele, is challenging the August 13 result before Kitwe High Court Judge-in-Charge, Justice Lastone Mwanabo, sitting at Chingola Magistrate Court.
Taking the stand as his 10th and final witness, Kabuswe accused Lupele of branding him a copper thief during campaigns.
But under cross-examination by counsel for Lupele, Ngoma Legal Practitioners, he admitted Lupele never mentioned him by name in the video evidence presented to court.
He insisted Lupele was inciting voters through innuendos, “like a choir master conducting his choir.”
Counsel challenged him: with three other candidates in the race, how did he conclude the remarks referred to him?
Kabuswe also alleged Lupele bribed voters with money. The video played in court, however, showed Lupele only handing over a pen to a voter who had asked for it while greeting people in a queue at Ishuko polling station.
Asked if the pen was money, Kabuswe told the court: “Yes, a pen is equivalent to money and can cost more.”
The court was then shown two clips of Kabuswe himself greeting voters in a queue as he left Kakoso polling station — the same act he had condemned Lupele for.
Asked why it was wrong for Lupele but right for him, Kabuswe said he was still their leader and was merely responding to greetings.
He was also shown dancing with supporters to the song “BAPOMPWE” during campaigns. He told the court the word means “a dishonest person or a crook” but denied it was directed at Lupele, despite his own witness having testified earlier that the song targeted the opposition.
In the afternoon session, Kabuswe struggled to explain why a party Hiace ferrying voters was not inducement, saying people “did not know it was a party vehicle unless they knew.”
On claims that his supporters were beaten, he maintained they were assaulted even though medical reports showed no scratches or injuries, arguing “someone can look fine from the outside.”
On a claim that a party vehicle was damaged by Lupele’s cadres, the photo evidence did not show damage at the back as alleged.
Counsel for the second respondent, the Electoral Commission of Zambia — represented by George Kunda and Company — then dismantled the core of the petition:
“You agree with me that you have not exhibited any report that was made to either the Conflict Management Committee or any ECZ officer or police?” — Kabuswe agreed.
He also conceded he had exhibited no documentary evidence of any complaint to ECZ, and no evidence that any ECZ officer failed to discharge his duties.
He further conceded his witness statement did not explain how figures in his annexures related to the official figures on ECZ Form 19s.
On the party register his first witness, Charity, said she used at the polling station, Kabuswe confirmed the UPND supplied its own registers to all agents across all 57 polling stations to cross-check results, but failed to present the register to court.
Kabuswe, represented by Keith Mweemba and Associates, has now closed his case.
VThe matter resumes tomorrow, Wednesday, October 21, 2026, for Lupele to open his defence.