ZA appeals against Chikopa contempt charges

The Government of Zambia has moved swiftly to protect Malawi Supreme Court Judge Lovemore Chikopa, chairperson of a tribunal constituted to investigate alleged professional misconduct by three judges, from facing contempt of court charges.

The State has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court in Ndola which held Chikopa for contempt of court.

Lawyers representing two of the three judges Nigel Mutuna and Charles Kajimanga filed committal proceedings against Chikopa for an alleged break of a court order.

A fortnight ago, the High Court in Ndola had ruled that Justice Chikopa should answer to a charge of contempt of court and explain why he should not be sent to jail or suffer other sanctions for disobeying a court order.

The State submitted that a committal could not be enforced in the absence of a penal notice which Ndola High Court Judge Mwiinde Siavwapa dismissed.

But the Zambian Attorney General Mumba Malila last week appealed against also argued that the trial judge erred in law. The tribunal has since been contested by the three judges.