Every story we have published

Lusaka Brief launched in September 2026. Entries from June to August 2026 were added retrospectively so that the record of the election season and its major national moments is preserved in one place.

Courts · Lead story

'This is the last adjournment': Mundubile, Zulu and 16 others appear at last, and the High Court sets 5 November for the bail hearing as the State asks for time to read the reply

All 18 applicants were brought from Mukobeko to the Lusaka High Court on Thursday 29 October, but the constitutional bail application still did not start. The Attorney-General asked for time to study the defence's 32-paragraph reply; the bench adjourned to 09:00 on Thursday 5 November and, the defence says, warned it would rule on the papers if either side was not ready. The State's affidavit argues two months in custody is not unreasonable for treason and terrorism charges and calls Mundubile and Zulu flight risks.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•30 October 2026

Politics · By-elections

One name left on the Mandevu ballot: all three of Adrian Banda's rivals withdraw a week before polling day, and the FDD's Daniel Chisenga says threats to his family forced him out

Letters dated Wednesday 28 October from the FDD's Daniel Chisenga, the Leadership Movement's candidate and the independent Daniel Daka reached the Electoral Commission a week before the Mandevu re-run on Thursday 5 November, leaving the UPND's Adrian Banda as the only candidate. Chisenga, the Tonse Alliance's man, says threats began on nomination day and spread to his family; the UPND said earlier this month it knew of no threats and that weak opponents should withdraw. The ECZ has not announced a declaration.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•30 October 2026

Politics · Government

The last two desks filled: Milupi takes Transport and Logistics, Kalila takes Housing with an order that councils allocate only serviced land, and Mulusa returns as Chief Whip

A day after swearing in 24 ministers, President Hichilema completed the line-up on Thursday 29 October: Charles Milupi to Transport and Logistics, with instructions to move on the Lobito Corridor, TAZARA and Zambia Railways without delay, and Christopher Kalila to the new Ministry of Housing, told to tackle unplanned settlements by putting roads and sanitation in before plots are handed out. In Parliament the Speaker announced that Solwezi North's Stafford Mulusa is Government Chief Whip again, with Matero's Alexander Sakala as his deputy.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•30 October 2026

Economy · Prices

Inflation edges up to 6.3 per cent as diesel jumps 24 per cent in a month, and September's trade balance swings to a US$186 million deficit on weaker copper exports

ZamStats' October bulletin, released in Lusaka on Thursday 29 October, puts annual inflation at 6.3 per cent, up from 6.1, with food inflation easing to 5.7 per cent and non-food rising to 7.4. The price table explains why: diesel up 23.8 per cent and petrol up 24.4 per cent in a month, while a 25 kg bag of breakfast meal is a tenth cheaper than a year ago. Exports fell 8.1 per cent in September and imports rose 5.4 per cent, turning August's US$48 million surplus into a US$186.4 million deficit as refined copper earnings dropped 15 per cent.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•30 October 2026

Economy · Energy

US$31 billion to 2050 and a US$23.1 billion hole for ZESCO: the Energy Ministry's financing strategy for the power plan, as the Permanent Secretary puts capacity at 4,722 MW

The Ministry of Energy's financing strategy for the Integrated Resource Plan, presented at a Centre for Trade Policy and Development meeting in Lusaka and reported by Zambia Monitor, says the plan needs about US$31 billion by 2050 and US$11.6 billion by 2030, roughly US$1.07 billion a year against concessional flows averaging US$231 million. Under an open-access market, ZESCO could face a gap of up to US$23.1 billion between 2033 and 2050. Separately, Permanent Secretary Arnold Simwaba put installed capacity at 4,722 MW, up from 3,777 MW in 2024.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•30 October 2026

Health · Cholera

1,622 cases and 30 deaths, more than half of them before reaching a clinic: Chilengi tells Parliament the outbreak has spread to 20 districts as 709,018 people are vaccinated

In a ministerial statement to the National Assembly on Thursday 29 October, Health Minister Roma Chilengi said Zambia had recorded 1,622 cholera cases and 30 deaths since 28 July, 16 of the deaths in communities before patients reached a health facility. The outbreak covers 20 districts in six provinces, Mumbwa and Chisamba the latest; Lusaka Province accounts for 1,090 cases. The Treasury has released K13 million for emergency water supply, and 709,018 people, 91 per cent of the target, have been vaccinated in Lusaka, Chibombo and Chongwe.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•30 October 2026

Courts · Election petitions

Mapatizya falls vacant: the High Court at Livingstone nullifies Emeldah Munashabantu's election over the ECZ's handling of the count, finds the MP blameless and awards costs

Judge Kazimbe Chenda has set aside the 13 August election of the UPND's Emeldah Munashabantu in Mapatizya, Zimba District, on the petition of independent Clive Miyanda, the Zambian Observer reported on Thursday evening, citing Mwebantu. The judgment is reported to dismiss the misconduct allegation against the MP but to find that the ECZ did not conduct the post-voting process substantially in accordance with electoral law after violence at the Kabanga totalling centre. The ECZ is to pay the petitioner's costs. An appeal is open.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•30 October 2026

Sport · Football

A final in Baku: Zambia's under-15s beat Slovakia 3–1 and Senegal 4–3 in one day and meet Portugal for the Tier B title on Friday, with Maxen Msimuko on 13 goals

Two knockout wins on Thursday 29 October took the Junior Chipolopolo to the Tier B final of the first FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival. Slovakia were beaten 3–1 in the quarter-final, and in the semi-final Zambia came from behind three times against Senegal, Moses Munkombwe, Maxen Msimuko twice and Samuel Musonda scoring in a 4–3 win, ZamFoot reported. Msimuko has 13 goals in the tournament and Musonda scored one and set up two in the semi. The final against Portugal is at the Crystal Hall on Friday 30 October, one of four finals with an African side.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•30 October 2026

Sport · Football

Maniema Union, Singida Black Stars and a club still to be decided: Red Arrows learn their Confederation Cup group, with the first matches from 27 November

The draw in Cairo on Wednesday 28 October put Red Arrows in Group C of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup with AS Maniema Union of DR Congo, Singida Black Stars of Tanzania and the winner of an unresolved qualifier among CR Belouizdad, AS Douanes and Hafia. It is the Zambian champions' first group stage in the competition, reached by beating Kaizer Chiefs on penalties. The group stage opens on the weekend of 27 to 29 November and ends in late January, with the top two in each group going to the quarter-finals in February.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•30 October 2026

Sport · Youth Olympics

Six for Senegal: a judoka, a badminton player, three swimmers and a sprinter carry Zambia into the first Olympic event held in Africa, which opens in Dakar on Saturday

The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games open on Saturday 31 October and run to 13 November. Zambia's team, sent off at the Senegalese embassy in Lusaka on 25 October, is Elisha Zimba in judo, Bhardwaj Anjuman in badminton, Sibongile Miti, Joshua Mulenga and Edward Cole in swimming and Nathan Matete in athletics, with Besa Chibwe as chef de mission. The National Olympic Committee says it applied for 115 places and was allocated six, and that Zambia has won four medals, one of them gold, at three previous Youth Games.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•30 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Twenty-four ministers in an afternoon: Hichilema fills the 30-ministry Cabinet, gives Tambatamba the mines and splits Energy between Kapala and Chikote

A day after Parliament approved the new structure, President Hakainde Hichilema swore in 24 Cabinet ministers at State House on Wednesday 28 October, filling the posts left empty since August. Brenda Tambatamba moves from Labour to Mines, Peter Kapala and Makozo Chikote take the new Electricity and Petroleum ministries, Felix Mutati and Douglas Syakalima return, and Jack Mwiimbu moves from Home Affairs to Justice. Fred M'membe called the expansion out of touch; Highvie Hamududu called its cost insignificant.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•29 October 2026

Economy · Budget

A week's grace for the new ministers: the 2027 budget moves from Friday to 6 November, and the Vice-President says the government is 'still working on it'

Vice-President Mutale Nalumango told Parliament on Tuesday 27 October that Situmbeko Musokotwane will now present the 2027 national budget on Friday 6 November rather than 30 October, News Diggers reports. The change came the day before 24 ministers were sworn in, and after Citizens First argued that ministers appointed on a Wednesday could not defend a budget on the Friday. ZIPAR, meanwhile, has asked the Treasury not to cut PAYE.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•29 October 2026

Economy · Agriculture

K4.1 billion paid, K14.6 billion still owed: Musokotwane says most maize farmers will be paid in November once the Treasury releases K14.7 billion, and the FRA has export contracts

In a ministerial statement on Tuesday 27 October the acting Agriculture Minister said the Food Reserve Agency had bought 2.7 million tonnes of maize worth K18.738 billion from 1,850 depots this season, far above its 500,000-tonne target, and had so far paid K4.1 billion of it. The balance is to come from the supplementary budget, with most payments expected next month, Zambia Monitor and the Zambia Daily Mail report.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•29 October 2026

Economy · Financial crime

US$1.8 billion of suspected illicit flows, 580 tax cases and a shell company that turned K85 million into a K150 million contract: what the FIC's 2025 trends report says

The Financial Intelligence Centre's eleventh money laundering trends report puts suspected illicit financial flows at US$1.8 billion in 2025, down from US$3.5 billion in 2024, with 786 intelligence reports passed to law enforcement, most of them over suspected tax evasion by shell companies. Zambia Monitor and News Diggers report that ZRA assessments arising from the Centre's work exceeded K12.5 billion.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•29 October 2026

Economy · Investment

'We are around US$20 billion plus': Hichilema asks a Swiss trade mission to invest beyond copper and in joint ventures with Zambians, and thanks Bern for its part in the debt deal

A Swiss business delegation led by State Secretary Helene Artieda called at State House on Tuesday 27 October. The President urged investment beyond traditional minerals and said foreign investors should partner local businesses, arguing that joint ownership protects against expropriation; Artieda said Switzerland backs the Grow Zambia Agenda and is exploring a government-to-government platform for Swiss companies, the Zambia Daily Mail and News Diggers report.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•29 October 2026

Politics · Constitution

A petition to scrap the two-term limit reaches Parliament through a UPND MP, Kabimba tells the President to silence those behind it, and the Attorney-General says time will tell

The Zambia Youth Organisation Consortium handed nominated MP Francis Kope a petition on Tuesday 27 October asking Parliament to abolish presidential term limits and drop the Grade 12 requirement for candidates; Kope said he would start the process of bringing it to the House, the Zambia Daily Mail and News Diggers report. Economic Front leader Wynter Kabimba said the President should tell those pushing a third term to 'shut up'.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•29 October 2026

Courts · Treason case

Third time, still not started: the High Court orders Mukobeko to produce Mundubile, Zulu and 16 others at 10:00 on Thursday after the defence asks for time to answer the State

The constitutional bail application by Brian Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and 16 co-accused failed to get under way for a third time on Wednesday 28 October, Zambia Monitor reports. The defence asked for time to reply to the State's affidavit in opposition, served on Tuesday evening, and the applicants were again not brought from prison; the three-judge panel ordered them produced on Thursday morning and warned the officer in charge to appear and explain any failure.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•29 October 2026

Sport · Football

Two down and then three up: Zambia's under-15s come back to beat England 3–2 in Baku and reach the last 16 of the first FIFA U-15 World Cup

England led 2–0 at the Hovsan complex on Wednesday 28 October before Maxen Msimuko pulled one back before half-time, Samuel Musonda equalised and Chrispine Katoba scored the winner, ZamFoot reports. Brian Kunsanama's side, who finished second in their group on 12 points, now wait to learn their round-of-16 opponent in the tournament's Tier 2 competition.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•29 October 2026

Sport · Football

Heroes is open for November: CAF grants the National Heroes Stadium temporary Category 3 approval, bringing the Burundi qualifier to Lusaka on 13 November and the U-23s' tie after

A CAF letter dated 28 October, following an inspection from 19 to 22 October, gives the Lusaka stadium temporary approval to host international matches in November, ZamFoot reports. The Chipolopolo's 2027 AFCON qualifier against Burundi moves from Levy Mwanawasa Stadium to Heroes on 13 November, and the under-23s play Burkina Faso there on 15 November, with CAF listing concerns still to be addressed before a further assessment.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•29 October 2026

Culture · Arts policy

A ministry of its own: Christopher Chibuye of Mkushi North becomes the first Minister of Culture and Arts, five years after the arts were folded into Youth and Sport

Among the 24 ministers sworn in on Wednesday 28 October is the first head of a stand-alone Ministry of Culture and Arts, created when Parliament dissolved the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts on Tuesday. The Vice-President told the House that culture and arts should be seen as an economic opportunity that can draw tourists and create jobs; the sector's new minister is a Mkushi North MP who came to the UPND from the PF.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•29 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Thirty ministries and two familiar faces: Parliament approves Hichilema's realignment a day after it was tabled, as Felix Mutati and Douglas Syakalima are nominated and sworn in

The National Assembly adopted the Vice-President's motion on Tuesday 27 October, clearing the way for a government of 30 ministries built around separate portfolios for Electricity, Petroleum, Trade and Exports, Industry, Housing and Skills and Higher Education. News Diggers reports that the President has nominated two former ministers to Parliament and that the Speaker swore them in. The published documents carry no cost estimate, and whether Friday's budget presentation still stands was not confirmed.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•28 October 2026

Politics · Reaction

'I am surprised there is no Ministry of Ministers': the cost argument over 30 ministries, and the case made for Electricity, Petroleum, Housing and Culture

Chapter One Foundation asked Parliament to test whether the realignment is necessary and affordable, Brian Mushimba said Zambia needs consolidation rather than more bureaucracy, and Laura Miti asked how rural voters benefit. On the other side, Sunday Chanda argued that each new portfolio answers a real problem and Greyford Monde made the case for a dedicated electricity ministry.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•28 October 2026

Economy · Budget

Leave PAYE alone, put 15 per cent into health, or do not present it at all: the asks pile up ahead of a 2027 budget scheduled for Friday

ZIPAR told a briefing on Monday that the government should not cut the PAYE rate because the Grow Zambia Agenda needs the revenue; the Resident Doctors Association wants health's share lifted from about 13 per cent to at least 15; and Citizens First wants the whole presentation held back until there is a Cabinet to defend it. The business statement of 24 October set the presentation for Friday 30 October.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•28 October 2026

Economy · Energy

A 150 MW coal plant for Ndola and 245 MWp of solar for Mufulira and Kasama: the ERB clears 61 licences and permits worth K13.4 billion in proposed investment

The Energy Regulation Board's licensing committee met on 14 October and approved 48 licence applications, nine construction permits and four amendments to petroleum transport licences, covering about US$662.3 million of proposed spending across electricity, renewables and downstream petroleum, according to a statement reported by two energy trade outlets on Tuesday.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•28 October 2026

Politics · Accountability

5,595 confiscated, 27 found: the Mpika North MP calls the Auditor-General's report a crime scene and demands an investigation into the missing Mukula logs

Francis Kapyanga says the government must account for 5,568 Mukula logs that the Mpika District Forestry Office recorded as confiscated between 2021 and 2025 but which a physical inspection in May 2026 could not find. The Auditor-General's 2025 report, which carries the finding, says the value of the missing logs could not be established.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•28 October 2026

Health · Cholera

A train held at Mapepe: 25 passengers on the Kitwe–Livingstone service taken to the Chilanga treatment centre, as the national count passes 1,480 cases and 29 deaths

Zambia Railways stopped passenger train 601 in the Chilanga area on Monday 26 October after a passenger fell ill with vomiting and diarrhoea; the Times of Zambia reports that 25 of about 500 people on board showed cholera symptoms and that 500 vaccine doses were brought to the train. ZNPHI's update the same day gave 68 new cases, one death and a cumulative 1,488 cases.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•28 October 2026

Courts · Lima

Out after eleven days: the High Court grants Lima MP Kelvin Kaunda K30,000 bail on an assault charge, the Zambian Observer reports, as he denies 'widespread violence' in court

Kaunda, the NRPUP member for the new Lima constituency, was arrested at the High Court on 15 October and held at Lubwa police post and then Mwembeshi Prison despite meeting police bond conditions. Judge Kaumbi Ndulo had ordered the State to produce him on Monday 27 October; the Zambian Observer reported that evening that bail was granted. He is also the respondent in an election petition in which he gave evidence on Monday.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•28 October 2026

Sport · Football

Four wins, 22 goals and a seven-goal afternoon for Maxen Msimuko: Zambia's under-15s finish second in their group at the first FIFA U-15 World Cup and go into Tier B

The Junior Chipolopolo beat Comoros 3–2 on Monday to close Group X with wins over Tanzania, Moldova, Montserrat and Comoros and a single defeat to Uruguay, finishing level on 12 points with the group winners. As runners-up they play on in Tier B of a 189-team, eight-a-side festival in Baku, with round two on Wednesday and the finals on Friday.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•28 October 2026

Sport · Motorsport

Chulu and Mbevya win in Monze as MO Drive take a one-two in round three of the national rally championship, with Zain Sidique still leading the standings

The Afrivert Energy Monze Motor Rally ran more than 91 km of gravel and plantation stages over the weekend of 24–25 October, backed by a K300,000 sponsorship pool. Geoffrey Chulu and navigator Kapuzya Mbevya won from team-mates Charles Hanankuni and Lweendo Simunzele, with the father-and-son Mukosa crew third. The title is decided at the final round in late November.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•28 October 2026

Culture · Faith

'Ministry on wheels': the President delivers the bus he promised Adventist youth at July's Big Sabbath, and the Lusaka Conference asks its members to keep praying for him

Pastor Francis Chibiya, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Lusaka Conference, unveiled the vehicle pledged by President Hichilema on 27 July at the Blessing Centre. The bus will carry Pathfinders to camporees and young people to retreats and evangelistic campaigns; the church did not give its cost or capacity.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•28 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Redrawing the ministries before naming the ministers: Hichilema asks Parliament to approve the creation, merger and dissolution of ministries, with Nalumango to move the motion

State House said on Monday 26 October that President Hakainde Hichilema has written to the National Assembly under Article 92(2)(d) of the Constitution seeking approval for a realignment of government ministries, which it says will put the machinery of government behind the Grow Zambia Agenda. Vice-President Mutale Nalumango will move the motion. No ministry has yet been named, no date set, and the request lands with a Cabinet of four ministers two and a half months after the election.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•27 October 2026

Politics · Cabinet

Censure him, do not defend him: Simutanyi tells the UPND to hold the President to account over a Cabinet of four, as party officials say the Constitution sets no deadline

The political scientist Neo Simutanyi says a government running on four ministers more than two months after the election is damaging governance and making Zambia a laughing stock, and that the ruling party should hold the President to account rather than explain the delay away. UPND officials have argued that the Constitution gives no timetable for Cabinet appointments. News Diggers and the Zambian Observer carried his remarks on Monday 26 October.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•27 October 2026

Economy · Agriculture

K52.6 million of inputs to inactive and double-dipping farmers: an agriculture foundation demands a FISP investigation after the Auditor-General's findings

The Agriculture Climate Action Foundation says the 2025 Auditor-General's report shows 2,128 inactive farmers were allocated K17.76 million of redeemable inputs and 4,213 beneficiaries got K34.92 million of inputs while already on other support programmes. It wants to know whether the failures were in the e-voucher or the direct supply system, and who will answer for them. A separate audit finding, reported last week, put K19.6 million of inputs in the hands of 2,339 farmers who were not on the national register.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•27 October 2026

Economy · Markets

A K2.2 billion test of appetite the day before the budget: Access Bank says Thursday's Treasury bill auction will show what investors think of the government's borrowing

The Bank of Zambia offers K2.2 billion of Treasury bills on Thursday 29 October, the day before the 2027 budget is read, with a third of the paper at one year. Access Bank's market note says FISP and Food Reserve Agency payments are about to push kwacha into rural areas, that the maize stockpile is prudent but expensive, and that 2027 is the risk year if the rains fail. On the stock exchange, a quiet week saw CEC account for almost half of turnover.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•27 October 2026

Health · Children

4,509,005 children to reach in a week: Chilengi launches Child Health Week and says the services should be routine, not an annual campaign

The Minister of Health, Professor Roma Chilengi, launched the 2026 Child Health Week in Lusaka on Monday 26 October with a target of more than 4.5 million under-fives for vitamin A, deworming, nutrition screening and catch-up immunisation, and HPV vaccination for girls of nine. The Ministry estimates that about one child in five missed a life-saving vaccine before its first birthday. World Vision moved 900,000 vitamin A doses and nearly four million deworming tablets to the provinces.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•27 October 2026

Health · Cholera

Past 1,300 cases and 27 deaths: the cholera outbreak has reached 18 districts in six provinces, with Lusaka carrying more than half the count and Chibombo most of the rest

The Mast reports a ZNPHI update showing 53 new cases and one death in a day, taking the outbreak to 1,314 cumulative cases, 27 deaths and 1,233 recoveries, with 54 patients in hospital. Lusaka has 723 cases and Chibombo 272. A later tally carried by Outbreak News Today on Monday 26 October put the count at 1,488 cases and 29 deaths, a figure Lusaka Brief has not been able to match to a published ZNPHI bulletin.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•27 October 2026

Courts · Treason case

'The State is not ready to prosecute': Mundubile, Zulu and 16 others argue that investigating after charge cannot justify holding them, a day before their bail hearing resumes

In arguments reported by News Diggers on Monday 26 October, the 18 accused in the treason case say the State has admitted it is still investigating after charging them, that this shows it is not ready to prosecute, and that their detention breaches their constitutional rights. Their application for constitutional bail is due back before a three-judge High Court panel at 09:00 on Wednesday 28 October, when the court has directed that all 18 be produced.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•27 October 2026

Sport · Women's football

'Don't look down on yourselves, girls': Kanyemba calls the U-17 World Cup bad for Zambia, apologises to the fans and says the Copper Princesses need far more games at this level

Carol Kanyemba's review of a tournament that ended with three defeats, two goals scored and nine conceded is unsparing: a setback on the last edition, returning players who did not repeat their form, and a gap between African and World Cup level that only exposure can close. She says selection and scouting will be reviewed and that the U-20 and senior teams are already looking at the graduating players. ZamFoot and News Diggers carried her remarks.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•27 October 2026

Culture · Visual art

Five pieces that survived a flooded studio: Emmanuel Chisenga, 24, of Lusaka becomes the first Zambian to win an Absa L'Atelier Ambassador Award

Chisenga, a business administration student with no formal art training, shares the 2026 Ambassador Award with Reginald Boateng of Ghana and Segun Owolabi of Nigeria in the competition's 40th year. The prize is a solo exhibition, R100,000 towards materials, masterclasses and a four-month mentorship. Zambia Monitor reports it as the first nomination and win for Zambia since the group structure was introduced in 2019.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•27 October 2026

Culture · Media

Five presidents on the page and one missing: the Zambia Daily Mail issues an 'unreserved apology to the nation' for leaving the late Edgar Lungu out of its Independence supplement

The daily's 62nd anniversary supplement showed President Hichilema with Kaunda, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, Banda and Sata, and no Lungu. After a former Chienge MP demanded an explanation and social-media criticism built over the weekend, the company said the omission was entirely unintentional and is being handled administratively. The Zambian Observer reported the complaint on Saturday and the apology on Monday.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•27 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Twenty names at State House: a crocodile rescue, the Chalala hero and the Trade Kings founder lead the Independence honours, with Kanyemba and the late Melu recognised for sport

President Hakainde Hichilema decorated 20 people at an investiture ceremony at State House on Saturday 24 October, the 62nd anniversary of independence. The Times of Zambia's list runs from freedom fighters to a fisherman who pulled a colleague from a crocodile, Robby Chitambo, who helped police find 13 abducted young women in Chalala in 2022, and Trade Kings' Iqbal Patel. Copper Princesses coach Carol Kanyemba received the President's Insignia of Meritorious Achievement.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•26 October 2026

Politics · Opposition

'Not a mere procedural formality': M'membe says the 48-hour rule is being ignored after the August election, while Mweetwa tells the House the vote passed without violence

The Socialist Party used the Independence weekend to press two arguments. In a statement on Sunday 25 October, Fred M'membe said opposition figures and critics are being held beyond the constitutional 48 hours without charge, and called for it to stop. General secretary Cosmas Musumali called President Hichilema's COMESA role an opening for economic diplomacy but said he has not yet matured into an African leader. In Parliament, UPND's Cornelius Mweetwa said August saw no violence beyond the chaos after Brian Mundubile declared himself president-elect.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•26 October 2026

Politics · Immigration

Home from a job that was not the job: two Zambian women repatriated from India over alleged exploitation, as Immigration removes 193 foreign nationals in a single day

The Department of Immigration said on Saturday 24 October that two Zambian women who went to India for work in July ended up in different work from what they had agreed, took refuge at the Zambian Embassy and were flown home, arriving at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport on 15 October. The same statement reported the removal of 193 foreign nationals from Lusaka on Thursday 22 October, most of them Burundians, and a Zambian deported from Dubai. Spokesman Namati Nshinka urged job-seekers to verify agents and contracts before travelling.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•26 October 2026

Economy · Budget

Budget day is Friday: Musokotwane to present the 2027 estimates on 30 October, after which the House breaks for ten working days of sector scrutiny

Vice-President Mutale Nalumango told the National Assembly on Friday 23 October that Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane will present the 2027 National Budget on Friday 30 October, News Diggers reports. The Speaker will then suspend the business of the House for ten working days so that sector budgets can be analysed, with the House resuming on 24 November. The budget follows a K19.9 billion supplementary request dominated by maize payments, and a World Bank pledge to back the 2027 fiscal programme.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•26 October 2026

Economy · Agriculture

Two-thirds of the way: 675,459 farmers have redeemed their FISP inputs, and the Ministry tells agro-dealers to keep the shelves stocked as the El Niño advisories go out

The Ministry of Agriculture said on Saturday 24 October that 675,459 farmers had redeemed inputs under the 2026/27 Farmer Input Support Programme by 23 October, 65.93 per cent of the 1,024,434 targeted beneficiaries and ahead of the pace at the same point last year. Spokesman Balewa Zyuulu urged agro-dealers to keep enough stock to serve e-voucher holders without delay, told farmers to protect their redemption codes, and pointed them to official weather advisories as a possible El Niño season approaches.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•26 October 2026

Health · Audit

Paid after death: the Auditor-General finds 77 deceased Ministry of Health workers were kept on the payroll for up to a year, at a cost of K5.79 million

The Auditor-General's report for 2025 says 77 health workers who had died remained on the Ministry of Health payroll for between one and twelve months, producing K5,790,691 in irregular payments, News Diggers and the Zambian Observer report. The same report found 63 officers past the retirement age of 60 still in service and paid K3.67 million, and 80 officers paid K1.16 million while unconfirmed in acting posts for up to 84 months. Who received the salaries of the dead is not stated.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•26 October 2026

Courts · Citizenship

'Incompetently before the court': the Attorney-General says Mukandila should have appealed to the Minister before asking the High Court to restore his NRC and passport

The State has asked the Lusaka High Court to throw out Celestine Mukandila's application for judicial review of the Gazette notice that cancelled his national registration card and passport. Attorney-General Mulilo Kabesha argues that the Tonse Alliance secretary-general should first have appealed to the Minister of Home Affairs and that judicial review is no shortcut around a statutory appeal, Zambia Monitor and News Diggers report. Mukandila says the Act gives no power to cancel an NRC by Gazette notice, and that he had no notice, hearing or reasons.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•26 October 2026

Courts · Eastern Province

Lumezi's council chairperson in custody: police detain NRPUP's Dawson Tembo over an alleged trespass and a damaged door, four days after the complaint was lodged

Police in Eastern Province have detained Dawson Tembo, the NRPUP chairperson of Lumezi Town Council, on allegations of trespass and malicious damage to property, News Diggers and the Zambian Observer report. A 20-year-old woman from a village under Chief Zumwanda complained on 19 October that he had entered her premises and damaged her door; police say he evaded arrest until Friday 23 October. He is expected in court and the allegations have not been tested; no response from Tembo or his party has been reported.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•26 October 2026

Sport · Super League

Nkana's run ends at Konkola: Blades win 2–0, Green Buffaloes come from behind in Kabwe and Chirundu win again, a day after Green Eagles dropped their first points

Week five of the MTN Super League transitional season closed on Sunday 25 October with Konkola Blades ending Nkana's three-match winning run 2–0 through Emmanuel Kunda and Idriss Ilunga Mbombo, Green Buffaloes beating Kabwe Warriors 2–1 away and Chirundu United winning 1–0 at Mufulira Wanderers, ZamFoot reports. On Saturday Green Eagles were held 0–0 by Nkwazi, their first dropped points, leaving Perry Mutapa's side top of Stream B on 10 points from four games.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•26 October 2026

Sport · Confederation Cup

'I expected nothing less than victory': the Air Force commander meets Red Arrows at the airport, sets a CAF final as the next target and hands coach Chisi Mbewe a car

Red Arrows came home from Durban to a late-night reception at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport led by Zambia Air Force commander Lieutenant General Oscar Nyoni, who told the players their first CAF Confederation Cup group place should be the start of a push for the final, ZamFoot reports. Nyoni, the club's patron, presented head coach Chisi Mbewe with a Toyota Mark X, and FAZ's delegation leader Samuel Mwape called the qualification a milestone for Zambian football.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•26 October 2026

Economy · Lead story

‘Preserve this year’s stocks’: 1.25 million Zambians face hunger in the lean season as the Government activates its El Niño plan — but the Vice-President says the lights stay on

Two ministerial statements to Parliament on Friday 23 October set out what the 2026/27 El Niño season could mean. Vice-President Mutale Nalumango said about 1.25 million people in 93 districts could face acute food insecurity between August 2026 and March 2027 and that K31.7 million has already gone to the Disaster Risk Management Division; Green Economy Minister Gilbert Siame listed the ten driest districts and announced a US$3.6 million grant for weather stations. Asked about electricity, Nalumango said there would be no load-shedding.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•25 October 2026

Politics · Independence Day

‘We do not break. We come together’: Hichilema’s message for Zambia at 62 — and the opposition’s answer that there is nothing yet to celebrate

Zambia marked 62 years of independence on Saturday 24 October under the theme ‘Our journey, our growth, our future’. In a message issued on the eve of the day, President Hakainde Hichilema paid tribute to the founding generation and set out his Grow Zambia Agenda; Tonse Alliance chairman Sakwiba Sikota told News Diggers he would ‘sadly’ commemorate rather than celebrate, and spoke of a ‘second independence’.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•25 October 2026

Politics · By-election

Three security zones for one constituency: the police lay out their plan for the Mandevu by-election on 5 November after the Tonse Alliance says its candidate was attacked

Inspector General of Police Graphael Musamba said on Saturday 24 October that Mandevu has been divided into three security zones with extra officers drawn from Lusaka Province, and that an alleged assault on Thursday 22 October will be investigated. The Tonse Alliance says FDD candidate Daniel Chisenga and other members were attacked by people in UPND regalia in Raphael Chota ward; the UPND had earlier challenged the alliance to name those it accuses.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•25 October 2026

Politics · Parliament

‘How do you ask “how did they apprehend?”’: the Vice-President tells MPs the Government will not explain Jay Jay Banda’s capture — and says the lean Cabinet is working

In Vice-President's Question Time on Friday 23 October, Mutale Nalumango said the Government would not account for the circumstances in which former Petauke Central MP Emmanuel Jay Banda was brought back from Mozambique and that Banda should explain himself. The Zambia Daily Mail and News Diggers report the exchange, which also covered FRA payments, COMESA and the size of the Cabinet.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•25 October 2026

Economy · Mining

US$122 million for Kalulushi: the ZDA signs a protection agreement with Rongxing to double a cathode plant, as the Mines PS says existing mines cannot deliver three million tonnes

The Zambia Development Agency signed an investment promotion and protection agreement on Thursday 22 October with Rongxing Investment, a Chinese-owned processor in Kalulushi that plans to lift copper-cathode capacity from 5,500 to 10,000 tonnes a year and add 194 jobs to its 506. At the Mining Insaka the same day, Permanent Secretary Hapenga Kabeta said the three-million-tonne target by 2031 depends on new projects, not expansion of what exists.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•25 October 2026

Courts · Election law

Out of Chimbokaila and back to court: Nakacinda’s ECZ summons trial is put off to 25 November after his lawyer says he is too ill, and the magistrate calls it the last adjournment

Raphael Nakacinda was due to open his defence on Friday 23 October to a charge of failing to comply with an Electoral Commission of Zambia summons in November 2022. His lawyer Nkula Bota told Magistrate Mbuywana Sinvula that he was unwell and needed medical attention, the Zambian Observer and News Diggers report; the case resumes on 25 November with a warning that no further adjournments will be granted.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•25 October 2026

Sport · Football

History from twelve yards: Red Arrows lose 1–0 in Durban, level the tie and beat Kaizer Chiefs 3–2 on penalties to reach a CAF group stage for the first time

Bradley Cross's second-half header at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Friday 23 October cancelled out Alassane Diarra's first-leg goal in Ndola and sent the Confederation Cup tie to a shoot-out. Red Arrows won it 3–2, with Lebohang Maboe, Reeve Frosler and Ethan Chislett missing for Chiefs, and go into the 16-club group stage that begins in November — the first time the Zambia Air Force side has got that far.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•25 October 2026

Sport · Women's football

Three games, three defeats, no points: Lea Motyka’s early goal gives France a 1–0 win and ends the Copper Princesses’ U-17 Women’s World Cup

Zambia's Under-17 women lost their final Group D match to France 1–0 in Morocco on Saturday 24 October, ZamFoot reports, after a 16th-minute goal by Lea Motyka from a Maelys Ane cross. Coach Carol Kanyemba had called the match ‘do or die’; the defeat follows the 5–0 loss to Japan and the 3–2 loss to Venezuela, and France go through to the round of 16.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•25 October 2026

Sport · Super League

Mpasela sinks the champions: MUZA beat Power Dynamos 1–0 to lead Stream A, Trident score six and ZESCO finally win in week five of the transitional Super League

Solomon Mpasela's 50th-minute goal gave FC MUZA a 1–0 win over defending champions Power Dynamos on Saturday 24 October and a three-point lead in Stream A, ZamFoot reports. Trident put six past Makeni All Stars, ZANACO beat Kansanshi 3–0, ZESCO United beat Mutondo Stars 5–0 for their first win of the season and Green Eagles stayed top of Stream B after a goalless draw with Nkwazi.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•25 October 2026

Economy · Lead story

The bill for the bumper harvest: Musokotwane asks Parliament for K19.9 billion more, three-quarters of it to pay farmers for maize the FRA did not plan to buy

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane presented Supplementary Estimates No. 2 of 2026 to the National Assembly on Thursday 22 October. Zambia Monitor and the Zambian Observer report that K14.7 billion of the K19.9 billion is owed to farmers who sold maize to the Food Reserve Agency, which bought 2.7 million tonnes against a target of 500,000, and that K18 billion of the total is to be raised by borrowing on the domestic market.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•23 October 2026

Politics · Rule of law

121st on fundamental rights, 109th on corruption: Chapter One says the 2026 Rule of Law Index shows authoritarian habits ‘becoming entrenched’

The Chapter One Foundation says the World Justice Project's 2026 index places Zambia among countries with a five-year decline in at least one safeguard against authoritarian rule, Zambia Monitor and the Zambian Observer report. No government response to the index was reported, but in his maiden speech on Wednesday 21 October Monze East MP Jack Mwiimbu, until recently the Home Affairs minister, accused churches, civil society and the opposition of applauding those who abuse the President.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•23 October 2026

Politics · State House

Same seven faces at State House: Hichilema re-appoints his advisers from Machila to Kayumba, while the Cabinet of his second term is still awaited

President Hakainde Hichilema has re-appointed all seven members of his presidential advisory team, State House said in a statement on Thursday 22 October reported by Zambia Monitor and News Diggers. The re-appointments, under Article 92(2)(e) and (f) of the Constitution, retain officials who have served since 2021. They come in a week in which, News Diggers reports, UPND Alliance chairperson Charles Milupi was answering social-media claims that he would be left out of the Cabinet.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•23 October 2026

Politics · Region

Second chair at the COMESA table: Hichilema becomes vice-chairperson as Mnangagwa takes over from Ruto in Harare and the bloc targets 15 per cent intra-regional trade

At the 25th COMESA Summit of Heads of State and Government in Harare on Thursday 22 October, Zimbabwe's Emmerson Mnangagwa took the chair from Kenya's William Ruto and President Hakainde Hichilema was named vice-chairperson of the bloc's bureau, Lusaka Times, Kenya's Eastleigh Voice and Rwanda's KT Press report. The summit launched a 2026–2030 strategic plan that aims to lift trade among the 21 member states to 15 per cent of their total trade.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•23 October 2026

Economy · Transport

Cranes that run on road and rail: Japan signs a 999 million yen grant for Zambia Railways maintenance equipment, with the two sides quoting the dollar figure differently

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane and Japan's ambassador Mikami Akiteru exchanged notes in Lusaka on Thursday 22 October for a grant to buy Japanese-made railway maintenance equipment, including crane-equipped motor cars and road-rail crane trucks, Lusaka Times and Zambia Monitor report. The ambassador put the grant at 999 million yen, about US$6.3 million; the Ministry of Finance's announcement gave US$6.17 million.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•23 October 2026

Economy · Mining

From the pit to the vault: ZCCM-IH tells London it will buy small-scale miners’ gold for the Bank of Zambia, citing a US$1.8 billion gap in the export data

ZCCM Investments Holdings chairperson Phesto Musonda told the Financial Times Africa Summit that the company's subsidiary Kyalo Goldfields will buy gold from licensed small-scale miners, pay them in kwacha and supply the metal to the Bank of Zambia, Zambia Monitor reports. He cited UAE records of nearly US$1.8 billion in gold imports from Zambia in 2023 against formal Zambian output of about 127,000 ounces last year — a discrepancy Africa Briefing traced in September to World Bank trade data.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•23 October 2026

Courts · Election petition

‘I was involved in bribing voters’: a former local-court magistrate turns petitioner’s witness in the Mwandi case, but says he has no evidence Iris Kaingu told him to do it

In the High Court sitting in Mongu, witnesses called by losing UPND candidate Sibeso Sefulo in her petition against independent Mwandi MP Iris Kaingu have admitted taking part in or receiving money during the August campaign, the Zambian Observer and News Diggers report. The former magistrate among them said he still supports Ms Kaingu and had no evidence she instructed any bribery; the judge warned the petitioner herself against interfering with a witness.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•23 October 2026

Courts · Drug enforcement

Thirty grammes and a famous name: the DEC says it has arrested rapper Chanda of ‘Chanda na Kay’ for alleged cannabis trafficking; he has not yet answered the claim

The Drug Enforcement Commission said in a statement on Thursday 22 October that it had arrested Edward Chanda, 28, the Lusaka rapper known as Chanda of the duo Chanda na Kay, for allegedly trafficking 30.3 grammes of dry loose cannabis, News Diggers and the Zambian Observer report. The arrest was announced alongside operations in Lusaka, Muchinga and Southern provinces. Mr Chanda has not yet appeared in court on the new allegation and his response has not been reported.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•23 October 2026

Sport · Football

One goal to protect in Durban: Red Arrows meet Kaizer Chiefs at Moses Mabhida at 15:00 today with a Confederation Cup group place at stake

Red Arrows carry Alassane Diarra's 76th-minute winner from Ndola into the second leg of their CAF Confederation Cup second preliminary round tie against Kaizer Chiefs at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Friday 23 October, kick-off 15:00 Central African Time, ZamFoot reports. Coach Chisi Mbewe says his side is braced for an all-out Chiefs performance; assistant Kalililo Kakonje says the players know what is at stake.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•23 October 2026

Sport · Youth football

Thirteen schoolboys in Baku: Zambia’s Under-15s open the first FIFA U-15 World Cup on Saturday in a group with Uruguay, Tanzania, Comoros, Moldova and Montserrat

Brian Kunsanama's 13-player squad, drawn largely from secondary and primary schools, left Lusaka on Tuesday 20 October for the inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan, which starts on Saturday 24 October, ZamFoot reports. Africa Top Sports places Zambia in Group X with Uruguay, Tanzania, Comoros, Moldova and Montserrat in a tournament played in an eight-a-side format.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•23 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Twelve months to the day: Raphael Nakacinda walks out of Chimbokaila after serving his defamation sentence, with a sedition count still to be ruled on in November

The Patriotic Front secretary general was released from Lusaka Central Correctional Facility on the morning of Wednesday 21 October, a year after he surrendered to begin an 18-month sentence for defaming President Hichilema. News Diggers and the Zambian Observer report that statutory remission cut the term to twelve months. Supporters in green carried him from the gates; a separate charge of seditious practices returns to the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court on 2 November.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•22 October 2026

Economy · Industry

A US$1.6 billion second act in Chilanga: Hichilema breaks ground on the UCF urea expansion and warns officials who slow projects that he will be ‘ruthless’

President Hichilema broke ground on Tuesday 20 October for the second phase of United Capital Fertilizer’s ammonia and urea plant in Chilanga, a US$1.6 billion expansion that the company and the President say will lift direct jobs from 7,400 to 10,000. He used the occasion to tell public officers that delays to investment approvals would not be tolerated in his second term.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•22 October 2026

Economy · Mining

‘Not the rainfall of 1964’: a regulator tells the Insaka that Zambia’s tailings dams are not ready for three million tonnes of copper a year

At the Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka in Lusaka, the Minerals Regulation Commission’s inspections chief said tailings management standards remain inadequate and called for a national registry and independent engineering oversight. Konkola Copper Mines, meanwhile, told News Diggers it has spent US$500 million on its tailings leach plant with US$600 million more committed.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•22 October 2026

Politics · Local government

Posters, not practitioners: Lusaka’s mayor says his crackdown on illegal adverts is not aimed at traditional healers, after their association asks him to tread carefully

Mayor Chitambala Mwewa says Lusaka City Council will intensify the removal of unauthorised advertising on public infrastructure, including posters promising instant wealth, and that offenders face fines. Dr Rodwell Vongo of the Traditional Health Practitioners Association of Zambia has urged caution on spiritual matters while backing action against unregistered healers, Phoenix News reports.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•22 October 2026

Health · Road safety

859 dead in three months: police count 12,865 road crashes between July and September, up 27 per cent on last year, as a head-on collision near Zimba kills two Americans

Zambia Police recorded 12,865 road traffic accidents and 859 deaths in the third quarter of 2026, against 10,126 crashes and 753 deaths in the same period of 2025, spokesperson Chipo Kaitisha said on Wednesday. Lusaka had almost half the crashes. The evening before, a Fortuner and a Hino collided on the Great North Road south of Zimba, killing two American passengers.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•22 October 2026

Health · Disease control

Drilling for a virus on the doorstep: Luapula tests its Ebola response with mobile laboratories as Nigeria becomes the fifth country with a case from the DRC outbreak

The Zambia National Public Health Institute ran a simulation in Milenge district this week to see how fast mobile laboratories can be deployed and return Ebola results, Zambia Monitor reports. The exercise comes as the World Health Organization confirms an imported case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in Abuja, Nigeria, with 44 contacts under watch, and as Kenya counts nine cases.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•22 October 2026

Courts · Corruption

Two Public Procurement Act convictions in a week: Chongwe’s district health director fined K330,000 over contracts to his own company; a former Solwezi council officer jailed

Chongwe Resident Magistrate Francis Sato found Dr Mweene Nseluke guilty on ten counts of failing to declare a conflict of interest and fined him K330,000 on Monday 19 October, the Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement reported by Zambia Monitor. News Diggers reports that the Solwezi Subordinate Court has separately jailed a former municipal council officer for three months over a K100,000 procurement.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•22 October 2026

Sport · Football

Ahead twice, beaten in the 100th minute: the Copper Princesses lose 3–2 to Venezuela and go into Saturday’s match with France without a point

Elizabeth Mofya and Grace Phiri each put Zambia in front in Morocco on Wednesday night, but Venezuela equalised twice and Andrea Suárez scored the winner in the tenth minute of stoppage time — one of the latest goals in the tournament’s recent history. Zambia sit bottom of Group D on zero points and face France on Saturday 24 October. On Friday, Red Arrows defend a 1–0 lead against Kaizer Chiefs in Durban.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•22 October 2026

Sport · Ultra-running

Thirty-two hours, 214 kilometres and the last lap alone: Cosmas Bwalya sets a Zambian record at the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship at York Farm

Cosmas Bwalya won Zambia’s leg of the 2026 Backyard Ultra World Team Championship at York Farm in Lusaka with 32 laps, or 214.6 km, beating the previous national best of 30 laps, News Diggers reports. Runner-up Alick Mashowo also passed the old mark with 31 laps, and Bwalya may now qualify for the 2027 individual world championship in Tennessee.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•22 October 2026

Culture · Theatre

Forty years of NATAAZ: the national theatre festival gathers in Chingola, with a K100,000 grant per arts association and a nudge towards the digital stage

The National Theatre Arts Association of Zambia is holding its 2026 Senior Festival in Chingola as it marks its 40th anniversary, with the winners expected to feed the theatre nominations for the Ngoma Awards. A speech from the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts told performers to use digital platforms to reach audiences and funders, and said arts associations each received a K100,000 grant this year, Zambia Monitor reports.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•22 October 2026

Courts · Lead story

Another week in Mukobeko: the State opposes bail for Mundubile and 17 others — and the hearing moves to 28 October with the DPP joined, the Zambian Observer reports

Brian Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and 16 co-accused came back to the Lusaka High Court on Wednesday 21 October for the constitutional bail hearing that was adjourned on Monday. The State has now filed an affidavit opposing release, arguing that treason cases take time and that the Director of Public Prosecutions must be a party. The Zambian Observer reports that both sides agreed to join Gilbert Phiri and that the hearing now goes to 28 October. The 18 remain in custody in Kabwe.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•21 October 2026

Politics · Parliament

One name, two sets of minutes: the Speaker recognises Ezra Tembo as Leader of the Opposition and ends the Kampyongo claim

Speaker Nelly Mutti told the National Assembly on Tuesday 20 October that she had received communication from the NRPUP’s secretary general confirming party president Ezra Tembo as Leader of the Opposition, with Milenge MP Gystave Chonde as Whip and Nyimba North MP Paul Lungu as Deputy Whip. The ruling closes a three-week dispute in which a rival caucus said it had elected Shiwang’andu MP Stephen Kampyongo to the post.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•21 October 2026

Politics · Human rights

‘A fugitive does not acquire immunity by crossing a border’: State House answers the civil-society groups questioning how Jay Jay Banda was brought home

A coalition of civil-society organisations has asked the Zambian and Mozambican governments to account for the cross-border apprehension of former Petauke Central MP Emmanuel ‘Jay Jay’ Banda and to explain how he came to be in a critical condition at Maina Soko Military Hospital. State House, through Clayson Hamasaka, calls the statement a political booby trap and says only bogus organisations could question the arrest of a man who, it says, publicly called for the President’s assassination.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•21 October 2026

Economy · Public finance

K626 million in mining penalties never collected, K3.56 billion owed by the Ministry of Health: the Auditor-General’s account of 2025

The Auditor-General’s report on the accounts for the year to 31 December 2025, released by Acting Auditor-General Patricia Malaila, finds that the Ministry of Mines failed to collect K626.64 million in penalties from licence holders, that the Ministry of Health carries K3.56 billion in unpaid obligations some dating to 2014, and that only 27 of 5,595 confiscated mukula logs could be found. Unresolved findings fell from 33 to 27.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•21 October 2026

Economy · Mining

‘Use it or lose it’, then a regional pitch: Botswana and the DRC bring proposals to the Mining Insaka after Hichilema’s warning to licence-holders

On the second day of the Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka at Mulungushi, Botswana’s minerals minister Bogolo Kenewendo and the DRC’s mines minister Louis Watum Kabamba urged shared processing, equipment manufacturing and border and rail cooperation, with a proposed Botswana–Zambia industrial campus tied to a 300 MW solar project. A day earlier President Hichilema told more than 1,300 delegates that tenements must be explored, that the state has spent almost US$100 million on a nationwide geophysical survey, and that the Insaka ‘is not a holiday’.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•21 October 2026

Politics · Environment

Every director sent home: the new ZEMA board orders a 60-day competency audit and installs an interim chief from UNZA

Green Economy and Environment Minister Gilbert Siame announced on Tuesday 20 October that the newly constituted board of the Zambia Environmental Management Agency has placed all of the agency’s directors on administrative leave pending assessments of competence and suitability, and appointed Dr Joel Kabika of the University of Zambia as interim director-general for six months. A policy institute has asked for due process and a clear line between the board and management.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•21 October 2026

Courts · Police custody

Six days without a court date: Lima MP Kelvin Kaunda applies for bail from Mwembeshi after a transfer his lawyer says he was not told about

Kelvin Kaunda, the NRPUP MP for Lima, was arrested on 15 October on a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm over an incident during the August campaign. He has applied for bail, saying he has been held without being taken before a court; the Correctional Service confirms he has been moved from Lubwa police station to Mwembeshi remand, where his lawyer says he was refused access. His election petition hearing was adjourned on Tuesday because he was not in court.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•21 October 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

A summit by video on Wednesday and one in Harare on Thursday: Hichilema’s two days of regional business, and the message he gave the Great Lakes

President Hichilema was due to join an extraordinary SADC summit held virtually on Wednesday 21 October to fill treaty positions and elect the next chair of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe said, before travelling to Harare for the 25th COMESA summit on Thursday 22 October, where Zimbabwe takes the chair from Kenya. On Monday he told a Great Lakes ministerial meeting that hungry populations are hard to govern and that the region should trade food rather than post soldiers.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•21 October 2026

Sport · Football

‘A must-win for us’: the Copper Princesses face Venezuela in Rabat tonight after the 5–0 to Japan — and Ken Sekeletu keeps his belt in Tenerife

Zambia’s under-17 women play Venezuela at 20:00 CAT on Wednesday 21 October in their second Group D match at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, after losing 5–0 to Japan on the opening day. Both sides are without a point; coach Carol Kanyemba says one defeat is not the end of the tournament and captain Taonga Mubanga has promised a win. In Spain, Ken Sekeletu retained his featherweight title with a third-round stoppage.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•21 October 2026

Culture · Books

From Matero to the launch stage: Olivia Tutu’s memoir ‘Authentic: A Life Chosen, Not Given’ is launched in Lusaka

Olivia Tutu, the 26-year-old founder of Youth on Sustainable Development, launched her ten-chapter memoir in Lusaka on Saturday 17 October, with Absa Bank chief executive Mizinga Melu as guest of honour and UNDP resident representative James Wakiaga among the speakers. The book was published in August and is expected on Amazon in January 2027.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•21 October 2026

Courts · Lead story

‘No jurisdiction’: Solwezi sends the Mundubile and Zulu sedition case to the High Court — and the question of a Lusaka hearing is left for the judges

Principal Resident Magistrate Mambwe Mukonde ruled on Tuesday 13 October that the Solwezi Magistrates’ Court cannot hear the two-count sedition case against Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu, and referred it to the High Court. The State had not disputed the defence’s claim that the alleged offences took place in Lusaka. No High Court date has been set, the two men have still not taken plea, and the separate treason matter is untouched. In Lusaka, a bench warrant was issued for Binwell Mpundu in his own sedition case.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•14 October 2026

Politics · Political violence

A scuffle on the Supreme Court steps: the Chief Justice tightens security after Davies Mwila is pushed to the ground — and the UPND condemns the attack while disputing the blame

Former PF secretary-general Davies Mwila was pushed to the ground outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday 13 October after a hearing in the Lima election petition. Chief Justice Mumba Malila called it an attack on the administration of justice and said security had been heightened. The UPND condemned the assault and dared a PF-Pamodzi youth official who blamed its cadres to produce evidence. Police have named no suspects.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•14 October 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

A seat without a contest: Zambia joins the UN Human Rights Council for 2027–2029 — as Human Rights Watch calls the uncontested vote ‘a mockery’

The UN General Assembly elected Zambia to the 47-member Human Rights Council on Tuesday 13 October, alongside Ghana, Nigeria and Burundi for Africa. Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe called it a milestone and thanked the states that backed the bid. Every regional group had put forward exactly as many candidates as seats, for the second year running, and Human Rights Watch said that made the word ‘election’ a mockery.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•14 October 2026

Economy · Debt

The steepest fall in the region — and the heaviest interest bill: Moody’s on Zambia’s debt, as Musokotwane takes the case to Bangkok

Moody’s projects that Zambia and Ethiopia will record the largest reductions in government debt in sub-Saharan Africa, and lists Zambia among eight countries with a positive outlook — while also forecasting that about 35 percent of its revenue will go on interest in 2027, the heaviest burden in the region alongside Kenya. State House called the projection the result of ‘hard choices’. The Finance Minister is now at the IMF–World Bank meetings in Bangkok, where he spoke for African borrowers on Tuesday.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•14 October 2026

Economy · Public finance

‘Not reduced’: State House says CDF stays at K40 million and only the disbursements have changed — as the Treasury releases K806 million for schools

After the Finance Minister said next year’s Constituency Development Fund would fall below budget, State House said the allocation ‘has not been reduced and remains at 40 million kwacha per constituency’, with disbursements realigned to need and absorption. NRPUP’s Stephen Kampyongo says any cut will leave MPs unable to meet expectations the Government itself raised. Separately, the Treasury released K806.1 million in fourth-quarter school grants, completing more than K2.3 billion for 2026.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•14 October 2026

Economy · Tax administration

A truce over the tax ledger: ZRA halts penalties, certificate suspensions and debt recovery while migrated records are reconciled

After moving years of historical tax transactions from retired systems onto TaxOnline, the Zambia Revenue Authority says it will not impose penalties, suspend Tax Clearance Certificates or pursue debt recovery over unreconciled historical data while taxpayers check their accounts. Business associations had raised concerns about suspended certificates and the reliability of the migrated records. A technical working group has been set up; no end date for the reconciliation period has been given.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•14 October 2026

Health · Ministry reforms

Back to their stations: the Ministry of Health sends 123 headquarters officers to their posts and orders a qualifications audit — as ZAMMSA starts hiring again

An internal assessment found 123 officers working at the Ministry of Health’s Lusaka headquarters under temporary arrangements, outside an approved establishment of 403 positions. Health Minister Roma Chilengi says they are being redirected to their substantive stations and that everyone left at headquarters will be assessed against professional benchmarks. ZAMMSA, whose entire workforce was dismissed, has advertised eight senior posts, and the Ministry says it is seeking cheaper financing for the sector.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•14 October 2026

Culture · Church and state

‘A matter concerning an individual’: the Government says clergy facing serious allegations should step aside — and the Green Party says the calls on Archbishop Banda are premature

Information Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana, in a statement that named no cleric, said it was advisable for clergy facing serious allegations to step aside while the facts are established, and that a case against an individual is not an attack on the Church. The statement follows the arrest of Lusaka Archbishop Alick Banda, who is contesting a charge in court. Two MPs say he should not preside at Mass meanwhile; Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba says resignation calls are premature and politically motivated.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•14 October 2026

Sport · Olympic qualifiers

Four goals and the road to Los Angeles reopens: the Copper Queens beat Uganda 4–1 in Ndola to go through 5–3 on aggregate — Ghana next, in February

Trailing 2–1 from Kampala, Zambia needed a performance at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Tuesday 13 October and produced one: Natasha Nanyangwe and Eneless Phiri scored inside 20 minutes, and Barbra Banda added two after the break for a 4–1 win and a 5–3 aggregate. Sylvia Kabene’s equaliser was Uganda’s only reply. The third round of the 2028 Olympic qualifiers brings Ghana, 10–0 aggregate winners over Mauritius, in February 2027.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•14 October 2026

Sport · Futsal

A winning start in Rabat: Zambia’s futsal side beat Libya 3–1 at the Africa Cup of Nations — the hosts, Morocco, are next

Royd Chishala scored in the second minute and Patrick Mwila added two as Zambia opened their fourth Futsal Africa Cup of Nations with a 3–1 win over Libya in Rabat on Monday 12 October. Mohammed Abu Raas pulled one back late on. Andrea Cristoforetti’s side, who went out in the group stage in 2024, now face hosts Morocco on Wednesday 14 October and Algeria on Friday 16 October.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•14 October 2026

Economy · Lead story

The bill for the maize: next year's CDF will be cut as the Treasury counts the cost of a bigger harvest

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says the 2027 Constituency Development Fund allocation will fall below what was initially budgeted, as the Treasury moves to contain this year's overspend — heavier-than-planned maize purchases chief among it. The Food Reserve Agency has been told to expect no Treasury money next season, and road funding is also under pressure.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•13 October 2026

Politics · Reconciliation

'A criminal matter, not a barrier to reconciliation': State House answers the camp that says there is no peace without release

State House has rejected claims that President Hichilema's call for national reconciliation cannot succeed while Brian Mundubile remains in detention. Political Advisor Levy Ngoma says reducing the incarceration to a political issue is misplaced because Mr Mundubile is accused of committing a crime. The opposition reads the same moment very differently.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•13 October 2026

Courts · Treason case

Food stopped at the prison gate: Sikota appeals to the President as the treason detainees' clock reaches 51 days

Senior counsel Sakwiba Sikota says food parcels sent by the families of the 18 treason detainees through the Anglican Cathedral were confiscated at Mukobeko's gate, as Chapter One Foundation tells the DPP that the seriousness of a charge is no answer to detention without judicial oversight. The Correctional Service had not responded.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•13 October 2026

Politics · Electoral Commission

'A requirement of the law, not favouritism': the ECZ answers the PR seats row as Britain's envoy makes the case for opposition

The Electoral Commission says the NRPUP lost its vacant proportional representation seats by missing the statutory seven-day window for submitting its party list, dismissing Emmanuel Mwamba's collusion claims as untrue and unfounded. The row lands as the British High Commissioner urges that Parliament's opposition be allowed to hold the Executive to account.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•13 October 2026

Economy · Mining investment

Eleven straight years of dividends — but K346 million lighter: ZCCM-IH declares K183 million for 2025

ZCCM Investments Holdings has declared a final dividend of about K183 million for the 2025 financial year — down from a record K529 million — after a provision for a legacy legal matter and a stronger kwacha cut the local value of its dollar assets. The state investment arm says investment income rose 40 per cent and its market value has passed US$1 billion.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•13 October 2026

Economy · Regional minerals

'No country can do it alone': Nalumango presses Great Lakes states on a decade-old promise to clean up the minerals trade

Opening the ICGLR Council of Ministers Responsible for Mines in Lusaka, Vice President Mutale Nalumango said only five member states have fully implemented the regional certification mechanism adopted in 2010 — and urged coordinated action, information sharing and value addition so that minerals fund peace rather than conflict.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•13 October 2026

Culture · Traditional ceremonies

A thanksgiving in Kalomo: the President puts traditional leaders at the front of the Grow Zambia Agenda

At the Chuungu traditional ceremony in Chief Chikanta's area, President Hichilema — in a speech delivered on his behalf — said every component of the Grow Zambia Agenda is found in the chiefdoms, asking traditional leaders to take a leading role while guarding the peace that growth depends on.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•13 October 2026

Sport · Olympic qualifiers

'We gave them too much space': the Copper Queens chase redemption — and a third straight Olympics — against Uganda tonight

Zambia trail 2-1 from Kampala and must overturn the Crested Cranes at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium at 18:00 to keep a third successive Olympic appearance alive. Interim coach Charles Haalubono has fixed on attitude; Uganda say they have come to complete a double.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•13 October 2026

Sport · Super League

No midweek football: the ZPL shelves every Monday-to-Friday fixture — and Nkana's top clash with NAPSA is the casualty

The Zambian Premier League has suspended all midweek fixtures across its four divisions until further notice, giving no reason, two days after Nkana and Konkola Blades seized the early Stream A lead. Weekend matches on 17–18 October go ahead as planned — for now.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•13 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

A song in the stands: the 'Pe Lampi' chants at Nkana bring a ministry warning, a FAZ threat — and a thermometer

A section of supporters at Nkana Stadium was reported to have sung the campaign song of the detained opposition figures during Saturday's 4–1 win. By Sunday the Sport Ministry had condemned it, FAZ had cited CAF and FIFA rulebooks, and the ruling party's Copperbelt chairman had called it 'hooliganism dressed in political colours'. Fred M'membe's answer: you cannot cure the fever by smashing the thermometer.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•12 October 2026

Politics · United Nations

Election eve in New York: Zambia sells its rule-of-law record to the UN — and lobbies for a rights council seat

Justice permanent secretary Mwenya Kaela Bwalya told the UN General Assembly's Sixth Committee on Friday that the rule of law remains the bedrock of multilateral cooperation, listing new courts, judges and legal-aid expansion as proof. On the sidelines she lobbied for Zambia's Human Rights Council bid. The election is tomorrow.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•12 October 2026

Courts · Sedition case

The wait ends tomorrow: Solwezi rules on jurisdiction for Mundubile and Zulu — and the DPP has answered the critics

Principal Resident Magistrate Mambwe Mukonde will rule on Tuesday 13 October on whether her Solwezi court can hear the sedition case against Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu — and plea could follow. The State does not dispute that the alleged offence happened in Lusaka. Meanwhile, the DPP has a word for the delay critics: Shamwana took eleven months.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•12 October 2026

Economy · Climate

Bracing for El Niño: Siame asks the World Bank to move from plans to investments — the Lobito Corridor on the table

Green Economy Minister Gilbert Siame received a senior World Bank delegation in Lusaka on Friday with two asks: support for the anticipated El Niño drought — forecasters say half the country is exposed — and accelerated green investment along the Lobito Corridor. The Bank says its response will be timely.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•12 October 2026

Economy · Fuel

'Monthly changes hurt planning': an energy expert backs the fuel-pricing review — and counts the VAT holiday's cost

Energy expert Johnston Chikwanda says the ERB's monthly price changes leave households and businesses unable to plan, and has welcomed the Government's promised review of the mechanism. But he backs the return of excise duty — the waivers were costing the Treasury — and notes VAT's suspension to December will cost a further US$120 million.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•12 October 2026

Health · UTH

'Four, five hours without being attended to must not be heard of': Chilengi puts UTH on notice

Health Minister Roma Chilengi toured the University Teaching Hospital on Thursday and left with a warning: reports of patients waiting four to five hours for attention should not be heard of, accountability must be clear, and the management improvements already begun must be expedited.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•12 October 2026

Sport · Olympic qualifiers

'Selection on hunger, not names': Haalubono's promise on the eve of the Uganda decider

The Copper Queens host Uganda at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Tuesday at 18:00, trailing 2–1 from Kampala. Interim coach Charles Haalubono says selection will follow determination, not reputation — and captain Barbra Banda has told the senior players to fight for their places.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•12 October 2026

Politics · Street vending

Operation Clear Path's ledger: 45 vendors fined, three City Market traders answer today

Lusaka City Council says 45 street vendors apprehended with police between 4 and 7 October have appeared before the Fast Track Court and been fined. Three more traders — who have stands in City Market but chose the street — appear before the same court today.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•12 October 2026

Culture · Media awards

A night for the craft: MISA's media awards honour the newsroom — five prizes for ZNBC, a haul for the Daily Mail

The MISA Zambia Platinum and Golden Media Awards gala filled the Mika Convention Center on Friday night. ZNBC took five honours — Mark Ziligone the Golden Media Award for Television, Lucky Phiri overall best male journalist in school health reporting — and the Daily Mail's reporters shared in more than twenty awards given out.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•12 October 2026

Economy · Lead story

The Fund says yes in principle: a US$1.47 billion staff-level deal — now come the prior actions

Zambia and the IMF have reached a staff-level agreement on a 36-month, US$1.472 billion Extended Credit Facility. Board approval and a set of prior actions still stand between Friday's handshake and the first disbursement.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•11 October 2026

Economy · Transport

Bus fares follow the fuel: RTSA approves Friday rises — 7 percent intercity, K3.50 inter-mine, K2 on Lusaka locals

The Road Transport and Safety Agency has approved higher bus fares across the country with effect from Friday 9 October, three weeks after the fuel pump price jumped by more than K6 a litre.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•11 October 2026

Politics · Accountability

'If you engage in corruption, you are on your own': the President puts the civil service — and MPs' allowances — on notice

Beyond the growth targets, Friday's address to the 14th National Assembly carried a blunt warning to public servants, a rebuke over parliamentary allowances, and a defence of the anti-corruption drive.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•11 October 2026

Politics · Reactions

The day after: Kampyongo welcomes the unity call, Britain backs Grow Zambia — with a caveat on opposition space

The first responses to Friday's address crossed the aisle and the diplomatic row: an opposition lawmaker preaching peace, a British envoy pledging backing with a condition, and the Vice-President urging the country to move on.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•11 October 2026

Culture · Faith

'A serious betrayal': Sumaili leads the backlash as the 18 October prayer holiday is folded into 29 December

A day after the Government moved the National Day of Prayer to a merged December commemoration, the minister who once held the religious-affairs portfolio has condemned the change as a betrayal of Christian believers.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•11 October 2026

Courts · Treason case

'Incompetent': Sikota takes on the DPP over the treason-trial delay — as a constitutional petition gets October dates

Lead counsel Sakwiba Sikota says blaming investigations for the delay in bringing Brian Mundubile and 17 others to court is incompetent. Meanwhile a constitutional petition over the detentions has been scheduled for late October.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•11 October 2026

Health · Staffing

Forty thousand hires under the US health pact — and RDAZ says the queue should start with those already inside

The US$1.5 billion health memorandum signed on Thursday carries a plan to recruit 40,000 health workers over five years. The resident doctors say existing staff should come first; the opposition questions the deal itself.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•11 October 2026

Sport · Rankings

Ninety-first: the Chipolopolo slip a place in the FIFA rankings — even the Togo win could not hold 90th

Zambia have fallen one place to 91st in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on Wednesday, the 2-0 win over Togo outweighed by bigger gains elsewhere during the international window.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•11 October 2026

Courts · Public order

Eleven arrests at National Heroes Stadium: a fake cash-giveaway post drew a crowd — and a police warning on disinformation

Police arrested eleven people at National Heroes Stadium on Friday morning after a false social-media post promising free cash drew a crowd to Gate 1. Officers dispersed the gathering when it refused to leave.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•11 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Grow Zambia day: Hichilema opens the 14th Assembly with a five-year agenda, a unity appeal — and a fuel-tax decision that lands this month

President Hakainde Hichilema ceremonially opened the First Session of the 14th National Assembly yesterday, telling a transformed chamber that the electorate's verdict was 'unequivocal: continuity, unity, progress and hard and smart work'. The address set out the Grow Zambia agenda for agriculture, mining and energy, restored the excise duty on fuel from this month, and ordered an electric-only fleet for government — while saying nothing, in its circulated text, about the third-term question that had crowded the foyer all week.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•10 October 2026

Economy · Fuel and energy

The tax comes back to the pump: excise duty returns this month — with an ERB pricing review, an ethanol blend plan, and an electric-only rule for the government fleet

President Hichilema told the 14th Assembly that the excise duty on fuel, suspended to shield consumers from global price shocks, is restored from October — the revenue earmarked for free education, CDF, school feeding and social cash transfers. The package pairs the tax with a review of the ERB's monthly pricing mechanism, a firmer TAZAMA open-access regime, a local ethanol blending strategy, and a directive that government institutions will now buy only electric vehicles.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•10 October 2026

Economy · Public finances

Hichilema courts the Fund: the IMF mission chief is in Lusaka for a successor programme — and the President is selling Grow Zambia as the framework

President Hichilema met IMF mission chief Edward Gemayel at State House on Wednesday to discuss a successor economic programme, telling him the completed US$1.3 billion Extended Credit Facility must give way to an arrangement 'complementary to our Grow Zambia Agenda' — the plan his officials price at US$65 billion in annual monetary value. The visit also marked a changing of the guard: resident representative Eric Lautier departs, Reginald Darius arrives.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•10 October 2026

Health · The US compact

Two readings of one signature: the health pact's fine print — US$975 million of Zambian money, a mineral clause decoupled — and M'membe's demand to see all of it

Forty-eight hours after the US-Zambia health compact was signed at the Ministry of Finance, its architecture is clearer: Washington intends more than US$1.5 billion over five years, Zambia pledges US$975 million in new domestic health spending, co-financing fell from US$243 million to US$154 million, and the minerals question has been formally decoupled — though not settled. Fred M'membe calls the deal padded chains and wants the full text published; the minister says the public already won the argument that mattered.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•10 October 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

Monday in New York: Zambia takes its Human Rights Council bid to the vote — as its own rights record is argued over at home

The UN General Assembly elects members of the Human Rights Council for 2027–2029 on Monday, and Zambia — the African Union-endorsed candidate — has spent the autumn lobbying for the seat, with Permanent Representative Chola Milambo working the corridors of UNGA 81. The bid lands in the same week the Government publicly rejected UN experts' concerns over the treason and sedition cases against opposition figures, telling the world body to let the courts decide.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•10 October 2026

Courts · The Solwezi file

Tuesday at Solwezi: the magistrate rules on jurisdiction for Mundubile and Zulu — and a plea, at last, may follow

Principal Resident Magistrate Mambwe Mukonde has set Tuesday 13 October to rule on whether the Solwezi Magistrate's Court may hear the sedition case against Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu, who argue the alleged offence happened in Lusaka. The ruling — and the plea it could unlock — is the week's first domino in a legal calendar that still holds an untried treason case against 18 accused.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•10 October 2026

Politics · The capital

The mayor's first week: Chitambala Mwewa takes the chain at the Civic Centre — and Operation Clear Path rolls into the CBD

Chitambala Mwewa was sworn in and installed as Mayor of Lusaka this week — 47 years after his father became the city's first indigenous Zambian mayor — with a mandate he has already started enforcing: vendors cleared, buses impounded, and phase two of Operation Clear Path aimed at the central business district. His first request from the chair is for the council police: better equipped, he says, or the cleanup will not hold.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•10 October 2026

Sport · Olympic qualifying

Ninety minutes to save the Olympic road: the Copper Queens regroup in Ndola for Tuesday's decider against Uganda

The Copper Queens are home, hurt, and one goal down. Thursday's 2-1 defeat at Nakivubo — Prisca Chilufya's early opener cancelled out by Agnes Nabukenya and Sylvia Kabene's second-half header — means Tuesday's second leg at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium is a straight fight for the third round, with Ghana or Mauritius waiting for the winner and Los Angeles 2028 at the end of the road.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•10 October 2026

Culture · Faith and nation

The prayer day moves: church mother bodies merge 18 October with the Christian-nation commemoration — one national event, on 29 December

Zambia's National Day of Prayer, Fasting, Repentance and Reconciliation — a fixture of 18 October since 2015 — is being merged with the commemoration of the Christian-nation declaration into a single observance on 29 December 2026, under the theme 'National Day of Prayer and Christian Heritage'. The church mother bodies say consolidation enhances rather than diminishes the day; this year, the prayers are asked to happen in the pews, not the stadium.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•10 October 2026

Culture · The season ahead

Bats, jets and leopard cubs: the travel season ahead — Kasanka's migration confirmed, a new Joburg–Lusaka route, and good news from South Luangwa

The dry-season ledger is filling in. Everwild has confirmed its Kasanka bushcamp for the 2026 bat migration — guests from 25 October to 1 December, with both the Kasanka Trust and the parks authority on board; FlySafair will fly Johannesburg–Lusaka five times a week from February 2027; Proflight is nearly doubling its Jetstream fleet; and at Sungani in South Luangwa, the leopardess Kuvina has been spotted with not one cub but two.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•10 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Opening day: Hichilema addresses the 14th National Assembly this morning — with a term-limits row in the foyer and a divided country in the gallery

President Hakainde Hichilema ceremonially opens the First Session of the 14th National Assembly today, his first address to Parliament since re-election, expected to set out the Government's 2026–2027 policy direction on energy, development and free education. Outside the chamber, the week's argument has been about a clause he has not proposed — and about the reconciliation his critics say must come first.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•9 October 2026

Politics · Elections

Lumezi North is decided without a ballot: UPND's Anderson Banda elected unopposed — and Mandevu's opposition ticket changed hands at the desk

The NRPUP, the only party entitled to file a fresh nomination in Lumezi North, did not do so by Thursday's close — leaving the UPND's Anderson Banda to be declared duly elected without a vote. In Mandevu, the Tonse Pamodzi alliance shifted its backing from Jean Kapata to former Lusaka mayor Daniel Chisenga, who filed on an FDD ticket against the UPND's Adrian Banda.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•9 October 2026

Politics · The reconciliation debate

'Not credible': Mbita Chitala indicts the August election — an audit of 13,529 polling stations, and a unity government as the cure

Zambia Research Foundation director Dr Mbita Chitala, a co-founder of the MMD, has declared the 13 August general election not credible — citing the ECZ's six-hour blackout, the closure of the courts during the presidential petition window, and a claimed variance of more than 800,000 votes — and proposed an eight-pillar reconciliation process culminating in a government of national unity.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•9 October 2026

Economy · Currency

Nineteen-ninety-two: the kwacha is drifting back toward 20 to the dollar — while copper holds above US$14,600 a tonne

The kwacha traded at 19.92 to the US dollar on Thursday, down 3.53 percent over the past month even as copper holds near record levels above US$14,600 a tonne — a divergence that has analysts asking why the currency is not stronger, and one arguing it should be closer to K10.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•9 October 2026

Economy · Energy

Double the demand, stuck at the wires: capacity hits 4,722MW — and the President names the grid as the laggard

President Hichilema has told the Energy Forum for Africa that Zambia's installed generation capacity of 4,722.3MW is now nearly twice peak national demand of about 2,400MW — but warned that the transmission and distribution network is lagging behind and must attract urgent investment.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•9 October 2026

Health · The pact

Signed: the US health pact becomes paper — US$2.49 billion by Washington's count, no specimen clause, and a minister insisting minerals were never in the room

Zambia and the United States signed their five-year health cooperation agreement at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday. The US State Department values the deal at US$2.49 billion — US$1.52 billion from Washington against US$975 million from Lusaka — notably less than the US$3.6 billion Zambian officials had mooted earlier in the week. The specimen and data clauses are gone; the opposition still wants the text published.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•9 October 2026

Courts · Election petitions

'Errors and irregularities': Kasenengwa's own returning officer confirms the petitioner's case at the Chipata High Court

John Daka, the returning officer for Kasenengwa, has told the Chipata High Court that the August poll in the constituency was marred by errors and irregularities — including rejected ballots found inside the declared winner's sealed envelope on a court-ordered recount. He also testified that he felt threatened when the winner and his supporters stormed the totalling centre.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•9 October 2026

Courts · Wildlife crime

Four hundred and forty-six tusks in hollowed timber: Lusaka is probing whether Thailand's giant seizure began in Zambia

The Ministry of Tourism says the reported Zambian origin of a consignment of 446 elephant tusks — seized with 56,000 kilograms of timber in Thailand and a second, unnamed country — has not been established. Investigators are reviewing permits and customs declarations, and a first inspection of the State ivory strongroom found no sign of theft.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•9 October 2026

Sport · Football

Kampala falls flat: the Queens lead early, lose 2-1 at Nakivubo — and the Olympic road now runs through Ndola on Tuesday

The Copper Queens took an early lead at Hamz Stadium on Thursday but ended the night beaten 2-1 by Uganda's Crested Cranes in the first leg of their 2028 Olympic qualifier. The return leg is at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on Tuesday, 13 October — Zambia must win it to keep Los Angeles in view.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•9 October 2026

Culture · The season

The season after Derulo: Kwacha Music Awards set for 27 November, NATAAZ turns forty in Chingola — the Culture Desk's calendar

A week after the Stanbic Music Festival's landmark weekend, Zambia's culture calendar fills in its own dates: the Kwacha Music Awards have confirmed 27 November, the National Theatre Arts Association of Zambia marks forty years in Chingola from 19 October, and festival season continues across the Copperbelt and Lusaka.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•9 October 2026

Health · Lead story

Signature day: Zambia and the United States put the US$3.6 billion health pact to paper — specimen clause out, and 'no mention of critical minerals'

Zambia and the United States are scheduled to sign their five-year health cooperation agreement at the Ministry of Finance today — a combined US$3.6 billion envelope: US$1.5 billion from Washington and US$2.1 billion from Lusaka's own health spending. The specimen-sharing clause is gone, data-sharing is narrowed to programme monitoring, and the health minister says minerals are mentioned nowhere. The opposition wants the full text published.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•8 October 2026

Politics · Elections

Nominations morning: Kapata files to take Mandevu back, the UPND answers with Adrian Banda — and the road to 5 November officially opens

The Electoral Commission of Zambia receives nomination papers today for the Mandevu and Lumezi North parliamentary by-elections, the Mbala mayoralty and eleven ward contests across five provinces. In Mandevu, Tonse Pamodzi's Jean Kapata — who held the seat from 2006 to 2021 — faces the UPND's Adrian Banda and LM's Ntazana Musukuma. Campaigning opens on Saturday; polling is on 5 November.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•8 October 2026

Politics · The debate

Tomorrow he opens Parliament — but the loudest argument in the foyer is about a clause the President has not proposed

President Hichilema opens the First Session of the 14th National Assembly on Friday with a policy address — yet the week's loudest pre-speech row is over Article 106's two-term bar. A UPND MP says the limit can constitutionally be revisited and complains his remarks were clipped out of context; the opposition calls the trial balloon a confession. State House has repeatedly distanced itself from third-term talk.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•8 October 2026

Economy · Outlook

The World Bank raises its pencil: Africa's 2026 growth lifted to 4.3 percent — and Zambia is on the upgraded list

The World Bank's October Africa Economic Update raises Sub-Saharan Africa's 2026 growth forecast to 4.3 percent — 0.3 points above April — with Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Angola among nearly three-quarters of economies revised up. But median inflation is seen climbing back to 5.5 percent, income per person barely moves, and growth is still not making jobs.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•8 October 2026

Economy · Energy

Zambia has passed its 1,000MW solar target — and the wires, not the panels, are now the weak link

Installed generation capacity has climbed from 3,777MW in 2024 to 4,722.3MW, with solar jumping from 178MW to 1,027.5MW — past the 1,000MW-by-2026 target — the Energy Forum for Africa heard in Lusaka. The next bottlenecks: transmission lines, and turning Batoka, Devil's Gorge and Kariba floating solar from pipeline into procurement.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•8 October 2026

Courts · Election petitions

Seventeen, not fifteen: the Kabwata petition survives a time-bar bid — and the witnesses start talking about money

Justice Mary Mulanda has dismissed a preliminary bid to throw out the Kabwata election petition as time-barred, ruling that the seat was declared on 17 August — not the 15th, as a typographical error suggested — making the 31 August filing valid under section 100(3). Witnesses then testified to money handouts at Chilenje Community Hall and Kamwala Secondary School.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•8 October 2026

Health · The city

'A malicious fabrication': Government disowns the fake church-ban circular — and warns the forgers, and the careless, to stop

A forged statement circulating on social media — claiming the Government has suspended church meetings, overnight prayers and crusades until 1 November — is fake, the Ministry of Information and Media says. Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana called it a malicious fabrication born of 'the panic of opposition political factions' and warned both forgers and media houses that amplify unchecked documents.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•8 October 2026

Sport · Football

Three o'clock in Kampala: the Copper Queens open their Olympic road against Uganda — with the captain's demand ringing in their ears

Kick-off is 15:00 CAT at Hamz Stadium, Nakivubo — after this edition went to press. Barbra Banda leads a 25-player squad including eight foreign-based professionals into the first leg of the 2028 Olympic qualifier against Uganda, with the return in Ndola on 13 October and Ghana or Mauritius waiting beyond.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•8 October 2026

Sport · Governance

Adjourned to the 14th: Wanderers' court case waits a week — and the pressure group fills the silence with a demand

Wednesday's 08:00 hearing in the challenge to Mufulira Wanderers' executive was adjourned to 14 October, Mafken FM reports. The plaintiffs — former trainer Davies Nsama and the Community Pressure Group — say the committee's tenure has expired; the club says they are not paid-up members. The group has now demanded the executive 'resign with immediate effect'.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•8 October 2026

Culture · Music

Tenge Tenge, TK and a sold-out Golden Circle: Jason Derulo's only African stop turned the Showgrounds into the festival the continent talked about

Saturday's Stanbic Music Festival finale at Polo Field A was Jason Derulo's only African stop on The Last Dance World Tour — and he shared the bill with Yo Maps, Mampi, Danny Kaya and a 13-year-old Ugandan viral sensation. The Culture Desk looks back at the weekend Lusaka's festival economy came of age, and forward to the heritage week ahead.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•8 October 2026

Health · Lead story

Signed on Thursday: Zambia takes US$1.5 billion of American health money — on its own terms, says the minister, with the minerals clause gone

Health Minister Roma Chilengi says Zambia will sign the revised five-year health agreement with the United States on Thursday, after Washington dropped demands on patient specimens and critical minerals. The US will provide US$1.5 billion over five years; Zambia's own health spend over the period is projected at US$2.1 billion.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•7 October 2026

Politics · Elections

Nominations day tomorrow: Mandevu and Lumezi pick their candidates as the ECZ opens the road to the 5 November by-elections

The Electoral Commission of Zambia conducts nominations on Thursday for the Mandevu and Lumezi parliamentary by-elections, the Mbala mayoral race and eleven ward contests across five provinces. Campaigns open on Saturday and polling is on 5 November. In Kasempa and Mpika, electoral officers are already preaching peace.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•7 October 2026

Politics · Parliament

Friday at Parliament: Hichilema opens the 14th National Assembly — and the country listens for the second term's real agenda

President Hichilema will officially open the First Session of the 14th National Assembly on Friday, setting out the Government's policy direction and priorities for 2026–2027. It is his first address to a House his party dominates — with a budget framework, a drought forecast and a restive opposition all waiting in the foyer.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•7 October 2026

Economy · Budget

Seven percent bigger: Treasury tables a K271.9 billion spending plan for 2027 — and a copper ladder that must finally reach a million tonnes

Total expenditure is projected at K271.9 billion next year, revenue at K218.6 billion and borrowing at K44.9 billion, the finance ministry told public hearings on Monday. Growth this year is seen at 5.3 percent — below the 6.4 percent promised a year ago — and copper output must climb from 890,346 tonnes to 1.08 million in 2027.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•7 October 2026

Economy · Agriculture

'We will not spare them': Government takes the fake-seed war to warehouses and open markets as planting begins

The Seed Control and Certification Institute says inspectors are moving through warehouses, open markets and agro-dealerships this planting season, armed with Cap 236 powers to apprehend and prosecute counterfeit-seed dealers. Farmers are being told to buy only from known sources — and a tougher law is on the way.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•7 October 2026

Courts · Election petitions

950 ballot papers, 928 voters, and no answers: Tayali's own witness stumbles in the Ndola Central petition

Carol Namushi, the ECZ presiding officer called by petitioner Frank Tayali, gave two conflicting accounts of the alleged Chibolele polling-station disturbance and could not reconcile her ballot figures under cross-examination, prompting the court to caution her. The petition over the 819-vote margin continues.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•7 October 2026

Health · The city

Forty-one buses, sixteen drivers, two arrests: the first numbers of Operation Clear Path — and a warning to commuters too

Police say 41 buses were impounded in Saturday's joint sweep for loading passengers at undesignated places, with 16 drivers scheduled for court and two people arrested for disorderly conduct. Mayor Chitambala Mwewa says commuters who keep boarding on Cha Cha Cha and Freedom Way will also face the law.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•7 October 2026

Sport · Football

Redemption tour opens in Kampala: Banda joins the Copper Queens for Thursday's Olympic qualifier against Uganda

Captain Barbra Banda and four other foreign-based players have joined the Copper Queens camp in Kampala ahead of Thursday's 2028 Olympic qualifier first leg at Hamz Nakivubo Stadium, with Racheal Kundananji, Prisca Chilufya and Mercy Chipasula completing the squad. Interim coach Charles Haalubono must turn a disappointing WAFCON year into a Los Angeles road.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•7 October 2026

Sport · Governance

Court at eight, training after: Mufulira Wanderers' executive answers a mandate challenge this morning

The executive committee of nine-time champions Mufulira Wanderers was due before the court at 08:00 hours on Wednesday, summoned by former physical trainer Davies Nsama and the Mufulira Wanderers Community Pressure Group in a challenge to its continued mandate. The club insists the plaintiffs are not paid-up members — and that football comes first.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•7 October 2026

Culture · Music

The list is out: Kwacha Music Awards nominees land, voting opens — and the road to 27 November begins

The 2026 Kwacha Music Awards nominees have been announced and voting is officially open, ahead of the ceremony on Friday, 27 November. Built on airplay tracking across 45 radio stations, this year's list carries the theme 'Prestige, Excellence and Honour' — and a warning from the organisers: nobody pays for a nomination.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•7 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

No plea, no trial — a question of place: Solwezi reserves its jurisdiction ruling to 13 October, and the sedition case waits again

Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu left the Solwezi Magistrates' Court on Monday as they arrived: unpleaded. The defence says the alleged offence happened in Lusaka, not Solwezi; the State wanted to press on there and then. Principal Resident Magistrate Mambwe Mukonde will rule on 13 October, with written submissions due on Thursday.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•6 October 2026

Politics · Reconciliation

'Healing must start with us leaders': Silumbe calls for a national indaba — and tells the President the Grow Zambia Agenda cannot grow in polarised soil

Leadership Movement president Dr Richard Silumbe has urged President Hichilema to call a genuine national reconciliation indaba, warning that the country is 'building a fertile land for a national crisis'. His argument is economic as much as moral: three million tonnes of copper and ten million tonnes of maize will not come from a nation of vengeance.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•6 October 2026

Politics · Food security

'Don't say we were not told': at Samu Lya Moomba, the President's first ceremony since re-election becomes a drought warning

Speaking in Chief Choongo's country on Sunday, President Hichilema told traditional leaders to make their people keep enough maize for their own tables and to store it in granaries rather than sacks — and pitched rentable FRA sheds at K1.8 million. Between the culture and the caution came a second-term message to MPs: 'I will be tough this term.'

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•6 October 2026

Economy · Corridors

'A very expensive conveyor belt': the World Bank counts US$28 billion along the Lobito Corridor — and warns the three governments not to stop at rail

The IFC has identified 118 anchor investments worth more than US$28 billion across mining, energy, agribusiness, logistics and forestry, Anna Bjerde told the Second Lobito Corridor Coordination Meeting in Lusaka on Monday. Her condition: coordinate on power, water, skills and secondary cities — or build an expensive conveyor belt.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•6 October 2026

Economy · Mining

An order, a denial and 18 kilometres of river: the State tells KCM to restore the Kafue — the mine says it was the one who reported the discolouration

Government has hit Konkola Copper Mines with an Environmental Restoration Order and a Cost Order over the 28 September pollution incident on the Kafue River. KCM rejects the attribution — it first reported discoloured water at Hippo Pool, 18 kilometres away — and wants an evidence-based probe. Civil society has now entered the argument.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•6 October 2026

Courts · Sedition

'My spine is failing me': Katele Kalumba, 74, comes to court on a walker — and leaves without a plea, waiting on the DPP's consent

The former finance minister and Chienge traditional leader appeared at the Lusaka Magistrates' Court on Friday on sedition charges over Facebook remarks about the President. The State has not yet obtained the Director of Public Prosecutions' consent, so plea could not be taken; the matter returns on 15 October.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•6 October 2026

Health · The city

Phase Two fixes its eyes on Katondo Street: the mayor's clean-up moves to the CBD's toughest strip — phones, wheelbarrows and all

The Lusaka City Council has rolled out Phase Two of Operation Clear Path, targeting Katondo Street's phone traders and car-sale displays, relocating buses with RTSA and police help, and directing wheelbarrow traders to register at Soweto, City and Simon Mwewa markets. The cholera arithmetic behind the sweep has not gone away.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•6 October 2026

Sport · Football

Four goals at Shinde and a weekend of statements: Green Eagles top Stream B as the Transition League's first week closes loud

Green Eagles produced the biggest win of opening week, thumping nine-time champions Mufulira Wanderers 4-1 at Shinde Stadium. Red Arrows won 3-1 at Mutondo Stars, promoted Roan United won at Nkwazi, and Green Buffaloes edged Chirundu United — while Kabwe Warriors and ZESCO United shared the points in Kabwe.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•6 October 2026

Sport · Governance

Summoned at 08:00 on Wednesday: Mufulira Wanderers' executive is dragged to court — on the weekend the team lost 4-1 at home

Nine-time champions Mufulira Wanderers have confirmed receipt of a summons requiring the executive committee to appear in court on 7 October, in an action brought by former physical trainer Davies Nsama and the Mufulira Wanderers Community Pressure Group. The club's reply: the plaintiffs are not paid-up members — and Mopani's lawyers are reviewing the papers.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•6 October 2026

Culture · Heritage

The ceremony that fed a revolution: Samu Lya Moomba returns to Bweengwa — a reminder that a nation is built by sacrifice, not political songs

Thousands gathered in Chief Choongo's country at the weekend for the 2026 Samu Lya Moomba traditional ceremony. Beneath the drums and the season's politics sits an older claim on the national memory: parliamentary records remember Bweengwa as the place where villagers contributed cattle to fund the independence struggle.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•6 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

The road to Solwezi: a prison bus, a police escort, and a plea waiting at the end of the highway

Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu spent Sunday on the North-Western highway under prison and police escort, bound for the Solwezi Magistrates' Court, where they are due to take a formal plea this morning — and where the State must finally say whether it is ready to try the seditious-practices case. The treason case, the graver one, still has no courtroom at all.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•5 October 2026

Politics · Police command

'Immediate effect', and no reason given: the President removes his deputy police chief — a day after her discipline tour

State House announced on Sunday that Charity Munganga's appointment as Deputy Inspector General of Police (Administration) is terminated under Article 270 of the Constitution. On Saturday she was in Northern Province telling officers the badge is public trust. No reason was given — and the rumours of a wider command shake-up remain just that.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•5 October 2026

Politics · Church and state

The region's bishops close ranks around Alick Banda: due process, a fair hearing — and a pointed question from Lusaka about public interest

The Catholic bishops of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have issued a joint communiqué over the arrest of the Archbishop of Lusaka, calling for a fair, transparent and lawful process — days after the continent's bishops' symposium did the same. At home, the Movement for Economic Emancipation asks what public interest the prosecution serves.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•5 October 2026

Courts · Detention

How long may the State hold a treason suspect? Lubinda asks the question aloud — and the DPP reaches back to Shamwana for an answer

Given Lubinda has returned to the public argument asking how long treason suspects can be kept from a courtroom. The Law Association of Zambia has called for the release of detainees not brought before a court. The Director of Public Prosecutions answers that due diligence takes time — and cites the longest treason trial in the country's memory.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•5 October 2026

Economy · Corridors

The Atlantic comes to the InterContinental: Hichilema opens the Lobito 'engine room' today — with the World Bank's operations chief at the table

Zambia and the World Bank host the Second Lobito Corridor Coordination Meeting today and tomorrow in Lusaka, bringing Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, development partners and private capital into one room. The ambition: a working economic ecosystem from the Copperbelt to the Atlantic — not just a railway.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•5 October 2026

Economy · Tourism

Five million guests by 2031: the Vice-President's funfair speech puts a number on culture — and treats it as an engine, not a sideshow

Mutale Nalumango has reaffirmed the five-million-tourist target at the sixth Diplomatic Funfair in Lusaka, framing cultural tourism as economic strategy. The arithmetic behind the ambition: 2.3 million arrivals last year, a two-and-a-half-million target for this one, and a billion dollars in receipts by 2031.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•5 October 2026

Health · Outbreak

304 cases, 11 funerals, seven districts: the cholera outbreak is now official — and Lusaka's swept pavements are its front line

The Ministry of Health declared a new cholera outbreak on 30 September, with 304 suspected cases — 62 laboratory-confirmed — and 11 deaths across seven districts in five provinces as of 29 September. Chibombo carries the heaviest count; Lusaka District's 130 cases explain why Operation Clear Path emptied the CBD's stalls this weekend.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•5 October 2026

Sport · Football

Sixty seconds to shake the champions: Blades beat Power with a first-minute goal and a cruel late own goal — and the Transition League has its storyline

Konkola Blades scored the season's first goal inside sixty seconds and beat champions Power Dynamos 2-1 in Chililabombwe, with Wilson Chisala's late own goal settling it after Amine Hiver's equaliser. Zanaco won at Nchanga Rangers, Nkana won at promoted Trident — the short season is already loud.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•5 October 2026

Sport · National teams

Two teams, two airports, one week: the Copper Queens fly at Uganda's Olympic gate while the futsal men measure themselves against Egypt

The Copper Queens have jetted out to Kampala for Thursday's Olympic qualifier against Uganda, chasing a third consecutive Games with an all-local interim bench. In Cairo, Andrea Cristoforetti's futsal side plays the first of two friendlies against Egypt, eight days before the AFCON in Morocco.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•5 October 2026

Culture · Region

'We did not find any head': the Chivayo family confirms the unthinkable — Thursday's burial at Glen Forest will go ahead without them

Wicknell Chivayo and Lucy Muteke will be buried side by side on Thursday at Harare's Glen Forest Cemetery — without their heads, the family has confirmed, and without body viewing. The funeral will be public; the DNA process continues; the region that watched the crash now watches the farewell.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•5 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

Unopposed at the top, a ballot for the second chair: Mutti keeps the gavel, Chisangano beside her — and Mufumbwe's independent takes the third seat

The Fourteenth Assembly completed its only item of business on Friday: Dr Nelly Mutti was re-elected Speaker unopposed, Attractor Malungo Chisangano returned as First Deputy Speaker unopposed, and Mufumbwe MP Nshamba Muzungu beat Chipangali's Vincent Mwale by 166 votes to 58 for Second Deputy Speaker. Hours later the President received the trio at State House — and set them a legislative task.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•3 October 2026

Politics · Opposition

'It is well with my soul': the man who built the Tonse Alliance walks out of it — while its leader sits in custody

Dr Chris Zumani Zimba founded the Tonse Alliance, engineered its January congress and put Brian Mundubile on its ballot. On Friday he resigned in a first-person note — leaving a coalition whose president is in a maximum-security cell and whose factions he accuses of rehearsing an old betrayal.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•3 October 2026

Politics · Church and state

A pastoral letter, a State House rebuttal: the bishops warn of crisis, the presidency prefers dialogue — and the detainees wait in Kabwe

The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops closed September with a pastoral letter raising alleged arbitrary arrests and questioning the management of the 2026 election. State House has rejected what it calls a crisis portrayal; the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance has rallied to the bishops; and the churches' central demand — humane treatment, named charges, a competent court — now has a date in the High Court.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•3 October 2026

Courts · Constitutional petition

October 26 to November 6: three High Court judges will hear the detention petition — 42 days after the cell door closed

The constitutional challenge by Brian Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and 16 other detainees finally has a courtroom and a calendar. The petition asks whether arrests, transfers and restrictions at Mukobeko breached Articles 1, 13, 15 and 18 of the Constitution — and it is not, the courts desk notes, the treason case itself.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•3 October 2026

Courts · Magistrates' Court

K20,000 bail and a weekly report to police: Tonse-Pamodzi's secretary general denies forging a businessman's signature over ZRIMS Farm shares

Celestine Mukandila, lawyer and alliance secretary general, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of forgery and two of uttering false documents over the surrender of shares in ZRIMS Farm Limited. The State called him a flight risk; the court set bail — and a trial later this month.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•3 October 2026

Health · The city

Operation Clear Path: the CBD wakes to a Saturday without its stalls — a city trades its pavements for a cholera fight

From this morning, Lusaka City Council and the Zambia Police are removing street vendors and unauthorised bus stops from the capital's centre. The mayor says it is order, not punishment; the outbreak numbers say why the city chose this weekend.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•3 October 2026

Economy · Energy

Tear up the monthly calendar: the President wants fuel priced in seasons, not weeks — and ADNOC wants to be in the room

Forty-eight hours into the K31.46 era, the argument has moved from the pump to the mechanism. President Hichilema told ADNOC's trading chief in Abu Dhabi that monthly price changes are no longer working; Lusaka is now weighing two- and three-month pricing windows, with VAT's December return hanging over all of it.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•3 October 2026

Economy · Education finance

The empty half of the basket: Zambia's student-loans board takes a 45-per-cent funding gap to the capital markets

Nearly half of student-financing need went unfunded last year. Now the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board is asking banks, pension funds and insurers to buy into the business of sending Zambia to university — carefully, and with no bond on the table yet.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•3 October 2026

Sport · Football

The Transition League kicks off today — champions Power open at Konkola, while Hamburg wires home word of Daka's torn thigh

The Transition League begins this afternoon with a single national kick-off time, champions Power Dynamos opening their defence away to Konkola Blades. The week's other football news is less welcome: Hamburger SV has confirmed a torn muscle fibre in Patson Daka's left thigh, suffered on Chipolopolo duty.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•3 October 2026

Culture · Music

Derulo at dusk: the Stanbic Music Festival takes the Polo Field tonight — with its best circle already sold out

Jason Derulo headlines the Stanbic Music Festival at the Lusaka Showgrounds this evening, on a bill with Yo Maps, Mampi, Danny Kaya and Zimbabwe's Tamy Moyo. Gates at Polo Field A run from 12:30 to 23:30 — and the premium EN Circle is gone.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•3 October 2026

Explained

Bill 7 and Zambia's new constitution, explained — what actually changed

Reserved seats, more constituencies, a bigger parliament and a fight that isn't over. The constitutional reform behind the 2026 election, in plain language.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•3 October 2026

Politics · Lead story

The Clerk, the gavel and 266 seats: the Fourteenth Assembly sits for the first time today — and can do nothing until it has a Speaker

The Order Paper for Friday carries a single line of business: the election of the Speaker and two deputies. Until that is done, the expanded National Assembly — 226 constituency seats and 40 proportional-representation seats created by the 2025 amendments — cannot transact anything at all. The President opens the session next Friday.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•2 October 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

Home to the K31.46 morning: Hichilema lands from Abu Dhabi with US$2.14 billion in commitments — and says more is being finalised

The President returned to Kenneth Kaunda International Airport on Thursday evening quoting a figure of more than US$2.1 billion from his Abu Dhabi working visit — health, agriculture, tourism and energy, with a 100-hectare health city among the plans — while the forum's own count of signed instruments ran higher still. He arrived to the first full day of the new fuel prices.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•2 October 2026

Politics · Region

Six aboard, no survivors: the Marondera helicopter crash that killed Wicknell Chivayo — and the DNA wait now holding the region's attention

Zimbabwe police confirm six people were aboard the helicopter that went down at Kudenga Farm near Marondera on Wednesday evening; the civil aviation authority's preliminary account says the tail struck first. Identification of the victims awaits DNA analysis. Tributes have come from Presidents Mnangagwa and Ruto — and the story has been followed as closely in Lusaka as in Harare.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•2 October 2026

Economy · Investment

Solar rows and a copper shaft: Britain's Africa trade commissioner ends a five-day Zambia pitch today

Alastair Long's Zambia programme closes on Friday after a week that took the UK Trade Commissioner for Africa from a GreenCo solar site to First Quantum's Trident mine — with the Green Growth Compact and British International Investment's strategy doing the framing, and a Terzeon reception doing the networking.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•2 October 2026

Economy · Agri-finance

K3.3 billion in the furrows: on the eve of planting season, Indo Zambia Bank reveals the biggest farm book in its history

The bank's agriculture portfolio has reached K3.3 billion, it disclosed this week — K400 million of it through the smallholder facility that has reached more than 3,600 farmers — with earmarks behind it for soybeans, wheat and energy, timed to the season that starts with the first rains.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•2 October 2026

Economy · Cost of living

Day one at K31.46: the commuter arithmetic of a 24-per-cent jump, a kwacha at K19.61 — and December's VAT question

The first full day of the new pump prices dawned on the ranks and the filling stations with fares yet to move. But the arithmetic has moved: at long-distance consumption rates, the diesel line alone adds about K820 to a one-way Lusaka–Ndola run — and the VAT reinstatement dated for 1 December is still in the post.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•2 October 2026

Courts · Crime

739 bags of suspected fake fertiliser, four men in custody: the DEC unearths an unregistered plant weeks before planting

The Drug Enforcement Commission has uncovered a manufacturing operation spanning 9 Miles and Meanwood Vorna Valley, seizing 739 bags of suspected counterfeit fertiliser, raw materials and equipment. An agricultural consultant and three businessmen face charges including money laundering — and the timing, at the gates of the planting season, is the point.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•2 October 2026

Health · Outbreak

304 cases, eleven dead, seven districts: Zambia declares a cholera outbreak weeks after the last one was declared over

Eight of the eleven deaths happened in the community — people reaching care too late. Acting Health Minister Gilbert Siame declared the outbreak on Wednesday: 304 cases across five provinces as of Tuesday, with Lusaka and Chibombo carrying the heaviest loads and a vaccination decision under assessment.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•2 October 2026

Sport · Football

Ten matches, one kick-off: the Transition League begins tomorrow — champions Power Dynamos open at Konkola Blades

Every opening-round fixture kicks off at 15:00 on Saturday in a season built to move Zambian football's calendar: two streams drawn from last season's final standings, a new national cup alongside, and the champions beginning their defence in Chililabombwe.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•2 October 2026

Culture · The weekend

Derulo at the Polo Field, thirty countries at the Showgrounds: a diary for a city in jacaranda season

Saturday belongs to the big stages: Jason Derulo headlines the Stanbic Music Festival from half past noon while the Diplomatic Fun Fair fills the Showgrounds. Beyond the weekend, October is stacked — theatre turns forty in Chingola, Barefeet turns twenty, and the virtual festival runs all month.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•2 October 2026

Economy · Lead story

K31.46 at the pump: the tax holiday ends, excise returns — and Zambia wakes to its steepest fuel-price jump of the year

No statutory instrument appeared before midnight, so the six-month fuel-tax relief died on schedule. The Energy Regulation Board's October review restores excise duty and passes on dearer oil and a weaker kwacha: petrol up 24 per cent to K31.46, diesel up 24 to K33.27 — with VAT's return dated for 1 December.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•1 October 2026

Politics · State of the nation

“Instruments of justice and service, not sources of fear”: the Catholic bishops and the CCZ close ranks on the state of the nation

In separate but aligned statements on one Wednesday, Zambia's two largest church bodies questioned the credibility of the 2026 elections, decried arbitrary arrests and force that has cost civilian lives, and demanded an independent investigation into the killing of former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya. October, the bishops declared, will be a month of rosary prayers for peace.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•1 October 2026

Politics · Electoral reform

“The outcome was never in doubt — the process is”: Antonio Mwanza gives the ECZ three questions, and a warning about 2031

The Democratic Progressive Party leader accepts that President Hichilema won — and says that is precisely why the Electoral Commission must now account for the suspended count, Mandevu's stolen ballots and a dead election agent. His prescription: commissioners chosen independently, a timetable that binds the incumbent, and public media that covers everyone.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•1 October 2026

Economy · Monetary policy

Two hundred and fifty basis points: the Bank of Zambia delivers its biggest cut in more than a decade

Economists expected twenty-five. The Monetary Policy Committee delivered two hundred and fifty, taking the policy rate to 10.75 per cent — a fourth consecutive cut, powered by 6.1 per cent inflation, a record maize harvest and a firmer kwacha. The committee's own risk list, though, reads like next month's news.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•1 October 2026

Economy · Public finances

K212 billion for creditors: the Green Paper prices the new term — and debt service outbids FISP, CDF and free education combined

The 2027–2029 Medium-Term Budget Plan, the Treasury's first blueprint of the new mandate, sets aside K212.2 billion for debt service — K63.6 billion more than the entire transfers budget for farmers, constituencies, pupils and school meals. The bill falls as a share of GDP only if the growth promises are true.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•1 October 2026

Economy · The Fund

The Fund is back in town: Zambia opens successor-programme talks — and wants a deal before the year ends

An IMF mission led by Edward Gemayel is in Lusaka until 10 October, negotiating a successor to the US$1.7 billion programme that ended in January. The government is selling growth; the Fund is checking the sustainability file. Both are reading the same Green Paper.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•1 October 2026

Courts · Access to justice

“Not the Judiciary — the security services”: the State's answer for the three days the courts went dark

Attorney-General Mulilo Kabesha has told the Constitutional Court that August's closure of the courts was ordered by the defence and national security services, and merely communicated by the Judiciary. The admission — the first official attribution of responsibility — comes as the State asks that the Chapter One Foundation petition be dismissed with costs.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•1 October 2026

Health · Outbreak watch

Five more carcasses in Nabwalya, twenty-six people on the register: the anthrax response races the river

Three more hippos and two more elephants have died of anthrax in the Nabwalya Game Management Area, taking the wildlife toll to 49 hippos, nine elephants and six buffaloes. Twenty-six human cases have now been reported — and investigators keep finding evidence that people are reaching the carcasses first.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•1 October 2026

Sport · Football

0.2 seconds at 18:21: ZESCO explains the night Levy Mwanawasa went dark — and promises new lights

The blackout that stopped Zambia's 2-0 win over Togo for eighteen minutes lasted, on the utility's account, a fifth of a second. The floodlights simply could not forgive it: their design demands about twenty minutes to return to full brightness. ZESCO will now engage the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts on a redesign.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•1 October 2026

Culture · City

Ten years of the Lusaka July — in October: “The Tale of a Ruby” opens at the National Museum on the 16th

The capital's most dressed-up weekend has a theme, a date and a tenth birthday. Lusaka July 2026 runs 16–18 October across three signature events, opening with a Night of Culture at the Lusaka National Museum — the social season's anchor, transplanted to the year's busiest cultural month.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•1 October 2026

Economy · Lead story

Two billion for a Medical City, a challenge for Mopani and a pact still unsigned: Hichilema's US$2.14 billion day in Abu Dhabi

Memoranda worth US$2.14 billion were signed at the Zambia-UAE Business Forum on Tuesday, anchored by a US$2 billion plan to build a Medical City in Lusaka. The President also told Mopani's Emirati owners that the three-million-tonne copper target needs more of their ore — and left the biggest document, a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, for another day.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•30 September 2026

Politics · The Banda case

A night at Chimbokaila, a day of paperwork, then a smile at the gate: the Archbishop walks free on bail

The Archbishop of Lusaka spent Monday night in the capital's best-known correctional facility while his lawyers worked the bail conditions through the system. Late on Tuesday afternoon the gates opened, and the country's most watched defendant walked out smiling — to high-fives, handshakes and a Church that had barely slept.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•30 September 2026

Politics · Elections

Fourteen vacancies, one date: Mandevu, Lumezi North and Mbala vote again on 5 November — with August's ghosts on the ballot

The Electoral Commission has set Thursday, 5 November for two parliamentary by-elections, a mayoral race and eleven ward polls across five provinces. Mandevu's fresh vote is the residue of an attack on its own totalling centre; Lumezi North and Mbala are voting because death took their candidates within days of the election.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•30 September 2026

Politics · Public funds

Sixty-five kwacha in every hundred never came back: government freezes the 2026 CDF loan window and turns collector

The empowerment-loan arm of the Constituency Development Fund — the cheap money aimed at youths, women, persons with disabilities and marketeers — is shut for 2026. The ministry says only 35 per cent of what has been lent since 2021 has been repaid, and new borrowers will now be funded only from what defaulters return.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•30 September 2026

Economy · Fuel

Midnight, and still no signature: the fuel-tax holiday lapses tonight — and the ERB's October numbers follow within hours

Unless a statutory instrument appears in the next few hours, the excise suspension and VAT zero-rating that have kept two lines of the pump-price build-up blank since April die at midnight. The October review — the first in six months with the full tax load back in the formula — lands on the same midnight.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•30 September 2026

Economy · Aviation

Turkish Airlines is leaving Lusaka's map — and an economist says the route is the least of what departs with it

The carrier has removed Lusaka from its future schedules for good. Kelvin Chisanga's warning is about what goes with it: investor access, tourist arrivals, and a piece of the country's argument — made again in Abu Dhabi this week — that Zambia is open for business.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•30 September 2026

Courts · Election petition

K50, sausages and pens: the Lumezi South petition puts a farm linked to the Archbishop inside an election fight

The losing UPND candidate in Lumezi South wants a recount or a nullification — and his testimony alleges voters were given money and gifts at a farm associated with Archbishop Alick Banda, with instructions to vote for Brian Mundubile and Oliver Mwale. Under cross-examination, he conceded he has no pictures.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•30 September 2026

Health · Investment

A US$2 billion city on paper, a Brazilian delegation in the corridor and a mine's K5.7 million: health's week of promises

The Medical City memorandum signed in Abu Dhabi is the largest health promise Zambia has ever heard. In the same week, smaller and more provable ones arrived — a pharmaceutical delegation from Brazil, a hospital upgrade from a mine, steady drug stocks in Chipangali. The gap between the two scales is where the health system actually lives.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•30 September 2026

Sport · Football

Two goals, one blackout and a weight lifted: Zambia beat Togo 2-0 and turn Group I into a contest

Albert Kangwanda scored inside three minutes, the floodlights failed for twenty, and Eliya Mandanji finished it in stoppage time. Zambia's first win of the campaign draws them level with Togo on three points — and turns November's double-header with Burundi into the decider it was always going to be.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•30 September 2026

Culture · City

Free entry, thirty countries, one Saturday: the Diplomatic Fun Fair joins Lusaka's biggest weekend of the year

The Ministry of Tourism has launched the 2026 Diplomatic Fun Fair for 3 October at the Lusaka Showgrounds — the same Saturday Jason Derulo headlines the polo fields. For the capital's cultural economy, it is the busiest weekend on record.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•30 September 2026

Politics · Lead story

The Archbishop in the dock: Banda denies the Hilux charge, wins K80,000 bail — and learns the State will try him on 3 November

The morning began with a solidarity Mass at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus. By afternoon the Archbishop of Lusaka had been formally arrested, charged and taken before a magistrate, where he pleaded not guilty. Bail came with sureties, surrendered travel documents — and, by Tuesday morning, reports that he was still in custody while the paperwork was done.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•29 September 2026

Politics · Reaction

Solidarity, condemnation and a call for calm: Zambia absorbs the arrest of an archbishop

The bishops spoke of dignity and due process. The opposition spoke of persecution. The State spoke of evidence. And somewhere between the three, a country that has been arguing about its institutions all year found the argument distilled into a single courtroom.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•29 September 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

While Lusaka watched a courtroom, the President landed in Abu Dhabi — and Haimbe told the UN that Zambia is stable and open

Day one of the UAE working visit puts a bilateral meeting, MoUs and an investment forum on the President's schedule. In New York, the foreign minister has already delivered the companion message: constitutionalism intact, Human Rights Council candidacy live, and the Grow Zambia Agenda open for partners.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•29 September 2026

Politics · City

Off the streets by today: Lusaka's vendors face the council's deadline — and a market system that must now absorb them

The Lusaka City Council's directive ordering street vendors back into designated markets takes effect today, with non-compliant traders warned they could lose their allocated spaces altogether. Enforcement will be watched block by block — and so will the question of whether the markets have room.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•29 September 2026

Economy · Fuel

Thirty-six hours and no word: the fuel-tax waiver enters its final day-and-a-half, and the October price review waits on a signature

No statutory instrument, no ministerial statement, no gazette — as of this morning, the excise holiday and VAT zero-rating that have subsidised every litre since April still die at midnight tomorrow. The ERB's October review is being assembled in that silence.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•29 September 2026

Economy · Currency

Nineteen forty-nine and holding: the kwacha drifts into the fuel decision on a copper tailwind

The local unit closed last week stronger and opened this one around K19.49 to the dollar — nearly 19 per cent firmer than a year ago. In a week when the fuel cushion may lapse, the exchange rate is the one variable in the pump-price formula still working for the consumer.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•29 September 2026

Courts · Analysis

Possession, suspicion and a satisfactory account: what Section 319 actually requires the State to prove against Archbishop Banda

The charge against the Archbishop is one of the Penal Code's most unusual offences — it turns not on theft, but on an explanation. With trial set for 3 November, here is what the prosecution must establish, what the defence is likely to argue, and why the five-year-old paper trail of a blue Hilux matters more than the politics around it.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•29 September 2026

Health · Outbreak

Twenty-one human cases in Muchinga, a ministry correction in Southern — and 600,000 vaccine doses moving: inside Zambia's anthrax response

The active front of the outbreak is the Munyamadzi river system in Mpika, where human cases keep ticking up and hippo carcasses keep surfacing. In Southern Province, the government has spent a week knocking down a scarier number. Both stories say something about how the country handles a zoonosis it has met before.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•29 September 2026

Sport · Football

Six o'clock in Ndola: a winless streak, a quiet coach's promise and the night that decides what this qualifying campaign is

Zambia host Togo at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium at 18:00 CAT — bottom of Group I against joint-top, nine matches without a win, and a coach who says the table can still be changed. By 20:00, the campaign has either restarted or gone very quiet.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•29 September 2026

Culture · Music

The rigs are up, the sponsors are in, the Golden Circle is gone: Lusaka counts down to Derulo Saturday

With four days to the Stanbic Music Festival, silver sponsors are still signing on, the organisers' tiers are selling through, and the city's showgrounds economy is in its busiest week of the year. Saturday at Polo Field A is now a test of demand as much as a concert.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•29 September 2026

Politics · Lead story

Mass at eight, the DEC at ten: Archbishop Banda answers a renewed summons over a five-year-old Hilux — and the Church walks him to the door

The Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka is due before Drug Enforcement Commission investigators this morning, nine months after he was warned and cautioned — and stayed silent — in the same investigation. The case is a Toyota Hilux once registered to the Zambia Revenue Authority. The context is a country arguing about whether its institutions are being turned on its critics.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•28 September 2026

Politics · Opposition

'Speaking out is citizenship, not rebellion': Brian Matambo's 31-minute reckoning with five years of looking away

In a Sunday video address accompanying a documentary titled 'Silence Brought Us Here', the Tonse Alliance figure traces a line from the peaceful 2021 handover to the treason arrests of 2026 — and tells Zambians the boundary moved because nobody pushed back.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•28 September 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

Abu Dhabi tomorrow, New York today: Hichilema takes the Grow Zambia pitch to the Gulf as Haimbe addresses the UN

The President begins a two-day working visit to the UAE on Tuesday — bilateral talks, MoUs and an investment forum on the agenda — hours after his foreign minister delivers Zambia's national statement to the UN General Assembly in New York.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•28 September 2026

Politics · Traditional affairs

'What message is he sending to the younger generation?': Chief Choongo rebukes Dr Kalumba — and explains why chiefs stand with the government of the day

The Monze traditional leader and former House of Chiefs chairperson calls the former minister's remarks about the President disappointing and un-Zambian, telling a country deep in a quarrel about dissent that the campaign season is over.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•28 September 2026

Economy · Fuel

One day of relief left: the fuel-tax waiver dies at midnight tomorrow, Lusaka has said nothing — and the October price review is already in the room

The excise-duty holiday and VAT zero-rating that have subsidised every litre since April lapse on 30 September. No statutory instrument has been gazetted, no minister has spoken, and the ERB's October review — due within days — will be the first to price fuel without knowing whether the cushion exists.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•28 September 2026

Courts · Revenue

Copper declared as cement: Avocado Mining admits attempted smuggling — and its K100,000 fine falls due the day after tomorrow

The Kalulushi-based miner pleaded guilty to ten counts over a 2025 attempt to export K23.9 million of copper concentrate labelled as Portland cement. In a separate operation, ZRA seized two brand-new Land Cruisers misclassified at the border — a Sunday statement that reads as a warning shot to the whole clearing trade.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•28 September 2026

Health · Cancer

Candles at the Cancer Diseases Hospital: September closes with a vigil — and a survival target Zambia has four years to meet

At a Friday evening vigil marking Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the Ministry of Health put the country's position plainly: about 400,000 children worldwide develop cancer each year, most in low- and middle-income countries — and Zambia has promised to help push survival to 60 per cent by 2030.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•28 September 2026

Sport · Football

Bronze for the juniors, a three-peat for Amajita: Zambia leave Maputo with a medal as South Africa take the crown again

Gift Mumbi and a Sipho Muntanga double beat Namibia 3-0 in Sunday's third-place play-off, before South Africa retained the regional title 2-1 against the hosts — a fifth straight win that sends both finalists to Ghana 2027, and sends Zambia home with pride intact but no ticket.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•28 September 2026

Sport · Football

The eve of the must-win: a recovery session, a quiet stadium and a Tuesday night that could define the qualifying campaign

Twenty-four hours before Togo arrive at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, Zambia's squad is managing its wounds from Algeria and the federation is still selling tickets. The table is not complicated: the visitors are level at the top, the hosts are bottom, and November's fixtures get very dark if Tuesday goes wrong.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•28 September 2026

Culture · Music

Golden Circle gone, Saturday looms: Jason Derulo comes to the Polo Field — and Lusaka's big-show economy takes another step

The Stanbic Music Festival returns on 3 October with its biggest headline booking yet: Jason Derulo, one night only, at Polo Field A. Golden Circle tickets are already sold out — VIP and standard remain — in a week that has made Lusaka's international concert calendar feel suddenly permanent.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•28 September 2026

Courts · Lead story

Twenty-nine days, one court bus, no plea: Mundubile and Zulu surface in Solwezi — and the case against them starts to take shape

Zambia's defeated presidential candidate and his running mate made their first court appearance since their August arrest, ferried across the country from Kabwe to face sedition charges over post-election Facebook posts. The treason case that jailed them has yet to reach a courtroom at all.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•27 September 2026

Politics · Opposition

Arrested at dawn in Chienge, charged in Kabwe, bonded by evening: the two-day case against Dr Katele Kalumba

The former finance minister faces a cyber-harassment charge over an August post said to humiliate the President. The opposition calls the manner of his arrest an abduction; the ruling party says a man pardoned out of prison by this President should know better.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•27 September 2026

Politics · State House

'What is this hullabaloo?': Hichilema says there is no crisis — and tells social media they are scaring away the investors he fought to win

At a routine swearing-in on Friday the President delivered anything but a routine speech: a defence of the post-election climate, a warning that the law 'does not recognise age', and an appeal to Zambians at home and abroad to stop 'creating a crisis where there is none'.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•27 September 2026

Politics · Rights

Six passports cancelled, one seven-day ultimatum: Haimbe defends the exile-list from New York as Mutambo's lawyers count down to Monday

The Foreign Affairs Minister says withdrawing a passport is not withdrawing citizenship; the UK-based commentator's lawyers say the cancellation was unlawful, attributed to the wrong official and unexplained beyond two words: 'security reasons'. Court action is threatened if it is not restored within days.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•27 September 2026

Economy · Fuel

The cushion expires on Tuesday: government still undecided on fuel-tax relief as the October price review looms

Since April, suspended excise duty and zero-rated VAT have quietly subsidised every litre sold in Zambia — at a cost of roughly $200 million a quarter in forgone revenue. The relief lapses on 30 September, and as of this weekend, Lusaka had not said whether it will be renewed.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•27 September 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

'Two-way impact': Zambia takes its Human Rights Council campaign to New York, with its record very much in the room

At a reception for UN member states, the President and his foreign minister asked the world to elect Zambia to the Human Rights Council for 2027–2029 — a bid that lands in the same week as an EU resolution on post-election repression and a defence of six cancelled passports.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•27 September 2026

Sport · Football

'Togo won't have it easy': home, hurt and already cornered — Lwandamina's Chipolopolo reach the must-win in Ndola

Back from Tizi Ouzou with a 3-1 defeat, a bruised squad and a blunt table — Zambia bottom, Togo level with Algeria at the top — the interim coach is asking the Levy Mwanawasa crowd to turn one match into a rescue operation on Tuesday night.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•27 September 2026

Sport · Football

One more morning in Maputo: Junior Chipolopolo play for bronze today as South Africa and Mozambique contest the crown

Two days after the 4-2 semi-final that slipped away, Zambia's youngsters face Namibia in the third-place play-off at ABB Stadium — a consolation match that doubles as an audition — before the hosts meet the holders for the regional title and the two Ghana 2027 tickets already booked.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•27 September 2026

Sport · Football

Number 10 in Denmark: Mercy Chipasula, 18, takes the Copper Queens pipeline to HB Køge

The Kitwe-born forward who captained Zambia's U17s and has already played two senior WAFCONs has signed for the Danish top-flight club — whose sporting director says they beat 'some of the biggest clubs in the world' to her signature.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•27 September 2026

Culture · Tourism

The gates are open: Zambia's national parks are free to enter this weekend — and today is the last day

To mark World Tourism Day, the Ministry of Tourism waived entry fees at all 20 national parks on 26 and 27 September for citizens and school groups — a two-day invitation to see the estate the country keeps selling to the world.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•27 September 2026

Politics · Lead story

'Resist it': Laura Miti's third-term warning lands as Chapter One tells the President to say it plainly

Two of civil society's loudest voices moved within a day of each other — one telling Zambians to resist any third-term push before it starts, the other telling Hakainde Hichilema that only his own words can end the speculation.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•26 September 2026

Politics · Opposition

'A full-blown police state': Kateka says the security wings are being used to silence dissent — and claims the clampdown was planned before the vote

The New Heritage Party leader used a radio interview to accuse the UPND of winning 'with manipulation' and deploying the army where it had lost — claims the government has consistently rejected, and which observer missions have not substantiated.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•26 September 2026

Politics · Society

Healing as homework: church leaders tell a divided country to pray — and to reconcile

At the Revival Prayer Network's Grand Thursday gathering in Lusaka, three church figures framed post-election reconciliation as the Church's assignment — not the state's alone.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•26 September 2026

Economy · Inflation

6.1 per cent: inflation grinds to an eight-year low — five days before the fuel-tax cushion expires

ZamStats' September print extends the disinflation run that returned the rate to the Bank of Zambia's 6–8 per cent band in February — but the monthly figure is the firmest in five months, and the tax measures cushioning fuel lapse on Tuesday.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•26 September 2026

Economy · Pensions

Borrowing from the funeral grant, at zero per cent: 7,000 retirees have drawn K90 million from NAPSA's advance

The facility pays up to 75 per cent of a retiree's funeral grant while they are still alive — recovered in small deductions so the monthly pension keeps coming. Demand, says CEO Muyangwa Muyangwa, is growing daily.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•26 September 2026

Health · Cancer

Sixteen and a half thousand new cancers a year: the Cancer Diseases Hospital puts a number on the burden

Cervical cancer alone accounts for about 4,700 new cases annually and kills more than half of those it strikes, UTH's cancer hospital says — with only about 3,000 patients currently in treatment there.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•26 September 2026

Courts · Inquiry

'The soil was loose and dangerous': a warned-off scramble for copper stones kills three illegal miners at KCM's OB-19 dump

Two teenagers and a 20-year-old died when a section of the Chingola dumpsite collapsed on Wednesday evening. Five were pulled out alive by fellow miners. Police have opened an inquiry — and repeated a familiar Copperbelt warning.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•26 September 2026

Sport · Football

Sakala's riposte, then the desert cold: Zambia fall 3-1 in Tizi Ouzou as the winless run reaches nine

Fashion Sakala's 57th-minute equaliser briefly quietened the Hocine Aït Ahmed Stadium, but Ibrahim Maza and Anis Hadj Moussa struck inside seven second-half minutes to give Ibrahim Hamdani a winning start — and leave Chipolopolo bottom of the group. Togo visit on Tuesday.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•26 September 2026

Sport · Football

A lead, an equaliser, a red card, two penalties: Junior Chipolopolo's AFCON dream dies in a 4-2 Maputo classic

Zambia led holders South Africa at half-time and levelled again at 2-2 through Jonathan Kalimina — who was sent off moments later. Steven Mendes scored twice from the spot, Emile Witbooi sealed it late, and the 12-time champions miss out on Ghana 2027.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•26 September 2026

Courts · Lead story

'Take them to court or release them — you can't have it both ways': Laura Miti's ultimatum over the Kafwaya silence

A month after former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya died in a security operation, one of the country's best-known rights campaigners says the state's silence has left it exposed to the conclusion it fears most — an unlawful killing.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•25 September 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

'Beacon of democracy', with an asterisk: EU promises Zambia deeper ties and €110 million — and presses the rule of law

Commissioner Jozef Síkela's bilateral with Mulambo Haimbe in New York delivered budget support, a Global Gateway embrace and diplomatic relations with Andorra — while Brussels kept one eye on Kabwe.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•25 September 2026

Politics · Courts

The petition that ended with a handshake: Mwewa confirmed as Lusaka mayor after Kibombwe consents to withdraw

The Local Government Elections Tribunal has formally withdrawn Gabriel Kibombwe's challenge to the 13 August mayoral result — by the mutual consent of every party in the room — ending a month of legal shadow over City Hall.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•25 September 2026

Economy · Markets

Zanaco writes the rulebook: Zambia's first bank sustainability bond heads to market at $100 million

A $50 million private placement anchored by British International Investment's $15 million opens the programme — a transaction the Lusaka Securities Exchange calls a first for a Zambian bank, and a template it hopes others will copy.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•25 September 2026

Economy · Industry

Four hundred chemical engineers wanted: CBU and UCF sign lab deal ahead of a $1.5 billion fertiliser expansion

United Capital Fertilisers will help build a state-of-the-art chemical laboratory, lecture theatre and student accommodation at the Copperbelt University — and says its ammonia-urea plant expansion breaks ground within weeks.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•25 September 2026

Health · Outbreak

Forty-six dead hippos, one confirmed case: what we actually know about the Muchinga anthrax outbreak

Laboratory evidence is lagging the carcass count in the Munyamadzi corridor. Zambia's national One Health coordinator says only one hippo death is lab-confirmed — and cautions against blaming anthrax for every dead animal.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•25 September 2026

Sport · Football

Matchday in Tizi Ouzou: Chipolopolo open the road to AFCON 2027 against the Desert Foxes tonight

A rebuilt Zambia squad — completed by the late arrivals of Lungu and Liteta, and minus the withdrawn Andrew Sinkala — faces Algeria at the Hussein Aït Ahmed Stadium with a long winless run to snap.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•25 September 2026

Sport · Football

Ninety minutes from Ghana: Junior Chipolopolo meet holders South Africa with an AFCON ticket on the line

Friday's 16:00 CAT semi-final in Maputo pits the region's two most decorated youth sides against each other — Zambia's twelve titles against Amajita's ten — with the finalists bound for the U20 AFCON in Ghana.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•25 September 2026

Sport · Golf

Silondwa survives three-way countback to lift Discover Insurance golf title at Nkana

Kedrick Silondwa's 42 points off a 12 handicap topped a tightly contested field at Nkana Golf Club, as the insurer marked its fourth anniversary with the championship.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•25 September 2026

Courts · Lead story

The gate at Mukobeko stays shut: treason accused cut off from visitors as defence demands answers

Prison officers in Kabwe have turned away visitors to Brian Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and 16 co-accused, according to people familiar with the attempts — the latest front in a case where procedure has become the story.

By Lusaka Brief Courts Desk•24 September 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

'Our diplomacy must help to grow Zambia': Haimbe works the UN corridors as two stories compete outside

Two new diplomatic relationships, a Human Rights Council bid and a national statement on Monday — while diaspora organisers and the foreign minister tell different stories about protests at the gates.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•24 September 2026

Politics · Constitution

'Two terms': the opposition is quoting Hichilema back at himself as the term-limits storm swirls

State House has repeatedly denied any third-term ambition. But with Tayali's campaign growing louder and the President yet to address it directly this week, his own past words have become the opposition's favourite document.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•24 September 2026

Economy · Markets

The kwacha at 19.5, inflation at an eight-year low: a week of deadlines for Zambia's economic managers

The currency has drifted softly this month while prices stay tame. Now three dates collide — the September inflation print, a monetary policy decision and the expiry of the fuel-tax moratorium.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•24 September 2026

Economy · Mining

KCM signs $498m deal to mine its own waste — the biggest tailings recovery plant in Africa

Vedanta's Zambian unit will extract 70,000 tonnes of copper a year from decades of Chingola tailings, as the metal's price and the country's three-million-tonne ambition keep climbing.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•24 September 2026

Sport · Football

Twenty-two games unbeaten: Belmadi's Algeria await the Chipolopolo in Tizi Ouzou

George Lwandamina's first competitive match in charge is about as hard as African football gets — away to the Desert Foxes on Friday night, with Togo at home four days later.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•24 September 2026

Sport · Football

Three wins, eight goals, one conceded: Junior Chipolopolo sweep Group C and meet the hosts on Friday

A 3-1 win over Botswana sealed a perfect group stage in Maputo. One more win — against Mozambique in the semi-final — puts Zambia at the Under-20 AFCON in Ghana.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•24 September 2026

Culture · Music

The season of the stage: Stanbic festival returns as Kwacha Music Awards locks in November

Zambia's live-music calendar is stacking up — a bank-backed festival promising a star-studded local lineup, and the industry's biggest night set for 27 November.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•24 September 2026

Politics · Lead story

The term-limits storm: Tayali wants the ceiling scrapped — civil society says don't you dare

Calls to scrap the presidential two-term limit have exploded into the open, with Chilufya Tayali leading the charge and civil society, opposition figures and a veteran constitutionalist warning of a third-term agenda.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•23 September 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

Diaspora to protest at the UN as Haimbe arrives to defend Zambia's record

Zambians in the US plan a demonstration outside UN headquarters in New York this week over the disputed election and the killing of Mutotwe Kafwaya — days before Foreign Minister Haimbe delivers Zambia's national statement.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•22 September 2026

Politics · Courts

Masebo challenges Chongwe East result over alleged malpractice

Losing UPND candidate Sylvia Masebo has petitioned the Lusaka High Court over the Chongwe East parliamentary result — one of a string of election petitions now testing the 13 August outcomes.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•22 September 2026

Politics

40 PR MPs sworn in as parliament widens — and watchdogs like what they see

Speaker Nelly Mutti has sworn in the 40 proportional-representation members reserved for women, youth and persons with disabilities — the first fruit of the amended constitution's new architecture.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•22 September 2026

Economy · Agriculture

More buyers eye Zambian maize as the record harvest goes to market

Regional demand is lining up for Zambia's surplus maize weeks after the 540,000-tonne Kenya deal — with the FRA insisting food security is ring-fenced before exports move.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•22 September 2026

Health

Lusaka, Copperbelt and Eastern top syphilis infections, health data shows

New figures put the three most urbanised provinces at the top of the syphilis burden, with health officials urging testing and early treatment — especially in antenatal care.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•22 September 2026

Sport · Football

Lungu and Liteta complete the squad as Chipolopolo eye Algeria

Gamphani Lungu and Liteta have arrived in camp to complete the Chipolopolo squad for the Algeria clash, though German-based Andrew Sinkala has been excused by FAZ.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•22 September 2026

Sport · Football

Haalubono handed the Copper Queens reins for the Olympic battle

The Copper Queens have a new head coach as the federation turns its attention to the Olympic qualification campaign — a promotion from within for a programme that plans long cycles.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•22 September 2026

Culture · Film

Short film, long shadow: Lusaka's festival wraps a breakout edition

The Lusaka Short Film Festival has concluded after screenings that drew new audiences to Zambian storytelling — another marker for a film scene building real momentum.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•22 September 2026

Politics · Lead story

Lusaka rejects EU Parliament's post-election resolution as 'premature'

The European Parliament has called for an independent investigation into the killing of former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya and the post-election crackdown. Government says the resolution is premature and insufficiently informed.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•21 September 2026

Politics · Developing

Mafinga South MP Faith Munthali critically ill after alleged abduction

The newly elected MP is in Isoka General Hospital after what her family and party describe as an abduction. Police have been asked to investigate; details remain thin and contested.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•21 September 2026

Politics · Courts

Honeybee case reopens: court clears DPP's appeal against Chilufya acquittal

The Economic and Financial Crimes Court has ruled the Director of Public Prosecutions' appeal against the acquittal of former health minister Chitalu Chilufya in the Honeybee defective-drugs case can proceed.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•21 September 2026

Sport · Football

Arrows stun Power Dynamos to lift the Charity Shield

Red Arrows upset league champions Power Dynamos to win the season-opening Charity Shield — an early marker in what promises to be a fierce title race.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•21 September 2026

Politics

Mpundu accuses Tembo of betrayal as cracks widen in the Tonse Alliance

Tonse Alliance chairman Binwell Mpundu has publicly accused Ezra Tembo of betraying those who built his career — the loudest rupture yet inside the opposition since the August defeat.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•20 September 2026

Politics · Diplomacy

Hichilema hosts the Duchess of Edinburgh as royal visit spotlights education

President Hichilema met Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, during her visit to Zambia — a diplomatic bright spot in a month dominated by post-election tension.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•20 September 2026

Politics · Courts

Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and 16 others sue the State over their detention

The eighteen treason suspects have petitioned over alleged rights violations, saying they were moved from Mukobeko to Mwembeshi without a lawful warrant — the first major legal counterattack since the charges were laid.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•19 September 2026

Health

Mass anthrax vaccination targets 20,000 animals in Muchinga

Government has launched a vaccination campaign covering 20,000 animals in Mpika, Shiwang'andu and Lavushimanda, with Mpika identified as the epicentre of the outbreak.

By Lusaka Brief Health Desk•19 September 2026

Sport · Football

Daka double douses the Flames: Zambia 2-0 Malawi

Substitute Billy Daka came off the bench to score twice in the closing stages as the Chipolopolo beat Malawi — a statement win in front of home fans.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•19 September 2026

Politics · Lead story

'No cousin, no brother': Hichilema swears in his second-term cabinet with a warning

President Hakainde Hichilema has sworn in the first batch of his new cabinet at State House, telling ministers that delivery — not relationships — will decide who keeps their seat.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•17 September 2026

Politics · Courts

Treason case: Correctional Service denies blocking lawyers as Findlay's family raises health alarm

A dispute has erupted over legal access at Mukobeko — while Harry Findlay's family says his health is deteriorating in detention.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•17 September 2026

Politics

Tonse Alliance suspends Zimba — the dialogue call that cost him his job

Days after urging the opposition to recognise President Hichilema and pursue dialogue, secretary general Dr Chris Zumani Zimba has been suspended.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•17 September 2026

Politics · Accountability

Former Education PS Henry Tukombe arrested over US$401 million contract

Anti-corruption officers have arrested the former Ministry of Education permanent secretary in connection with a US$401 million contract — one of the largest figures ever attached to a Zambian graft case.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•17 September 2026

Politics · Accountability

Mwamba demands independent probe into officer's death at police headquarters

The Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance disputes the police account that Assistant Superintendent Daniel Banda took his own life.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•16 September 2026

Economy · Agriculture

Kenya signs for 540,000 tonnes of Zambian maize — the record harvest finds its market

The Food Reserve Agency has signed with Kenya's Baita Trading to export more than half a million tonnes of surplus maize.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•16 September 2026

Sport · Football

Al Merrikh in Ndola as Power Dynamos chase a CAF comeback

Zambian champions Power Dynamos host Sudanese giants Al Merrikh needing to overturn a first-leg deficit.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•16 September 2026

Economy

Inflation eases to 9.2% as food prices stabilise — relief, with a footnote

The disinflation run continues toward single digits. The market stall will confirm when it arrives.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•15 September 2026

Economy · Energy

Hichilema presses Vedanta to fast-track power investment as copper ambitions outrun the grid

The president has urged Vedanta to accelerate power-generation plans, as fresh GreenCo funding signals the private build-out is moving.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•15 September 2026

Health

Anthrax scare in Muchinga: what is confirmed, what is ruled out

Suspected anthrax recorded in Muchinga Province; Lavushimanda reports no livestock cases. What the evidence says so far.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•15 September 2026

Sport · Football

Barbra Banda nominated for the Ballon d'Or — again

The Copper Queens and Orlando Pride striker is on the Ballon d'Or shortlist for another year.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•14 September 2026

Politics · Lead story

Hichilema sworn in for a second term — and the economy is the whole speech

Hakainde Hichilema took the oath at National Heroes Stadium on Tuesday after winning 61.4% of the vote. His promise for term two: investment, jobs, and three times the copper.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•6 September 2026

Politics · Courts

Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and Findlay moved to Mukobeko as treason case widens to 18

Opposition leader Brian Mundubile, his running mate Makebi Zulu and businessman Harry Findlay have been transferred to Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison on treason charges, according to multiple reports.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•6 September 2026

Politics · Analysis

Zumani Zimba breaks ranks: 'Zambia must choose dialogue over division'

Tonse Alliance secretary general Dr Chris Zumani Zimba has defied critics within his own camp to call for national dialogue — and even a government of national unity.

By Lusaka Brief Politics Desk•5 September 2026

Economy

The kwacha is one of 2026's standout currencies. What does that buy you?

Up roughly 20% against the dollar in a year and trading near 19.1 to the greenback, the kwacha is riding copper and a record maize harvest.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•5 September 2026

Culture · Music

Kopala showed up for Danny Kaya — and Lusaka got its turn this weekend

The eighth Danny Kaya Music Festival packed the Copperbelt before a moving tribute to the late Dandy Krazy.

By Lusaka Brief Culture Desk•5 September 2026

Economy · Mining

September 30 is copper day: the export-duty decision that reveals Zambia's real bottleneck

Zambia extended its waiver on the 10% copper-concentrate export duty to the end of September while the country's biggest smelters sit in maintenance.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•4 September 2026

Economy · Energy

Zambia's copper boom runs on electricity the grid doesn't have yet

Reaching 3 million tonnes of copper needs at least 2,000 extra megawatts. The power deficit was 707MW last year — but Kariba is recovering.

By Lusaka Brief Business Desk•4 September 2026

Sport · Football

Zesco Ndola Girls' COSAFA run ends in final defeat — 'we'll be back for the title'

A perfect group stage, a semi-final statement, then Mamelodi Sundowns in the final. Zesco Ndola Girls fell short — but announced themselves.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•3 September 2026

Sport · Football

Kangwa's Greek move and Lungu's injury race: the Chipolopolo European watch

Klings Kangwa unveiled by Panathinaikos after a Hall of Fame farewell, while Gamphani Lungu races an injury before AFCON preparations.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•2 September 2026

Economy · Fuel

Fuel prices hold for September — and it's the suspended taxes doing the work

Petrol stays at K25.29 and diesel at K26.86 despite Middle East pressure on oil prices.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•1 September 2026

Economy

Inflation dips again to 6.2% — closing in on the target floor

Annual inflation eased to 6.2% in August, a new eight-year low, with mealie meal prices falling month-on-month — welcome data for a re-elected government with promises to keep.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•27 August 2026

Politics

Kabulonga operation: former minister Kafwaya killed, opposition figures detained

A security operation at a Lusaka property days after the vote left former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya dead in what police described as an exchange of fire, and led to the detention of senior opposition figures — including, reportedly, Brian Mundubile found at the scene.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•21 August 2026

Politics

Hichilema wins a second term with about 60% of the vote

The Electoral Commission declared Hakainde Hichilema re-elected with about 60.5% of the vote against Brian Mundubile's 37.9%, while the UPND took a commanding parliamentary majority.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•18 August 2026

Politics

Election day: 8.7 million registered voters go to the polls

Zambians voted on 13 August to choose a president, 226 constituency MPs, mayors and councillors — a vote framed as a referendum on the government's economic record.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•13 August 2026

Sport

Copper Queens wrap up pre-camp as preparations intensify

Zambia's women's national team concluded a local pre-camp in July as the technical team steps up preparations, with attention on the next generation joining the Barbra Banda core.

By Lusaka Brief Sports Desk•24 July 2026

Economy

Hichilema switches on Chisamba II: 100 more megawatts of solar

The US$70 million second phase of the Chisamba solar plant was commissioned on 21 July, doubling the site to 200MW — a centrepiece of the drought-proofing energy push.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•21 July 2026

Politics

The reserves row: US$6.5 billion in the bank, and a campaign over who feels it

A debate over Zambia's record foreign-exchange reserves became the economic heart of the campaign, with Brian Mundubile asking what US$6.5 billion does for the cost of living — and Situmbeko Musokotwane answering.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•15 July 2026

Politics

The burial that became a campaign: Lungu's legacy shadows the race

A year after his death, the unresolved burial of former president Edgar Lungu has become one of the most emotive issues of the campaign, after Brian Mundubile promised a 'dignified burial' if elected.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•3 July 2026

Economy

Kwacha touches 18 to the dollar — strongest in nearly three years

The kwacha firmed to around K18.07 per US dollar in June, its strongest level since 2023, buoyed by copper earnings, reserves at about US$6.5 billion and renewed investor confidence.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•30 June 2026

Economy

Inflation falls to 6.5% — the lowest in eight years

Zambia's annual inflation rate eased to 6.5% in June 2026, a level last seen in February 2018, as the kwacha firmed and debt restructuring steadied the economy.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•26 June 2026

Politics

Justice minister moves to defer Bill 7 again

The Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 7 was deferred once more in late June, with the Justice Ministry citing the need for further consultation on the divisive constitutional package.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•26 June 2026

Politics

Hichilema launches UPND manifesto: growth, jobs, free education

President Hichilema formally launched his re-election platform on 11 June, promising continued economic recovery, expanded free education and support for agriculture.

By Lusaka Brief Newsroom•12 June 2026