The fight over whether Chief Mukuni of Kazungula should be recognised as a paramount chief has reached the question that comes before all the others: whether the people who brought the case can bring it. News Diggers reported on Saturday 31 October, and the Zambian Observer on Thursday 30 October, that Paramount Chief Chitimukulu has asked the Constitutional Court to dismiss the petition filed on 25 June 2026 by the Bene Mukuni Royal Dynasty Committee, acting through its director-general, the former MP Jonas Shakafuswa, against the Attorney-General.
According to the Observer's report by Nelson Zulu, the Chitimukulu, Henry Kanyanta Sosala, filed a summons to dismiss for want of capacity and jurisdiction, supported by an affidavit. The affidavit says searches made on 16 October 2026 at the Patents and Companies Registration Agency, the Registrar of Societies and the Registrar of Non-Governmental Organisations found that the committee is not a registered entity or organisation in Zambia, and that Shakafuswa therefore lacks the legal capacity to commence proceedings on Chief Mukuni's behalf. It argues that the Constitution, as amended in 2016, gives the office of chief perpetual succession and the capacity to sue and be sued in its own name, so that any action about a chief's status must be brought directly by or against the holder of that office, and that recognising or installing a chief is the preserve of the people of the culture concerned. News Diggers' account matches on the central point: the committee, in the Chitimukulu's submission, has no legal capacity to bring the case.
How the three paramount chiefs got into the case
The Chitimukulu, the Litunga of Barotseland and Kalonga Gawa Undi of the Chewa sought to join the petition as interested parties soon after it was filed. News Diggers reported on 23 September that a single judge of the Constitutional Court had dismissed their application and that the three had appealed to the full bench. The Observer's report of 31 October says the court has joined them; the ruling that did so was not among the reports read for this story, and the hearing date for the Chitimukulu's summons is not reported either.
What the petition seeks, in the words of News Diggers' earlier report, is recognition of Chief Mukuni as a paramount chief and a declaration about his current classification; the full text of the relief sought is behind the paper's paywall. No response from Shakafuswa or Chief Mukuni to the application to dismiss appeared in the reporting. A second Observer piece published on Saturday, which describes the committee as illegal and questions Chief Mukuni's lineage, is an opinion article and is not relied on here.
Confirmed vs. alleged
Confirmed: That the petition was filed on 25 June 2026 by the Bene Mukuni Royal Dynasty Committee through Jonas Shakafuswa against the Attorney-General, and that the Chitimukulu has asked the court to dismiss it for lack of capacity, is reported by News Diggers and the Zambian Observer. The registry searches of 16 October and the constitutional argument are from the Observer's account of the affidavit.
Alleged or unverified: Whether the three paramount chiefs have formally been joined to the case after the September ruling against them is unclear from the reporting. No hearing date is reported. The petitioners' answer to the summons, and the full relief sought, were not available.
Sources: News Diggers, “Dismiss case seeking recognition of Mukuni as paramount chief, Chitimukulu urges court” (31 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “Chief Chitimukulu asks ConCourt to dismiss petition seeking elevation of Chief Mukuni to paramount chief” (30 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “3 Paramount Chiefs fight to join Mukuni's case” (23 Sep 2026).