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

Two digits nearly ended the Kabwata petition before the evidence began. Respondent Yenga's camp had argued the challenge to his election was filed outside the fourteen-day window the law allows: the declaration, their preliminary objection said, was made on 15 August, so the 31 August filing came too late. Justice Mary Mulanda examined the record and ruled otherwise — the Kabwata seat was declared on 17 August; the "15" was a typographical error. Counted from the 17th, the petition landed inside the window under section 100(3) of the Electoral Process Act, and the objection was dismissed. The petition proceeds on its merits.

The merits are substantial. Yenga was declared winner of the Lusaka seat with 31,565 votes against petitioner Tayengwa's 21,114 — a margin north of ten thousand that the petition says was manufactured, in part, with money. The allegations are of corrupt practices: cash distributed to voters in the campaign's closing days, in a constituency where such claims have a long and litigated history.

The first witnesses set the scene the petition will try to prove. One witness, Zimba, testified to money being handed out at a gathering at Chilenje Community Hall, describing the crowd's chants of "Aleya" as the distribution unfolded; under cross-examination by defence counsel Chirwa, the witness conceded gaps in the account, including points of detail the defence will catalogue as doubt. A second witness, Simbayi, told the court he saw a man identified as Nayame distributing money at Kamwala Secondary School. The defence will answer when the petitioner's case closes; for now, the testimony stands as allegation given under oath, not as fact found.

Elsewhere on the election-petition circuit: in the Solwezi matter, the State has filed its argument on jurisdiction, the defence's written submissions are due today, and the court has reserved its ruling to 13 October. The Kabwata hearing continues, with more of the petitioner's witnesses expected to take the stand. A typographical error bought the case its hearing; what the hearing makes of Chilenje Community Hall will decide whether the margin of 10,451 votes was a result — or a transaction.

Sources: Lusaka Times and News Diggers coverage of the Kabwata petition proceedings before Justice Mulanda (7 Oct 2026); Times of Zambia on the witnesses' testimony (7 Oct 2026); Electoral Process Act, section 100(3); ZNBC on the Solwezi petition timetable (Oct 2026).