Zambia's most watched court case went back on the road this weekend. Brian Mundubile, the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity's presidential candidate, and his running mate Makebi Zulu were driven to Solwezi under Zambia Correctional Service and police escort ahead of their appearance this morning before Principal Resident Magistrate Mambwe Mukonde — the sitting to which their seditious-practices case was adjourned on 25 September, for formal plea and the possible commencement of trial. The matter is set down for today and tomorrow.
The allegations arise from the rawest days of August. According to Emmanuel Mwamba, who has briefed on the case, Mr Mundubile is accused of publishing a Facebook post in which he claimed the NRPUP was leading the presidential race on Parallel Vote Tabulation figures and called on the Electoral Commission of Zambia to resume the counting it had suspended on 14 August — a suspension the commission said followed violence against polling staff and the theft of marked ballot papers, and which the European Union Election Observation Mission later said was followed by a deterioration in the transparency of tabulation. Mr Zulu is accused over a separate post saying Mr Mundubile would shortly address the nation and urging the public to remain on standby. Both men deny the allegations; their lawyer Sakwiba Sikota has framed the charges as criminalising a claim of electoral victory.
When the pair last appeared in Solwezi, on 25 September, crowds outside the court cheered the correctional bus as it arrived — images that travelled far beyond North-Western Province. That day the matter could not proceed: Mr Mundubile told the court his lawyers were not present, and the State, which said it was ready, did not oppose the adjournment. The question for this morning is narrower and harder than the politics around it: whether plea is taken, and whether the prosecution is ready to open its case in a magistrate's court while the separate treason matter — the charge on which the two men have now spent 39 days in custody — remains, on the Director of Public Prosecutions' own account, under investigation.
The weekend's escort drew a fresh political volley. Tonse Alliance presidential affairs chairperson Binwell Mpundu challenged the authorities to produce the evidence behind the alleged militia at the centre of the treason case, asking why investigations he said began in 2023 have yet to reach a courtroom: "So in this case they have been investigating an imaginary militia for four years, but they still have not gotten any tangible evidence," he wrote. Government has previously said, through Secretary to the Cabinet Patrick Kangwa, that persons linked to the alleged militia had been under surveillance for three to five years before the August raid on a Kabulonga property at which it says restricted military equipment was recovered and Mr Mundubile was found. Mr Mpundu disputes that account, and says no evidence has been publicly shown that officers came under fire.
He is not alone. Socialist Party president Dr Fred M'membe said on Sunday that the post-election tensions — the suspended count, the sealed courts on the petition deadline, the arrests — "cannot be swept under the rug in the name of 'moving forward'". Former cabinet minister Given Lubinda, re-emerging over the weekend, asked how long treason suspects may be held before a court sees them. The churches, the Law Association of Zambia and the detainees' own petition — listed for the High Court from 26 October — circle the same question. This morning it sits with a principal resident magistrate in Solwezi, where the escort that left at the weekend is expected to arrive at the court gate.
Confirmed vs. alleged
Confirmed: The two men were transported by road to Solwezi under escort at the weekend; the seditious-practices matter is listed for 5 and 6 October for formal plea and possible trial before Principal Resident Magistrate Mambwe Mukonde; the charges rest on social-media posts made after the 13 August election; the men have been in custody since 27 August and were charged with treason on 29 August in a separate case that has not yet reached a court.
Alleged or untested: That either post amounted to sedition; the State's account of a militia and recovered military equipment, which has not been presented in court; Mr Mpundu's counter-claims about the investigation. Whether trial begins today rests with the court.
Sources: The Zambian Observer/Zambian Watch, "Mundubile and Makebi being taken to Solwezi by road" (4 Oct 2026); Lusaka Times, "Mundubile And Zulu Taken To Solwezi For Sedition Plea As Mpundu Challenges Militia Evidence" (4 Oct 2026); Zambia Monitor on the 25 September Solwezi appearance (25 Sep 2026); News Diggers on the 25 September adjournment (26 Sep 2026); Lusaka Times, "M'membe: No Lasting Peace Without Justice After Election Tensions" (4 Oct 2026); Lusaka Brief archive.
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