Africa-Press – Zambia. FORMER Lumezi Independent MP Munir Zulu’s lawyer, Joseph Chirwa, says his client is a political prisoner as all cases against him are politically motivated.
On Friday, the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court acquitted Zulu in a matter where he was charged with expressing hatred, ridicule, or contempt for persons because of race.
It was alleged that on March 28, 2023, in Lusaka, Zulu uttered words to the effect that: “I’m a villager from Lumezi, but I can tell you that villagers from Lumezi are more intelligent than villagers from Bweengwa,” an expression allegedly showing hatred, ridicule or contempt against the villagers from Bweengwa.
Zulu is currently serving a jail sentence for libel and was also convicted in another case of seditious practices.
But in an interview, Saturday, Chirwa said the acquittal was the right thing to do, as Zulu was not even supposed to be in court or jail for anything.
“As you know, all the cases against Mr Zulu are politically motivated. They are trumped-up charges. He’s not even supposed to be convicted for any of those offences, even those that are in court. In a normal country, he’s not even supposed to be convicted. That is the right thing. He was not supposed to be in court in the first place. He’s not supposed to be in court for anything. He was not supposed to be in jail for anything. Truly speaking, in a democratic society, a functional society, a society that respects the rule of law, Munir Zulu was not supposed to be in jail. There’s no crime he committed whatsoever. He’s a politician, some of those comments that he’s accused of making, he made them in parliament where he enjoyed immunity. There’s no substance in whatever Munir Zulu was committed to the court. He’s not supposed to be in jail. He’s a political prisoner,” he said.
Chirwa said politicians were using courts to clamp down on progressive individuals, arguing that they should instead reserve courts for cases involving murder or those who abuse the country’s resources.
“The politicians are using the court to clamp down on progressive individuals like Munir Zulu. Tell me, how many politicians would have gone to prison for making comments on politics? All politicians would have been in jail. We are wasting the court’s time, but it’s a pity that we are using the court to clamp down on progressive politicians like Mr Zulu. He is not supposed to be in jail for anything. There’s no crime committed,” he said.
“Let’s use the court for proper things, for people who abuse the resources of the country, for people who kill people, not for political comments. For example, if I say I’m tired of load-shedding, then I should go to prison? He’s a political prisoner convicted on trumped-up charges, false accusations. I can say that all the cases against Mr Zulu are false. Trumped-up, where you cook something. Here, when you go to the definition of sedition, there’s no sedition whatsoever”.
He stressed that politics was a game of competing ideas.
“Politics is a game of competing ideas, the way even the president in opposition would say that he would drop the dollar by 14 hours as soon as he’s sworn in, [and] electricity will be restored. President Sata even said within 90 days of my presidency, Zambia will be like London. So when now you’re in opposition and tell them that this person didn’t tell the truth, he lied. Where are the 90 days? Where is the dollar? That’s politics. Politics is about projecting what the other person is not doing well. So there’s no case that Mr Zulu was convicted for that fits the shoe,” said Chirwa.
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