Zambia's chief prosecutor suffered a bruising double defeat on Friday, 13 November 2026, when the Lusaka High Court refused to strike the police raid video from the bail record of opposition leader Brian Mundubile and 17 others, while his office quietly dropped the insulting language case against Sean Tembo.
The rulings, according to LusakaTimes.com, leave Director of Public Prosecutions Gilbert Phiri with little to show for a week spent fighting on the back foot in Zambia's courtrooms. For ordinary Zambians watching this space, the message from the bench is clear: the State cannot cherry-pick what evidence the courts are allowed to see.
High Court keeps Ibex Hill raid video in evidence
The fight centred on footage of the police raid on Makebi Zulu's Ibex Hill home. Phiri and his team asked the court to expunge five paragraphs of the applicants' affidavit, numbers 6, 19, 20, 21 and 22, along with the flash disk holding the recording itself.
The prosecution argued the material went beyond the proper scope of a reply and denied the State a chance to respond. It also questioned the authenticity, origin and integrity of the recording.
The defence, led by Sakwiba Sikota, State Counsel, turned that argument on its head. The disputed paragraphs, counsel said, were a direct answer to the State's own claim that Mundubile and Zulu were flight risks. Any doubt over the video's authenticity went to how much weight it should carry, not to whether it could be admitted. Sikota also told the court a flash disk qualifies as a document under the Evidence Act.
The panel of Judge Derrick Mulenga, Judge Davies Chibwili and Judge Ireen Wishimanga rejected the core of the objection and admitted the video into evidence. Paragraphs 19, 20 and 22 stayed on the record. Phiri won only crumbs: paragraph 6 was struck out for introducing a new issue, and paragraph 21 for going beyond matters the prosecution had raised.
Defence lawyer Milner Katolo summed it up bluntly.
The DPP's preliminary issue had been dismissed, and all the videos remain part of the evidence.
When the objection was first raised, Sikota said the prosecution appeared uncomfortable with a recording that shows exactly what happened when security officers raided Zulu's residence. Zambians deserve to see that footage in open court, and now they will.
Second setback in a week for the prosecution
The video ruling followed an earlier hammer blow. Days before, the same three judges threw out the State's first preliminary objection, which challenged the procedure the applicants used to file for bail, and held the application was properly before the court. The court also granted an adjournment so Phiri and Attorney-General Mulilo Kabesha, both respondents, could appear in person.
In the separate sedition case against Mundubile and Zulu, Sikota has complained that the State raises preliminary issues every time the matter comes before court. Delay after delay, objection after objection: this is a pattern Zambians know too well when opposition figures sit in cells without trial.
Sean Tembo walks free as DPP files nolle prosequi
In another Lusaka courtroom, Phiri's office abandoned the prosecution of former Patriots for Economic Progress leader Sean Tembo on two counts of using insulting language against President Hakainde Hichilema. State prosecutor Michael Nundwe told the court the Office of the DPP had filed a nolle prosequi under Section 81 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The Diggers and the Zambian Observer both reported the development, which came before Judge Chibwili, sitting as Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate, could rule on whether Tembo had a case to answer. The judge admitted the nolle prosequi and discharged the former PeP leader, telling him he was