Mulenga Sata challenges parentage clause LUSAKA Mayor Mulenga Sata has told the Lusaka High Court that he will not discontinue his case over his parentage until it is concluded because he has presidential ambitions in future. Mr Sata said his focus was not this year’s Patriotic Front (PF) presidential election but future elections. He said through his lawyers Eric Silwamba and Lubinda Linyama when the matter came up for inter-party hearing on Thursday that he was desirous that his matter should reach a logical conclusion. In this matter Mr Sata sued Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Bridget Atanga and the Electoral Commission of Zambia seeking a declaration that he is eligible for the election of President despite the provisions of the parentage clause. Mr Sata, the eldest child of the late President Michael Sata, also prayed that the court should confirm his interim injunction. “However, my instruction to pursue the injunction was not only for the impending intra-party election but for the future most importantly,” he said. PF lawyers apologized for failing to file in their response because they were informed late that they needed to respond, adding that they were not opposed to the court injunction. High Court Judge Isaac Chali said upon hearing counsel for the plaintiff and upon reading affidavits by the defendant, he ordered that Mr Sata should not be stopped from contesting the PF presidential election. “It is hereby ordered that the first defendant, whether by servant or agents or otherwise however described, be and is hereby restricted from preventing the plaintiff from contesting for the election to the office of President of the Patriotic Front, a duly registered political party, on account of the parentage clause,” he said. On Tuesday, the court granted Mr Sata an interim injunction restraining the party from stopping him from contesting the presidency on account of his parentage. According to a statement of claim filed in the High Court, Mr Sata also wants the court to declare that he is also eligible for election to the office of the president of the PF in accordance with the provisions of the party constitution. Mr Sata further wants a declaration that the eligibility of the office of president of the Republic of Zambia is an evidential matter that cannot be determined as a threshold issue by the returning officer but is the preserve of the full bench of the Supreme Court.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 09:22:20 +0000
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