Chongwe Mayor Chuumbwe sued for defamation

FORMER Chongwe Municipal Council Town Clerk, Levis Mumba has sought an injunction in the High Court against the town’s mayor, Geoffrey Chuumbwe and two others to restrain them from issuing defamatory words against him. Mr Mumba, who is a legal practitioner also sued ZNBC and Local Government Service Commission chairman Amos Musonda for defamation. Mr Mumba alleged in his writ of summons filed in the Lusaka High Court that on or about January 18 2018 Mr Chuumbwe in his capacity as a politician issued defamatory remarks against him. He is now demanding K1, 200, 000 as exemplary damages for libel and damages for mental distress, anguish and anxiety. He said the defendants alleged that he and other officers of the Chongwe Municipal Council paid themselves commutation of leave days in excess of accumulated days. It was also alleged that Mr Mumba paid himself social holiday allowances contrary to the provisions of the Local Government Circular and that the same allegations were published in the Daily Nation newspaper Mr Mumba said ZNBC on January 18 during its prime news hours at 19.00 hours carried a story headlined “Chongwe Municipal Council Town Clerk suspended” in which it was alleged that he had paid himself holiday social allowance, salary advance and leave commutation in breach of the provisions of the law. He claimed that the statement in the article was a personal reference to him as the then Town Clerk of Chongwe Municipal Council and the same were falsehoods and malicious as he had served the council with honor, dignity, moral integrity and had observed the professional ethical code of conduct in the discharge of his duties. Mr Mumba said on February 13 he wrote to Mr Chuumbwe to demand for a clear and unqualified apology and a retraction of the article complained of in the Daily Nation newspaper but the same was not rendered. He claimed that on February 19 he wrote to ZNBC and Mr Musonda to retract the news item complained of and render an unqualified apology but the same has been refused and denied. Mr Mumba said the widely circulated words being communicated to millions of people through electronic and social media seriously injured his reputation as a senior member of the legal professional in Zambia and the same had exposed him to hatred, public odium, embarrassment and ridicule. He wants the court to order the three defendants to render unreserved apology to him and that they be ordered to pay him interest on the money he is demanding as well as costs for legal proceedings.