Milton Hatembo testifies how Nawakwi abducted, threatened to kill him

A WITNESS has narrated in the Lusaka Magistrate Court how Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president, Edith Nawakwi abducted him and put him in a room at a hotel in Lusaka where she threatened to kill him.

Mr Milton Hatembo testified before magistrate, Amy Masoja Chilangwa that Nawakwi threatened to kill him together with his sister Pheluna Hatembo by chopping their heads if they disclosed anything discussed in confidence.

Mr. Hatembo said Nawakwi also told him to deny ever selling the farm to President Hakainde Hichilema.

Mr. Hatembo was testifying in a matter Nawakwi, 63, also a farmer, is charged with four counts of threatening violence contrary to Section 90 (a) of the Penal Code Chapter 87 and kidnapping or abducting with intent to confine person contrary to Section 256 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

The witness also testified that Nawakwi told him that she never wanted President Hichilema to become President because if he did, he was going to buy the whole Zambia and make it his farm.

He told the court that he was taken to the hotel together with his sister and confined there.

"We were taken to a hotel behind Manda Hill in Lusaka, and the driver paid for four days and put us in two separate rooms which where upstairs, our phones where taken away from us. The following morning, we went outside to check if the car that brought us was there but it wasn't, my sister Pheluna started crying that they will kill us," he said.

Mr. Hatembo said on the fateful day after the accused decided to give them their phones to greet their families, they thought it was a good way to escape.

After Mr. Hatembo testified, Nawakwi's lawyers asked for an adjournment so as to produce more than 15 video clips of a witness, so that he could listen to his own words while they cross examine him.

The matter has since been adjourned to March 6, for cross examination.