By DELPHINE ZULU – PATRIOTIC Front (PF) secretary general, Davies Chama has asked the High Court to dismiss expelled Chongwe Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Masebo’s preliminary inquiry on grounds that it is attacking President Edgar Lungu who is not a party to the proceedings.

. Masebo

In the preliminary inquiry, Ms Masebo submitted that the defendant’s lawyer Tutwa Ngulube be ordered to stop representing PF because he is related to Mr Lungu and would therefore be biased in handling the matter.
Ms Masebo has sued the PF challenging her expulsion from the ruling party citing irregularities in the manner she was discharged.
She raised the preliminary issues during an ex-parte hearing in Lusaka yesterday citing among other matters that Mr Ngulube was a potential witness who could be called to testify as he was the chairperson for the PF’s disciplinary committee.
In response, Mr Chama said Ms Masebo was using her preliminary issues to attack the President who was not party to the proceedings and would not have an opportunity to reply or respond to attacks against him.
He said Mr Lungu had just been introduced in the matter and had nothing to do with the proceedings and allegations being raised were never stated earlier in the affidavit concerning her injunction.
“There is no dispute that she is already expelled from the party and it took her one week to file for an injunction, in this preliminary issue, she has raised new issues attacking the President, she did not
raise these issues in the main matter,” Mr Chama said.
On the other hand, Mr Ngulube stated that the preliminary issues were framed as an inquiry into the election of Mr Lungu when the proceedings had nothing to do with his election and that he would not
be a witness in the matter.
“If she has an issue with me, she should consider joining me to the proceedings, I was the returning officer at the last PF general conference but I am not here in that capacity, the issues raised have nothing to do with these proceedings as they are not about the election of Mr Lungu,” he said.
Mr Ngulube submitted that there was no conflict of interest on his part as trial would be based on the pleadings not ‘hallucinations’ that Ms Masebo was making in all her affidavits which should in fact be expunged as they contained extraneous and irrelevant matters.
He called for the preliminary issues raised to be dismissed with costs, as they were aimed at embarrassing him as he conducted himself to do justice and that her accusation of him being related to Mr Lungu was done without merit and  in a bid to pour scorn to the proceedings.