MAMBWE District deputy council secretary Willy Phiri on Tuesday testified in court that the Tindi chiefdom was abolished by the colonial government in 1948 before Zambia attained independence.

Mr Phiri was testifying in a case where Friday Mwale, 62, a farmer of Tindi area is charged with the case of declaring himself as Chief Tindi of the Kunda speaking people.

He told Chipata resident magistrate, Collins Lundah that the local authority had been mandated by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to take care of chiefs' affairs in the district.

Mr Phiri said some of the duties perfomed by his office were to give chiefs and their retainers monthly subsidies and at no time did the council extend such facilities to Chief Tindi because he was not a gazzetted chief.

He said there were only six recognised chiefdoms in Mambwe District that were drawing subsidies from the council, adding that the accused was not among them.

He told the court that the accused was arrogant and declared himself Chief Tindi when he knew that the chiefdom was abolished a long time ago before Zambia attained her independence.

Mr Phiri said Government policy was clear on the matter and that it would only support chiefdoms that were in existence when Zambia got independence.

He accused Tindi of arrogance, adding that he had ignored advice from from the local authority and refused to attend any meetings.

The prosecution team applied for an adjournment as it was not able to bring three other witnesses that include Senior Chiefs Nsefu and Mkhanya.

The other witness expected to testify in the matter is provincial local government officer, Alex Bwalya.

Magistrate Lundah adjourned the matter to November 3 and 4 for continued trial. The accused, Friday Mwale, was remanded in custody.