6 November 2009
CHIEF Mnkhanya of the Kunda speaking people of Mambwe District in the Eastern Province has said the man claiming to be Chief Tindi is his subject as that chiefdom was abolished in 1948.
Testifying in a continued trial of Friday Mwale, 62, a small-scale farmer charged with illegally declaring himself as a chief of the Kunda people, Chief Mnkhanya said part of the land which used to belong to Chief Tindi was given to him after the chiefdom was abolished.
Chief Mnkhanya told Chipata resident magistrate Collins Lundah that Mwale was his subject because the Tindi Chiefdom was abolished a long time ago before Zambia attained her independence in 1964.
Chief Mnkhanya said even Mwale's National Registration Card (NRC) showed he was his subject from Mnkhanya chiefdom.
He told the court he held several meetings with Mwale to restore peace and order in the district but the accused refused to listen to his advice and continued to impose himself as Chief Tindi.
Mwale brought people from other districts and gave them vast pieces of land where they had settled to backup his his claim to the chiefdom.
Chief Mnkhanya's subjects were living in fear because they were being forced to subscribe to some new traditional practices and were even instructed to start paying homage to him.
The traditional ruler said though he was young at the time the chiefdom was abolished, he was told the last person to reign as Chief Tindi was a Mr Msenya.
He said since then there had never been any chief caretaker or chief on the throne.
Chief Mnkanya narrated how Mwale allegedly instructed his followers to beat up a group of Government officials and chiefs who were in a company of police officers who had gone to his house to discuss issues to do with the disputed chieftainship.
During cross examination by Mwale's lawyer, Sturbridge Chilambo, Chief Mnkhanya denied ever seeing any letter written by the late senior chief Nsefu and the current Chief Nsefu to revoke the abolishment of Chief Ntindi.
The emotional chief also denied that he was put as caretaker chief of part of the land that belonged to Chief Tindi when the chiefdom was abolished.
The matter was adjourned to November 17 and 18 for continued trial to enable Senior Chief Nsefu and provincial local Government officer Alex Bwalya to testify in the matter.
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