CONTEMPT CASE HEATS UP

CONTEMPT CASE HEATS UPBy ROGERS KALEROTHE Chililabombwe Magistrate Court has ordered that UPND Chililabombwe District Chairman Timothy Musonda should appear in court on October 26, 2021 to answer contempt of court charges for allegedly disobeying a court injunction granted to 16 mealie meal traders in Konkola Township.The UPND cadres under the leadership of Mr Musonda have repeatedly ignored a court injunction which restrained them from stopping or interfering with the business of the 16 mealie meal traders.This is a case where UPND cadres are alleged to have disobeyed a court injunction which was obtained by the 16 mealie meal traders restraining UPND cadres from interfering with their business in Konkola Township The UPND cadres disobeyed the court order and continued to stop the 16 traders from conducting their business, forcing them to seek a court intervention againIn response to the complaints of the traders, the Magistrate Court ordered that Mr Musonda should appear in court on October 26, 2021 to hear the plaintiff’s application for contempt of court“Upon hearing counsel for the plaintiff and upon reading the affidavit sworn by John Mukonko and filed herewith, it is hereby ordered that the date scheduled for hearing of the plaintiff application be and is hereby varied and/or abridged“It is further ordered that the plaintiff’s application for contempt of court be heard on the 26th Day of October 2021 at 14.00 hours in the afternoon ,” read the Ex-Parte Order from the Magistrate Court. On Tuesday, the Court ordered that Mr Musonda should appear in court to answer contempt of court charges on November 4, 2021, but the date was brought forward to October 26, after complaints from the 16 traders that the UPND cadres had continued to disobey the court orderThe Magistrate Court ordered that the injunction granted to the 16 mealie meal traders to restrain the ruling UPND cadres from stopping them or interfering with their business in Konkola Township is still intact and no UPND cadre should interfere with the operations of the tradersThe Court made the ruling yesterday after the parties concerned were summoned to hear of an application on behalf of the plaintiff to grant leave to commence contempt of court proceedings against the defendant, his servants or any other persons for reasons sufficiently stated in the affidavit in support filed hereofBut the UPND cadres continued to stop or interfering with the business of the 16 traders forcing them to complain to the courts over their decision to ignore the court injunction.Ends.