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Court of Appeal of Zambia - 2025 January

11 judgments
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11 judgments
January 2025
Astro Holdings Limited and Ors v Edgar Hamuwele (Sued as Receiver of Courtyard Hotel Limited in Receivership) and Ors (Application No.75/2024) [2025] ZMCA 9 (31 January 2025)
Application to reopen an appeal dismissed: slip rule limited to seven‑day clerical corrections; three‑year delay unjustified.
  • Court of Appeal — jurisdiction to reopen judgments; Order 13/8 CAR (slip rule) — clerical errors/accidental slips within seven days; extension of time — inordinate delay and insufficient reasons; finality of litigation; abuse of process/forum shopping.
31 January 2025
Lovemore Gumbo v Standard Chartered Bank Plc (APPEAL NO. 57 /2023) [2025] ZMCA 5 (31 January 2025)
The applicant's managerial misconduct justified summary dismissal; differential treatment did not amount to discrimination.
  • Employment law — unfair/wrongful dismissal — discrimination — comparative treatment of senior staff — procedural fairness — managerial accountability — Voluntary Separation Scheme eligibility.
31 January 2025
Paramount Chief Mpenzeni and Ors v Aaron Jere (APPEAL NO. 138/2024) [2025] ZMCA 8 (31 January 2025)
The respondent failed to show necessity for subpoenas; leave set aside and respondent ordered to pay costs.
  • Evidence — Applicability of English Evidence Act 1851 to fill gaps in Zambian Evidence Act; Competent and compellable witnesses; Subpoena and subpoena duces tecum under s27 High Court Act and Order 38 RSC; Discretion to summon witnesses after close of case; Requirement to show relevance and necessity; Costs for undue delay and repeated late applications.
31 January 2025
Setrec Steel And Wood Processing v Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc (APPEAL NO. 304 OF 2022) [2025] ZMCA 6 (31 January 2025)
Appellant met initial evidential burden on alleged unauthorised transfers; bank failed to explain certain transfers, judgment entered for those sums.
  • Banking law — alleged unauthorised debits; fraud — burden of proof and evidential shift once plaintiff particularises transactions; bank’s duty to justify transfers or produce mandate; admissibility/reconstruction of banking records and statutory retention periods; set-off; damages require proof.
31 January 2025
Stanbic Bank Zambia Limited v Brenda Montah (Appeal No. 339/2023) [2025] ZMCA 7 (30 January 2025)
Release and Indemnity can form a mandate; bank not negligent to effect clear customer telephone instructions without reconfirmation.
  • Banker–customer relationship; mandate and Release and Indemnity; electronic/telephone instructions; duty of reasonable care and skill; test for banker negligence (whether transaction was out of the ordinary to put bank on inquiry); Quincecare duty not engaged where customer personally gives instructions; burden of proof; damages for breach of mandate.
30 January 2025
Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc and Ors v Allan Mulemwa Kandala and Ors (Appeal No. 181 of 2023) [2025] ZMCA 3 (30 January 2025)
Derivative actions require prior leave; trial court lacked jurisdiction and its judgment was set aside.
  • Derivative actions — leave to continue mandatory after defendants give notice of intention to defend — jurisdictional challenge fatal if no leave on record; receivership and property transfers rendered academic where trial lacked jurisdiction; bona fide purchaser and validity of conveyance not determined; parties to bear own costs.
30 January 2025
Transquic Services Zambia Limited and Ors v African Banking Corporation Zambia Limited (T/A Atlas Mara) and Anor (APPEAL NO. 311/2021) [2025] ZMCA 2 (29 January 2025)
Stakeholder interpleader is unavailable once competing claims have culminated in judgment; applicant lacked stakeholder status.
  • Civil procedure — Stakeholder interpleader — interpleader not available after judgment; locus standi — stakeholder must be disinterested and in possession; execution priority — judgments take effect at execution; procedural fairness — complaints not raised below cannot be advanced on appeal.
29 January 2025
Chubb European Group SE and Ors v Zopco SA and Ors (SP. 30/2024) [2025] ZMCA 4 (28 January 2025)
Leave to appeal refused: issues were mixed law and fact, not of public importance; stay denied; respondents awarded costs.
  • Leave to appeal — Court of Appeal Act s.13(3) — point of law of public importance — mixed questions of law and fact — interpretation of forum selection/arbitration clauses (Marine Policy) — stare decisis (Chansa Chipili) — expungement of inadmissible legal argument in affidavit — stay of execution — costs follow the event.
28 January 2025
Peter Mutale v Davies Mukumbwa (Appeal No.24/2024) [2025] ZMCA 10 (24 January 2025)
Unauthenticated affidavits executed abroad are inadmissible; appeal dismissed for lack of authentication and procedural defects.
  • Authentication of Documents Act s3 — documents executed abroad require notarial/consular authentication; Affidavit — signed abroad and not commissioned is void ab initio; High Court Rules Order 5 r.13 — defect of form curable only where affidavit sworn before authorised officer; Court of Appeal Rules Order 10 r.9(2) — grounds of appeal must be concise, non‑argumentative; Service — service at last known address via third party can constitute good service.
24 January 2025
Peter Mutale v Davies Mukumbwa (Appeal No.24/2024) [2025] ZMCA 79 (24 January 2025)
Unauthenticated affidavits signed outside Zambia are inadmissible; defective, non-compliant grounds of appeal may be disregarded.
  • Civil procedure — Authentication of documents — Section 3, Authentication of Documents Act — Affidavit executed outside Zambia must be authenticated by notary/public officer before use — Unauthenticated affidavit signed abroad void ab initio; High Court properly expunged affidavit. Procedural compliance — Court of Appeal Rules Order 10 Rule 9(2) — Non-compliant grounds of appeal disregarded
24 January 2025
Tasila Lungu v The Director of Public Prosecutions (CAZ/08/548/2024) [2025] ZMCA 1 (22 January 2025)
Civil forfeiture is governed by civil procedure; Section 11 (conviction‑based) does not authorize State possession without court process; conditional stay granted.
  • Forfeiture law — distinction between conviction‑based and civil forfeiture; Section 11 interpretation; civil forfeiture governed by civil procedure — writs and possession; propriety of counsel deposing to affidavits; stay of execution pending appeal — prospects of success and irreparable harm.
22 January 2025