An unspecified number of people have been reported injured following a clash between supporters of Zambia’s ruling party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), and main opposition party, the Patriotic Front (PF), during a court session at the Lusaka High Court on Wednesday.

Reports say the protest was sparked following a petition filed by a Lusaka-based youth activist, Michelo Chizombe, who urged the Constitutional Court to declare former President Edgar Lungu ineligible for future elections.

It was gathered that during the court proceedings, a group of protesters suspected to be University of Zambia students, arrived the premises of High Court wearing black T-shirts and chanting ‘No third term! No to corruption!’

Tension reportedly arose when a popular PF member, Peter Kashala, also known as Peter ‘ma chain’, was detained by police for allegedly assaulting a female individual who claimed to be a student, which elicited anger among other students present.

One Titus Musonda Chisha, said to be a student at UNZA, who spoke with journalists, cautioned that political cadres should refrain from involvement in matters of sensitive national importance.

“For me, the scenario that has evolved here is that issues that concern national interest, like this one, I do not expect cadres to be here fighting students.

“We are coming from a university where as students, we are concerned with such issues and we do not expect cadres to come to a place like this without any understanding.

“They are fighting students because they do not understand what is happening here, that is why they are causing commotion. I can confirm that one of our students was beaten by cadres.

“What we are doing is sending a message to politicians that when we are having such cases, please do not bring cadres here, bring people that understand such issues,” Chisha said.

The Zambian government has been made $5 million richer following a court ruling that ordered the forfeiture of the sum seized in a gold scam scandal that rocked the nation last year.

The same ruling also mandated the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to release the plane involved in the scandal to its owners after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Gilbert Phiri, and other interested parties in the criminal case entered into a consent judgment.

The Global Express T77WSS Jet, was confiscated at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, Lusaka last year on suspicion of ferrying gold from the country worth millions of dollars after landing from Cairo, Egypt.

In the consent judgement signed on April 10, the owner of the disputed jet, World Aviation Sinai International Mountains Limited, through one of its Directors, Michael Adel Michel Botros, an Egyptian, agreed to surrender the $5 million to the Zambian government in exchange for the plane.

The DPP, Gilbert Phiri, on the other hand, consented to the immediate release of the the aircraft to its owners

The jet was reportedly hired by a management company known as Ibis Air PTY Limited.

The parties further agreed on the other properties seized comprising of 602 pieces of brass pellets, a combination of Copper and Zinc metals, weighing 127.28 kilograms purported to have been valued at about $7,636,800 from Zambia to Egypt.

The consent judgement read:

“That DEC shall release the aircraft, namely, Global Express T77WSS Jet, to the first and second interested parties forthwith:

“That the third interested party Michael Adel Michel Botros shall surrender the sum of $5,000,000.00 only to the government of the Republic of Zambia.

“That the sum of $697,700.00 be released to the third interested party Michael Adel Michel Botros through his advocates to cover some of the attendant costs of facilitating and servicing the aircraft, namely, Global Express T77WSS Jet in order for it to achieve optimal airworthiness.

“All other items seized by DEC be surrendered to the State: and we consent to the order in the terms herein set out.”

In an affidavit in opposition to the DPP’s application filed last year, Ibis Air (PTY) Limited director, Baher Fawzi Mohamed Aldamasy, an Egyptian and a resident in South Africa had stated that the State’s procedure of seizure was irregular as the Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime Act describes the Jet as premises and not property.

Aldamasy had argued that the owner or Ibis was under no obligation to inquire into the work history or activities of the client beyond that which is necessary to determine the rates, safety of the jet and operation as per the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

He stated that the jet was hired to be used for three hours with the flight plan indicated Cairo to Lusaka and then Lusaka to Cairo.

Botros had also argued that he was a victim of a gold scam which also involved government officials but the DPP wanted an order to have the jet used in the gold scam scandal forfeited to the State.

Five Zambians, business man Sedrick Kasanda, Patrick Kawanu Jnr(Pilot), Jim Belemu(Mahogany Air Chief Executive Officer), Robson Moonga, and Francis Mateyo, are currently undergoing trial in the Lusaka High Court on charge of espionage.