MUKANDILA CHALLENGES CANCELLATION OF NRC, PASSPORT
MUKANDILA CHALLENGES CANCELLATION OF NRC, PASSPORT
By Josphat Hamakala
Tonse Pamodzi Alliance Secretary General Celestin Mukandila has gone to the Lusaka High Court, seeking an order to overturn the Government’s cancellation of his National Registration Card and Zambian passport.
Mukandila has applied for leave for judicial review, challenging Government Gazette Notice Number 1418 of 2026, which purports to cancel and invalidate the two documents.
He argues that the cancellation of his NRC has no legal basis under the National Registration Act, Chapter 126 of the Laws of Zambia, which he says does not give any officer or authority power to cancel an NRC through a Gazette Notice.
In an affidavit filed before court, Mukandila says he was born in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, on February 20, 1990, to a Zambian mother, Marie Musa Louise, who retained her Zambian citizenship while living in the DRC.
He also says his grandfather, Alam Chabwilo, was a Zambian citizen who served on a diplomatic mission for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the DRC.
Mukandila says he returned to Zambia with his family in 1999 and was issued a Zambian NRC in 2006 after registering with the National Registration Office
He says questions over the authenticity of his NRC later arose during his employment at the Road Transport and Safety Agency in 2017, but the document was subsequently verified as authentic by the National Registration Office.
He is now asking the High Court to order the restoration of his NRC and passport as valid documents, and to declare that he is a Zambian citizen by descent through his late Zambian mother.
Mukandila is further seeking an order declaring Gazette Notice Number 1418 of 2026 unlawful and without effect, and wants the court to stay its implementation pending determination of the judicial review application.