The Mutotwe Kafwaya detention case has reached the Lusaka High Court as his wife fights to discover where he is being held and whether he is safe.
Dinis Ng’andu Kafwaya has asked the court to order authorities to produce her husband and explain the legal basis for keeping him at an undisclosed location.
For several days, Kafwaya’s family searched police stations, contacted officials and appealed publicly for information.
However, they received no clear explanation about his condition, location or the charges he may face.
His wife has now turned to the courts after the family’s efforts failed to bring him home or secure access to him.
Wife asks court to produce Kafwaya
Mrs Kafwaya has applied for permission to begin urgent habeas corpus proceedings during the court vacation.
A habeas corpus application allows a court to order authorities to produce a detained person. Those holding the person must then explain why that detention is lawful.
In her intended affidavit, Mrs Kafwaya says security officers apprehended her husband during an operation at Brian Mundubile’s Kabulonga residence on 13 August.
She says a combined team of police and army officers removed Kafwaya and several other people from the property.
According to her application, the family was not informed where officers had taken him. They also received no information about any offence he was suspected of committing.
His lawyers have also struggled to gain access to him.
The Attorney General has been cited as the respondent in the case.
A family waiting for one simple answer
The legal language may sound complicated. However, the family’s request is painfully simple: they want to see Kafwaya and know that he is alive and safe.
Mrs Kafwaya previously said she last spoke to her husband on the afternoon of 14 August. By that evening, her calls went unanswered, although his phone continued ringing.
His son also appealed for help, explaining that the family’s priority was his father’s life and safety.
They were not interested in political arguments or social media battles. Instead, they wanted authorities to tell them where their loved one was being held.
That uncertainty has turned the case into one of Zambia’s most closely watched post-election stories.
HRC searches several police stations
Zambia’s Human Rights Commission began investigating after receiving reports about Kafwaya’s disappearance.
Its officers visited Chelstone, Matero, Lusaka Central and Kabwata police stations. Officials at those stations said Kafwaya was not in their custody.
The commission planned to extend the search to Chilenje, Twin Palm, Woodlands and Zambia Police Service headquarters.
It also said that if Kafwaya was in lawful custody, authorities should disclose his place of detention.
Furthermore, he should receive unrestricted access to his family and legal representatives.
Conflicting claims fuel fear and confusion
Opposition figures previously claimed that Kafwaya was shot during the security operation and taken to Maina Soko Military Hospital.
However, the government denied that claim. Defence officials said hospital management had no record of admitting a patient named Mutotwe Kafwaya.
Neither version has received independent confirmation.
Therefore, the most responsible position remains clear: Kafwaya’s location and condition must be established through official and verifiable channels.
The High Court application could finally force authorities to provide those answers.
Election raid remains under scrutiny
The operation happened during a tense election period in which authorities arrested 11 opposition-linked individuals.
The government says officers recovered high-grade military weapons connected to a plan threatening national security.
Mundubile and other opposition figures reject that account. They insist the people at the residence were unarmed and targeted because of their political activities.
The United Nations human rights chief has since expressed concern about the arrests. The UN has urged Zambia to respect due process and bring detainees before the courts promptly.
For Mrs Kafwaya, however, the immediate battle remains deeply personal.
Her husband is a former Cabinet minister, former Lunte MP and senior opposition figure. Yet those titles do not remove the fear experienced by a family that cannot reach him.
The case now gives Zambia’s courts an opportunity to establish the truth.
Until Kafwaya appears publicly, receives access to his lawyers or authorities disclose his location, one question will continue echoing across the country: Where is Mutotwe Kafwaya?
