LUSAKA, Zambia – A Zambian court on Thursday sentenced former foreign minister Joseph Malanji to four years in prison with hard labour after finding him guilty of corruption.
Malanji, who served under ex-president Edgar Lungu between 2018 and 2021, was arrested in late 2021 for allegedly using embezzled public funds to acquire high-value property, including two Bell 420 helicopters.
Delivering the verdict, magistrate Ireen Wishimanga said she had considered the defence’s plea for leniency but ruled that the seriousness of the offence warranted custodial punishment.
“I have heard the spirited mitigation by counsel and taken note that the convicts are first offenders and are entitled to leniency. However, you will serve four years imprisonment with hard labour,” Wishimanga declared.
Malanji’s co-accused, Fredson Yamba, a former secretary to the treasury, was sentenced to three years in prison for authorising the transfer of more than $8 million to Zambia’s mission in Turkey without justification.
The case marks a rare legal victory for Zambian prosecutors in tackling high-level graft.
The country ranked among the world’s most corrupt nations in Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index.
It remains unclear whether the two former officials will appeal the ruling.
Malanji and Yamba were the first senior figures from Lungu’s administration to face graft charges under President Hakainde Hichilema, who took office in 2021 pledging to wage an uncompromising war on corruption.
While Thursday’s ruling will bolster Hichilema’s anti-graft credentials, critics argue that his government’s progress in fighting entrenched corruption has been slow and uneven.
Despite its vast copper reserves, more than 64 percent of Zambians live in poverty, a reality often linked to decades of mismanagement and misuse of state resources.
