In April 2001, Mukela, a teacher living in Mongu, died. Years later, the questions surrounding his death were still being examined in Zambia’s courts.
The setting
Mongu is the capital of Western Province, connected to the wider communities of the Barotse floodplain. The landscape, daily routines and people surrounding Mukela are part of the context in which the story unfolds.
The evidence
The court record describes the circumstances considered by the judges and their conclusions about the participation of those accused. Not every part of the sequence was witnessed directly. A responsible retelling must distinguish what the court found from the reconstruction inferred from other evidence.
The appeal
On 4 October 2005, Zambia's Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in the case. The judgment records that legal outcome; it does not, by itself, tell the full story of what happened to every person connected with Mukela afterward.