The former bishop of Botswana, the Rt. Rev. Trevor Mwamba along with 11 other opposition leaders is to be charged with treason. The Zambian government has publicly identified him as one of 11 people it says were apprehended in connection with alleged armed-insurrection activity. However, no formal charge sheet, court record, or public account of the specific evidence against the bishop has yet been made available.

Zambia now faces a serious political and constitutional crisis in which an Anglican bishop, senior opposition figures, lawyers, and former officials are caught in grave allegations that have yet to be publicly substantiated in court. 

Bishop Mwamba, president of a UNIP faction aligned with the opposition Tonse Pamodzi Alliance, was detained and charged following a violent 14 August security operation at the Lusaka home of opposition presidential candidate Brian Mundubile. The arrest forms part of a rapidly escalating political confrontation after Zambia’s disputed 13 August general election.

The government says police acted on intelligence concerning alleged militia activity, foreign-linked military plans, illegal training camps, and weapons allegedly intended for armed insurrection. It has said those arrested were held lawfully at various Lusaka police stations and would have access to relatives and legal counsel.

Mwamba’s family initially reported that he was missing after the raid, while the government had first denied that he and several other opposition figures were detained; on 17 August, Secretary to the Cabinet Patrick Kangwa publicly confirmed Mwamba was among the people apprehended.

Mwamba, 68, is the former Bishop of Botswana and previously served in the Diocese of Chelmsford in England. He returned to Zambia and was elected president of a UNIP faction in 2021; his leadership has been the subject of a separate, long-running internal party dispute.

The allegations against Bishop Mwamba and the other detained figures have not been set out in publicly available formal charging documents. Reporting available so far says the government has alleged armed-insurrection activity, while independent outlets have not been able to verify either the state’s account or the opposition’s competing account of events.

Official results described by Reuters had President Hakainde Hichilema re-elected, with Mundubile second; Mundubile rejects the outcome as fraudulent, while Hichilema denies that claim.

A Facebook post dated 29 August claims that the state was seeking prison warrants to transfer opposition leader Brian Mundubile, his running mate Makebi Zulu, Bishop Mwamba and other treason suspects from Lusaka to Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison in Kabwe. The same post says the suspects had not yet appeared in court.

At present, this remains an uncorroborated social-media claim rather than a confirmed development. The available independent accounts establish detention and a treason investigation involving Mundubile and Zulu, but do not independently confirm that a magistrate signed transfer warrants, that any suspect was transferred, or that Bishop Mwamba himself was included in a proposed transfer.

For churches and civil-society observers, Mwamba’s case has become a test of due process during a volatile post-election period. His wife described him as a retired clergyman committed to peace and reconciliation and appealed for his release, whereas the government has presented the detentions as a necessary response to a national-security threat.