By Peter Omopo
September 4, 2025
A Zambian court on Thursday sentenced former Foreign Affairs 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 over allegations that he used embezzled state funds to acquire luxury assets, including two Bell 420 helicopters.
Delivering judgment, Magistrate Ireen Wishimanga said she considered the defence’s plea for leniency but ruled that the gravity of the offence warranted a custodial sentence.
“I have heard the spirited mitigation by counsel and taken note that the convicts are first offenders and are entitled to leniency. However, the sentence stands. Malanji will serve four years imprisonment with hard labour,” Wishimanga ruled.
His co-accused, Fredson Yamba, a former treasury secretary, was handed a three-year jail term. Yamba was accused of illegally facilitating the transfer of over $8 million to Zambia’s mission in Turkey without providing justification.
The ruling marks a rare win for state prosecutors in Zambia, which Transparency International ranked among the world’s most corrupt countries in its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Malanji and Yamba are the first senior officials from Lungu’s administration to be convicted on graft charges since President Hakainde Hichilema assumed office in 2021. Hichilema has repeatedly pledged to clamp down on corruption, though critics argue that progress has been slow.
It was not immediately clear if the convicted officials would appeal the ruling.
Despite being one of the world’s largest copper producers, over 64 percent of Zambia’s population lives in poverty, with corruption widely blamed for undermining development and service delivery.
