Fugitive former Petauke Central MP Emmanuel Jay Banda has been captured by Zambian authorities in Mozambique, according to opposition figures Emmanuel Mwamba and Chilufya Tayali, but Government has yet to say a single word on it. The claims mark the most serious reports in more…

Fugitive former Petauke Central MP Emmanuel Jay Banda has been captured by Zambian authorities in Mozambique, according to opposition figures Emmanuel Mwamba and Chilufya Tayali, but Government has yet to say a single word on it. The claims mark the most serious reports in more than two years that the man who escaped custody in August 2024 is finally in State hands. Neither the Zambia Police Service, State House nor the Ministry of Home Affairs had confirmed or denied the capture by the time of writing. Only yesterday, Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo said he had received no information on any arrest. The silence now stands against a story that opposition voices say is already settled.

Mr Mwamba, the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance spokesperson, was categorical during a broadcast. “I can confirm that Jay Jay Banda has been captured by Zambian authorities,” he said.

He said Mr Banda had moved his base from Zimbabwe to Mozambique, where he was hiding. He earlier said Mr Banda was seized on Wednesday night by officers in three vehicles who stormed his hideout between 19:10 and 20:30 hours, placing the raid in either Chimoio or Zumbo. He said Mr Banda was grabbed while on the phone outside and had not contacted any relative since. Mr Mwamba also said he could not confirm whether Mr Banda was alive or dead.

Mr Tayali, the Economic and Equity Party president who has long spoken on Mr Banda’s behalf, has also said the former lawmaker is in the hands of the State. His account adds a second opposition voice to the claim, but not an official one. Accounts circulating in opposition-aligned media went further, claiming Mr Banda was shot three times and had both legs broken during the operation. They said he was brought to Lusaka by an emergency ambulance hired from Zimbabwe and was in theatre at Maina Soko Medical Centre. None of these details had been verified by any police service, hospital or Government official.

The Patriotic Front has put its own version into circulation. It claimed the operation was carried out by a team of Zambia Army Special Forces and Zambia Police CID officers, and that Mr Banda was being transported to Zambia. The party further claimed that a month earlier, a team led by Director of Criminal Investigations Maxwell Timba went to Harare to try to capture Mr Banda and detained a Zimbabwean national accused of harbouring him. These claims, too, rest on unnamed sources and remain unconfirmed.

The capture claims land in the same 24 hours that Zimbabwean police announced they were hunting Mr Banda on their own soil. Zimbabwe Republic Police chief of staff for public relations Paul Nyathi said the ZRP was working with the Zambia Police Service through its Criminal Investigation Department to trace five Zambians believed to be in Zimbabwe. Besides Mr Banda, they are former presidential political adviser Kaizar Zulu and Susan Chileshe, Enock Mwanza and Robert Ng’uni, who are wanted over alleged cybercrime offences. Mr Nyathi’s statement did not confirm any arrest. If Mr Mwamba is right, that statement was issued while Mr Banda was already in a different country and in Zambian custody.

“I have not received any information. Should such information become available, the public will be informed through the usual channels,” Mr Matembo said.

Mr Banda has been on the run since 4 August 2024, when he escaped from Chipata General Hospital at about 22:00 hours while under guard by two police officers and three correctional officers. He had been arrested in June 2024 and charged with aggravated robbery and attempted murder, before reportedly falling ill and being treated at Maina Soko Military Hospital. He reportedly slipped out through a window after his wife asked for privacy so he could use the toilet. His wife Lombe Chali, police officers Phineas Mfungwe and Benson Kabole, and prison warders Moses Sakala, Nathan Mbao and Musa Zulu were later charged in connection with the escape and released on bond.

In November 2024, Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti declared the Petauke Central seat vacant after Mr Banda ignored a seven-day ultimatum to appear. Government has since revoked his passport, along with those of Mr Mwamba, Mr Zulu and former Kanyama MP Binwell Mpundu, among others. Throughout his time in hiding, Mr Banda continued to appear on social media and to taunt those pursuing him. That chapter, his allies now say, has ended.

What remains open is everything that matters most. Where Mr Banda is being held, what condition he is in and whether any Mozambican authority took part in the operation are questions only the State can answer. Until it does, the most important arrest of the year exists only in the words of the people who opposed it.