The son of former President Frederick Chiluba to 8 months of imprisonment with hard labor for theft of a mobile phone.

Former First Lady Vera Chiluba with her son Frederick Chiluba junior after a pass-out parade at Zambia Air Force base in Livingstone in 2014

A court in Zambia sentenced the son of former President Frederick Chiluba to 8 months of imprisonment with hard labor for theft of a mobile phone.


Frederick Chiluba Jr. was convicted of stealing a Samsung S7 edge, worth $ 843 (£ 626), last year.

The court heard that Chiluba Jr took the device from a woman, Brenda Chisha, on September 2, 2017 and traded it with drugs in an intimate slum in the capital of Zambia, Lusaka.

In delivering judgment today, the Lusaka magistrate Nthandose Chabala said he gave Chiluba Jr's sentence as a deterrent to him and other offenders.

He said he was satisfied with enough evidence connecting him to phone theft, and prosecution proved his case beyond all reasonable doubt.

Chiluba Snr ruled Zambia from 1991 to 2001. He was aware of allegations of corruption, leading to his illness from prosecution raised after he left office.

The case attracted attention because Chiluba Jr. is the son of Frederick Chiluba, who served as Zambia's president from 1991 to 2001.

His father's presidency was later overshadowed by corruption allegations and legal proceedings after he left office.

Now, years later, another Chiluba was making headlines for a very different reason — a stolen mobile phone and an eight-month prison sentence.

Politics can give you a famous surname, but apparently it doesn't come with a lifetime immunity card.

What do you think — should the children of former presidents face the same consequences as everyone else when they are convicted of a crime?

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