Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maine was deported from Zambia because he intended pressurising the courts to release Hakainde Hichilema, the country's High Commissioner Emmanuel Mwamba said on Friday.
Mwamba claimed that Maimane's comments about Hichilema, who is on trial for treason, were problematic as he intended to mobilise Zambian opposition parties. "DA leader Mmusi Maimane was turned away from Zambia as his presence was going to undermine the sanctity, integrity and independence of the judiciary," Mwamba said.
Maimane was refused entry into Zambia on Thursday evening after he landed at Lusaka International Airport to support Hichilema, leader of the opposition United Party for National Development, who goes on trial on Friday.
The maximum sentence for treason in Zambia is death.
