The Lusaka Magistrates’ Court has fined folk musician Mumba Yachi K10,000 for obtaining a Green National Registration card and passport when he was fully aware that his parents are Congolese.

When the case came up before magistrate Ruth Kapulo today, the state applied to withdraw the first count which alleged that he entered Zambia through Mokambo Border Post and continued to unlawfully stay in the country without a valid permit.

Magistrate Kapulo said the court had no objection to the application to withdraw the first count and discharged Yachi of the offence.

Yachi then took fresh plea in the second and third counts, admitting that he willfully gave false information to a public officer for the purposes of obtaining a green national registration card and a passport by claiming his parents were Zambian.

Magistrate Kapulo convicted him upon his own admission of guilt.

In mitigation, Yachi, through his lawyer, asked for leniency as he was a first offender and that he had not caused any trouble in Zambia.

He said he deeply regretted his actions and that he married a Zambian woman with whom he had a daughter and they depended on him for survival.

Passing sentence, the magistrate said she had considered what Yachi said in mitigation and fined him K4,000 in the second count and K6,000 in third count or in default serve six months simple imprisonment in each of the counts.

She said the total fine was K10,000 or in default serve 12 months simple imprisonment and ordered that the money be paid by November 16.