High Court Judge Annabel Mtalimanja has set July 11, 2022 as a date for hearing of an application for stay of execution of judgement pending appeal in a case involving social media influencer Joshua Chisa Mbele.

Making the application this morning, Senior State Advocate Limbikani Msiska said they want the Court to stay enforcement of a judgement it delivered last month to do with certification of Chisa Mbele’s case as a constitutional matter.

“The state having applied for that application today we went into chambers and the matter has been adjourned to the 11th of July that’s when the matter will be heard by the court,” Msiska said.

Msiska added that their application for appeal would be meaningless if the matter proceeds as a constitutional case.

On his part, one of Chisa Mbele’s lawyer Issah Mustapha Hassan said the defense would need more time to respond and prepare the matter.

He said: “Since the only served us with the documents of the application on Friday and the we didn’t have much time to respond to the same so we asked for an adjournment that the matter behaviour next week that will be given time to properly respond to the application made by the State.”

According to the application notice, the affidavit of State witness Mustapha Kaunde and skeleton arguments shall be relied on in support of the application.

Chisa Mbele, who is currently on court bail, is being accused of two counts of criminal libel and publication of offensive communication.