PROFILE
Hon. Justice Prof. Mulela Margaret Munalula is the President of the Constitutional Court having been appointed on 3rd April, 2023. She was appointed to the Constitutional Court on 23rd March 2016. Justice Munalula holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Zambia; a Master of Laws in Constitutional/Administrative Law and International Law from the same institution; a Master of Arts from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague; and obtained her Doctorate as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Notre Dame du Lac Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights in the United States of America. She was admitted to the Bar in 1982 and remains on the Roll to date.
Justice Munalula began her working life as a resident magistrate from 1981 to 1984 before joining ZADB/Lima Bank and subsequently Development Bank of Zambia as senior legal officer. Immediately, prior to her current appointment, Justice Munalula was a full-time employee of the University of Zambia, School of Law. She joined the University in 1990 at the level of Lecturer grade III and rose through the ranks to the position of Associate Professor of Human Rights Law. Apart from a brief separation from the University of Zambia between 2004 and 2006 when she served as a senior lecturer and head of department at the University of Namibia, Faculty of Law, Justice Munalula taught at the University of Zambia on a full-time basis for nearly 25 years. Over the years, she taught various undergraduate and postgraduate courses including Legal Process, Jurisprudence, Regional Human Rights and Gender Discrimination. She authored two books entitled Legal Process: Zambian Cases, Legislation and Commentaries and Women, Gender Discrimination and the Law and co-authored the book A Right to Life: Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Gender HIV/AIDS and the Law in Southern Africa. Her 40 articles in various scholarly journals and other publications include an entry in the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Women. She has presented papers at numerous conferences both locally and abroad. Between 2010 and 2018, she also taught part-time as a visiting lecturer/professor on the Masters in Women’s Law Programme at the University of Zimbabwe’s Southern and Eastern Africa Centre for Women’s Law.
In addition to the academic activities, Justice Munalula served the University of Zambia in various administrative capacities including that of Dean of the School of Law, for seven years. She was a member of both the University Senate and the University Council. She also represented the University/School of Law on several governmental bodies including the Judicial Service Commission, the Council of Law Reporting, the Zambia Law Development Commission and the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education. She took part in two constitution-making processes as a member of the National Constitution Conference (2008-2010) and the Technical Committee on Drafting the Zambian Constitution (2012-2013). She is currently a member of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association and the International Association of Constitutional Law.
