Earlier this week opposition parties rejected the offer made by Mwanawasa for some of their members to join a new cabinet. Some threatened to sack members who joined Mwanawasa's government.
Mwanawasa said he would make the appointments despite protests from their parties, the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) said.
He said that some opposition lawmakers had accepted cabinet posts, ZNBC reported.
Three of the 10 defeated candidates in the 2001 presidential election that brought Mwanawasa to power have contested his victory in the Supreme Court, claiming he won the poll fraudulently.
The opposition says Mwanawasa's offer to the opposition parties is an attempt to reconcile himself with his challengers.
Last month Zambia's jailed former spy chief, who is facing corruption charges, testified in court that the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) used government money to fund its 2001 campaign.
The petitioners say that using a government account for campaign purposes amounts to corruption. But Mwanawasa has said the latest revelations will not get him to bow to pressure to hold fresh elections.
"I refuse to call fresh elections until the matter is concluded in the court," Mwanawasa was quoted as saying in Wednesday's edition of the state-run Zambia Daily Mail - Sapa-AFP
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