Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
In 2002 one of the significant victories for media freedom and freedom of
expression was recorded in Zambia. Years of sustained campaigning for media
law reforms, led by the Zambia chapter of MISA, appear to be bearing
fruit with the lodging in parliament of three private members bills, i.e. the
Independent Broadcasting Authority Bill, Freedom of Expression Bill and the
Broadcasting Bill.
The Independent Broadcasting Authority Act, if passed, would provide for
the establishment of an independent broadcast authority that would regulate
the industry and grant licences to prospective broadcasters. Currently, the
Minister of Information and Broadcasting has the power to unilaterally withdraw
broadcast licences, or reject any application for a licence. If adopted, the
members of the authority would be drawn from a cross-section of society.
The Freedom of Expression Act aims to enshrine in the Constitution the freedom
of the press, while the Broadcast Bill aims to give legal status to broadcasters
other than the state-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation
(ZNBC).
But before we give the Zambian government a standing ovation for the media
law reform process, it must be noted that Section 69 of the Zambian Penal
Code, which creates the offence of criminal libel against the president, continues
to be flagrantly applied. The mistreatment of journalists by police and
political party cadres continued unabated in 2002 and the government is still
very eager to keep its hold on and control of the state
broadcaster.
Section 69 is one of the biggest hindrances to free media practice in Zambia.
It was applied against Post Newspaper Editor Fred M’membe, who was charged
with defaming President Mwanawasa in a story that quoted Dipak Patel calling
the President “a cabbage”. The People Newspaper Editor Emmanuel
Chilekwa, too, came face to face with Section 69 when he was charged with
defaming the President in an article, which alleged that President Mwanawasa
was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.
Throughout the year journalists were threatened, (twice through bomb scares),
physically attacked or verbally abused by overzealous political party cadres,
detained by police even for ‘bailable’ offences as was the case with Chilekwa
and his reporters, and generally despised by government officials for not supporting
“national development”.
2002
In the rest of the region only the names of the journalists and the media institutions
targeted may differ, for the attacks suffered were similar, ongoing and
have in some cases intensified specifically because of targeted campaigns by
those enemies of press freedom and freedom of expression.
12 So This Is Democracy?