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ZAMBIA
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
at the scene demanding and receiving
a sum of K10 000 (US$2) as payment
for assisting a buyer to purchase six
bags of mealie meal. “I was suspicious
that mealie meal was being sold at
night. When I arrived at the shop, I
was even more surprised to witness a
police officer demand and receive
K10 000,” the reporter said.
When Nkwendeenda queried the
buyer about the money he had offered
the police officer, all three officers
attacked him, grabbed him by the
shoulders, confiscated his note book
and threw him into a disused room
without any windows, he told the
Zambia Independent Media Association
(ZIMA) on February 15.
“They read my notes and then demanded
an explanation [as to] why I
had written them,” Nkwendeenda
said. “They accused me of being
cheeky and detained me for an hour
to teach me a lesson,” he explained.
Nkwendeenda, who had his mobile
phone at the time, then phoned
Mazabuka District Administrator
Munyati Hanambe and asked for help.
Hanambe secured the journalist’s release
within one hour. In an 18 February
interview, Hanambe confirmed
the events to ZIMA, adding that two
of the police officers fled the scene
when he arrived.
Hanambe said he was upset with the
level of corruption among public officials,
especially the Mazabuka police.
He also said the officers involved
in the incident should be “removed.
They are public officers and are not
supposed to get extra payment for
their work.”
Mazabuka community radio station
supervisor Kelvin Chibomba said the
station had lodged an official complaint
with the officer-in-charge at
Mazabuka police, who said the matter
would be investigated and the culprits
brought to book.
UPDATE
DATE: 2002-02-25
PERSON(S): Fred M’membe
VIOLATION(S): Detained, legislation
On Friday February 22, 2002, Fred
M’membe, editor-in-chief of the privately
owned “Post” newspaper, was
“put on his defence” in a case where
he was charged with defaming former
president Frederick Chiluba.
His lawyer, Mutembo Nchito, told
the Zambia Independent Media Association
(ZIMA) that this means
M’membe’s defence team now has to
give evidence to support the claim
published in the “Post” in 2001 that
Chiluba was a thief.
Nchito said he was not surprised
with the magistrate’s ruling and was
happy because, “it will enable the
public to know what Chiluba and his
friends were doing while he was in
government.”
He was optimistic that he would be
able to successfully defend his client,
though he added, “one cannot be 100
percent sure.”
M’membe is alleged to have defamed
former Zambian president
Frederick Chiluba in an editorial titled
“A thief for president”, published
in the August 17, 2001 edition of “The
Post”, when he alleged that Chiluba
had stolen public funds.
He is charged under Section 69 of
the Zambian Penal Code, which
makes it an offence “to publish anything,
in any form, deemed as tend-
So This Is Democracy? 153