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ZAMBIA
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
national interest. “This is a constitutional
matter. We believe it is in the
best interest of this nation and not a
crime to ask how fit the President is
because he is in charge of everything
in the nation,” he said. “The constitution
says that a person aspiring to be
president should be physically and
mentally fit. Lack of fitness is ground
for someone to lose his position,” he
noted.
The police appear to be motivated
by a complaint from President
Mwanawasa, who complained that his
character was maligned by the allegation
that he has Parkinson’s. President
Mwanawasa has accused dissidents
within the ruling Movement for
Multiparty Democracy (MMD) of
wanting to tarnish his reputation and
that of his five-month old administration
with the allegation.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-06-04
PERSON(S): Emmanuel Chilekwa,
Jane Chirwa, Shadreck Banda
VIOLATION(S): Detained, Beaten
On May 31, Emmanuel Chilekwa,
managing editor of the privatelyowned
“People” weekly, his assistant
editor Shadreck Banda and student
reporter Jane Chirwa were picked up
by police. Police questioned them
about a story “People” was investigating
concerning alleged links between
a government minister and
criminal elements.
Chilekwa and Banda told the Zambia
Independent Media Association
(ZIMA) that they were assaulted and
verbally abused by police officers
while transported to police headquarters
in Lusaka.
Tisah Mashow, a reporter at “The
People”, told ZIMA that three plainclothes
officers arrived at their offices
just before 9:00 a.m. (local time). The
police had orders to take Chirwa to
police headquarters. Banda did not let
the police take Chirwa, arguing that
police needed to give her sufficient
notice before taking her into custody.
After an angry exchange of words the
police officers left.
The same officers returned an hour
later, accompanied by another officer
who seemed to be in charge. They hit
Banda with the butt of their guns,
slapped him across the face and
punched him until he was bleeding
from the mouth. They took Banda and
drove him to the site where the newspaper
was being printed. There, they
found Chilekwa and also assaulted and
verbally abused him. He was forced
into a police vehicle and handcuffed
to Banda.
Banda told ZIMA that they were
then driven to police headquarters,
where Chilekwa was taken out of the
car and questioned. Banda was told to
remain in the vehicle and help the officers
locate Chirwa. She was found
about one hour later and taken to police
headquarters. The journalists were
held for approximately three hours.
Only Chirwa and Chilekwa were questioned.
Chirwa said police questioned her
about a query she had sent to an individual
regarding an investigation of a
government minister. She was released
after about one hour of questioning and
after signing a statement. Chilekwa
was questioned for about 30 minutes.
He complained that police denied him
the use of a phone to call his lawyers.
On May 29, police informed
So This Is Democracy? 157