Zambia

As the news editor of Zambia’s largest circulation newspaper and a mother to two young children, Chansa Kabwela already has her hands full. For the last four months, however, this 29-year-old journalist was mired in a court case with a peculiarity that made international headlines and sparked a debate on press freedom in this landlocked nation in southern Africa. The case was finally resolved on Monday.

New York, October 15, 2009—The editor-in-chief of Zambia’s largest newspaper was criminally charged for the second time on Wednesday after running an op-ed critical of controversial pornography charges against a journalist, according to local journalists and news reports. 

New York, August 31, 2009--A magistrate in Zambia issued a summons today for the entire editorial staff of the southern African country's largest independent newspaper to appear in court on Wednesday on contempt charges, according to local journalists and news reports. The ruling was prompted by an op-ed commenting on the prosecution of the paper's news editor. 

New York, July 15, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the arrest of Zambian journalist Chansa Kabwela on bogus charges of circulating obscene materials. 

On September 27, the High Court in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, granted acting President Rupiah Banda an injunction restraining The Post newspaper from publishing libelous words against him. Zambia's Sunday Times reported that the court had also given a penal notice to Editor-in-Chief Fred M'membe to comply with the order. M'membe refused and appealed to the court to dismiss the charges against him, but the High Court threw out the application.

Despite promises made in early 2002 by the Ministry of Information and media stakeholders to review media laws that indirectly hinder press freedom, there has been no change in Zambian defamation legislation. Fred M'membe and The Post are in the news for the umpteenth time for the same offense. 

JANUARY 10, 2008
Posted January 18, 2008

Radio LyambaiCENSORED

The Ministry of Information has extended a ban on call-in programs at Radio Lyambai in the western province of Mongu. On November 30, 2007, the ministry’s director of press and planning, Juliana Mwila, sent a letter to the station banning its call-in programs and calling them “a platform for confrontation, controversies, and a channel of insults and misinformation.” The ministry sent another letter to the station in January 2008 stating that the ban will continue indefinitely, according to the station’s deputy manager, Muyumbana Nyambe.