Wave FM Zambia journalist Hope Chooma was attacked on March 7, 2025, by ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) supporters while covering a charity event in the southern Zambian town of Mazabuka, according to a police statement, reviewed by CPJ. Police arrested four suspects in connection with the attack.
On March 23, Chooma was arrested and detained overnight on charges of “assault occasioning actual bodily harm” after a suspect in the attack lodged a separate complaint against him, the journalist said. Chooma told CPJ that he denied the allegations, which carry a penalty of up to five years in prison.
“It’s strange a cadre is claiming to have been assaulted when the correct position is that they were the aggressors,” Luckson Hamooya, president of the Mazabuka Press Club, told CPJ.
CPJ has previously documented UPND members and supporters raiding media houses and assaulting journalists.
A medical report reviewed by CPJ noted that Chooma sustained a cut to his neck and had shoulder pain following the March 7 assault.
Byta FM reporter Robert Haloba was also threatened during the March 7 incident. He told CPJ the assailants warned him that they could do anything to him because they “are the government.”
In April, CPJ’s calls to UPND and government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa and police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga went unanswered.