Government says it is closing-in on people who abuse the online publications to defame others in the name of freedom of speech.
Communication Minister, Yamfwa Mukanga says his ministry is working with security wings, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) to curb the vice.
Mr. Mukanga told ZNBC NEWS in interview that efforts are also being made to engage countries hosting people behind some of the online publications in the habit of defaming people.
Mr. Mukanga has also advised members of the public against taking advantage of democracy to defame others.
PF Lusaka Province Youth chairman, Kennedy Kamba on Friday challenged ZICTA and the police to trace and prosecute people in the habit of insulting President Michael Sata on some online publications.
Mr Kamba threatened to close down Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority offices for allegedly failing to locate people behind the online news sites that are anti-PF.
Mr. Kamba accused ZICTA management of failing to trace people who are behind the Watchdog, an online media publication.
Mr. Kamba said that ZICTA should be in a position to know the individuals publishing negative statements against the party and President Michael Sata.
And Lusaka province Information Publicity Secretary Clement Katongo said the party resolved to trace all individuals posting what he termed as malicious things, insults and defamatory comments on social and other media against the president.
“You may wish to know that for as long as someone is using their mobile phone registered in Zambia or laptop connected to any internet provider in the country, they will not run away or hide from their crimes,” Mr. Katonga warned.
He said the party has instructed members and supporters across the country to report anyone suspected to be posting malicious or insulting comments on the president.
Mr Katongo further explained that the party will report all culprits to the law enforcers but will not hesitate to deal with them if the law fails.
Mr. Katongo also urged law enforcement officers to deal with the people insulting the head of state through the media.
“If the law enforcers fail to deal with such internet criminals, we shall have no choice but to deal with them ourselves. Our party functionaries countrywide are on red alert on how to trace and deal with such criminals,” he said.
Rubbish. People ve already conqurred the World. Who r u to tell us how to behave.
This is the very reason why they asked everyone to register their sim cards. So that they can spy on you. As usual fimbuli apart from Gen Miyanda went ahead, even justify that a mobile would be located once stolen, how? Since when did a thief start using a stole simcard? The level of stu,pidity among Zambians baffles me. Miyanda warned every one about this but as usual, Zambians are st.upid things and they didn’t realise it was another Douchi Kubeba.
RUBBISH- HOW ABOUT THOSE ABUSING PUBLIC FUNDS AND MEDIA? STUP1D LEADERS.
This Kamba fellow -PF Lusaka Province Youth chairman, is panicking about ZWD because of the letter and video published on watchdog incriminating them with the murder of a PF cadre in Rufunsa.This has nothing to do with insults to Michael Sata. How dull do you think Zambians are? As for this minister who has just been transferred to his new office in the Communications ministry don’t listen to his propaganda.Zambia does not have the capacity to track all internet users on social media sites and which country will cooperate with the PF government with their human rights abuses to reveal companies hosting online websites? Dream on ba Kaponya!
Twaikatwa… arrest especially those on Facebook.
Utter nonsense! Rubb.ish! Honeslty, is the government going to waste resources in ‘closing-in’ on people? There are serious economic problems that need sorting out. You answer critics with results and not defending something or someone who doesn’t deserve any praise as far as am concerned. Country gone to the dogs!!!
Misplaced priorities by these empty tins!!
Ichi puba chesu cha tutubuka lelo!!
Chaps like Kudos, Gen. and Haleisa Haleisa (some unprintable added) should be on the list of people who should be cautioned, not arrested, since Zambia is modelled on democracy and not a police state. To me online media can be likened to Trafagar square of London where people with issues go to dislodge them.
I excused South Africa’s Malema when, as ANC Youth leader he threatened to close Twitter and Facebook because he is a high school drop out. May be we should explain basics of the cyber space, starting with www, which is WORLDWIDE WEB – meaning that an online newspaper can be hosted anywhere in the world. And what sort of country are we where a mere party cadre like Kamba can threaten to close an organisation like ZICTA?
You see now , these PF minions thought our posts are ineffective. They are feeling the heat.
The idea that they will stop people reading ZWD by threatening it with closure is not only f00lish but total madness. Don’t they know that anything made illegal inspires people’s curiosity and they would want to read and find out why ZWD is making headlines.
By the way I thought ZWD was blocked long time ago. The fact they are now talking about re-blocking it again means they admit failure to stop ZWD.
If PF close ZWD and LT, I am sure they will reincarnate under a different name and we will follow them and use them to hammer the PF minion and their coward mad president.
m******mwe, i will make it easy. my real name is brian chabuka. Come and get me, mr.***** mukanga. Just looking at the neck, you can tell ati ichichisushifye. I go down, mr. *****, you go down with me. kwati you dont have a home where go to sleep? kwati, you dont have children, or a wife or relatives. Those days are gone, we aint scared of you nigga, just because you are a government. aah ahhhh… them days is long gone. Touch me, i touch you back ten fold!!!!! The people are stronger than govt. If people are not with me, i will still stand alone. Am the Guns of the Navarone, the law abiding citizen!!!
Abuse of online media is more from the Current Zambian Government themselves. Registration of SIMcards does not give PF the power to crackdown on people. Furthermore social media is the only voice people have in Zambia with PF in power. Yafwa should know that we had much bigger players than PF. Where are those people / Parties now?? We will conquer PF because of their evil backward behavior. Mwachepa sana ba PF. You will not silence Zambians. It’s our right.
YAMFWA naka suit Ka Nichekeleko with a Chinese collar and from a Chinese service provider to government. Ala bane mukachimona!
Mukanga, please close down on people who are increasing fuel and cost of living. these two are our enemies and we need you to assist us arrest them. Otherwise, we as a people of this land we are not happy with your style of leadership full of intimidation after you have hard five meals in a day.
We are really in trouble pa Zed. So the cadres will be dictating to these foo.lish and useless ministers on what to do.
We’ve been on Lusakatimes and ZWD long before anyone ever knew Kamba or Mukanga ever existed in this Life (When both were Jobless), and will continue on thiese 2 sites long after we’ve confined them to the archived.
We were warned but we didn’t listen. Anyway they spoke what we wanted to listen.
My problem honestly is the literature that comes out of these onlne publications. Do we need such messages, images, pictures and all that kind of language to know what is good and bad in Zambia? Are we so dumb that we are not able to separate good from bad through a normal way of communicating? That is where I usually have a problem reading something on the Watchdog. Some times there are very informative but most of the time the language is so bad and I usually wonder whether the people behind the publication are really Zambians. Please educate me.
Miya or Chella, your opinion is correct. But do not subject everyone to think like you. Just like it would be wrong for anyone to force you read an online publication you are not interested in. For instance, personally I am not for Face Book. But other people find it as a better way to address each other or masses, like our current president. So please spare us from those lectures.
Since Sata insulted you (ati ulicipuba).you are a f.ool , it was a online insult.What are you going to do him? Plus he called you useless mps.What is your comment on Sata?
chipuba yamfwa must be closing in on his bos kekekekekekekkekekek! since his boss is the chief insultig officer of zambia
@Ndobo, thats what Mukanga don’t want to hear…. He is going after anyone who calls him ichipuba, enough is enough. What is Ba Chilufya’s comment on his
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU GOVERNMENT RECALL THE ISSUSE OF RUTH NIPA JERE SAID WE ARE CLOSING IN YOU USELESS ministers YOU ARE GOING TO MEET US.
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty”. Thomas Jefferson
“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for” Thomas Jefferson
“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first”. Thomas Jefferson
Best Post of the week my friend. Looks like we have a legalised version of criminals in power
@T.j – you are just what the doctor ordered! Very well applied quotes there and it sums up very well what we are up against and what must be done in order to shake off that draconian grip!
@T.j spot on.
@T.j
Very inspiring post. I hope these PF minions will get the message.
There is no dictatorship that has ever succeeded to silence the people, ‘Vow populi vox Dei’. All these threats from PF are a sign that they are uncomfortable and having sleepless nights and their time is up. Ever wondered why Mr Sata is hiding behind the Face-book instead of facing the people.
What is vow populi. Be educated by we who learnt latin, it is “vox populi” for the “voice of the people”. Do not write what you do not understand and go round spreading your ignorance.
@6.1 The Doc,
Educated people will straightaway realise how you are exposing your immaturity because you have never heard of a typing error. You would have received a lot of respect by simply pointing out the spelling error instead of getting too excited.
@6.1 The Doc,
By the way it is ‘by us’ not ‘by we’ as you have put it.
Just address fuel price increasement you .. Leave behind a good name my dear brother . Dont behave like shameless propagandist fred Membe.
Since Sata thought he would hide behind a keyboard we have decided to follow him up. Nowere to hide, the snake is cornered. Just hold a press conference. We want to know the state of the Nation.
@zp. You guys are so.funny. I Wonder how you.think to construct sentences!!!! Anyway I know you are intelligent. Zikomo
@ZP
kekekekeekkekekekekekeke!
You see now Ba Sata na Fecebook yenu mwatuletelela, even suggested to buy more computers to Zambians.
And why did you call Mukanga as “uli Chipuba”, now he on you for playing around on internet.
Yes , Chumbu munshololwa, Victoia station kapyanga should stop hiding & face the people!!
We are wasting our time on silly issues, work on the economy, please do something useful
PF is No Longer At Ease. Is Sata akin to Ngugi’s The Devil On The Cross? PF are already dancing Pelete…they are already feeling the 2016 breeze. Like we are all born to eventually die, PF forgot that governments are elected to be booted out later on. It never crossed these PF chaps that the harassment they were dishing out on the Cabbage and Nyamasoya was one day going to be turned on them if they ever formed government. We are here now and they should just man up and accept that it goes with the territory!
SATA do the honorable thing and resign!
No country will hand over anybody with your bad relations, the only friend is Mugabe and No country want to bear the shame of handing someone to you to abuse, take Way their Rights and if they died that country will be bear the consequences of aiding you in killing your own citizen just because of freedom of speech.
Do we have cyber laws in Zambia yet? What basis is the Ministry going to work on to follow up those it suspects to be “violating” freedom of speech? Is it the Ministry of Communications that is mandated to follow up on online activity and its ethical/criminal activities?? I have so many questions that I am sure the current constitution of the country cannot answer it isn’t even funny. I doubt very much that even the draft constitution has provision for the actions that the PF government might be embarking upon. They might just be setting themselves up for future prosecution at this rate.
Who is this? Mukongo or Mukanga or Makenge? Is this not the creatre that was insulted by Sata some other time and kept smiling sheepishly?
Wandepulaaaaaaaaaa museko wee!!
His response was: ” as rite, as rite ba ka teka”
I wonder whether he was calling chumbu, who had just labelled him “ici puba chesu”,
a rat??(ba Kateka = rats).
I have laughed like never before. Zambians, awe balifulwa!
Learn to respect even those you do not agree with. This is where you have lost it!
No wonder chumbu calls you ‘icipuba’!
Bakolwe imwe, leave the ZWD alone, and why are you making threats against people who are just accessing information that is already on the internet?
If the government, its leaders and civil/police/legal services were doing the right things there was not going to be any name calling. Solution to the problem lies in Government following the rule of law, stop stealing and respect freedom of speech/association and vocation.
Aah!you are doing a very gud work by going through our views hounaleble cipuba.
you fools ba PF. mwa be tole
Just when you think these PF Ministers have exhausted all forms of dullness and reached rock bottom, they come up with new duller ways. Totally oblivious of their mandate.
Surely a nation with mature and respective generation. Just insult President Obama if you will get away with it. Democracy does not mean getting loose like electrical cable. Track this unrespective frustrated people, its easy to do so! God bless Zambia
@Chileya, aka Sikuba, Sianganu, Chipuba… please do not mislead people. Obama gets insulted 24/7 on news websites and social media blogs/platforms perhaps more than any other president alive today. He gets called all sorts of names judging from ‘Monkey’, Buffon, Muslim, Kenyan gorilla, etc. But I haven’t seen the secret service knocking on anyone’s door asking why they have insulted the ‘useful’ president.
I will tell you who abuses online publications and deserves to be stopped and arrested: his name is Michael Sata and his helper George Chela.
Leave the ordinary people alone, whose only crime is to expose the corruption and immoral acts you commit using tax payer’s money. You close the ZWD today, tomorrow another version even more ruthless will mushroom.
Mukanga..why not start with Sata for calling ministers useless
These PF ministers are getting duller and duller. Imagine Zambian Govt ringing any of the western Countries like Canada, UK, USA etc..and asking them to trace and arrest a Zambian living there for the simple reason that he or she has posted a blog on an online social media saying President Sata is very dull. Wouldn’t that in itself be self-incrimination i.e. abrogation of UN Charter on Human rights and freedom of speech?. Which civilised Country is going to even take notice of such a lame request from Zambia when their citizens are much much more expressive and yet they still comply to the UN Charter on Human rights?.These PF guys are so dull they may actually land themselves in the international Court of Justice in the Hague.
Respect is a two way traffic. As a leader you have to lead by example, be humble, work diligently and dont abuse anybody verbally or emotionally. In a household, if the father(dad) is insulting anyhow, abusing wife, generally does not respect himself it will be soon that the kids/children will hit back or stop respecting him. The culture of respect should start from the top and it will trickle down.
You are being kind @ Chavuma born, but Sata is actually no one’s father and likening him to a household father is wrong. He is a servant of the people who employed and pay him to manage the affairs of their own country. He’s no father and we know servants get abused if they are not doing a good job for their boss. Sata needs to respect the people and the people don’t really need to respect him… this is no 18th Century village chief but last time I checked even Shaka Zulu actually respected his people.
Kaziers Zulu (KZ) how do you call (ZP) command *****ISI. We are just waitin. The vulture is a patient bird. Uzangena selo. The rufunsa ZWD video is at police zp hq.
“If the law enforcers fail to deal with such internet criminals, we shall have no choice but to deal with them ourselves.”
The death of the RULE OF LAW in Zambia! This is incitement to commit CRIMINAL ACTS.
This man must be arrested and charged immediately!
Emails and internet traffic is monitored worldwide. What is wrong if it is so in Zambia?
Mwana wa nsanya!!!!
Iwe @Zedian, kuyangana ma melo sitikana – nikayanganidwe!!!
By the time you prosecute anyone you will be out of office.
2016 is just round the corner, the sam people you are threatening are the ones who voted for PF. The ones who voted for RB and HH are busy campaigning to Kick you out. Mwikala apatala……..!
Yamfwa mukanga na guy scot ni ma Galu opanda muchila!!!!!!!!
Put yourself in the position of these two and imagine another person saying this to you. Insulting and fighting others is a failure to reason.
If they think they are all that smart, how come they can’t do the tracking and blocking themselves… they have to coerce and blackmail ZICTA to do their undemocratic dirty jobs for them.
You know this is a failed project when they are now desperately resorting to cadres to do the screaming for them. It has been long since the Chinese were given lots of money to do the donkey job for them to no avail or success. ZWD is invisible and judging by the leaking info they publish, you would guess their informers actually live and sleep with these scared thugs.
Technically the ZWD doesn’t officially exist in Zambia as they blocked their domain name long time ago. But this is desperation of the worst kind… instead of hunting the ZWD, why don’t they start doing good things?
And it looks like these threats are being taken by my brothers and sisters living in Zambia for I rarely see any ‘Zambian flag’ posts these days and if I see any they are hardly critical. I can only conclude my people are being scared into submission. To start I can say with confidence, that these thugs shouldn’t scare you as they hardly have any tools to use to monitor anything. Second even if they had, there are so many ways you can circumvent such fears… e.g. using proxies such the one below:
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.lusakatimes.com
http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
And it looks like these threats are being taken by my brothers and sisters living in Zambia for I rarely see any ‘Zambian flag’ posts these days and if I see any they are hardly critical. I can only conclude my people are being scared into submission. To start I can say with confidence, that these thugs shouldn’t scare you as they hardly have any tools to use to monitor anything. Second even if they had, there are so many ways you can circumvent such fears… e.g. using proxies such the anonymouse.org.
Here are some proxy and virtual private Network (VPN) services to mask your IP and such:
Hide My Ass! Free Proxy and Privacy Tools – Surf The Web
TorGuard: works on iphone, Android, WIndows phone as well as OSX and WIndows OS
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CyberGhost: Offering 1GB of encrypted traffic per month on the free package, Windows-only VPN client.
AnchorFree Hotspot Shield: free VPN solution for Windows, Mac and iPhone (and possibly other systems using the iPhone login information) Hotspot Shield boasts “unlimited bandwidth” to those who need it.
The arrogance coming from PA is nauseating. Hoy, Mukanga, you guys really are a sorry bunch. That’s and comments such as this only accentuate your ineptitude. By the way, good luck with that tracing Internet criminals thing, it’ll backfire so bad your heads will spin off.
CHUMBWE MUNAPAYA MUNTU. NOW WE KNOW. ANYTIME YOU WILL ALSO GO SIX FEET. THE PERSON YOU KILLED WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES WILL NOT REST UNTIL YOU ARE TAKEN. WATCH YOUR BACK.
Lol… Freedom of speech is a critical component of democracy. If you want to police speech, you are fighting a losing battle. How will you implement such laws and what will be deemed offensive? The price of democracy is that people are able to express their views freely. When people were crying for democracy I. 1991. Did they ask the police to tell us what to say and what not o
Zambia is in trouble!!!!!
The common denominator amongst these individuals is ignorance. They can still make up for it by going to school but choose to let that chance pass them by. Knowledge is power. Thats the first thing you learn when you enter any institution of learning.
Yanfwa and Margaret get some morals ubuchende bulepaya
Don’t you have better things to waste your energy on Mr. Minister?
Wishfull thinking the web is is so complicated that currently no one knows who owns it. Fighting an online publication is a nightmare coz the same day it is clossed, the following day it can be opened in a different domain. Only solution is to arrest the archtects ofcourse with good reason if they are not in zambia
can our prisons accommodate all the people making comments on facebook and here. Nonsense, concentrate on real issues please
The bottom line in IT101 or IS101 is that technology never improves anything; it simply augments and amplifies. A repressive regimen will only be more pronounced as the habits will be acted much faster. Similarly, as a corollary, those flaws that were efficiently hidden will now no longer be that well hidden because the technology will enhance visibility. The short of this seemingly long statement is that control over what is ubiquitous like the Internet will be very difficult without self-inflicted, draconian laws that will fall foul of both conventional norms to which we have signed, as well as our own supportive institutions in addition to the three main ones, moreso the judiciary.
Government says it is closing-in on people who abuse the online publications to defame others in the name of freedom of speech. You said the same thing even on the death of Ruth Mbandu. This is a group of pathogenic liars, whose lives purely depends on deceit and fornication with lies……. stupid liars.
The best government and things are improving for everyone including those who criticize PF.
soldiers make use of weapons before they rot on these useless caders. they fought RB and little did people know they were fighting democracy………
What next?
This prospect neither seems logical nor achievable. While I wouldn’t be very happy to be insulted, I would think some people express discontentment by way of insulting. Govt may use this positively to gauge public opinion to change course in order to serve the citizens better. There are also those who use blogs and online media to express genuine concerns and opinions for who it’s not practical to face the Head of State or policy makers to air their views. Bwana Minister you might just be shooting yourself on the foot. Forgive me if I am neive isn’t there any other work to be done? I want to believe that your concerns about cases of people defaming others people are already ably handled by other arms of Govt.
Expressing discontent by way of insulting. My foot! You are a doc in what?
Immaterial question, thanks but no thanks for asking.
Defame,make unpopular,make unlike and even alienate the computer age to the Govt.In modern times,it may be wiser for governments to work harder towards service delivery for the people they claim to serve than concerntrate on gossip.If well advanced countries in technology like Germany can not effectively monitor internet ,what are the chances for end users like zambia to do so?Turkey was almost in flames with youths rioting against threatened internet freedom.Serious minded people wont waste time reading lies.Issues of economic affairs are what attract the serious Zambians,so why waste our tax money chasing wild goose?Ignore the distraction from real work you are supposed to be doing or dont you know what better to do than waste time reading issues that critic you?Zambians are watching.
Just from the story, u can see how useless, incompetent, dullness, and ignorant PF officials are……these are same useless chaps who used to insult RB, here we are, suffering even more suffering under this government.Each time an official says somthing,all they is oppressing the rights others, and their words are hopeless.
Poeple, lets wake up and speak against such people and in fact remove them from the office as early as 2016.as far as i know, voting for someone from City Market or from Soweto Market is better and wiser than this current government