Friday, March 29, 2024

Government condemns beating up of Journalists

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Information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha reads a statement during a press briefing while Permanent Secretary Ngosa Chisupa listens

Government has strongly condemned the harassment and beating up of Journalists from Muvi Television by some suspected MMD cadres in Lusaka West yesterday.

Chief Government Spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha says beating up of Journalists amounts to lawlessness, is undemocratic and unacceptable to government.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha said the Government of President Rupiah Banda has come out openly in support of the media which he said is the country’s fourth estate.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha said this in a statement in Lusaka today.

Lt. Gen Shikapwasha, who is also Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, said government remains a firm proponent of freedom of the media as part of the continued growth of the country’s democracy.

The Minister warned that government will not allow anarchy in the nation as the country approaches a sensitive period of the general elections.

He has since advised political activists and the public at large to respect Journalists and restrain themselves from engaging in any manner of harassment and violence against media practitioners .

He stressed that information is the hallmark of any democratic society adding that Journalists should be free to gather and disseminate information to the public without intimidation and harassment .

The Minister stated that there are adequate administrative and legal avenues in the country which aggrieved members of the public could pursue instead of resorting to taking the law into their own hands.

The Chief Government Spokesperson reiterated government’s position that perpetrators of violence against Journalists will be met by the full force of the law.

QFM

45 COMMENTS

  1. When darkness falls and shadows start to creep around State House
    What is your last thought before sleep, old Rupiah
    Fear, dread, loathe, doom, peeing monkeys, Dora?
    Donchi Kubeba

  2. Hopefully the instruments of law will be applied to the fullest to bring the culprits to book, not just talk!

  3. HOW WE WISHED THAT THE HON MINISTER TOOK ACTION LONG TIME AGO ON MMD CADRES THAT WERE BEATING UP PEOPLE FROM THE OPPOSITIONS AND THE POST.WHY NOW

  4. Umunobe mutati apusuka. Ala bukabwalala tabupa kasuma. You keep worsting money for your compaigns when people dont have medicine in hospitals? Ala Lesa amusoka. muleke ukwiba especial iwe reveland wa kwa satan. tell rupiah to dissolve parliament nganiwe reveland wachine.

  5. This clearly shows that MMD is  full throttle a government of laws and not men unlike PF.PF will be a government of men not of laws.All y’all PF bloggers tell me when PF ever condemned its shenenigan loving supporters after they assaulted people!?I will tell you,non!!Wina azalila nafuti monga lyonse!!!!

  6. Its been reported that some people suspected to have taken part in the harrassing of the MUVI crew have been detained by police which I think is a stepin the right direction. I would love to see the ring leaders who procurred senseless call boys to injure those jounalists identified and brought to book. These cadres are also said to have grabbed some land from some woman; what is the Honourable minister’s comment on this?

  7. People were asking Govt to say something, Govt has said something, the people are now fishing for excuses to smear the govt. Apparently it is “too late”. It is never too late to condemn violence. What happened was disgusting and uncalled for but for once can you PF cadres give credit where it is due. The govt has condemned violence. What more do you want.

  8. strategies of some opposition parties simply do not work. yesterday it was mayhem in mongu and mansa, today it is lusaka on innocent journalists all in a desperate and fruitless bid to cheat their way to power. no names mentioned but you know who they are, they would sue znbc if it reported that they held a strange convention where not a single ballot was cast.

  9. but what are they going to do to punish these cadres?
    and why all of the sudden they are being referred to as “suspected” mmd cadres. Lusakatimes, what’s going on?

  10. They are suspected MMD cadres, because they do not have membership cards to indentify them as MMD Members. MMD membership, unlike other political parties, is indentifiable by membership cards.

  11. A very carefully worded statement from Ronnie. Why didn’t you speak on camera, rather than issue a carefully written statement which has no meaning? In your statement, you haven’t mentioned the trouble makers. If it’s the opposition you would not have avoided mentioning names, but because it’s your boys behind this barbaric behaviour you avoided mentioning them. Caught pants down !!!

  12. Never be in a hurry when writting an sms. What a single spelling mistake can do on an SMS………. Husband went to Victoria Falls  And sent sms to wife:  “Having a wonderful time, I really wish you were HER……!!!!!” 

  13. The condemnation is to the general public when the perpetrators of the crime have been clearly and unmistakably identified as MMD. Why has govt ignored that? Could the condemnation been mild or just a slap on the wrist if violence was from the opposition? NO!!
    Shikapwasha needed to direct his statement at his MMD cadres first before trying to counsel the general public.
    Twanaka naimwe bakabalwe with your violence.
    The ambiguity of the so called “strong condemnation” has subtle encouragement and approval for violence from govt to their MMD cadres

  14. Good evening

    Don’t just condemn the violence but also see to it that the cadres are sorted out.

    And while journalists are being beaten up in Zambia, some journalists and politicians in the UK are in an awesome following the media scandal by Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper “News of the World” which was involved in phone tapping.

    It seems that media owners and journalists can easily fuse with governments and politicians to manipulate the masses – no wonder RB says they’re the country’s 4th estate.
    That is why it is good to be critical of every information you get. It is better to research and verify the facts for yourself than to believe everything you read.

  15. Its been yonks since i head sumthing sensible from big nose son of satan. it seems he is being reborn again!!

  16. If the government supports freedom of speech and there are laws for it, the condemnation should have been made the same day that the incidence happened. Mr. Shikapwasha should not have waited or seeked consultation. The case is straight forward unless if himself was afraid of being scolded if he was to release a statement without authorization from the president.

  17. No that your exit is around the corner you start condemning your own cadres. You will go down with them rev satan.

  18. “Foreign investors often employ local ‘agents’ or ‘coordinators’ to identify land for lease and negotiate leases with local communities, chiefs and landowners,” the report charges.

    “There is evidence that these ‘agents’ take unfair advantage of local traditions, perceptions and vulnerabilities in order to convince local populations that they will benefit from the lease deals, while refraining from discussing potential risks such as loss of farmland or negative environmental impacts,” the report says.

    Mittal pointed to Zambia, where she claims that 94% of the country’s land is held informally through customary rights, and where land use and ownership must be negotiated with local chiefs.

  19. Claims of African ‘land grab’ spark controversy
    By Brian Walker, CNN | June 11, 2011
    A new report published this week claims farmers in Africa are being driven off their traditional lands to make way for vast new industrial farming projects backed by European hedge funds seeking profits and foreign countries looking for cheap food. But some firms named in the study are hitting back, saying they are providing desperately needed jobs and cash to impoverished regions on the continent. The Oakland Institute, a left-leaning social development think tank, says investors have bought up nearly 60 million hectares (148 million acres)

  20. “It’s kind of shameful that while we in the Western world paint Africa as a basket case — we talk about its hunger, we talk about its corruption — but we are responsible for trying to steal the land and turn it into a breadbasket for the North” Mittal said, referring to developed economies.The report, “Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa,” focuses on seven African nations and claims to uncover a tangled web of deals being obscured by shell companies and governments.It concludes that the alleged “land grab” is leading to the potential displacement of hundreds of thousands of farmers, often in deals with far-off government bureaucrats or naive local tribal chiefs.”We’re told over and over that the key to development is by helping small farmers,” Mittal told CNN.

  21. A spokesman for Harvard said he was unable to find any direct documentation for the claims in the study, and was seeking clarification for any involvement on its part from the firm that handles its endowment.The report essentially says investors are being promised cheap land with no questions asked while the hedge fund buyers are searching for ways to displace traditional farms that often have no clear formal ownership for small fees and promises of employment.The study’s authors say that land in the war-torn Sierra Leone sometimes leased for as little as $2 per hectare.

  22. Could we please hear what charges are being brought (have been brought) against the offending cadres?

    Else, words are cheap….. Sure, the minister is right that political violence is a serious threat to this country’s democracy, but thugs from whatever party must never be allowed to get away with such of behaviour so what is being done to hold them to account and set the right precedent?

  23. Ba Shikapwasha Do u know what is a Fourth Estate? You can’t call ZNBC a fourth estate when it answers to government. Fourth Estate implies independence from the three wings of Executive, Legislative and Judiciary

  24. Ba Shikapwasha Do u know what is a Fourth Estate? You can’t call ZNBC a fourth estate when it answers to government. Fourth Estate implies independence from the three wings of Executive, Legislative and Judiciary

  25. A Useless Permanent Secretary (Ngosa Chisupa) in a useless Ministry. I worked with this guy at Labour.

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