Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate Joshua Banda has instituted contempt proceedings against the Times of Zambia Newspaper for a story carried in yesterday’s edition of the newspaper on court proceedings.
This is in a case in which former Mines minister Maxwell Mwale is charged with one count of failing to account for 261 bicycles reasonably suspected to have been stolen.
This came after Mwale’s lawyers Sakwiba Sikota and Sunday Nkonde requested for an explanation from Times of Zambia management over the story in question alleging that its contents misrepresented the facts before the court of law.
Testifying before magistrate Banda,as to why she should not be cited for contempt of court, Delphine Hampande a senior reporter and author of the story in question maintained that her story reflected the facts as presented before the court and that its publication was subject to editing by her superiors.
And Times of Zambia Managing Director and Editor-in-chief Godfrey Malama told the court that it’s his responsibility to sanction articles for publication and that the veracity of the information in the article in question is primarily the onus of the author since the individual reporter physically attends court proceedings.
And Magistrate Banda said in light of the submissions from the Times of Zambia employees, the court will commence contempt proceedings against the Newspaper and the matter comes up on 10th January, 2012.
Meanwhile, Magistrate Banda has dismissed an application by former Mines Minister Maxwell Mwale’s lawyer Sakwiba Sikota to have issues relating to the conduct of investigative wings in the former minister’s case be referred to the High Court for determination.
The matter has been adjourned to Saturday 31st December 2011 for continued trial.
QFM
Godfrey Malama, calm down you already have the job. There is caution needed even when you wish to the top most bootlicker, take it easy bwana.
malama,who the heck is this guy? that`s how jobs earned on tribal basis are,anything that this bussstard puts in his paper ends in controversy,how far has he gone with the thandiwe case by the way?
bemba govt. vs tonga opposition. lets go zambia lets go!
Malama is there to put food on his table. The person calling the shots is some not-so permanent secretary at the ministry of information called Amos Malupenga, a former Post reporter. You thought the MMD was terrible. You’re in for a shock. The man in state house is steering this country to hell. How can you even claim to fight corruption, when you are so synonymous with corruption? Zambians, I am sure you you’re more smart than that.
Deep Throat you are right on the money. Sata has made a mistake to make the Post and its croonies the 2nd arm of govt. That was the mistake that Mwanawasa made. But what I do not understand is why Sata thinks he needs the Post and its croonies when he legitimately won the elections. Look at the way the Post are selling Mutembo. After putting Mutembo at the helm now they will start witch-hunting so that they can have cases in court and they will threaten the Magistrates to rule in Mutembo’s favour. They rule by threats. I hope the Judiciary will stand their ground. Sata has made a big mistake, the Post and Mutembo are vengeful especially that the last govt failed to bail out Zambian Airways. They are in trouble!
A leopard never sheds his spots despite being covered in mud. Godfrey behaved the same in 2001 when he suspended journalists from the Daily Mail where he was CEO over a Peter Machungwa story. The guy knew who was culpable but suspended and demoted innocent souls. By washing his hands off Delphine, he is going back 10 years. I was surprised that the PF brought this spineless character from the woodwork! Anyway, what do you expect with five years of being out of employment?
RB and the entire MMD are foreigners? RB was almost not allowed to stand for presidency in September. Now that PF is in power they are no longer concerned about RB’s citizenship, why. Is it because the guys just wanted power that they caused so much storm? Tricksters!!
Journalism has been hijacked by mercenaries in Zambia. Mmembe finally got his bounty.
yaba
he said she said…typical zambian law enforcement! judges are now headmen
This will scare the hell out of all reporters at the Times of PF. The Editor in Chief has thrown his own Reporter under the bus. The guy has indirectly admitted that his position as Editor in Chief is useless. He and the other useless Editors just print the stories as filed in by their reporters. They dont edit. I hope poor Dephine kept a copy of what she gave the spineless editors.
Chamwenso ichichine chimudala. Boootlicking chabe *****
We are in trouble, Malama at the top of leadership at Times and another Malama at the helm of the police. No wonder other tribes are complaining. However, this is not an accurate analysis we need to check the facts first before we conclude. Yes.
A principled Editor takes full responsibility for all that is printed in his paper, right or wrong. You never hang your reporter out in the sun to dry like Malama is doing. This guy (Malama) with his half-baked MA is a patent disaster to journalism in Zambia. This is the beginning, just watch…
I pity the younjg reporter. As Editor-In-Chief of Times of Zambia, Godfrey should have taken full responsibility for what his reporter had written, right or wrong. Looking at the original story, I stgrongly suspect that it was deliberately doctored by the editor to strengthen the case for the prosecution.I doubt it very much that Delphine wrote the story in the manner it appeared. Malama is a PF cadre (he was dismissed as Managing Editor of Zambia Daily Mail in 2006 when he openly supported PF by publishing misleading results which indicated that PF was winning the elections held that year.He had been promised that if PF won the elections, he would be Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations or sent into diplomatic service as High Commissioner).
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