Why The Post is Sata’s mouthpiece even in sickness

By Field Ruwe

Phew that was close

On May 21 when they saw the president he never looked better. He had lost a large amount of weight and appeared very sick all of a sudden—sicker than the previous months. Word had gone round that it was a matter of time. Some speculated he had collapsed and was evacuated abroad while others said the evacuation had failed for fear of him not making it. They were preparing solemn vigils when a voice was heard on the phone.
“I’m fit.”
It was him, the president. He was talking to the editor of The Post newspaper.
“They are saying I have been evacuated, evacuated to where?” he asked. “I’m fit, very fit. I’m well.”
“Show him to us!” Zambian souls demanded upon hearing the president was fine and at his desk working. They wanted to cast their eyes on him. A couple of days back his sight had broken their hearts; their joys and hopes were dampened. To some the thought of riches to rags rustled their grief. Since that glorious September 2011, the years had flown all too soon. Frightening images of paucity lingered and rendered nightmares. To others, those he had fired, sued, persecuted, ridiculed, frustrated, and shamed, a sigh of relief was difficult to conceal. There was no pity in their eyes.
The phone rang. It was from my diplomat friend. “Phew that was close…”

Why Sata called The Post and not the state media

I was in another world. Something else was bothering me. Why did Sata choose to deliver such an important message through a privately-owned medium run by his one-time nemeses Fred Mmembe? Why did he not call ZNBC and have his voice recorded so we could hear him verbatim—gauge vocal vigor, and state of mind? Why did he not call the editors of the state media Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail?
I know why; it is because Fred Mmembe is holding a bazooka to Sata’s head ready to pull the trigger should he break their covenant. The two are locked in an unconsecrated top-heavy cartel in which Sata, by virtue of being the head of state, is the chief mover (the benefactor) and Mmembe is the benefiter. It is this cynical arrangement that caused a feeble Sata to jump out of bed and, like a mad man, dash to court on that morning of May 21, 2014. I will elaborate.

Let me first qualify Sata’s role as a benefactor. When Sata called The Post on May 29, 2014 to inform the nation that he was fine, he was presenting Mmembe with a scoop. In journalism a “scoop” is a sudden news story of great appeal to a large audience. It is more or less a clincher or a diamond for it provides the requisite importance of news and is likely to increase readership and revenue.

Sata choosing to enrich Mmembe than pay state media staff on time

On the day Mmembe published Sata’s assurance his paper’s readership skyrocketed and so did its revenue. As has been the case since the Sata-Mmembe alliance, The Post, a paper that peddles sensational tabloid journalism has become the primary source of the news everyone is dying for. Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail are left with no choice but to scavenge on The Post scoops. By the time their headline is hitting the street, Mmembe is on his way to the bank.
This has become a trend. Remember the assassination hoax doctored by Mmembe? It was announced through The Post. On that day The Post cashed in tons of money even when it was an inside job. How about the military coup exposé that turned to be false? Again it was a dollar raking day for Mmembe. It should perhaps explain why Times of Zambia is failing to pay its workers. The dysfunctional relationship between the state media and the president has left government news outlets dry and overburdened by financial shoestrings. Today, government-owned newspapers are teetering on the brink of collapse while The Post is enjoying monopolistic capital.
This is what I mean by the Sata-Mmembe conspiracy. It goes beyond this. It is a wider scheme that uses the office of the president to manipulate, and safeguard from outside intrusion any illegal arrangements. It is the reason we are seeing a mere newspaper owner make a fortune right before our eyes. Mmembe has made millions of dollars outside his actual business and is now richer than ever thought possible. His extent of wealth remains hidden from view, and it is getting bigger with Sata as an ally.

Mmembe has vowed to go down with Sata

Sata has no choice but to succumb. He is afraid of Mmembe and deeply distrusts him. It is possible that Mmembe knows where Sata’s “secret assets” are buried. This was brought to Sata’s attention back in September 2011, when he [Sata] attempted to demolish The Post with his “carrot and stick” stratagem. When he poached the bulk of the Post staff and left Mmembe with an unpaid DBZ debt, countless enemies, and numerous libel cases, he [Mmembe] vowed to go down with him.
There is enough dirt to excavate—Sata’s hidden wealth, the missing $8.5million from the Zamtrop account, corruption, money laundering, nepotism, favoritism, and suspicious deaths in Sata’s MMD [Sata was the Secretary General and FTJ’s confidant]. And of course Ilunda Chalo Investments Limited, a company owned by Sata and Wynter Kabimba which has earned the pair millions of dollars through unscrupulous lucrative roads contracts.
Had Mmembe fallen, he would have gone after Sata’s involvement in Ilunda Chalo the way he did with the Mezarf project. Back in early 1990s, Mmembe accused Sata of stealing and pocketing ZK1billion of the MERZAF money. Sata sued for defamation and was granted judgment. This marked the beginning of their acrimonious rivalry. A bitter Mmembe embarked on a witch-hunt of untold proportion and uncovered a chunk of Sata’s dark past and put it in his database. Sata knows about this and it worries him deeply.

Sata, Kabimba, and Mmembe running an insulated cartel

It is with this in mind that he has cut a deal with Mmembe. It is common knowledge that he has pledged to shield Mmembe from prosecution of any past crimes including the Zambian Airways saga. And by virtue of being Sata’s business partner, Wynter Kabimba has also embraced Mmembe. These three men, two posing as politicians and one as a businessman, have profusely hugged and created what is undeniably the most insulated cartel in the country.
Mmembe now uses his newspaper as a little more than a cover for far more lucrative business. Last year the Daily Nation reported that two Post Newspaper Courier trucks carrying multi-million kwacha of copper believed to have been stolen were impounded in Solwezi. The case went under water. But one case that is not going away is the “DBZ vs. Mmembe and Nchito” ZK14million loan recovery. It is Sata’s biggest nightmare because it rattles his pledge to Mmembe.
Many pundits have speculated that it was in an effort to deflect Mmembe’s guilt of wrongdoing that Sata suspended Justices Philip Musonda, Charles Kajimanga and Nigel Mutuna, and appointed a tribunal. Sata obviously did not like the course the trio was taking. Using his authority and power, he appointed a foreign judge as head of the tribunal so he could have a firm grip on the case and ensure Mmembe and his associates walked away without paying a penny.

Sata caught between Mmembe and Sakala

Aware of Sata’s motive, Zambians have continued to express their sentiments over the matter. In the face of a foundering tribunal, UNZA lecturer Choolwe Beyani wrote an article in the Daily Nation intimating that Sata had ordered DBZ to abrogate the contract of its lawyer Vincent Malambo in an attempt to prevent DBZ from suing Mmembe and Mutembo Nchito. Sata sued the paper for defamation and as of May 21, 2014, the defamation suit and not the Mmembe-Nchito case has taken center stage. By suing the Daily Nation Sata has opened the Pandora’s Box. He is caught between two newspaper proprietors who know him best—Mmembe and Richard Sakala, owner of the Daily Nation.
Sata and Sakala are ex-conspirators. Both are creatures of the worst corruption in the history of Zambia in which millions of dollars disappeared from government coffers. Sakala, who served as Chiluba’s press aide was, in 2006, arrested, indicted and served prison for corruption and abuse of authority. At the height of his state house stint he was in constant touch with MMD Secretary General Michael Sata. It is obvious the two got to know each other better and shared a frequent cordial tete-a-tete.

Time to chop off the ugly head

Since Sakala came out of prison he has been on the hunt. After what he endured, it pains to see Sata and Mmembe become lucrative and absolute at the expense of poor Zambians. It hurts even more to see them walk scot-free for a similar crime. It is on this basis he started his own newspaper. It is serves as a lure. When Sata filed his defamation suit he fell into the trapping pit and Sakala immediately sunk his unyielding teeth into his flesh.
Those who underrate Sakala must be cautioned. He has in his possession a much wider and deeper database than can be imagined and intends to put it to good use. Sata knows this and it this that is causing him to act irrationally. His hasty appearance in court on that May 21st was an attempt to pre-empty Sakala’s testimony. But being the man he is with characteristic paranoia and reckless abandon, he shot himself in the foot and kissed his own immunity goodbye.
Now Sakala and his legal team have an opportunity to chop off the ugly head of the Sata-Mmembe cartel before it spreads its tentacles and reproduces itself on an uncontrollable scale. If they succeed, they will be saving the country millions of dollars, and not only that, they will provide great relief to Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail.
If, on the other hand, they fail, we should not ignore or shunt the Sata-Mmembe cartel to the side-track of disregard, but must confront it head on because it is a form of corruption that is the destruction of our country.

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner, historian, and author. He is a doctoral candidate at George Fox University. ©Ruwe2012

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