The Working Group on Cyber Laws and Digital Security in Zambia is concerned with government officials’ threats and malice to curtail citizens using social media platforms to exercise their freedom of expression.
The Group comprising PANOS Institute Southern Africa, Bloggers of Zambia, MISA Zambia and the Zambia Council for Social Development has said that the right to free expression is guaranteed under Article 20 of the 2016 amended Constitution.
Speaking on behalf of the Group Nervious Siantombo, the PANOS Institute Programmes Manager said this right is enshrined in regional and international human rights instruments such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights to which Zambia is a signatory.
Mr Siantombo said in addition to this, Zambia has ratified and is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other international instruments.
He said Article 19 of the ICCPR guarantees the right to freedom of expression and provides that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression which shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers either orally, in writing or in print, in form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”
“Domestically, our Zambian Constitution protects the rights to freedom of expression under Article 20 which states that “Except with his own consent, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, that is to say, freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to receives and information without interference, freedom to impart and communicate ideas and information without interference, whether the communication be to the public generally or to any person or class of persons, and freedom from interference with his correspondence”, he said
Mr Siantombo said contrary to allegations by some government officials who have spoken against citizens’ use of online platforms to raise issues of public interest, citizens harnessing social media to engage their democratically elected leaders is not abuse of the digital platforms.
He said in a democratic country like Zambia, citizens have the right to hold leaders to account on the manner they are managing the affairs of the country, through means or channels of their choice, including online or social media.
Mr Siantombo added that intimidating or attempting to silence citizens who use online platforms to speak out goes against the democratic principles on which our nation stands, as it stifles the online civic space, and infringes on citizens’ right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association online.
He said in view of the efforts to discredit social media, stakeholders who perceive the proposed cyber laws are meant to stifle online rights and freedoms may have reason to have the fears about pending internet regulations and social media tariff.
Mr Siantombo said instead of instilling fear in the citizens who are expressing their views and opinions on governance matters using online platforms, the government must work with stakeholders to guarantee and protect citizens’ online rights and freedoms. The government and all of us must encourage the use of technology to enhance our growing democracy.
UK increased aid as a way to bribe Mwanawasa to give huge pieces of land after Mugabe kicked them out. Now that the farmers are settled they see no point in aid. With pf & their thieving, they now can see a loop hole to take away their money. The farmers are home & comfortable. Zambian leaders are ndwii
Kikiki!!! Ati:”With pf and their thieving, they can see a loop hole to take away their money. The farmers are home & comfortable. Zambian leaders are ndwii.”
Awe ba PF ni disaster!!!!
Kikiki!!!
Who are the members of these same associations? Useless political mercenaries funded by opposition . Ati bloggers association of Zambia, Haha you mean angry diasporan bloggers. Please don’t give us this useless drivel lusaka times. You are better than this. Save this for a Sunday when news is low. Don’t be a kimbo iwe editor
@Kaizer stop that man, your balls are in diaspora too. We are helping running that boring PF government, not boring, they are a chaotic organization.
Somehow I agree with you on those Lusambo’s followers, like Chi Simon Mwewa, who use so much money to buy very expensive “talk-time” just to make useless videos. And it is like outbreak of useless videos. It is expensive for those Zambians, but us internet is FREE.
All this attachment by citizens to social media can be traced to 2 things…..
Lungu shutting down independent media , whole ZNBC just sells PF and lungu all day and night….
And , more importantly , lungus failed stance of not denying that he is a corrupt theif. Because lungu could not deny that he is a corrupt theif, he compelled the whole GRZ to not respond to any allegations of corruption. Only now do they try after seeing they are getting engulfed in allegations of corruption. Still lungu has never denied that he is a corrupt theif.
These 2 factors have driven social media news in Zambia for citizens seeking alternative news and answers to the corruption allegations….
Nostra the only thing I have in diaspora is part ownership in a property somewhere abroad. I have disclosed this asset as required under the law. Otherwise my full body is and will always be stationed in Zambia. My vpn giving my IP address as based in England is doing a good job to prevent hackers such as yourself from attacking me.
“Social media is for all while journalism is for trained communicators but if you allow all and sundry to masquerade as journalists, your profession will perish and you’ll have yourselves to blame,” POTROZ ECL.
FREEDOM of expression has limits too. Governments have a duty to prohibit hateful and inciteful speech. Freedom of speech, is not absolute it is relative; all of the countries apply limitations to it at varied levels. Learn to balance the Right to Free Speech against Other Protected Rights.
the right to free expression is guaranteed under Article 20 of the 2016 amended Constitution.
Why aren’t our lawyers using this to remove unconstitutional statutes such as Zambia s criminal defamation law?
Are our lawyers interested in the progress of our politics?
BBC is the term used to describe people who were born before computers, the issue here is that the world is evolving and we are in the computer age, I think as government what you aught to accept is that times have changed and as such you can not drag people behind, my advice to government leaders is that the only way you can avoid being attacked is to be above board, because this computer age will not go away, All political leaders have to understand that the position they hold are looked at with cynicism hence they just have to show good leadership to avoid being targeted, that is the only way otherwise people will continue complaining on social media when they detect bad leadership, it is a new age and people just have to adapt
Box’s KZ, you’re in the municipal council flats here in East London,it’s been a long time I saw you at Gilgers Tavern thanks to Covid19. Hope to see you again when this pandemic hits a dead end so we can discus issues affecting our homeland. But please be real n disclose your current residency.
My freedom of speech is their nightmare.
Haha for real you are mavuto because you have serious problems. Keep dreaming. I only visit UK to do some shopping for clothes and visiting my relatives there. Otherwise that place is very depressing and cold
Znbc is dead social media is alive. You can kill all independent local media but you will never kill social media PF. Complain, threaten we will expose your dark secrets here without fear. PF must go to prison
There are False claims in this article. The govt has not threatened rights to freedom of speech on social media but had rightly sought to address MALICE towards public figures especially the president and politicians in power made by opposition supporters. Seer 1 and various Digital outlets have maliciously damaged President ,Lungu reputation for a long time with malicious allegations of financial impropriety despite not putting forward allegations for investigations to responsible bodies like ACC. None to date have been upheld and yet these malicious allegations are used to stifle the PF govts ability to uphold it’s reputation. Even politicians and public figures have recourse to the law. Especially where threats to personal freedoms of the president and politicians are made, threats…
Even politicians and public figures have recourse to the law. Especially where threats to personal freedoms of the president and politicians are made, threats of arrests and prison(removal of personal freedom) are made by opposition bloggers. Treasonous comments are prosecutable. Publishing these criminal falsities on European social media may provide Zambians protection as European right to be forgotten may not be used to remove these.
It’s disgraceful that open attempts to distabalise our govt is considered freedom of speech. We need dissidents to know we have laws that we can use on our territory. We can close your businesses, remove land rights and ownership of you fail to attend court cases to try you for these crimes you feel the internet protects you from. You can’t eat…