By Hjoe Moono
Left alone in the desert, without links to the power corridors, with their campaign for the immature presidency take over failed and in confusion, without any sympathetic allies, the Post Newspaper has now taken on a rival and rising newspaper, the Daily Nation. Typical of their modus operandi, they embark on a slander campaign of the editor in Chief of the Daily Nation who seems to be comfortably taking the private print media by storm thanks to his seemingly relevance in providing alternate news, which was, until 2008, the reserve of the Post.
The Post’s attack of the Daily Nation can be likened to an immature kid who tries to win his/her parents’ favour by discrediting his/other siblings. The Post, unable to get a sympathy ear from Mr. Sata and his government have now embarked on a mission to dig out purported ‘bad messages’ that the Daily Nation had been printing on Sata and his presidency. Such levels of desperation are grossly appalling and one wonders whether the Editor on Chief of the Post is actually still in existence. We wonder where the champion of ‘morals’ and ‘good-governance’ is when all we see are childish editorial comments fit for a grade 7 essay competition.
The Post is trying to get Sata’s sympathy by singing him a symphony, like a fallen angel, or a second wife out of the husband’s favour, speaking ill of the other wives with the hope of getting back in the home. Surely this is sad, very sad indeed to see a paper stoop so low.
But anyways, what do you expect from opportunists? They are just as morally corrupt and greedy as the others they are now accusing. They are the same people that paid a blind eye to people’s concerns when the economy was being poorly managed. They benefitted heavily from unjustified privileges in government linkages for their businesses. They did not condemn Sata and Kabimba’s private company, Illunda Chalo when it was crowding out private citizens in accessing contracts. They instead shamelessly went to defend such gross day robbery and corruption because they stood to benefit from government privileges. They rejoiced heavily in GBM’s fall out of favour with government contracts and carried headline stories, many of them unreal, fake, imaginary and fabricated stories just so their apparent heir, Wynter Kabimba could have it all, and that they too, could perhaps try their luck in the trucking business. Such envy & jealousy is surely disheartening.
Wynter Kabimba, the man they so glorify today as being a champion of good governance is on record threatening the Anti-Corruption Commission to drop charges against well-known abusers of authority in government who were on his camp. Wynter had been accusing the ACC of being used by the opposition for questioning the equally corrupt Amos Malupenga, the Post’s No.1 ally in government. So really, who are they trying to fool?
Should we also therefore ask the Post to print and share their assessment of Sata from 2001 to 2008? Isn’t it the same newspaper that Said Sata was not Zambia’s saviour? Isn’t it the same paper that was hell bent on calling Mr. Sata all the evil names you can think of when Mwanawasa was in power and they had all the privileges of being close to Ngandu Magande, then Minister of Finance? Clearly these people lack honour, they even lack the honour and respect that may exist among the people they now call thieves and corrupt.
The Post’s friendship with Mr. Sata and the PF has never been a genuine one. Any sane Zambian that has followed the life of Mr. Sata and the dealings of the Post knows that the friendship that existed between the two was accidental. Had Mwanawasa lived, the Post would have continued with their negative coverage of Sata. The friendship between the two was motivated by the two’s own individual goals: The Post’s Business Continuity which does not seem to survive without government networks and Mr. Sata’s positive coverage in the media. Clearly in September 2011 Mr. Sata achieved his 10 year goal, while the Post’s survival was just to begin, hence their continued singing and dancing for the PF, with the hope that favours will continue to flow their way.
And yes, we all saw the massive campaign they embarked on to completely get rid of Rupiah Banda, the man who almost crippled their empire. But one silly thing the post forgot was that such kinds of friendship are short-lived because one’s needs and pleasures are apt to change over time. I would have expected the all-knowing chief at the Post to learn from Aristotle’s Friendship of Utility-friendship based on utility/satisfaction (monetary or otherwise), where both people derive some benefit from each other. These friendships do not last at all, they are temporal, and so as we have seen, it is unwise to have hoped that Mr. Sata will not change his mind over-time.
So really, who are these people trying to fool? For them, the truth is a transitory concept that is molded to satisfy their needs and ambitions. Yes, say they can, that a convict is running a newspaper that is slowly beating their sales, but who ever told them that they were the sole depository of knowledge? Are they such poor business managers that they cannot see the change in demand? Perhaps they are, in any case, didn’t they fail to run an airline before? Did they think they can constantly play on people’s trust and avoid their disappointment? No. We that have read the Post for many years have been grossly disappointed with the low calibre of news and analysis that has been given to us since 2008. Worse the past week we have been fed media garbage which is not even fit for publication for any sane editor to take to print.
Rupiah Banda, in his monitoring of the elections in Kenya which saw Uhuru Kenyatta’s rise to the presidency said and cautioned those in position of power:: “You cannot constantly fail to meet people’s expectations and hope to survive their expectations”.
You can fool some people sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the times.
Clearly, skipping towns and changing names wont cut it,….
I just have to leave this planet and find a sensible one…..
I totally agree with you!
No, stop attacking the post!
I had wished that this hasn’t already been posted. I find this article on the Post unworthy of my time again from you Jp. It is unbelievable how blindly judgmental and intensely pretentious it is. I’m almost at a loss for words… Am I the only one that can’t believe this is a professionally published article?
Thanks
Spot on Hjoe. The post has lost. Its now predictable as to what will be the next days head line in the post newspaper and what the Editor comment will be. It appears the post has been highly affected by the sucking from the governemt and the party of Winter, How else does one explain their continuous writing on an issue that most Zambian are now forgetting and are moving forward. Let them just accept the fact that what happened did happen and that life has to continue. This time around the paper has become boring and embarasing to some of us who are addicted to it and we are asked by own young children who where born after the Post was formed as to why we buy the post newspaper every days and yet there is no news. Man should have shame. My Late Grand Father used to advise me that
And you, Moono, wouldn’t it be prudent of you to admit that being human means that ‘you win some and you lose some?’ Is it not TRUE that being able to be wrong and/or right completes man? Then, would you say that a paper (print or electronic) that constantly pummels the sitting government is the best? I have never read (possibly will NEVER read) this daily nation but I can’t call ZWD anything near good, they are more of mecenaries.
I had not been interested in the Daily Nation, until the Mmembe attacked the paper so mercilessly last week. And after reading it, i was very impressed with their writing. I now read it every morning.
Their English is eloquent and their analysis very reasonable!!
Hey Kakolwe, it is obvious that you are heavily jaundiced towards the Past newspaper. Read the article again, perhaps [ just may be] you will get the thrust of the write up. Your critique seems way off the mark.
“UMUNUTU AFWILE UKUKWATA INSONI, NGATAKWETI INSONI NINSHI AFWILE UKUKWATA ICHINTINA.UKWABULA CHIMO PAFINTU FIBILE IFI NINSHI WALIPENA”. I miss my grand father. Zambia is too big to be fed on one item day in day out. CAN THE POST GET TO WORK. WE NEED NEWS NOT THIS TRASH THEY KEEP FEEDING US AS NEWS. Let me leave with a question for the Editor at the Post newspaper. WHAT IN YOUR WISDOM TO YOU CALL NEWS?
I agree with you. Insoni e buntu but Bembas have no shame. A Bemba can be undressed in public but still move with pomp and their head up. Thank you.
“UMUNUTU AFWILE UKUKWATA INSONI, NGATAKWETI INSONI NINSHI AFWILE UKUKWATA ICHINTINA.UKWABULA CHIMO PAFINTU FIBILE IFI NINSHI WALIPENA”. I miss my grand father. Zambia is too big to be fed on one item day in day out. CAN THE POST GET TO WORK. WE NEED NEWS NOT THIS TRASH THEY KEEP FEEDING US AS NEWS. Let me leave with a question for the Editor at the Post newspaper. WHAT IN YOUR WISDOM DO YOU CALL NEWS?
And where are the Bishops, the church, the Prisons fellowship? These people claim a high moral ground and yet now when they are needed most, they are silent or nowhere to be seen. What do I mean? I mean haven’t we been taught by these same fellows in robes that ex-prisoners are supposed to be integrated back in society no matter what they did or did not do? The Post itself has written positively on that subject before. The editor that the Post is trying to scandalise has successfully reintegrated himself back into society, and providing a damn good service to citizens! And here is the Post writing all sorts of immorality, and here is the clergy failing us once again. You Bishops stand up for the Nation’s editor and condemn the great Satan!
The problem we have in zambia today is that there is too much political musterbation which emanated from selfishness and prostitution caused by fake and recycled politicians who have trailed all the way from colonial errors to the current political spheres.
The post really is now confused, they have been hit where it hurts most. They never thought Kabimba would one day leave the circles of GRZ and PF. Now the Post is crying like a woman chased from marriage she took not seriously.
Please Mr Mumembe write the news and not the rubbish you are feeding us since Kabimba was fired.
In the same vein, The Daily Nation is also an opportunist, the Daily Nation since its inception has been so uselessly critical on Sata but since Kabimba and the Post fell from Sata’s glory, the Daily Nation has started writing positively about Sata.
As you can see, journalism in Zambia has gone to the dogs. Which paper can I buy now?? I think its time I stopped buying papers.
That is a Good one. They have been hit where it hurts most? They got so excited that they never anticipated a day like this would come. Our favorite paper of yesteryears has lost it’s credibility and is no longer newsworthy. Most good guys at the Post Newspaper have gone into diplomatic posting leaving only gutter Journalists with there Editorial false prophet boss running the show. How I miss Bright Mwape, Jowie Mwiinga and the rest of them. How do you feel to embarrass yourselves in the manner you are informing the nation. What did Winter promise you that you are hate so much? Continuous Protection of the D.B.Z saga? Come on be real. There is more to journalism than this and plenty of news around to inform the nation with pride.
It’s the dogs that have gone into journalism…no quality nikisi!
Everytime I run out of toilet paper, I always grab the post newspaper from the office. And I start with the editorial page.
Ba Post natumisukilapo nomba
Daily. Nation taking Zambia by storm? What a dreamer. Newspapers make money through adverts, not sales.
Facts: papers worldwide make over 95% through averts and less than 3% on sales.
For all the wrong things at the Post which you correctly point out, they still wreck in money by the thousands everyday. Just count the ads in today’s paper, more than 40. A full color ad costs 12,000 and they are 6, half page costs 9000, the smallest advert (not classifieds) costs 1200. Their circulation is 80,000. Even if they sold no single copy, they would have already made their money through adverts. Daily Nation prints 10,000 and has few adverts and little content beyond the headlines. The daily nation needs lots of adverts to stay in the business.
Once the sells soar, the adverts will follow; that is how it works.
HJOE MOONO – wabe chimbusu. Keep your gossip to yourself, kantu kobe. Leave PF alone. Since when did you become an authority on politics, we mbushi. Just concentrate on your UPND. Ulemona kwati tatwakwishiba. By the way, leave Kabimba alone. You know nothing about what happened and what is happening. Bonse imwe bakalemba you come here pretending to be intelligent when infact you are as dull as wild pigs. What do you know about the Post, iwe kashonkonono – wali pangapo newspaper iyobe? Imwe bambi mwaishibafye ukubwata-bwata, criticising anything that moves and only leaving your own weaknesses out. If you that intelligent go write a book. Mwalikulilafye kumulomo, mwashako amano bambuli. Stop acting intelligent on a blog-site and go on TV….elo tukumone. Hjoe uli kaimyamafi.
He is not acting intelligent you dull chap, he IS intelligent. I am yet to see an analysis written by a pro-PF person systematically rebutting things written by the types of Hjoe, not a.ma fi aya that you are writing which is typical of PF cadres, so really, no surprise here, waishiba boyi?
I just hate the whining tone and highly subjective way of the Post’s editorials. Gutter journalism if you ask me.
Post editorials are truly nauseating.
Ati Michael; yaba
Joe says
“THE POST NEWSPAPER HAS NOW TAKEN ON A RIVAL & RISING NEWSPAPER, THE DAILY NATION“. Excuse me… Rising from where? From Chimbokaila!
As long as it is rising ba Luapula. The goal is the destination and not where you are coming from. Is that how you are judged ku myenu? You get a PHD but then you are affected when someone laughs at you ati ‘even if he has a PHD, he was at Chibudyungu Basic school when he was young, will that diminish your PHD? Very childish post Luapula, even you have to see this.
Luapula, you just need to wait. The people who have not risen from Chimbokaila will be there soon. Why do you think they are so shell shocked at Wynter’s dismissal? Michael this, Michael that, so sickening! Sakala will have the last laugh.
One Hjoe good article. Excellent, Keep it up. As for Mwembeshi, watch your tongue and tame it well.
MM’membe will keep on screaming until he finds a compromised Govt. again for now all his evil schemes are in tatters. The best we can do is to stop reading this uses news paper that has outlived it’s usefulness. Messages written by Mmembe from the corner of his office as editorial news are as useless as ever.
Mushota, I think you’re the only one! Get a life. Will you!!!
Doesn’t Fred Mmembe realize that by attacking the Daily Nation so viciously he is actually promoting the sales of this newspaper and by mourning for Kabimba in each issue of the Post that he is doing irreparable damage to his own newspaper?
By the way, have you noticed that with the loss of their fake friendship with the President the Post seem to have lost the first name terms too? The Post editorial today has spared us “Michael” this, Michael” that, let’s hope that they will replace this with the more respectful and culturally acceptable “President Sata” like the rest of us normal human beings..
BA POST YOU CAN DO BETTER.
WRITING GOOD ABOUT WYNTER WILL NOT HELP YOU. YOU ARE JUST MAKING US MORE ANGRY.
DO NEED FEED US WITH TRASH. WE CAN’T TRUST THE POST ANYMORE.
Today’s headline in the post is so disgusting to say the least. I think Membe has taken Zambians for granted. Membe is not even ashamed to write things like ”Kabimba protected public resources from abuse.” Membe phoned a compromised chief called Sinazongwe and put words in his mouth. He then published it as the main news headline in his newspaper. Indeed lies have short legs.
what is the Post Newspaper social responsibility. Not even a donation to some school
Incito naikosa ku Post. Fred MMembe thought it was palin sailing. Not when the Tribalist and croocked click is there. Mwachepa ba Fred. Iteniko Mushota nabambi ko abantu limbi tata. But
But ka mmembe you thk zambias are fools we now know what you are up to for your on infor we do’t buy yo paper now what is happing now is that we are just reading from your pipo for free and off we go no need to buy iwe koswe.
Nice article but I dont agree with you when you say the Daily nation is beating The post for sales, unless you are Hakainde who believes his own imagination. You still cant take away the fact that The Post is the biggest newspaper in the country accounting for 65 % of newspaper sales (beating the combined Times of Zambia, daily mail, Daily Nation and other newspapers that are produced in Zambia. These are facts my dear not just merely speaking. And you also cant take away the fact that The Post carries more weight when it speaks on several matters than any other newspaper in Zambia. You can only be oblivious to this fact if you are a UPND, MMD and tribal clique member. I am sure your view would change if the Post started covering UPND in positive light like it was during PF/UPND earlies
The day when M’membe wil dance to kalindula is coming he thinks we are foolish just a matter of time that chap will cry for sure
the post newspaper is only fit to give my grandfather to smoke balan in, viva daily nation, a good paper to read.Meembe is a snake.
Its so unprofessional as a journalist this story is mostly fiction with no attribution to any source and when governments talks negative about the online media we start to wonder why where are your ethics?? Cause for me this story seems 2 have been written by some guy who just woke up and called himself a journalist, the bible says we should not bear false witness and unless u show facts its what you doing!..I am done