Radio Phoenix reporters testify in Barotse activists case

Monday, May 02, 2011

Radio Phoenix reporters testify in Barotse activists case

Radio Phoenix reporters testify in Barotse activists case
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mumbwa
Sun 01 May 2011, 04:01 CAT

TWO journalists from Lusaka’s Radio Phoenix have testified against suspected Barotse activists appearing in a Mumbwa court for allegedly participating in the Barotseland Agreement-related Mongu riots.

This is a case where Chikuwa Chikuwa, Namushi Nyambe, Mutangelwa Imasiku and two others are charged with the offence of riotous conduct.

When the matter came up for continued trial on Wednesday before Lusaka-based magistrate Lameck Ng’ambi, who is sitting in Mumbwa, Arnold Tutu, testified over a recorded interview he had with Imasiku, four days before the January 14, 2011 Barotseland Agreement proposed public meeting in Limulunga.

Tutu said in his evidence-in-chief that he had produced two compact discs CDs of the January 10, 2011 conversation he had with Imasiku in his capacity as Barotse Patriotic Front BPF leader.

He told the court that the first CD was an unedited version of the phone interview while the other was the byte that was aired on the radio station’s 13:00 hours news on January 10, 2011.

The state through public prosecutor Michael Nundwe, applied that the two CDs be produced as evidence but the defence, through Gilbert Phiri objected.
“We don’t see the relevance of the production of ID2, which is the full interview,” Phiri said.

Phiri said Tutu testified that he had not been in custody of the material.
“The competence of the witness is doubtful,” Phiri argued. “The question of the familiarity of the fifth accused’s voice is highly doubtful.”

However, Nundwe replied that the court had a duty to listen to what was contained in the two CDs for reference purposes.

“We are prepared to bring both the edited and the original,” he said.
Nundwe said it was up to the court to decide on whether or not the material was relevant to the court proceedings.

But magistrate Ng’ambi told Nundwe that when a piece of evidence was brought before the court, the prosecution had to show its relevance through the witness on stand.

Nundwe in reply told magistrate Ng’ambi that they had not finished with Tutu.
“On the issue of custodianship, the law is very clear as to what kind of people should produce what kind of evidence. He Tutu is on record that he had recorded, himself, not another third person and the law supports him as such to produce,” Nundwe said. “He works for Radio Phoenix. Radio Phoenix, it is an office.”

At this instant, Phiri stood up and objected to Nundwe’s format of response, which he described as a testimony from the bench.

“We have no chance to examine you,” Phiri told Nundwe.

Nundwe said the evidence under contention was machine-made and that such material had been used in the country’s legal system.

“All in all, I am saying the court must admit ID2 and ID3 as evidence,” Nundwe said.

Phiri said in another rebuttal that the material was a necessary precursor in laying the foundation for Tutu to demonstrate that he had sufficiently warned Imasiku that he was recording him before the interview.

Magistrate Ng’ambi, however, said the issue was a new one.

Magistrate Ng’ambi in his ruling allowed the production of the two CDs as evidence and that he was sure the issue of relevance would come out as the prosecution continues examining Tutu.

Tutu then proceeded to play the two CDs on a sound machine that he had brought to court.

Tutu said since the news item from the interview was broadcast, Imasiku had never called him to dispute what was aired.

During cross-examination, Muleya Kashewe asked Tutu if he knew the significance of a place called Limulunga to the people of Western Province.

Tutu said Imasiku had told him that it was a royal place and he was aware that it was one of the Litunga’s capitals.

Tutu said he was not aware that the Lozi people had a customary right to approach the Litunga in any large number to air their grievances pertaining to what happens in Western Province.

He further said he was not aware that the Lozi people did not need any permit from the police when seeking audience with the Litunga.

Tutu said he was aware that since 1969, a discussion involving the abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 had been ongoing in Zambia.

Tutu said he was aware that before 1964 Northern Rhodesia and Barotseland were distinct territories and that they only became on through the Barotseland Agreement of 1964.

When asked by Kashewe if Imasiku had talked of seceding Western Province from Zambia during the interview he had with him, Tutu responded in the negative.
“In the recording it only says they don’t want us to talk about Barotseland but about Zambia,” Tutu said

Tutu said he was not competent to answer the question as to whether the concerned people of Western Province committed an offence in their quest to meet the Litunga over the Barotseland Agreement.

Asked by Phiri if he knew what offence the five accused persons in whose case he was testifying were charged with, Tutu said he was not sure.
“I am not so sure of the charge,”Tutu said. “Because I may say riotous behaviour or treason.”

Tutu said he did not know whether Imasiku took part in the riots in Mongu and that although he did not travel he was aware from the information he got that a riot occurred in Mongu on January 14, 2011.

Tutu said he had suspected that by the time the Mongu riots were talking place, Imasiku was already in police custody in Lusaka and that it would not be logical that a person who was incarcerated could at the same time take part in riots.

He said Imasiku did not talk of any riots during the interview but that members of the public needed permission from the government to gather for a meeting.
Tutu again said he was not so sure whether the CDs he had produced in court were of any consequence to the proceedings in view of the fact that Radio Phoenix does not reach Western Province.

Tutu, who told the court that he was not an agent of the State, said he had warned Imasiku that he was going to record him.

Tutu disagreed with Phiri’s assertion that the caption that preceded the news item produced from the recorded phone interview was wrong because it talked of secession when Imasiku did not say anything to that effect.

Billy Kazoka, 35, a news editor at Radio Phoenix, said the secession aspect was an inference they had got from other media organisations reporting on the Barotseland Agreement discussions.

Kazoka who said distortion was not allowed in journalism parried Kashewe’s assertion that it was because of Radio Phoenix’s sensational reporting over the issue that the government sent an army of police officers to kill, maim and brutalise the people of Western Province and it also caused Imasiku’s arrest.

Kazoka said he did not hear Imasiku talk about secession in the recorded interview but that he only heard him say Zambia was being turned into a police state.

Kazoka said although Radio Phoenix’s signal does not reach Western Province people could access it through the Internet.

Labels: BAROTSE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, RADIO PHOENIX