Police summon William Banda
By Bright Mukwasa
Fri 09 Sep. 2011, 14:01 CAT
POLICE have summoned MMD Lusaka Province chairman William Banda over his alleged involvement in the violence that took place in Chongwe last weekend. In an interview, Lusaka Division commanding Officer Mhlakeni Zulu said Banda would be appearing before the police today so that they record a warn and caution statement from him over the violence.
"As I told you earlier that we shall take time to investigate. We have tried that and we have interviewed at least a few - three or so people. They have given us the information so we have decided to caution Mr Banda on the same basis of assault," Zulu said.
"He's Banda scheduled to come tomorrowtoday though we wanted him today, but he's reported to be out of town. Tomorrow he will be back and 14:00 hours tomorrow today that's when we are expecting him."
On Saturday, Banda and his MMD cadres physically attacked villagers in Chongwe for supporting PF, leaving several injured.
With the aim of pleasing President Rupiah Banda who was scheduled to address a rally in the district, cadres led by William Banda smashed windows of two Land Cruiser vehicles belonging to Sylvia Masebo and beat up and severely injured helpless men and women in full view of the police.
Earlier on Tuesday, Banda admitted to Radio Phoenix, in an interview, that he and ultimately President Banda were at the centre of violence in the country.
When asked if he was at the centre of the violence by a Radio Phoenix reporter, William said: "Yes I am at the centre, President Rupiah Banda is on the centre of everything, whether you are not there, whether… You see these things you also people you must vary them which friend, which paper which person is talking against Radio Phoenix. For example if I talk about Radio Phoenix which I know I always hate, whatever Radio Phoenix do I'll never say you have done the right thing. So, I'll exaggerate issues, I'll create issues in order to impress others; so it depends which people are talking. I want to avoid talking to you people on the phone because I know what tricks is going on now, people are phoning they are saying I'm from Radio Phoenix tomorrow you hear a different thing."
Labels: RADIO PHOENIX, WILLIAM BANDA
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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
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MISA calls for massive investment in the media
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 19 Mar. 2010, 03:50 CAT
MEDIA Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia chairperson Henry Kabwe has called for massive investment in the media in order to improve working conditions for media practitioners. And Press Freedom Committee (PFC) of The Post secretary general Sheik Chifuwe has lauded media diversity in the country.
Featuring on Lusaka’s Radio Phoenix yesterday, Kabwe said it was important to create an environment where the media could have enough resources for them to meet their challenges effectively.
He said currently it was hypocritical for the media to write about other people’s conditions of service when theirs were not good.
“There is need to create an environment that will ensure massive investment in the media. People ought to be remunerated fairly and according to their input. Sometimes I ask my colleagues why a journalist should cover a strike by workers who have not been paid for three months when he himself has gone without a salary for one year,” he said. “In my view, this is hypocrisy. So, we should call for massive investment in the media so that there could be enough resources for everyone.”
Kabwe called for unity in the nation despite people’s political inclinations.
“I think we should understand that we are Zambians before we become MMD, PF, UPND or whatever political affiliation. That’s the prime thing we should keep in mind. And if we remember that, then there will be no harassment of each other simply because we differ politically. I know that even at the NCC National Constitutional Conference people debate according to their political inclinations, not according to logic. This is a sad situation,” Kabwe said.
And Chifuwe said media diversity in the country had been quite effective in promoting media freedom.
“The diversity among media has enriched our democracy.Different people in the media have brought in a lot of ideas and this has helped in our push for media freedom. So, I think media diversity has not disadvantaged the media industry in the country. If anything the media have gotten stronger through this diversity,” said Chifuwe.
Labels: HENRY KABWE, MEDIA, MISA, PFC, RADIO PHOENIX, SHEIK CHIFUWE
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Errol Hickey and Radio Phoenix
Written by Editor
Running a privately-owned radio or television station in this country is not an easy undertaking. For this reason, Errol Hickey and his team deserve a lot of credit for running a magnificent radio station for 13 years. Not even the fires could stop them. There are many impediments in running a radio station in this country. The economic environment is not favourable. We do not have a large enough commercial base to support a strong radio station.
The advertising income is very low for a radio station to meet all its requirements, pay reasonable salaries and other expenses to the so many people who contribute their services every second to keep the radio station going. One has to engage in calculus every day to meet the financial requirements of the moment. This is not easy.
What is sad is that those in government don’t see this or they simply don’t care. And instead of making the environment more conducive for the running of radio stations, they are actually creating conditions that make it much easier for such undertakings to fail. It requires a lot of commitment and sacrifice of personal resources to run a radio station. There is no big money that is being made by our radio stations. Even when it’s made, it quickly disappears because it’s ploughed back to meet a chain of pending issues and challenges.
The other problem is the myriad of legal impediments that the government has put up to regulate the operations of privately-owned radio and television stations. A private radio or television station can be closed by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services so easily. And that’s why any threat from the minister causes so much panic at any radio station. This is understandable and it’s not because people who run these radio or television stations are cowards. It is simply because the Minister of Information has given himself so much power to be able to deal a deadly blow on any radio or television station that wants to stand its ground. With this threat hanging over our privately-owned radio and television stations, it will be very difficult to encourage our people to invest in radio or television stations. And soon we will start to see radio and television stations with connections to those in power start to emerge with the sole purpose of boosting their political stakes. Pure commercial enterprises may start to disappear. Even the licensing system, if it continues unchanged, will increasingly start to favour friends of those in power.
We have applied before for a radio licence and we were denied one. We have also applied for a television licence and we have not gotten any. But when we analyse deeply the current situation, we think it was good for us that they didn’t give us the licences because it would have meant the newspaper subsidising the operations of the radio and television stations. This would spread our finances very thinly, threatening the entire undertaking.
It is very difficult to develop high standards of journalism under such circumstances. It is difficult to retain experienced staff for long with such tight finances. People want to grow with organisations they work for. If there is no growth in the organisation as staff get experienced and want to grow, they will go into higher growth industries. This will mean that such media organisations will always operate with novices because as soon as people get some experience, they leave to much stronger and secure sectors of the economy. And no amount of media regulation can correct that. If anything, it can only worsen it.
Errol and his team have demonstrated what can be done with radio if a conducive environment is created. We need more radio stations of the Phoenix standard. But we won’t get them if things remain the way they are. But we know that in this life, we get nothing save by effort. The Zambian people have a debt to settle with Errol and his team for the effort they have exerted to give us a radio station that has done such great work over the last 13 years. And that debt will be repaid not with cash to Errol but by them ensuring that a conducive environment required for the efficient, effective and orderly operations of radio stations is established by their representatives in government and other institutions of the state like parliament. Errol has personally benefited very little, if not nothing, by running that radio station. Radio Phoenix has actually milked Errol of huge resources. Clearly, the net beneficiaries from the operations of that radio station is us, the Zambian people and not Errol. This means we have a duty to ensure that Radio Phoenix and other radio and television stations in our country operate under a conducive environment created by our own efforts. Errol will personally lose nothing if that radio station is closed tomorrow because he doesn’t live from it, it doesn’t pay his bills. It will actually be a relief, from a financial point of view, because Errol will no longer need to subsidise Radio Phoenix. But this is not where the story begins and ends. Even the most ardent capitalists don’t measure everything in terms of personal returns. There is what is called public service to which every citizen has to make a contribution. It is therefore our collective duty to push the government and our legislators to ensure that this situation is not made worse by the imposition of more repressive, media unfriendly legislation.
We can understand Errol’s frustrations. His is a lonely undertaking – no praise, no support. This is not to say he got into this business and stuck into it for 13 years to be praised, to be commended. Some of us as Errol correctly observed have received a few praises here and there. But we have never been tortured by such things, by what people say about us or think of us. That’s something we don’t feel we have the right to concern ourselves about. It’s as if you were to fight a battle without seeking to achieve a goal – as if we have been struggling all these 18 years not to defend our people’s integrity and try to improve their well-being through good governance but to chalk up honours, to go down in history with awards of all sorts. Is any person’s glory worth all that?
When we remember all the struggles – the tremendous struggles, we have been involved in over the last 18 years and the efforts and sacrifices we have asked our staff to make, trying to defend our country from plunderers of the Frederick Chiluba type and all sorts of other tyrants and crooked characters, it’s clear that we couldn’t have been thinking about our own merits and personal glory even for a second at the course of the sacrifices made by so many people. For us, praise of whatever type was secondary, because it didn’t seem honest for us to ask of an atom of sacrifice from others for the purpose of having that sacrifice result in glory, in improving our image.
We have always thought we are defending certain principles that are of tremendous value at a time of confusion and opportunism in our country, a time when many politicians are feathering their own nests. Therefore, we think that what we are doing is of great importance for the future of our country, but it doesn’t make us believe that the future of our country is entirely dependent on us. What gives us great encouragement is not praises or commendations but to know that we are defending that future and that we are a symbol of that future and of those principles for a country filled with people who are hungry, exploited and suffering.
We have a clear, precise idea of our role, and all of those factors stimulate and encourage us in what we are doing. We think it will be of great value.
This is the way we also see the great work that has been done, that is being done by Errol and his team at Radio Phoenix. And we think that human beings should never draw away from the honest goal they seek and let themselves be influenced by issues of glory, honour, praise or commendation. The work that Errol is doing deserves all our support. Errol was actually calling on all of us to support and defend that work that is being done at Radio Phoenix and other radio stations across the width and breadth of our country. That work deserves support; that work needs support because it is under attack from opportunistic and tyrannical elements. That radio station does not, in truth, belong to Errol and those who work there. It belongs to all of us who benefit from its services and therefore we have a duty to make a contribution to its well-being in any way we can. But for us, the best way is to stop these opportunistic and tyrannical elements from carrying out practices and enacting laws that affect its operations.
Labels: ERROL HICKEY, GOVERNANCE, MEDIA, RADIO PHOENIX
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The media isn’t there to fight govt – Hickey
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe
Thursday, October 08, 2009 5:02:15 PM
RADIO Phoenix chairman and proprietor Errol Hickey has said the media is not there to fight the government. And Hickey announced that he will retire from Radio Phoenix next year because he is tired. During a press briefing yesterday, Hickey said the media wanted to work with the government and not fight.
“Wherever there is something going on, you will find one of us. You are very, very important people. What you are doing is disseminating information to people. The media are the conduit between whatever is happening, be it in government, if it's in a village whatever, you are there to supply the information. I have been quiet now for a very long, long time, but no one holds us in respect any more. We have been beaten up, we are being insulted, we are being threatened and really when these things happen, where do you actually go to? Where can you go to? Where? You can't,” Hickey said.
“We had a fire in 1996, the whole station burnt down, nobody could come and help us but The Post did, Fred M'membe came up and said 'listen Errol we don't have much to offer you but we can give you something' and he gave us a donation to help us.”
He said with the small donation from The Post, they purchased tape recorders and whatever they could get.
“When you run into trouble today, where do you go? You don't have an association that you can do anything with. It is now time that you thought about yourselves. It is time you thought about getting some sort of organization that can protect you, Sky FM is sitting here today. He has had problems, where can he go to? Nowhere, there is nowhere he can go to. For years and years we have all been panicking and running in the dark, it is really now time to think about an association that can help us when we have a problem,” he said.
Hickey said if the Norwegian government had not helped then when the station was gutted in 1996, there would be no station today.
“We lost everything, everything was lost, we had no insurance. I threw the towel in and I thought that is the end,” he said.
He said while he was progressing in his journalism career, he got his background from seasoned journalists who are no longer in the media industry currently.
Hickey asked who was providing that for the current crop of journalists.
“These people are still here. They are in different organisations, professional people, who can teach, no one has approached them,” he said.
He said today there were situations where everybody was fighting.
Hickey said there was an article in the newspaper recently where the minister was threatening to close down the station.
“Many years ago when we started Radio Phoenix, the Chiluba government gave us the frequencies to go into the Copperbelt, there was no problems, we are now in four of the nine provinces. I got complaints from people in the South that why are you just going one way and we want to have your station. And I thought about this for many years and there were still many complaints coming in. And I thought now, our signal is now reaching Mazabuka and some people can pick it up, I am going to strengthen the signal a little bit,” he said. “There were so many complaints, yes, it was illegal, we put another small transmitter in Mazabuka and at least the people started listening to us. I know it was wrong but I did it because the people there had requested that. Last week Communications Authority confiscated the transmitter. I am sorry I am wrong, I put the transmitter for the people. I am sorry they are not able to receive the information they want. I want to publicly say that I am sorry.”
He said for years, they had applied for frequencies to get the signal to Mazabuka and the intention was not for monetary gain.
Hickey said the station does not get any encouragement from the government even after offering to work with them.
“We are not against the government in any way. The radio station was actually set up for the people,” he said.
He said the radio station had been trying for months to get government officials to appear on a programme that airs on Sunday with a view to give a platform to the government but it had been impossible.
Hickey said Radio Phoenix wanted to engage the government so that they know that they were not enemies and the station was there for development.
“And if only the government can understand that because we are always looked upon with suspicion and that we are wrong and we are doing this and that. We are non-partisan. We try to play the role as evenly as possible, it's a level playing field,” he said.
Hickey said on the controversial Let the people talk, the radio station always tried to balance the programme.
“We are not here to castigate and get people on the station and allow them to insult people like what's happening every day. We are not prepared to go that way, that's not the idea of the station. It's to inform the people what is going on,” he said.
Hickey said the government had been offered an opportunity to explain to the people on the developments in the country.
“That's all they want to hear, we want to work with the government, we don't want to fight with the government. We need some sort of respect, the things they do to some of the friends in the media, it's not fair. You can't beat up a person because they are doing their job. What is that person there for? He's there to do a job. You get the news and that's the idea, sometimes news is not so good and it affects people but really I think it's high time we got together and talked about these things. There is no dialogue. Nobody talks to anybody about the media,” he said.
He said the station had been successful in the past 13 years and it was not there to fight with anyone.
“We are here to work with the government as much as we can and we are sorry that we put a transmitter in Mazabuka but we thought it was needed and I am sorry. All I am saying is that why can't we work together. There was an issue recently when Sky FM was broken into. Who could we turn to for help? Nobody.
“So I was just thinking that next year I am pulling out, I’m in actual fact retiring,” he said.
Hickey said he had asked the media to attend the briefing so that they could take over if they had such plans.
He said he wanted the station to stay in the same vein and be the people's station.
Hickey said he would be very hurt if the vision of the station was lost.
He said there was a possibility that he could say no to the government if they offered to buy the station.
“I think it's actually time I retired, I have had enough. All I am asking for the media and the government work together instead of hammering each other every other week. The other thing for everything we have done, we are quite surprised in fact, The Post has been commended for their story in Cuba. In all my time we have never ever been commended for anything, nor has anybody else and that gives one an incentive. If you are commended for a job, you can say so, it doesn't mean that if it is only the government media or private media or any media that they have done a good job and they must be commended for it and the government must be proud of it. And if we can get our signals to all the people if we are allowed to get to all the people I think that is the way we should go. That's all the people want from us,” he said.
Hickey urged the government to appear on the Radio Phoenix programme, which he said was not live because people wanted to know what going on.
Hickey said the Information and Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act had been dragging for a long time and yet in other countries, electronic media were allowed to broadcast anywhere.
Labels: ERROL HICKEY, MEDIA, RADIO PHOENIX
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British Airways to promote Zambia’s tourist destinations
Written by Joan Chirwa
Saturday, February 14, 2009 4:20:11 AM
BRITISH Airways has embarked on a campaign to promote touristdestinations in and around Zambia. “This promotion includes a once a week radio programme on Radio Phoenix called Travel Secrets, that promotes local destinations in Zambia and offers listeners the opportunity to share their travel experiences,” stated British Airways country commercial manager Chana Musakanya in a press release.
“Travellers should be able to make their travel experience a memorable one, both locally and internationally. British Airways is therefore proud to play a role in promoting tourism in Zambia. We strive to work with local providers to offer our passengers invaluable Zambian experiences.”
And commenting on the Innovation in Travel award that British Airways received last week, Musakanya said airline was proud to receive such recognition as it showed the appreciation from passengers of the premiere services being offered.
“British Airways in Zambia has now introduced an upgrade offer from the World Traveller Plus to Club world until the end of March 2009 on one sector of the journey,” stated Musakanya.
And during its Travel Secrets radio programme, British Airways voted Tongabezi Lodge, located on the banks of the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls in Livingstone, as the Valentine’s destination this year.
Last year, the lodge was awarded the World Travel Award as Zambia's leading Safari Lodge.
Labels: BRITISH AIRWAYS, RADIO PHOENIX, TOURISM
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