Post journalists scoop SACCORD media awards
By Ernest Chanda
Sun 18 Apr. 2010, 04:40 CAT
Post journalist Jack Zimba receives the 2009 SACCORD best print human rights reporter award at Lusakas’s Chrismar Hotel (Inset, Thomas Nsama as Best Photographer)
POST employees Jack Zimba and Thomas Nsama on Friday scooped the best print reporter and photographer respectively in the Southern Africa Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) 2009 human rights media awards.
Zimba grabbed a double, first as best print reporter for his feature article on the acquittal of Post news editor Chansa Kabwela who was facing a pornography case in the Lusaka magistrates court between July and November last year.
In the article, Zimba outlined circumstances leading to Kabwela’s arrest for alerting government authorities on the plight of people following a countrywide strike by health workers.
Kabwela had sent the pictures of a woman about to deliver a baby just outside the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) to Vice-President George Kunda but President Rupiah Banda later described the pictures as pornographic and ordered for the arrest of the photographer.
Kabwela was subsequently arrested and prosecuted allegedly circulating obscene material.
However, on November 19, 2009 Kabwela was acquitted by Lusaka chief resident magistrate Charles Kafunda on grounds that she was fighting a noble cause, which did not warrant any pornography.
Zimba also walked away with the overall best print reporter on human rights award.
Nsama scooped the best photographer award, based on his picture published in The Post last year where police were captured beating up opposition Patriotic Front (PF) supporters outside Supreme Court grounds.
The PF had accompanied their leader Michael Sata when he went to petition the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election.
The picture showed police beating up people, including women with babies.
Veteran broadcaster Felistus Chipako scooped the best TV reporter for her documentary on the plight of children in Zambia that was aired on Lusaka’s Muvi Television.
The best radio reporter went to Lesley Sinyangwe from the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.
Earlier officiating at the function, Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) country representative Grace Manyonga observed that injustices against citizens eroded their participation in national matters.
“We encourage and facilitate for initiatives that empower citizens to enjoy their rights because we strongly believe this is a panacea for their free participation in various democratic processes. Injustices and other rights violations that take place tend to erode the confidence of the citizens,” Manyonga said.
“This in essence regresses the unity and free will of the citizens to participate. It has been proved worldwide that when human rights are observed, citizens tend to be free to participate and interact with the leadership in fostering development. We hope that these awards will encourage reporters and media houses alike to increase their coverage of human rights issues.”
SACCORD executive director Lee Habasonda observed that promoting human rights without freeedom of information made the work of journalists difficult.
“It is a well recognised fact that stability, social and cultural cohesion and structure for democracy are essential strategies for trade, international cooperation and national development. One key element of these strategies is independent journalism and free media, which provides bedrock for democratic exchange and respect for human rights. By exposing violations of human rights, the media can help in improving the climate for democratic debates and reduce corruption in public life,” said Habasonda.
“At the same time media sensitivity to human rights provides reliable sources of information through which citizens, human rights groups, private organisations and government institutions can work together to promote development and to eliminate human rights abuses. Promotion of human rights without freedom of information makes the work of journalists in highlighting both success and violations in human rights very difficult. SACCORD also believes that state regulation of the media may equally contribute to the ineffectiveness of the media in trying to ensure that it plays its role as a watchdog on behalf of the citizens.
While we realise the need for responsible journalism, we strongly feel state regulation defeats the essence of a free press in Zambia.”
Labels: JACK ZIMBA, SACCORD, THE POST, THOMAS NSAMA
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The lawlessness of Rupiah’s cadres
Written by chama
The attack by Rupiah Banda’s cadres on Thomas Nsama, a photojournalist with The Post, in Chipata yesterday is barbaric. As we have stated before, no doctrine, no principle or proclaimed political position and no political differences can justify atrocious acts such as the physical assault of Thomas. No crime should be committed in the name of politics, in the name of supporting Rupiah.
The sad part of it is that this happened in full view of the law enforcement agencies, of the police and of senior government and ruling MMD leaders. But it was condoned. And those who did it, although known, have been let scot-free. It seems in this country if you are Rupiah’s supporter, you can commit any crime and you will get away with it, you will be defended by all sorts of people – including Rupiah himself.
It is said that violence begets violence and that those who live by violence will die by it. This is because no one has the monopoly of violence. This violence can only do one thing, and that is to breed counter violence. The behaviour of Rupiah’s cadres is no better than that of animals. And we hope other MMD leaders will realise that the use of violence against anyone is something that puts them next to animals.
We are not surprised that Thomas was attacked yesterday. We say this because the behaviour of Rupiah last Thursday when he addressed his cadres at State House was as close as a head of state gets to violence. His behaviour was not normal. The anger that Rupiah exhibited was a clear indication that he is frustrated with The Post and wants something done about it or its employees. Rupiah did not stop at embarrassing himself by exhibiting the temper tantrum; he was also issuing coded instructions for violence against The Post. The subscript in everything that he said was that The Post needed to be crushed, needed to be taught a lesson.
Rupiah’s call for vigilance should not be left without analysis. What did he mean? What was he calling for? We have not forgotten what vigilantes did in this country. Vigilantes were used to identify so-called enemies of the state, imaginary or otherwise – and more often than not, imaginary. And when they declared an innocent citizen an enemy, they were to sort them out. These are some of the unfortunate failings of UNIP, Rupiah’s party. Violence accompanied the so-called vigilance. Rupiah is today calling for violence upon The Post.
No one should feel satisfied or happy that one of our hardworking journalists has been physically molested and think that this will deter The Post. We shall continue to work and to expose corruption. Beating our reporters is certainly not a way to teach us a lesson. The best way to teach The Post a lesson is to do the right things, avoid corruption and stop the rot. This is the only way to silence The Post when it comes to such issues.
An attack on a journalist, not just a Post journalist, is an attack on the whole society. Rupiah wants to create fear – what he is calling discipline. He wants to cow everyone into submission. He is afraid of criticism, hard criticism because he is not a true democrat. He was unfortunately left in the politics of the UNIP era. He seems shocked that anyone can challenge him and demand accountability. Rupiah had better wake up very quickly before he destroys himself and in the process, the nation.
And it cannot be denied that this attack on The Post was started by Rupiah himself on Thursday. The code of violence in the words that Rupiah unleashed on The Post was an order for physical violence against The Post. And there is no way Rupiah today can turn around and claim he is not part of this violence against The Post today. He started it. We cannot call others to virtues which we ourselves do not make an effort to practice. If you unleash a process where your party cadres start to see journalists from The Post as enemies of the nation, that process is very dangerous. And this is the process Rupiah has unleashed. We say this because you can’t lead anyone further than you have gone yourself.
Today it is a Post journalist that is being attacked, tomorrow it will be Rupiah’s opponents within the MMD. The way of Rupiah is so easily predictable. Things will not be easy within the MMD.
We have a duty to continue to speak fearlessly and forthrightly about what is going on in our country. if Rupiah thought that becoming president of Zambia was equivalent to being chief procurement officer or senior commissioned agent, he got things wrong. Zambia has tested the bitter pill of the kind of politics and economic management that Rupiah wants to take us back to.
When Chiluba and his tandem of thieves took control of government and felt confident to do whatever they wished, one of the first things they did was to destroy government procedures and processes. They did this to allow themselves freedom to steal and loot government resources. Almost no government work was ever done without corruption. We are not saying that corruption has ever been eradicated in this country or will ever be eradicated, but the systems that stop corruption need to be built. The media is one such institution. Corrupt elements can never like a free press.
We are not surprised that we are hated by some. In fact, we will be surprised if the opposite was to prevail. There is no way corrupt elements and their sympathisers can like us. Our work threatens the only means of livelihood which they know – corruption. We are not in the business of wanting to be liked. We leave that to others. We try to tell the truth in the hope that this will help our country. We are not fools. We know the dangers and the risks that we bring upon ourselves and those who work with us. But we believe that the price is worth paying. We know that Zambia is a better place today because the likes of Thomas have been prepared to risk leg or limb to keep their country informed and in the process expose wrongdoing.
We should never lose heart as a nation. We should never give in to intimidation. We should be ready to stand and tell the truth whenever we have the opportunity.
We know that we are a pain to Rupiah, we are an irritation, a deadly annoyance, but if this helps Rupiah to keep away from doing wrong, we would have helped our country.
We know that the tribunal that is starting tomorrow is part of the reason Rupiah is so angry with us. We have exposed his government’s propensity for corruption and now the whole nation is going to get a chance to see how the affairs are being governed. We say this because if we were not exposing corruption, if we were not hard on the wrong things that are going on in Rupiah’s government, Rupiah would have been our good friend today. But friendship or good relations based on lies are not worth having. We would rather be called names and maligned as long as we know we are telling the truth.
Some people thought Chiluba was their friend because they were doing wrong things together. They were prepared to conceive his wrongs. Where has it landed them today? They would have been better friends if they had told Chiluba that what he was doing was wrong. We don’t keep any friendship or association that is not based on truth. We don’t support any action regardless of who does it which is not based on truth.
Some people have even accused us of having been soft on Levy Mwanawasa and his government and that somehow, this won us some favours. But only liars can propagate such nonsense because all those that are honest in our country will remember that when Levy did wrong, we exposed him and the minions that were supporting him, including George Kunda. When they behaved like minions, we called them minions. When they did something good, we praised it and exalted them.
The day Rupiah shows that he believes in accountability and will fight for it not for cheap political purposes, we will praise him. As the tribunal begins, those who think are Rupiah’s friends will protect him by telling the truth. And in telling the truth, they will be speaking in defence of the 12 million Zambians who expect honest representation from those they have put in office.
It is because we are concerned about the 12 million Zambians that we believe Thomas’ sacrifice is worth it. But it is also time that the majority of our people begun to voice their disgust with wrongdoing. We cannot and should never remain silent as people become bold in doing wrong. This is what we saw from Rupiah on Thursday. If we don’t stand, they will continue to be bold in doing wrong.
The other week, Rupiah was complaining about lawlessness over leakage of government documents. But what can be worse lawlessness than the beating of an innocent journalist in the full view of the police and senior government and ruling MMD officials. The rule of law doesn’t allow this type of thing. Where there is no lawlessness, it is recognised, accepted and respected that every man or woman should have an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he or she pleases before the public; to stop this through violent acts is to destroy the freedom of the press; but if he or she publishes what is improper, mischievous or illegal, he or she must take the consequences of his or her own temerity. And all this has to be done through the courts of law. If our work has offended anyone, the solution is not to start physically attacking our reporters but to go to court and seek legal redress. This is what the rule of law demands. It’s barbaric to start physically attacking journalists.
Labels: CADRES, RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST, THOMAS NSAMA
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MMD cadres beat up Post journalist
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Christopher Miti in Chipata
POST photojournalist Thomas Nsama was yesterday beaten and harassed by ruling MMD cadres at Chipata airport when he went to cover the arrival of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma.And Nsama formally lodged a complaint to the police at Chipata Central Police Station about the beatings by the cadres.
The incident happened shortly after President Rupiah Banda arrived at the airport to wait for the arrival of Zuma.
Nsama said the MMD cadres harassed and started slapping him at about 10:30 hours, while senior government officials were watching.
Nsama had gone to greet President Banda's chief analyst for press and public relations, Dickson Jere.
After Nsama greeted Jere, the presidential press aide told President Banda's son, who was standing next to him that Nsama's boss had written about him.
While Nsama was talking to Jere, three MMD cadres came and demanded to know the media organisation he represented.
Nsama said he was approached by three MMD cadres from Lusaka whom he knew by faces, who asked for his press pass, but he refused to produce it and then they demanded for his camera.
After Nsama refused to give them his camera they started threatening to beat him.
"When the cadres came, I said, 'I am with Mr Jere here and then Jere explained that 'leave him, he is an innocent man' but the cadres ignored him. They started dragging me and beating me with their fists," Nsama said.
Later the cadres threatened to sort him out if he did not leave Chipata airport.
Nsama ignored their orders and told them that he was at the airport to cover Zuma.
As Nsama was being harassed and roughed up, Jere, agriculture minister Dr Brian Chituwo, Eastern Province permanent secretary Eularia Syamujaye and some MMD officials stood by watching.
Before Nsama could finish explaining and defending his presence at the airport, the cadres started dragging and hitting him in the head with their fists.
The unruly cadres shouted that Nsama and his colleagues from The Post would not cover the arrival of Zuma.
"When I refused to produce my press pass they all said they know me I was coming from The Post newspaper in Lusaka and they said 'you are not going to cover this function, just leave the airport' and when I refused to leave they said they were going to sort me out and tried to grab my camera but I resisted and the three started beating me on the head with fists and some security personnel from State House restrained the cadres and rescued me while another officer blocked the cadres from following me but State House officers advised me to leave the function so that they can conduct their duties of protecting the President. They said it will be very difficult to divide themselves in order to protect me and also to protect Jacob Zuma and President Banda," Nsama said.
The authors saw the three cadres viciously punching Nsama's head with their fists.
"Nicha Post tizachimenya, tizamupaya! [He is from The Post! We will beat him, we will kill him!" the cadres shouted.
As Nsama was being roughed up, these authors tried to come between the cadres and their colleague but the cadres could not restrain.
The security personnel struggled to stop the untouchable cadres.
"Even the President knows us. We will sort you out. Mwachilamo kulemba pali ba President bathu! [It is too much of you writing articles on our President]" the cadres shouted after the security personnel restrained them.
After that Nsama followed the guidance of the security personnel and left the airport.
Nsama said he left for his safety and went to report the matter at the police.
"The police recorded a statement from me about what happened and asked me to go to Chipata General Hospital for medical examination. I went to Chipata General Hospital but I was advised to go back to the hospital on Monday March 2, 2009 because the doctor was out of office for other duties," said Nsama.
Labels: CADRES, MMD, THE POST, THOMAS NSAMA
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