Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

The Law Commission has been asked to review certain laws recently passed in Parliament, including Section 46 of the Penal Code, which empowers a minister to ban publications deemed unsuitable for the public good.

Reporter Xolisani Ncube and editor Stanely Gama are likely to be charged with criminal defamation under the Criminal Law Act.

Journalists were verbally and physically assaulted when they attempted to cover a hearing in a court case involving a former minister of labour and social security.

The US$100,000 defamation suit arose from a story published in “The Masvingo Mirror” referring to Colonel Claudius Makova’s alleged interests in Bikita Minerals and implication in acts of violence.

The Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism said the law, once implemented, will contribute in changing the culture of secrecy that characterises Zambian public institutions.

A day after Nevanji Madanhire was granted bail on charges of criminal defamation police officers visited the “Standard”‘s publisher, Alpha Media Holdings, to question him again on a different matter.

The “RAI” newspaper and columnist Prince Bagenda have been fined approximately US$9,000 in total.

After hearing rumours of the death of Dawit Isaak, an Swedish-Eritrean journalist held without charge for ten years, 31 members of IFEX are asking President Isaias Afewerki to confirm that he is still alive and if so, to release him from prison.