(RSF/IFEX) – In a 5 September 2000 letter to Attorney General George Chilupe, RSF expressed its concern about the fire which gutted a part of the offices of Zambia’s main private daily, “The Post”. RSF asked the minister to open an inquiry in order to determine the exact reasons for this fire and asked to […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 5 September 2000 letter to Attorney General George Chilupe, RSF expressed its concern about the fire which gutted a part of the offices of Zambia’s main private daily, “The Post”. RSF asked the minister to open an inquiry in order to determine the exact reasons for this fire and asked to be informed of the progress of the investigation.
According to information collected by RSF, on 3 September, the offices of “The Post” were partially gutted by a fire, in what could be a criminal act. The fire started at approximately 11 p.m. (local time) and destroyed about US$500,000 (approx. 556,000 euros) worth of equipment. According to one of the daily’s heads, Goliath Mungonge, “it could be sabotage, this is not the first time we are experiencing such acts.”
“The Post”, which has been very critical of President Frederick Chiluba’s government, has often been penalised by the government. Two years ago the government banned one edition because it ran a story about an upcoming referendum, containing classified information. More recently, in March 1999, eleven journalists were arrested and charged for spying after the newspaper published an article entitled “Angola worries the Zambian army”, which stated that Zambia’s military capacity was inferior to that of Angola. Ten of them were acquitted on 18 August 2000. The authorities had insufficient evidence to accuse each journalist. Editor-in-chief Fred Mmembe is still being prosecuted as the judge thinks that he is responsible for “The Post”‘s content. If he is found guilty, Mmembe risks facing a twenty year jail sentence (see IFEX alerts of 18 August, 20 and 15 June, 28 and 12 May and 7 April 2000, 6 December, 26 and 2 November, 29 October, 25 May, 30, 19 and 1 April, 26, 25, 22, 19, 18, 17, 15, 12, 11 and 10 March 1999).
