(MISA/IFEX) – “Radio Phoenix” General Manager Elizabeth Pemba says she received calls from an anonymous caller who warned her in Nyanja, a vernacular language, to “stop being cheeky.” In a 21 August 2001 letter to her lawyer, copied to the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA), Pemba said she got the first two calls on 20 […]
(MISA/IFEX) – “Radio Phoenix” General Manager Elizabeth Pemba says she received calls from an anonymous caller who warned her in Nyanja, a vernacular language, to “stop being cheeky.”
In a 21 August 2001 letter to her lawyer, copied to the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA), Pemba said she got the first two calls on 20 August at 8:30 p.m. (local time) and 11:30 p.m. respectively, while the last two calls came at 3:20 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on 21 August. Pemba said the caller sounded male.
Pemba also said the caller appeared to know her home address and kept repeating her vehicle registration number. The caller also told her to watch out for a white Land Rover, then hung up.
Pemba said she was taking this matter very seriously and had reported the case to the police, who assured her that they would investigate the matter.
These threats came in the wake of the closure of “Radio Phoenix” by the Ministry of Information on 18 August. Some observers view the closure as a direct attempt by the government to muzzle the station.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Vernon Mwaanga told “Radio Phoenix” that the government considered the failure to renew their licences for Lusaka and Kabwe on time “a serious matter.” He said that the situation would only be reviewed after they had met their obligations, “as required by law,” and subject to an investigation by his team of inspectors.
Pemba told ZIMA that officials at the Ministry of Information were being dodgy about how much the station needed to pay in licence renewals and penalties.
Her officials have been shuttling between offices since 20 August without making any headway. “The one cheque leaf we have been carrying around is even getting dirty now,” she said.
