Lusaka Resident Magistrate Charles Kafunda on 2 August 2009 issued a warrant to arrest Zambia's Post Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Fred M'membe for not appearing before the court over contempt of court charges.

On 31 August the magistrate had ordered The Post's entire editorial staff to appear before court for publishing an article authored by Zambian United States based University of Cornell's Professor of Law Muna Ndulo. The article described the prosecution of the newspaper's news editor Chansa Kabwela as a 'comedy of errors.'

However, several of the paper's journalists staff did not turn up, but state prosecutors and the magistrate were only interested in M'membe. Only Post deputy editor-in-chief Sam Mujuda (currently acting editor in-chief), managing editor Amos Malupenga and production editor Afeti Yulu appeared before the court.

The state prosecutors asked why M'membe was not present despite the court citing him as the editor in-chief for contempt of court. Lawyers for The Post submitted that M'membe is on study leave and was not working at the time an article was published and that Mujuda was acting editor-in-chief at the time.

"Fred M'membe has been on study leave for two, three months now pursuing his masters degree. The editor in-chief in this case [Mujuda] is here," the lawyers argued.

The lawyers further argue that the summons were not properly served in that they did not mention the name M'membe but editor-in-chief and in that case Mujuda was before court. However, state prosecutor Frank Mumbuna maintained that M'membe was supposed to be in court and his absence undermined the integrity and authority of the court.

Making a ruling on the matter, Magistrate Kafunda issued a bench warrant for M'membe to be arrested for not being in court. Mujuda told the court that as acting editor-in-chief, he was responsible for whatever was published including Prof Ndulo's article. Magistrate Kafunda, therefore, cited Mujuda for contempt but maintained the bench warrant for the arrest of M'membe. M'membe and Mujuda will appear in court on 7 September 2009.

Malupenga said he did not play any role in the publication of the article while Yulu said he was on short leave at the time of publication of the article. Magistrate Kafunda allowed Malupenga and Yulu to go without charge.

Background

On 31 August 2009, Magistrate Kafunda summoned The Post newspapers' entire editorial staff to appear before his court over the article authored by Prof Ndulo in which he described the prosecution of the newspaper's news editor Chansa Kabwela as a 'comedy of errors.' Kabwela is on trial for circulating pictures of a woman, who gave birth without medical assistance outside a hospital in Lusaka, during a strike of nurses and doctors in Zambia.

Since the pictures were gruesome and depicted the apex of the strike, Kabwela could not publish the pictures instead she wrote a letter, and enclosed the same pictures, and sent them to Vice-President George Kunda, the minister of health, women organization's umbrella body and Lusaka Catholic Church archbishop, with a view that the pictures would prompt the government to quickly resolve the strike. Kabwela has pleaded not guilty to one count of circulating obscene materials or things tending to corrupt public morals, contrary to section 177 1(b) of the Penal Code.

Reagan Malumo
Programme Officer: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626
E mail: reagan@misa.org