“I have been following what the Daily Mail is doing you don’t know … that you can be fired,” Chitala said. Mulenga said that Chitala, who claimed he was in Vice President Rupiah Banda’s campaign team for the MMD presidency, warned them that this was a matter of life and death. When contacted for a comment by The Post, Chitala said that the assertion of threats was a falsehood that did not deserve any apology. • ALERT Date: September 24, 2008 Person/institutions: Broadcasting stations Violation: Censored The Zambia government, through the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, instructed in a written letter, all broadcasters, both commercial and community, to desist from live phone-in broadcast programmes that involve members of the public. In a letter dated September 12 the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Emmanuel Nyirenda wrote that: “It has been observed that some radio stations have political programmes which provide unbalanced and, in some cases, unfair coverage to political parties during election campaigns.” This move was dismissed by MISA Zambia and other media freedom organisation as a violation of media and freedom of expression rights. In a statement the chairperson of MISA Zambia, Henry Kabwe, said: “This move is a desperate attempt by the government to muzzle the media in the run up to the October 30 presidential by- elections.” • ALERT Date: September 25. 2008 Person/institutions: Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Violation: Threatened On September 25, the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) threatened to commence legal proceedings against the state-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) if it did not cover PF’s campaign activities in a fair and professional manner. According to a letter dated September 25 to ZNBC director general, PF’s lawyers stated that the opposition party had observed that ZNBC had discriminated the party in its coverage of campaign activities contrary to the electoral act regulations. The lawyers stated that the position was supported by the electoral act regulations, which ZNBC had ignored in favour of the ruling MMD. • ALERT Date: September 27, 2008 Person/institutions: The Post newspaper Violation: Censored On September 27 the Lusaka High Court granted Acting President Rupiah Banda an injunction restraining The Post newspaper and any of its agents from publishing libellous words against him. The Sunday Mail of September 28 reports that according to a court order, the newspaper was directed to stop printing, circulating or distributing libellous words until an inter-party hearing set for October 3 is held or until further orders of the court. Earlier this month, the ruling Movement for Multiparty and Democracy (MMD) party complained to the Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ) of the alleged scandalous coverage by The Post newspaper of Banda, who is also the party’s presidential candidate in the October 30 election. The Post vowed to continue publishing stories and editorial comments questioning Banda’s actions, decisions and personality. So This Is Democracy? 2008 -121- Media Institute of Southern Africa