in preference for Lozi music which is native to the area. The traditional authorities have also questioned the fact that two of the station’s senior officials, the station manager Fr. Victor Mwansa and Production Manager Bella Zulu were non-Lozi who hailed from Northern and Eastern Provinces respectively, where Bemba and Nyanja were the predominant languages. Further, the station has been warned not to go ahead with plans to introduce Mbunda as a third language in addition to Lozi and English as that might lead to the conflicts within the community. Fr. Mwansa told MISA Zambia that he and several of his staff were summoned to the chief’s palace on January 10, 2007, where a group of the chief’s advisors (Induna’s) demanded that the station should stop playing Nyanja and Bemba music within two days of the meeting. They accused the station of trying to dilute local culture by playing Nyanja and Bemba music and being party to a scheme to introduce Nyanja and Bemba into the community. However, they had no problems with the station playing English music. Fr. Mwansa described the two hour meeting with the Indunas as “intimidating” because they made several threats against the station, including lobbying for the revocation of its licence and evicting it from the traditional land where it is located. As a compromise, the station has further limited the playing of Nyanja and Bemba songs but Fr. Mwansa complained that there was not enough Lozi music available to play. Efforts were being made to meet the Ngambela or Prime Minister of the Lozi Royal Establishment to resolve the issue amicably. • ALERT Date: July 19, 2007 Persons: Q-FM radio station Violation: Censored On July 19 2007, police in Lusaka prevented Q-FM, a private radio station, from mounting their Outside Broadcasting (OB) equipment to cover live a demonstration organised by the OASIS forum and Collaborative Group on the Constitution, outside the gates of Parliament. Police said that the permit issued to the conveners of the demonstration did not include mounting the OB unit for live coverage of the event. In a telephone interview with MISA Zambia, Q-FM director Moses Nyama said the police ordered the Q-FM OB team to clear the area and stopped reporter Mutuna Chanda from conducting live coverage. Nyama told MISA Zambia that when Chanda asked the police why his team was being barred from using the OB van, he was told that the organisers of the event did not indicate that there would be such equipment used at the demonstration. A MISA Zambia team that went to the scene found Chanda using his mobile phone to cover the event after police officers prohibited the mounting of the OB equipment. The demonstration was held to picket Parliament on the need to adopt the Constitution through the Constituent Assembly as opposed to a Constituent Conference through the Zambia Interparty Dialogue (ZIPD). • ALERT Date: July 17, 2007 Persons: Edward Mulenga Violation: Censored On July 17 2007, security personnel at the Livingstone International Airport attempted to stop Edward Mulenga, a bureau chief of the Times of Zambia newspaper, and other journalists from taking pictures. They also threatened to confiscate Mulenga’s camera. Mulenga and the other journalists were trying to photograph an airplane with Djibouti’s President Ismail Guelleh on board, which was unable to take off. Mulenga told MISA Zambia that security personnel ordered So This Is Democracy? 2007 -120- Media Institute of Southern Africa