State of the media report Q1-2021 Various members of parliament had debated on the Bill. Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya said 20 amendments were already proposed to the Bill. Communique-9th March (Zambia Daily Mail) Government is not trying to squeeze people with the proposed Cyber Security and Cyber security law, a University of Zambia Political science lecturer has said. Evans Daka says countries world over are putting in place insecurities on the internet, “The Cyber Security and Cyber Crime Bill is coming because of insecurities on the internet, starting from the united Nations and many countries, even at a regional level, there is a demand to put in place laws that will guarantee safety of the internet,” Mr. Daka said in an interview. He, however, said some stakeholders have concerns over the proposed Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes is in place, it should be properly implemented. “The Proposed cyber law will not only bring sanity in politics but in social life as well because there will be consequences for abusing social media. “The issue with this bill is implemented, some stakeholders, especially political parties and some civil society organisation (CSOs) limited democratic space,” he said. Mr. Daka said some CSOs are suspicious of the rush with which Government wants to enact the law. “There are many other good bills that have been shelved, so some of these CSOs who are pushing various agenda want to participate in the electoral process and so feel this law may affect them,’ he said. Communique-10th March (News Diggers) Date:10/03/2021 THE State has closed its case in a matter where Chishimba Kambwili is accused of defaming President Edgar Lungu, after calling various witnesses to testify in the matter. And Chief Resident Magistrate Lameck Mwale has set April 6, this year, as a date for ruling on whether Kambwili has a case or no case to answer. Kambwili is in this matter charged with defamation of the President. Communique-10th March (Times of Zambia) The amendments of cyber security and cybercrime Bill which came for the committee stage was yesterday punctuated with objections as members from both opposition and executive took turns to highlight what will be the merits and demerits of The Bill’s clauses if enacted into law. The bill, however went through the committee stage to the report stage where the amendment bill could be debated and further amendments proposed. Meanwhile new government Bills where yesterday presented to the house for the first reading by responsible Minister's. The various classes of the cyber security and cybercrime Bill were considered line –by- line with changes being made on wording or for new clauses to the added. The bill seeks to provide for cyber security protection of persons against Cybercrime and facilitate identification, clarification and protection of critical information infrastructure. Deputy speaker of the National assembly Catherine Namugala presided over tabling of the bill, several members engaged in a heated deliberation with some raising on points of the of procedural. Taking turns to debate the clauses for amendments, Justice Minister Given Lubinda said he was shocked to learn some opposition MPs were in forefront wanting to delete a clause that highlighted the need to address hate speech. “How could anyone possibly oppose a clause to make a new law to deal with hate speech?” Mr. Lubinda wondered. 41