ther adjustment of the TV levy from the
recently revised K5 (US$0.51) to K10
(US$1).

Digital Migration
What started as a pipe dream for many
in Zambia was finally achieved in 2017.
On 1 October 2017, Zambia switched
over from analogue to digital broadcasting in most parts of the country without
any hitch.
The country was then informed that the
follow through of the second and third
phases of the digital migration project
would continue with the construction
of six provincial broadcasting stations
in Chipata, Chinsali, Kabwe, Kasama,
Mansa and Mongu. The Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services,
Ms Kampamba Mulenga informed Parliament that these provincial broadcasting stations would help boost local
content production and employment
creation. Just two days after appraising Parliament, Mulenga expressed her
concern about the stalled construction
of two television broadcasting stations
in Choma and Solwezi specifically because government had allocated an additional K30 million (about US$ 3 million) towards payment of arrears owed
to contractors and to ensure the construction was fast-tracked.

124

The Post Newspapers Limited is
liquidated
Following the placement of The Post
Newspapers under compulsory liquidation in November 2016 by the Lusaka High Court and the appointment
of Lewis Mosho of Lewis Nathan Advocates as provisional liquidator in respect
of all the assets of the company – the
newspaper was taken off the streets and
the company was closed down. The issues with The Post started unravelling in
June 2016 and as 2017 came to a close,
the matter was still before the courts.

News Diggers! is Born
News Diggers! started out as an online
publication by former The Post employees and transitioned into a 12 paged-paper sent out on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays. On 18 December 2017 the
paper put out its first print version which
goes out on the streets from Monday to
Friday only.
The year under review saw one of Zambia’s public newspapers; Zambia Daily
Mail announcing a plan to reduce its
staff complement under what the company termed the “voluntary separation
scheme”. The justification for this, according to management, was to enable
the company meet staff costs.

PRINT MEDIA

Daily Mail Set To Go on Air

In July 2017, two petrol bombs were
thrown into the offices of the Daily Nation newspaper owned by Richard Sakala. Management at the newspaper said
there were attempts to set the building
that houses the newspaper on fire. The
attack took place a few days after the
biggest market in Lusaka was set ablaze.

In an interesting twist, the Zambia Daily
Mail Limited (one of the public newspapers in Zambia) called for qualified consultants to undertake a feasibility study
to set up a radio station. According to
the press advertisement, the objective
of the feasibility study was to provide a
roadmap on how to proceed with the establishment of a radio station that would
enhance the company’s commercial and
financial viability.

So This is Democracy? 2017

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