STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA 4.3.2.1 Assaults and Attacks The first quarter saw a story circulating on social media in which a reporter narrated that he was tortured by army personnel. Unfortunately, the story died after the then Minister of Defense said the incident was regrettable. On 27th January, 2018, the Daily Nation, reported that, “Defence Minister, Davis Chama says that the abduction and torture of Daily Nation reporter, Micheal Miyoba is regrettable and saddening if it‟s true. Miyoba was recently attacked by four ZAF officers charged with the mandate to clearing vendors from Lusaka streets, for merely being found on the street as he went to board a bus home. However, it is the manner of torture that he was subjected to that has raised consternation in the nation. According to Miyoba, a female ZAF officer pulled his genitals not once or twice but four times as punishment6. The attack on the named reporter happened during the time when a combined team of defense forces were cleaning Lusaka City. This followed a directive from the government to remove street vendors from the central business district following the increase in the number of cholera cases reported in the country. It was also in the period under review that the media club condemned verbal attacks on The Mast newspaper by the PF cadres. On 26th February, 2018, The Mast published a reaction from Northern Region Media Club (NORTEC)7 condemning PF cadres for verbally assaulting The Mast reporter Marilyn Rose for reporting President’s Edgar Lungu’s „ubomba mwibala‟ remark. NORTEC secretary Clinton Masumba stated: “The reporter was verbally attacked following her article that appeared in the Mast Newspaper on 12th February 2018 headlined „YOU CAN STEAL‟…. but tabalila kumo nembuto kumo - Lungu‟, in which the Head of State used the idiom, „Ubomba mwibala alya mwibala, tabatila kulya kumonembuto kumo‟. Masumba stated. 6 7 th Daily Nation 27 January, 2018: Scribe’s Torture Ordeal Regrettable Says Minster th The Mast Newspaper, 26 February, 2018: Media club condemns PF Cadres’ verbal attack on Mast reporter. 13