State of the media report July - Dec 2022 3.5 MAFKEN RADIO ATTACK CASE The report indicates that on 1st January, 2023 MISA Zambia, received an alert that suspected UPND Cadres had blocked Economic and Equity Party President Mr. Chilufya Tayali from having a programme at Mafken Radio in Mufulira. It is allegedly that the said cadres surrounded the Mafken building for about 4 hours from 13hrs to 17hrs until they made sure he didn’t feature on 31st December 2022. Following this threat on the radio station, MISA Zambia conducted a media monitoring visit to Mufulira at Mafken Radio to offer solidarity and follow up on the case. During the visit, the team learnt that the radio station didn’t report the matter to the police because the owner of the station was not around when the incident happened. To triangulate the findings, the MISA team met with the United Party for National Development 3.(UPND) leadership in the district to discuss the matter that happened at the radio station. It should be noted that the UPND leadership said that the incident that happened at the radio station was unfortunate and should be condemned in its strongest terms and it had no blessings of the leadership in the area. They said they have always supported media freedom and freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The leaders also pledged to talk to the youths never to carry out such actions again against the media and appealed to the MISA team if they could to sensitize the cadres on the importance of the media. An engagement meeting with the District Commissioner of Mufulira was also held and the office expressed sadness at the incident. 18