State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 • DATE: February 24, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Radio Icengelo VIOLATIONS: Threatened O n February 24 2003, Information and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Webster Chipili threatened Radio Icengelo, a Catholic-owned station in Kitwe, with closure, saying it risks losing its broadcast licence if it continues to be used as a mouthpiece for opposition political parties. Speaking on the state-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) television news, Chipili accused the station of being a mouthpiece for opposition Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata and called on the station to desist or risk losing its licence. • DATE: June 24, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Masautso Phiri VIOLATIONS: Threatened O n June 24 2003, police in Lusaka asked Masautso Phiri, editor of the privately-owned weekly newspaper Today, to report to police headquarters at 14h00 for questioning. Phiri told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA), MISA’s Zambian chapter, that although the subject of the questioning was not specified in the summons, he suspected that it might be linked to a series of stories his newspaper published between June 3 and 24. Two of the stories are related to an alleged sex scandal at the State House, the president’s official residence, and detail the attempts to cover it up. The latest story is related to President Mwanawasa’s alleged poor health. • DATE: July 2, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Masautso Phiri VIOLATIONS: Detained O n July 2 2003, police recorded a “warn and caution” statement from Masautso Phiri, editor of Today newspaper, who voluntarily presented himself for questioning at police headquarters one week after he was initially summoned. Phiri, who was accompanied to the police station by his lawyer, Sakwiba Sikota, told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA), MISA’s Zambian chapter, that police questioned him about a story entitled “Mwanawasa paves way for coup?” in the newspaper’s June 3 to 10 edition. The article said that President Levy Mwanawasa’s leadership style had brought about political instability in the country, leading some people to express fears of a possible military coup. • DATE: September 17, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Alfarson Sinalungu VIOLATIONS: Threatened O n September 17 2003, four prison wardens confronted Alfarson Sinalungu, a freelance journalist who writes for the privately-owned Post newspaper, over an interview he conducted with convicted coup plotter Captain Jack Chiti. Chiti, who is on death row, is currently in Kabwe general hospital. Sinalungu told MISA-Zambia that the wardens accosted him at the hospital and accused him of being the author of a profile of Chiti that appeared in the September 7 edition of The Sunday Post. In the article, Chiti explained in detail his involvement in the failed October 27 1997 coup d’état against former president Frederick Chiluba, his subsequent torture, the harassment So This Is Democracy? 2003 107 Media Institute of Southern Africa