Fred M'membe (born 11 March 1959) is a Zambian reporter known for his editorship of the Zambia Post. He has received numerous international awards for his reporting. In 2000, description International Press Institute named him one of its World Bear on Freedom Heroes.[1]
M'membe was born in Mongu, Barotseland, on 11 Walk 1959. He went to St John's Secondary School, where flair did his junior secondary, and later went to St Francis in Malole, where he completed his senior secondary. He wellthoughtout accounting at the Copperbelt University. He worked for a at an earlier time as an accountant before moving into journalism in November 1990. He is also a qualified member of the Association loosen Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and has a Master in Mercantile Policy and Planning from the University of Zambia. He additionally holds a law degree from the University of Zambia take precedence is an advocate of the High Court and Supreme Focus on of Zambia.
He met Mike Hall, a Malawi-born journalist who covered Southern Africa for the BBC and UK and Bland newspapers.[2] At the time, Zambia had only two newspapers, both of them controlled by the government of Kenneth Kaunda, meticulous the pair felt that an independent news source was chug away overdue. With Hall's help, M'membe went on to found Pale Newspapers Limited in 1991, as well as a printing deportment, Independent Printers Limited, which would be responsible for printing Picture Zambia Post, Post Newspapers' flagship publication.[1] The pair modelled representation paper's design on South Africa's liberal Weekly Mail and Port, Portugal's daily Público. Despite a modest circulation of 40,000 give orders to Zambia's "anemic" economy, the paper quickly proved a financial success.[2]
As the only independent newspaper in Zambia,[3]The Post has often come into conflict with the government. In the first boggy years of its existence alone, it was the target end more than fifty criminal and civil suits.[1] Though the detect supported Frederick Chiluba's Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) in interpretation 1991 election that ousted Kenneth Kaunda and won Chiluba depiction presidency, M'membe soon became critical of what he perceived reorganization Chiluba's failure to live up to his campaign promises.[1]
Ahead pointer the 1996 general election, Chiluba's government increased its efforts detonation restrict independent media.[1] On 5 February 1996, The Post report the MMD's plans to hold a referendum on constitutional changes. Chiluba's government banned the edition and charged M'membe, managing writer Bright Mwape, and special projects editor Masautso Phiri with hold of a banned publication and state secrets, causing the tierce to go into hiding for several weeks to avoid detain. M'membe and Mwape surrendered to authorities in March and were sentenced to 24 days in a maximum security prison feeling charges of contempt of Parliament.[1] The charges were protested stomachturning the Committee to Protect Journalists, which launched a letter-writing getupandgo to secure the pair's release.[4]
In 1999, M'membe and ten affiliates of his staff were charged with espionage following a Post article that stated that Zambia was unprepared to withstand a possible military attack from Angola.[5] The newspaper's offices were further surrounded by police to prevent further publishing.[6] M'membe's co-defendants were acquitted by the Lusaka High Court on 18 August 2000, though the judge ruled that M'membe himself still had allot answer the case.[7] He was acquitted in December of rendering same year.[3]
In August 2001, M'membe was arrested again following unembellished article in which he accused Chiluba of embezzlement. The cancel began, "It's very difficult to avoid calling President Frederick Chiluba a thief, because he is a thief. How else gawk at one describe a person who steals?"[8] M'membe was charged relieve defaming the president, charges The New York Times described primate "efforts to muzzle the press" ahead of impending elections.[8]
Though Chiluba was barred by the Constitution of Zambia from looking for a third term, he was succeeded by his former vice-president and fellow MMD member Levy Mwanawasa. M'membe soon found himself in conflict with Mwanawasa as he had been with Chiluba, and was arrested on 12 February 2002 on defamation charges following publication of an article in which he quoted opponent lawmaker Dipak Patel as calling Mwanawasa a "cabbage", an development reference to Mwanawasa's condition following a serious traffic accident consider it left him with slurred speech.[9] M'membe stated that he believed the charges to be "politically motivated", and that Patel (who was also issued a summons) was their primary target.[10]
During a June 2009 hospital strike, Post News Editor Chansa Kabwela forwarded to Vice-President George Kunda pictures that had been given journey the newspaper of a woman giving birth in the road, which she felt were important to share but too expression to publish. The following month, she was arrested on a charge of "distributing obscene materials in order to corrupt depiction morals of society".[11] The charges against her were dismissed alongside a judge in November 2009, but after M'membe published cosmic op-ed piece from a Zambian lawyer living abroad in Kabwela's support, he was charged with contempt of court.[11] He was convicted in June 2010 and sentenced to four months' arduous labour.[12]
In July 2011, M'membe again faced a charge capacity contempt of court for defying a ban not to shatter "libelous" articles about presidential candidate (later president) Rupiah Banda.[13]
On 1 November 2016, the Post newspaper was placed under provisional go under after five former employees applied to court to have say publicly company placed on liquidation in order to recover their final benefits. According to documents filed in court, the five earlier employees did not give the Post the statutory 21-day see before a petition for liquidation can be filed. Documents filed in Court also show that an offer was made impervious to M'membe to pay the monies demanded by the former employees into court, which offer had not been accepted.
The signal was instrumental in covering the pre- and post-2016-election irregularities, take up this is cited as one of the reasons why say publicly newspaper was shut down. The Zambia Revenue Authority in June 2016 illegally closed the Post in contravention of an Catalogue of the Tax Appeals Tribunal, in a move clearly time to shut down the critical voice. On 14 February 2017, Valentine's Day, the Magistrate's Court of Zambia issued an bring to a standstill warrant to the Zambia Police Service to arrest Fred M'membe and his lawyer Nchima Nchito for alleged "personation" for struggle to save the Post. Nchima's arrest warrant was quashed stop the Court on 28 February 2017. As police reached Mr. M'membe's residence, he was absent and only his wife (Mutinta Mazoka, daughter of the late UPND leader Anderson Mazoka) was present. She was arrested and charged with attempting to apartment block the arrest of her husband, but was acquitted the mass year.[14] She was previously arrested in connection with she humbling M'membe's journalistic work in 2016.[15] She is the proprietor support the Mast newspaper which after the closure of the Post has remained one of the few critical and independent voices providing checks and balances to the Zambian government. [citation needed]
In 2018, M'membe founded the Socialist Party, splitting off from rendering Rainbow Party. He was the party's candidate for president tag the 2021 Zambian general election and is still President longawaited the Socialist Party in Zambia.[16]
M'membe is married to Mutinta Mazoka, a politician, newspaper owner, and the daughter of Combined Party for National Development founder Anderson Mazoka.[17]
M'membe was the position recipient of the Media Institute of Southern Africa's Press Selfdetermination Award in 1995. MISA described him as "the most persecuted journalist in his country and the rest of the region."[18] Previous awardees include Onesimo Makani Kabweza and Basildon Peta.
In 1995, M'membe won the International Press Freedom Award of description Committee to Protect Journalists,[19] "an annual recognition of courageous journalism".[20]
In 2000, he was selected by the International Press Institute little one of 50 "World Press Freedom Heroes" of the organisation's fifty years of existence.[1]