Zambian lawyers fight for media freedom as journalists harassed ahead of election

Lusaka, April 22, 2026—For months, lawyer Josiah Kalala has been working late into the night on a case he believes could define the future of press freedom in Zambia: preparing arguments, reviewing legal provisions, and consulting colleagues.

Kalala, who heads Chapter One Foundation, a local human rights group, hopes that the hundreds of hours he has poured into this mission will persuade Zambia’s High Court to declare the country’s 2025 cyber laws unconstitutional.

“These laws go to the heart of how people communicate, how journalists work, and how power is held to account,” Kalala told CPJ. “If left unchecked, they have the potential to undermine fundamental freedoms.”

Chapter One Foundation has joined the Law Association of Zambia’s July 2025 petition to overturn key sections of these two sweeping laws, which President Hakainde Hichilema assented to in April 2025. The Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law provided advice to local nonprofit Free Press Initiative, which is acting as amicus curae, or a friend of the court, in the case, alongside Amnesty International.

“The laws grant wide powers of surveillance, interception, and data access without sufficiently robust judicial oversight,” Kalala said. “Collectively, these features create a framework that risks arbitrary enforcement and undermines constitutional protections relating to privacy, due process, and freedom of expression.”

Journalists face prison, device seizures

The Cyber Crimes Act goes against recommendations by the United Nations and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to tackle defamation with civil remedies. Instead, it jails for up to two years those found to have disseminated “false information” that “causes damage to the reputation of another person” or “subjects another person to public ridicule, contempt, hatred or embarrassment.”

In addition, those who possess “unauthorized data relating to critical information” or “without lawful authority, communicate, disclose or transmit” such data can be imprisoned for up to 15 years. “Critical information” is broadly defined as data that “relates to public safety, public health, economic stability, national security.”

Kalala is concerned that the vague language used to define these offenses could be misused to undermine critical reporting and investigative journalism. 

Similarly, provisions in the Cyber Security Act are overly broad, for example, giving law enforcement officers discretion to search and seize computers and other devices if they have “reasonable grounds to believe” they contain information that they seek, without adequate public interest safeguards for investigative journalism, he said.

Station raided, journalist tasered ahead of election

These laws are among pressures on the media ahead of elections scheduled for August 13.

Although Hichilema promised “a new dawn” when “the media will be freed” in his inaugural speech in 2021, CPJ has documented several detentions and assaults of journalists, particularly when covering protests and the opposition.

“Press freedom is a fundamental right that enhances democracy in any country. For Zambia, this is very important as the country prepares for the elections on August 13,” Lauren Mwanza Chisanga, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) advocacy group in Zambia, told CPJ.

MISA’s latest survey found 62% of journalists in Zambia believe the press does not operate freely and 41% had been harassed in the second half of 2025.

“I would describe the current press freedom climate as strained and increasingly uncertain,” said Jeremy Munthali, editor-in-chief of The Mast newspaper. “There has been a noticeable rise in incidents of harassment and intimidation directed at journalists perceived to be critical of those in authority. These pressures are not always overt, but they are sufficiently present to create a climate of caution within newsrooms.”

On April 8, suspected supporters of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), accompanied by police, forced their way into Radio Mpongwe, in central Mpongwe District, and halted the broadcast of a show featuring two party members who were making allegations about corruption in UPND elections.

Station manager Machova Musanshi told CPJ the officers said they had been instructed to stop the program for allegedly attacking “the government leadership.” One of the party critics was taken to a police station to record a statement, while the other hid inside the station, Musanshi said.

In addition, on April 19, Alfonso Kasongo of privately owned Power FM radio was assaulted by suspected UPND supporters at a campaign event. The journalist told CPJ he was filming supporters subduing someone who had thrown stones at party officials when he was beaten and tasered. In a video, reviewed by CPJ, Kasongo is heard identifying himself as a journalist and pleading with his attackers, accompanied by a buzzing sound like tasers emitting an electric charge.

UPND media director Mark Simuuwe told CPJ via email that the ruling party “does not condone violence” and called on the police to “thoroughly investigate all reported incidents involving attacks on journalists” and ensure those involved are arrested and prosecuted “without fear or favour.”

Government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment via phone and messaging app.

Newsrooms self-censor

For newsrooms, such incidents weigh heavily on editorial decisions.

“It’s much like driving on a muddy road; the regulatory environment seems to be giving rise to self-censorship,” said Kennedy Mambwe, CEO of the digital broadcaster KBN TV, which was summoned in 2023 by the regulatory Independent Broadcasting Authority and ordered to stop inviting politicians to present the news. The order is still in force.

“KBN TV is one of the media outlets that has been summoned by the regulator and censured more than any other we know. Even though the reasons sometimes are put across as regulatory in nature, the motive sounds like political intimidation,” he said, adding that using regulators as “political tools” causes “so much damage” to journalism.

The Cyber Security Act is not the only law focused on expanding state surveillance powers.

The Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Bill, which proposes to establish a comprehensive legal framework for the installation, operation, and regulation of closed-circuit television, is due to return to parliament for review after Hichilema declined to sign it in February. Although lawmakers approved the draft law in 2025, the president said it risked being intrusive and needed to be revised.

“Expanded surveillance powers can compromise source confidentiality,” said Kalala, adding that the identities of journalists’ sensitive sources could be exposed. 

‘I cannot publish’

As Kalala prepares to return to court in May to continue challenging the new cyber laws, the Zambian Whistleblower’s Thomas Zgambo are already facing the prospectof lengthy prison sentences over sedition charges. The investigative journalist is fighting two cases linked to his reporting on corruption and poor governance. If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to seven years on each count.

Sedition — or conduct that encourages insurrection or rebellion against the government — is an old-fashioned offense under Zambia’s 1930 Penal Code that has long been used to silence dissenting voices. The law defines publications with “seditious intention” as those that aim to “bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against” the government or among people.

The misuse of sedition charges by successive Zambian governments ruffled by legitimate criticism and investigative reporting highlights the risks posed by the new cyber laws, with similarly vague and expansive terms.

“In Zambia, press freedom is like a gift from the executive wing of any government. It is not a right,” said Zgambo, who feels muzzled by the two sedition cases he is facing. “I personally have a lot of stories that I believe are of public interest that I cannot publish because of the current prevailing conditions.”

Despite this, Zgambo’s motivation remains unchanged.

“What motivates me to continue operating despite these challenges is my love for my country. I’m a patriot,” he said.

Editor’s note: Joan Chirwa, CPJ’s southern Africa researcher, is executive director of Free Press Initiative.