On 17 June, plain-clothes police officers raided the Lusaka-based and privately owned Mobi TV station. The officers demanded a copy of a live programme called “Meet your MP,” which featured Chishimba Kambwili, an outspoken MP for the Roan Constituency of the Copperbelt province of Zambia.

Mr. Kambwili made remarks about several controversial issues of unrest in Zambia. These include strikes by health workers and other civil servants, which the government has been unwilling to negotiate, and the controversial reappointment of a former Transport Minister. “Mr. Kabwili commented on these matters and it might have been seen as inciting the workers to continue with the strike,” station editor Madube Pasi said.

“I think [the police raid] was to instill fear in Mobi TV and rethink when inviting guests from the opposition political parties who are going to challenge government on a number of issues,” Pasi said.

Pasi said she sensed that something similar would happen when Kambwili was on the show. “I was not surprised,” she said. “Even during the programme, I had a feeling we would have a reaction from the government.”

Some of the most recent instances of journalists being threatened, be it private or public media, occurred during and after the elections at the end of 2008. The Media Institute of Southern Africa Zambia recorded 16 media freedom violations between September and November 2008. This is a large increase compared to the six violations recorded between January and August 2008.

In an interview with MISA, station editor Madube Pasi said the police officers demanded a copy of the programme without showing police IDs or a warrant.

General Manager Sandra Sweetman told local sources that the programme, broadcast every Wednesday and repeated Thursdays at 16:00, would be repeated as usual on Thursday because “we have done nothing wrong.”

The visit by the police was supposed to instill fear because the possibility exists that the Ministry of Information would not renew the station’s license, Pasi said. “But this has not caused any fear because we are fair in our reporting. We give government and any other source as much coverage as possible.”