Police in Lusaka have released Post Newspapers Editor-in-Chief Fred M’membe on Police bond with two working sureties.
Mr M’membe was released this evening has since been charged with criminal trespass and uttering forged documents.
Police arrested Mr M’membe, his wife Mutinta and Deputy News Editor Joseph Mwenda after they gained entry into the Post offices on Bwinjifumu road around 01:00hours this morning.
This was after obtaining a stay from the ZRA Appeals Tribunal restraining Zambia Revenue Authority from seizing the newspaper’s property.
And Mr. M’membe says he will not be silenced like others, but will continue to speak when things go wrong
Meanwhile, Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs Linda Thomas – Greenfield says Zambia’s democratic reputation is on the line depending on how the country conducts the August 11th elections.
Ms Greenfield says Zambians should strive to ensure that the August 11th General Elections are free, fair and credible.
Speaking during a media briefing to mark the end of her two day state visit in Lusaka today, Ms Greenfield says mission was to see how the US Government can help the country in holding peaceful elections free from political violence.
She during her visit she managed to meet with UPND President Hakainde Hichilema, but could not meet up with President Edgar Lungu to discuss the current political situation in the country.
Ms Greenfield says Zambia has a good record of being democratic country, and thus the need for all people to remain united and ensure they are not used for political expedience.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs has also advised the Zambian government to find means and ways of sitting down with the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and the Post Newspapers and come up with a plan on how the company can pay the taxes it owes while remaining operational.
She says it is important that an amicable solution is found to this problem so that the government is not seen to be fighting the newspaper.
KiKiKiKi, Zambia has gone to the dogs. Zambia is finished, Zambians created a dictator in less than two years, I didn’t know Easterners were this…… Bembas score a zero, thought bembas were smarter than a 5th grader, who thought an easterner would beat a bemba, come on Lungu, Dora, Kanitudila in the back ground, I am smiling was waiting to see the muscle of a bemba. Lungu until 2025, what is northern going to do? I am watching. Next Zambians will be asked to feed on rats like in Tanzania, lol.
Edgar Edgar, I feel pit for him.
He should have been him to pardon Mmembe 2 days ago. Everybody cried for him, he missed the opportunity of Mr. NICE guy.
Look now, the all world is descending on him like a ton of bricks.
You think drunkmanship can have time to read signs of his own downfall….Ask me later…I am Rainman, the first Charter of Human Freedoms
Boyi Mmembe just pay and all your problems will magically disappear. Playing the victim game fyena fya oyo
ECL, the drunk, is just making this guy popular again, and winning symoathy once more again..Mmembe has been rested in Zambia by the Zambian Police for about 798 times from 1991 over his intellectual property, The Post…You are likely to make him the first journalsit to win the Nobel Prize…watch the space….and drunk Lungu should expect a 798 metric toones of editorial missiles, like a Tonne of Bricks…khikikikiki
“And Mr. M’membe says he will not be silenced like others, but will continue to speak when things go wrong”……………kikikikiki. Membe must have been one of those kids who really struggled to grasp what the teacher was teaching in class. No one will stop you from writing whatever you wish to write as long as you pay what you owe the tax man, it’s as simple as that, get it?
@Nostradamus
Have you seen Edgar??,, yes I mean Edgar Lungu, us from the Green party are looking for him, we want our money, we will arrest him also!!
You did good not to meet Edgar chakolwa Kaloba Wrungu because nothing sensible comes from him.
12 August 1216 – As the last votes are being counter in Zambia, news seculating on social media is that Lungu has fled the country.
I think this is nonsense. If Fred has commited forgery, the news and action is too sweet. Why release him on bail for such a straightfward case? Would have been much easier to take him from Police cells to court and then try to take to Chimbokaila….!!
Have the Post Newspaper been paying their taxes or not? When this fundamental question is answered then statements and innuendos can follow.
THIS MAN IS USELESS. SO HE HAD FORGED COURT PAPERS!!! FOOLISH
ati uteering forged documents hmmm. ninshi abena nchima nchito forged that letter to stay the ZRA seizure of property for the post. Fileya ukutali ifi fyena. who are the judges who signed that document kanshi, let them come out and say it was a forgery.
Mr M’membe this Mr M’membe that.. honestly who goes out to a place guarded by armed police with his wife in wee hours to force their way through…is this man really married to this woman. What kind of a man takes his wife into the night. M’membe is not coming clean on this issue …I can not trust him
Any leader who uses government machinery to persecute private citizens is a coward, has no class and above all is to fit to be a leader. This what Lungu has turned himself into. Why is Lungu so scared of M`membe?
Such is what make people cringe when they think of coming to Zambia.
You are all *****s. M’membe does not even buy you a lolipop yet you want to defend his criminality. Open your eyes and see reality. Paying tax is law. Why hasn’t Fred been paying his obligations? Do you know what IRS do in the US for those who dont pay Tax?
Interesting development.
For the first time Jay Jay speaks sense!
This is frightening – Who gives these people the cheek and audacity to comment on matters that purely sovereign. Zambia does not lack adequate private run media houses. The Post Newspaper is not the only private media with an independent voice. Blowing issues out of proportion with irresponsible comments as “Zambia’s democratic reputation is on the line”. Really??? Because of the valid closure of a non paying enterprise. Zambia’s democracy will continue to be the Beacon of All Democracies in Africa and The World – We will remain peaceful and continue to prosper as a nation and a people.
Son of David, get your head out of the sand for just a few minutes and objectively examine the current state of affairs in Zambia.
@ SonOfDavid…you are very dull my friend….you think global values are domestic issues…go and pee if aches….As long as you signed for the Magna Carta of 1666….(You call it UN Charter of Human Freedoms these days) as a country, you are a Hague candidate if you dont head to that, and all are at liberty to hunt you down until you are handed over to the Hague..You drunkenmanship or is ist Lungu is the next guy after Taylor..even before Abashire or something like that
My friend are you sure of what you are saying, if the Post wasn’t closed very few people could have known about it, they are even following what’s happening everyday, it’s true it’s democratic reputation is on line, the biggest problem we have in Zed is that we stop respecting our leaders instead we start worshipping them such that if a paper like the post exposes something about him we don’t reason but treat it as blasphemy, they are ways of resolving this dispute with ZRA but the people to do this are scared stiff of ECL it’s like he is now a God which is giving ammunition to the opposition
Cyberjz,
What is so special about Mmembe?
He is just like anyone of us.
Let him pay tax like all responsible Zambians.
Furthermore, stop worshipping pretentious and flawed voices from the West.
By making visitors from the West your authorities you only exhibit the mentality and ignorance of the dark ages when Africans trembled before azungu.
@2, WHO GAVE YOUR DRUNKEN MASTER THE CHEEK AND AUDACITY TO COMMENT ON THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF UGANDA? HE DIDN’T EVEN SHOW ANY REMORSE. LEST YOU HAVE SHORT MEMORY, YOU’RE NOW REMINDED.
sonofdavid. When you have a President who was “elected” by raising pangas at their Party convention and is now trying to intimidate everyone who disagrees with him ( “I will fall on you like a ton of bricks”; “Alefwaya ukwaku fwila”; “I have a big stick”, etc), then it is true that our reputation as a stable democracy is on the line.
@SonofDavid, you have your brains in your anus!
SonofDavid,,,
As long as you fly the American flag, my friend, they will tell you what you don’t want to hear.
Tell your president to behave or they will take him out! Remember Noriega? they took him out of his country!
FRED MMEMBE ATTEMPTS TO TAKE OVER THE POST AGAIN, ARRESTED.
Armed with a dubious revenue tribunal order, Editor-in- Chief and owner of The Post, Fred Mmembe went to the paper’s premises in the night and attempted to take over and begin operations.
The Supreme Court has ruled that The Post owes over K53m in tax obligation and penalties.
The Supreme Court also allowed the Zambia Revenue Authority to issue a demand notice and recover the money.
ZRA has since seized the assets of the paper relying upon the Judgement of the final court in Zambia – The Supreme Court.
But on Monday, Fred Mmembe through his lawyer, Mutembo Nchito obtained a yet-to-be-explained ex-parte order from the Revenue Tribunal.
The Order stipulated among other things that ZRA should return the assets and…
Why is the ZRA appealing the Tribunal Court Order if it is dubious?
Lets not be quick to condemn the Govt, Mmembe is very desparate and he may have forged the restraining order he presented to the Police at 01 hours.
Why is the ZRA appealing the Tribunal Court Order if it is forged as you claim?
USA save us from Zimbabwe style dictatorship and failed state status. We are sliding rapidly into a failed Mu7 and Mugabe quagmire. EU and Nordic countries please freeze ALL aid to this failed PF government.
Stop it.
Don’t make all of us ashamed by your strange pleas.
@ GUDIXY
You stop it!!!
Don’t make all of us decent people look like brain washed 1mbeciles going by the name of gundixy
They shld not ve release it. They shld ve kept it fo the allowable 48hrs! Alitumpa chi.kala uyu! Now its about him & not the unpaid tax.
stany.oko
We have never received such comments from the International community in the previous elections, has something gone wrong in our country?
yes imbwa iwe
Are you awake? Look around you and answer is there
Linda Thomas, you have been here two days and you did not meet the President? Yiu came just for that scoundrel Mmembe and his stooge HH? Well our President invited diplomats to state house yesterday and explained Mmembe’s situation clearly. You are a diplomat so why didnt you sttend the meeting with Eric Schulz? Or didnt Eric invite you along? Take it from.me, there is no way the government can find an amicable solution with Mmembe.
He has spurned such efforts since 2009, i.e. for 7 years now. That is how patient we are Madam, more than Americans.
There is no going back now, the Zambian people want their money without further ado, leave Edgar out of this.
Terrible..I have registered your name in Guiness’ Book of Records for a potential recognition, as one of the most dull humans alive..
Which Zambians you liar.
Membe has generated more.wealth and employment than you will ever do in fifty lifetimes.
Single handed Membe has given us democracy through checks on despotic corrupt rulers chief being thief Lungu.
I said it, the court order must have been.a forgery
Now look at Mmembe digging a deeper hole to.be buried in, dig it deeper so that it is impossible to resurrect you.
Hahaha! Nchito & Nchito are not your chakolwa lawyers who forge documents and steal client’s money like some former lawyers whom we shall not name! ECL tried to say Mutembo forged a Judgement, but they had to withdraw the charge becoz the Judge refused!
ECL & RB tried to villify Mutembo with all sorts of false accusations which have failed to stick. They are still struggling with the tribunal up to now, even if they are holding it in secret! I can bet my bottom dollar that it is not a forged document.
So Mmembe was tresspassing at his own premises? Let us have some shame!
Harry Mwaanga Nkhumbula was a chaklowa who nearly sold our country. Kaunda out smarted him and we got our independence. EL was a Cholwa, a good chakolwa whom people trusted beat HH, another Southerner out smarted by a true drunken master, because people saw and still that just HMN, HH wants to sell this country to his capitalist masters. What is wrong with you guys? Sometimes you even allow your wives to sleep with other people so that you can get their wealth and animals. No wonder you are not ashamed with what M’membe is doing or what HH did during privatisation. To you this normal!!
Chagwa is no falling because he stands for national unity and HH and UPND have not proved why or what new they want to do apart from the claim that it is time for Tongas to rule!!
Failed project.
@7 bululi, nothing wrong with our country, its Mmembe who has changed and become even.more arrogant.
@ bululi
And 1mbeciles like ” Terrible” become voice of PF “intelligentsia”
This is what we were talking about. LAZ was to quick to hold the press briefing. Now we are hearing of forged documents…..That press conference was rushed without having facts on their finger tips.
Ka Lungu is now hostile and passive aggressive towards these diplomats. He skipped meeting with the diplomat to avoid the obvious lecture on violence and fair play.
I hope my people don’t vote back the dimwit and his cronies back into office, else his head will grow bigger than it has in the last couple of months.
@gringo, ECL invited diplomats to State House yesterday, why was she not in attendance?
@ Ba Sabenza
Is shee accredited diplomat? 1mbecile, learn about protocol before making usual crapping in public
What’s so difficulty in paying the dues owed to Government? Fi UPND be serious for once. And you expect people to vote for Kachema who condons lawlessness mwal oba ilyauma mwembushi mwe.
Next ZRA must move in on GBM and Under 5 businesses.
Tax money is for the people and development a selected few, just pay and be compliant period.
Useless cadreism who can kill for mo penny. Mulesambilila instead of just waiting for dropping left overs from politicians. No wonder we have too many lazy people doing nothing. Tyrants are made by people.
I just want to know how many tax defaulters have been treated in this manner before in Zambia ?? I cant recall any…. the laws need to be addressed to facilitate for a more systematic and universal application of tax laws and prescribe how companies are treated in case of defaulting
Ok its like LAZ is also play to the gallery Laz educate people about the judgement in supreme court about the post and put it lay mans understamding and the law about not paying tax this is simple like a grade seven exams were answers are even.provided for u clearly don’t missed facts. If membe had any court why go in the midnite ZRA offices operate during the day for paying any tax so he would wait for 08hrs after all.he had the the time from 2009 to date to clean up his matofie pls give a us break and for the US just pay for him period
………. so we have no surprises in the future and selective application
The Post only owe $18, kikikiki why close them. ECL is scared to hail of the Post. When Chagwa lose the election cage him for 3 months for the beatings anf killing of innocent people. The entire chief justices should be fired, hire credible people to run the broken Chagwa system. ZAF, Police and other government should be cleaned up. Vote for the new government not the PF pangas.
Mmembe must be a criminal, surely doing at offices at 01:00hrs
@ 1mbecile above
1. Do you know when the news-paper goes to “print”?
2. Where is stated that you must get permission from Paid Official Liars In Court Evidence to enter your property?
The Police charge seems ridiculous. Mr M’membe was armed with a Court Order from a Tax Court so how could he tresspass his own property? He was allowed by the Tax Court to enter his premises and offices to run his business. The Police has no legal powers to arrest M’membe and others based on frivolous charges. The Police is not a court of law and therefore cannot prove that the Court Order from the Tax Court was forged. The tax issue has been set down on 11th July 2016 so why not await the Court’s judgment over the disputed tax figures? The state has a very weak case and will soon plead Nolle prosque. Its a waste of time and money. M’membe and others must sue ZRP for assalt,wrongful arrest and contempt of the court order. ZRA must be sued as a first respondent and ZRP the second…
@peter read before you comment. The document was fake, hence the criminal trespass.
@ john Chinena
If the document was “fake”, why he was released?
Iwe Hung Them High,
Please read the article before commenting. Membe was released on Police bond with two working sureties. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THESE WORDS??? I am sure you don’t – when a person is released on bond he is still in the hands of police pending investigation then subsequent committal to the courts of law for his forgery crime.
MEEMBE, I SALUTE YOU AND MAY THE POST HIT THE STREET AGAIN. IF WE HAD 50 PEOPLE WITH YOUR STAMINA THEN ZAMBIA WOULD NOT BE GOING THROUGH ALL THIS TRAUMA. PEOPLE OF ZAMBIA LET US RISE UP AND SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. PF MUST GO EDGAR MUST GO.
@ Kubweka, you tone sounds desperate. Take it easy young man. You don’t twist somebody’s arm to go to State House but anyway keep on dreaming and continue suffering from ukupolomya.
“”I see myself in these girls, I see my daughters in these girls, and I simply cannot walk away from them.” — First Lady Michelle Obama
Imagine being told that you are not allowed to go to school. Imagine being told that an education — one of the most fundamental building blocks for a healthy, long, and fulfilling life — is simply not an option for you.
It’s hard, right? But, for millions of girls around the world, it’s a reality. In fact, more than 62 million girls — half of them adolescents — are not in school. Millions more are fighting just to stay there.
These girls deserve a chance to fulfill their potential. All girls deserve that chance.
That’s why, as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative, First Lady Michelle Obama is traveling this week to Liberia, Morocco,…
and Spain to meet with young women and girls — and to talk about why getting an education is something that every girl deserves.””
This type of messages should be reported as its impartial and worthy of supporting of noble cause not the selfish default by the post
Press freedom is only seen as an example if post pays to show leadership
From friends of US and Zambia
Chagwa should have asked FTJ..Mmembe has 9 lives..you can never take him down whatever you try.Now those idi.iots ifi bena berlin msiska will be going to court to answer charges of contempt
@Darth Vader,
It is people like you that have made Mmembe to be big headed. Mmembe thinks he can badmouth any head of state even when he fails to pay tax. If he was smart enough he should have been paying tax and then continued with the bad manners he seems to have been brought up with of insulting anyone in power he disagrees with. Time has come for this kama insolent editor to own up.
@8.1 RAINMAN, thank you very much for the recognition. I am honoured but I would be more honoured if you included HH by my side. For an aspiring president he is really dull, second only to me Terrible. Done deal?
No body can achieve your level of 1mbecility. You are the Chief 1mbecile of PF “inteligentsia”
Congratulations 1MBECILE
We have never have such a useless government like this before. You know what you are digging a ditch for someone but you will end up falling in that ditch yourself watch the space God will do it.
Ka Mateo, don’t bring God in your political rhetoric. Just present your dull thoughts so that we judge your level of reasoning and conclude how sisophrenic your condition is.
I feel for edgar,with that kachasu u drink it will be difficult for your survival in jail
Iwe ka Kanyama, you think like an animal. Do you think Edgar will lose, you are wasting space on this platform with your animal thinking, grow up m..ther fuc..ker.
He will lose iwe ka zillion! you think people are happy with his governance…VIVA HH 2016
I am one on those millions of voter happy with EL’s rule and will enure that we mobilise en-mass and win in round one. We are very determined indeed and do not take EL lightly, you will be making the same mistake you did last time. EL is not a push over as you think. He is a strategic thinker and has already thought how to win many months ahead of his opponents.
In all this, my worry is that we have had no power in Kabangwe from 6hrs in the morning, and it is going to 21hours now.In all this, no word from Zesco. ZESCOs life goes on, business as usual
Vote Edgar for more power cuts……or rather punish him for ruining the nation. Thief Lungu dictator stole.millions in.one year.
most of the bloggers on this site seems to be supporting the old dead party upnd without proper direction.
Police have released that dog? Anyway he is on his death bed now, what with forgery, what will the line up of accomplices like HH, US, Helen Mwale, UPND cadres say now? And Linda LAZ Kasonde, what will she say? Just that criminals and accomplices have shame orherwise. Decent people like me and many others would fold our tails on shame.
Membe, you are a scoundrel, just pay what you owe. you’ve had it too soft for a long time, you and
your so called cartel, your days as kingmaker are gone little man. this matter does not need symparht from citizens, uk, usa, nortic countries, Germany, awe, lipila chabe inkomgole we kapuba we. enough is enough
no more diplomatic appointments for your employees, no more silly blackmail power over leaders. Those
supporting you are blind. we know what you have been doing all along…. now the game ism up.
Membe, who told you that the ZRA tax appeals tribunal was superior to the SUPREME COURT
OF ZAMBIA? your lawyer nchito, if he told you this, then the cartel has very foolish and stupid
people. no wonder you cant see the writing on the wall, but all the same, you will still
be swept into the dustbin.
So what is Chagwa saying, kikikikiki, ati ask them to pay $18. August 11 I hope they clean up a good cell for Chagwa, if GBM, the bemba guy wins, ECL will pay for all his sins of murdering innocent people on his watch.
On January 13, 1963, three days after he started printing his country own currency, a squad of illiterate soldiers backed by France, killed the first elected president of newly independent Africa in Togo.His name was Sylvanus Olympio. When the squad started firing on the residence of the president, around 11pm, warned by his wife, he succeeded to flee to the American embassy which was only 4 meters away, and sought refuge. Unfortunately for him, the American embassy tipped the French Embassy in Togo, which gave the information to the horde of former French Foreign Legionnaires who requested the Embassy to transfer the fugitive president to them.The American Embassy did exactly what the insurgents requested, and Sylvanus Olympio was murdered on the spot, by a French Foreign Legionnaire…
The American Embassy did exactly what the insurgents requested, and Sylvanus Olympio was murdered on the spot, by a French Foreign Legionnaire army sergeant called Etienne Gnassingbe who received a bounty of $612 from the local French embassy for the hit man job.
What annoys Africans is that these self-same enemies of Africa are trying to give “good advice” to Zambia.
In 1776, the United States’ declaration of independence stated “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Regardless of those statements, the United States kept black people into slavery for another 200 years, until the second half of the 20th century. And until today, black people are still victim of white oppression in America.
MMembe should pay what he owes.
@Kolopa again.com. That is why a black man is the President of the United States of America? Have some shame!
Chagwa must fall! And all his criminal cartel!
Journalism can either be a kitchen knife or Sword . For many years Mr. Mmembe have used symph of the people but he has not been serving that purpose . Few years ago Mmember said “Ours is not journalism for the sake of journalism, but journalism for the betterment of our society. We will do everything within our ability to improve society,” Now, how could the person who understand the suffering of majority Zambian perpertuated avoiding TAXES needed by the Republic of Zambia. In the USA -IRS tax collectors have more power than just about anyone in the federal government. They operate under very few rules. They can make your life pleasant or miserable. Most success in dealing with tax collectors comes from your communicating with them in a prompt manner. Here is a sampling of what they can…
File a tax lien against you;
Levy your bank account;
Garnish your wages;
Close down your business;
Seize and sell your home;
Mmembe life is good all the times!if u stay in glass house do not throw stones.
This US Prostitute. Let her tell us why they arrested snipes and are saying sit down and agree how to pay. They have been sitting since 2009 and your fo0l has been arrogant and abusing the court processes. If in America pro.stitutes like you allow tax criminals to go scot free then go and tell Obama that nonsense. When you borrow us even 1 dollar you come with all sorts of tricks to get interest at 1000%. Leave us alone we want to raise domestic taxes to avoid immoral shylocks like you mo.ther f.ucker
Do these people respect our courts? The Supreme court of Zambia ruled in favor of the ZRA.
That’s why Trump Presidency will be okay.He won’t allow the Wall Street to meddle in internal affairs of Independent countries
mmembe’s biggest mistake was becoming partizan. he supported PF like no mans business. Even when Sata made mistakes he will support. they where not digging any futher deeper. they could only dig on satas mouth and report. post was against Kaunda,banda and chiluba but never put zra on them. Mwanawasa and Sata distroyed them. |They went to bed now after being staunch PF cadre is now facing PFs wrath wapya munzi.
I agree with you masau, tell them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the only good American politician is a dead one. dont trust the Americans too much. they give us ARVS because they created AIDS in the lab. if they support you as for not paying tax do not celebrate you are as useless as they are. Membe is a politician in the form of a journalist if he is being persecuted by govt so let it be. after all he doesn’t add value to my life or lives of Zambians. YOU Zambians respect you supreme court decisions as Americans do. that LAZ thing is equally useless. MEMBE pay your taxes do not involve the State or the President.
The police should also immediately arrest the thieving civil servants in choma who have been stealing money at provincial administration sharing with the crooked ps who has suspended an innocent auditor who is protecting gvt tax payers money.We do not want double standards in Zambia.
sooo many ppl complain.. but soooo many ppl also use the corrupt system to get their advantages.. so who is to blame??? Not only politicians..but also the ppl that use the system for their benefits.
and what about ppl that sell their votes for a crate of beer??
plz.. first look in the mirror…… its not only the politicans to blame. Many of us are part of keeping the system that we dont like alive…
USELESS UPND SUPPORTERS WHAT HAVE U BENEFITTED FROM STUPID MMEMBE . STOP ATTACKING OUR PRESIDENT LUNGU BECAUSE U HAVE ALREADY LOST THE ELECTIONS , SEE U ON 11 AUGUST 2016 WHICH WILL BE THE END OF HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IN THE POLITICAL ARENA.
MMEMBEEEEEEEEEEEE IS VERY STUPID FULL STOP
Open Letter to the USA, EU, Nordic, AU, COMESA, SADC, ICC, UN
The Zambia Revenue Authority have applied to have the Tax Tribunal Court Order set aside. The matter will be heard inter parte.
This is proof that Fred Membe had a valid Court Order. Yet he was brutalized and imprisoned and later charged for criminal trespass. This of course is a trumped up charge which will not see light of day.
We appeal to you the international community that this is a complete break down in the rule of law and citizens are being killed under the watch and encouragement of President Lungu. Do not abandon us the way you abandoned Zimbabweans and Ugandans.
Save us from extermination and brutality of Lungu.