The Non-Governmental Organizations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) and the Women’s movement has disassociated itself from allegations of compromising its objectives, by some sections of the media.
NGOCC board chairperson Marian Munyinda, in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka on Friday, maintained that NGOCC has, from the time of inception, been upholding its constitution and mandate of being non-partisan and focused on fighting for the rights and dignity of women and children in Zambia.
“On behalf of the Women’s movement, we would like to express our great disappointment with the misrepresentation by some media organizations through which our integrity has been questioned. In the same vein we wish to state that NGOCC in its 24 years of existence has been consistent in its quest for gender equality and press freedom and would not be deterred by any obstacles and detractors,” she said.
Ms. Munyinda pointed out that by the NGOCC expressing its displeasure over the photographs that were sent to it by the Post Newspapers, the Council did not compromise its principles.
She said the NGOCC was also very concerned at the impact of the strike on women as depicted in the photographs.
Ms. Munyinda noted that the misunderstanding may have arisen from the meeting NGOCC and the women’s movement had with President Rupiah Banda on June 17, 2009 and the subsequent Press Conference at State House.
“As the NGOCC and the Women’s movement, we have always sought to meet any sitting President once elected into office, not to seek favours as it is now being portrayed, but to discuss various issues that continue to affect women negatively” she said.
Ms. Munyinda said it was important to note that the meeting with President Banda was preceded by a prior meeting with the Minister of Gender and was attended by a delegation of prominent women from various member organizations of NGOCC.
She said besides calling for a people driven constitution, the NGOCC has been consistent in calling for the gender-based violence bill that has been pending for years to be enacted.
Ms. Munyinda said NGOCC has been consistent in urging government to put in place strategies that would address the high maternal mortality rates.
She explained that NGOCC has been unfailing in calling on President Banda to exercise gender sensitivity and responsiveness in increasing the number of women in decision-making.
ZANIS
THATS A WAY TO GO ABOUT YOU CONDEM WRONG WHEN ITS WRONG HUH!
You got compromised reall bad when you sided with Rubbish Banda on Ms Kabwela porn issue. You last the spine NGOCC.
Ok. point taken
Lusaka times edited, learn to write you own stories
Please read the About us section!
ZANIS, ZANIS, ZANIS, ZANIS, ZANIS, ZANIS, ZANIS, ZANIS EVERYDAY. IS THIS A ZANIS PROJECT?
LT Editor do your editing properly. too many errors
Anything that the said media calls compromise points to only one thing… if you side or consolided what the grz or RB especially then you are not doing your job. While certain sectors of sociaty have a rigght to express opinion others are not meant to show bias towards anybody
Single Ms Munyinda those pics were sent to you to the situation. Its not like they were being porned for sexual arousal. If you are not compromised the stop those anti aids photos showing genitals that have been ravaged by some STIs. Accept that you expected some favours from someone you know who? How come other members have disassociated themselves from your stand?
“On behalf of the Women’s movement, we would like to express our great disappointment with the misrepresentation by some media organizations through which our integrity has been questioned”.
THAT IS IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEGRITY, ALL. Coz if u dd, u have easily sensed and examined the issue b4 condemning the lady who happens to have been on womens’ side.
this story tastes differently recalling the NGOCC wrote to Miss Kabwela and apologised, to me that seemed the NGOCC realised where they went wrong
Heey ba NGOCC…….whats up gus?? Now ypu are just ranting after being caught pants down with RB. Just appologise in the same maner your friends did. Its madness for your and RB to digrace us men that our ndwenu rises at the sight of women in pain and great argon. You should also appologise to us men for insulting us.
No 4 you are out of line. Mind your language.
Imwe ba NGOCC, do you think you can admit it. You have been given some money so that you aside with RB ‘s stance over the photo. How long will that money take you, ee. For the rest of your lives? Or was it just for a few days. RB won’t remain in power forever and your reputation is tarnished. That’s what all those people RB is using should not forget. Think people!
Double standards from Munyinda. I think as adults, we can think on our own. We do not need the post to tell us what to think. We just use them to gather information for our analysis.
Whatever difference you have with some media aside, you were just so wrong on this issue of Kabwela. How could you honestly think that was pornographic?
Here is a reasonable definition of Pornography;
“The sexually explicit depiction of persons, in words or images, created with the primary, proximate aim, and reasonable hope, of eliciting significant sexual arousal on the part of the consumer of such materials.”
You are a good example of someone asking if the car is fine, instead of a people involved first, in a car crash. Not that either is wrong but priority takes precedence in a logical…
NGOCC JUST ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOU ACTED OUT OF IMPULSE. YOU DIDNT BOTHER TO FIND OUT HOW THE PICTURE FOUND ITSELF IN THE POST NEWSROOM. IF THAT PICTURE IS CLASSIFIED UNDER PONORGRAPHY THEN EVEN THE CURRICULUM IN SCHOOLS SHOULD BE CHANGED SINCE UNDER REPRODUCTION THEY SHOW SUCH PICTURES. THE POINT BEHIND THOSE PICTURES IS TO BRING TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WOULD BE AUTHORITIES TO ACT ON THE SITUATION UNLESS YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT RB, GEORGE, YOURSELVES, SIMBAO AND THE ARCHBISHOP BECAME AROUSED SEXUALLY WHICH AGAIN WILL MEAN THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU. FACE THE FACTS AND DEAL WITH THEM.
#10, NGOCC did not do anything wrong. We Zambians have become addicted to extremist views as often expressed by the Post newspaper and forgotten that the Democracy as a system is based on diversity especially of views. Socio-political issues are not like mathematics where there is only one right answer. In politics there different opinions and if you area democrat you have to begin by accepting that other people are bound to have differnt opinions. The attitude of calling those who have different opinions as charlatans and traitors is very dangerous. It breeds dictators. The NGOCC have a right to hold different views on the attitude of the Post the ciculation of the obscene pictures and even on Rupia Banda as President.
#16, Refer to number #14
. @ NKOLE WAMAPEMBWE UMFWE MILANDU: I’m with you on this one. Why should you always cry foul and call people unprintables if they do not agree with you? Is it not the mark of a real democrat to embrace both praise and criticism? Opinion is not debatable and everyone is entitled to their own. That was NOT porn, we know, but that does not mean everyone should fall in love with the pictures or fail to question the motive behind it, who knows maybe NGOCC even knows something we don’t. The Post is very intolerant of divergent views and its greatest achievement over the years has been to exclude as many voices as possible. Those that dare speak against these ‘gods’ risk being insulted Post style. If we can’t accept political dictatorship, why should we accept mental/media intolerance?
#15 Mwanamayo, iyo wa shooter! kudos to you.You have said nothing but the truth!
#14, Chansa Kabwela has been charged with distributing obscene materials, and not with distributing pornographic pictures. In terms of distributing obscene materials she is certainly guilty and should be found so by the courts. As to the motive, this might be more difficult to discern. The Post claims they distributed them to try and end the strike. But some people would rather think that the aim was to aid the clear objective of the Post to discredit Rupia Banda and his government. As a media house they are free to discredit any one they don’t like, but should not break the law. In the UK 3 senour journalists from the News of the World newspaper have just been jailed for bugging the phones of prominent people. The end does not justify the means,especially when it involve breaking…
I kind of side with NGOCC and blogger 19 Nkole , NGOC did not find the pictures appropriate and that is a position we should accept. The decision to arrest and charge Chansa is something all together different and this was taken by the state under the orders of Rupiah. this decision however does not mean that everyone should approve of the pictures , and our peronal views of those pictures should be respected and that is democray or diversity of views. . As for appologising actually the POST has apologised for sending those pictures because pipo were clearly ofended Fellow bloggers dont fall into the POST narrow perspective of you are either pro POST or pro govet and compromised .
Hey @ 19 Nkole, how many people the ‘distribution’ of those alleged obscene materials would have reached had The Post published them in their newspaper? Look man / lady, I know The Post are a business who have an agenda to sale copies, but is it really that hard to see the intention of this lady Chansa? Do you really understand what a major Stakeholder mean? They received the pictures, decided not to publish them and instead thought of handing them over to the key players who are capable of influencing and bring about a positive change. Surely how honourable can newspaper editor rise up to the occassion? This lady needed to be commended. I believe the pubclic would not even have known about these pictures had the President kept quiet. As for NGOCC, shame on them!
blogger 15, 16 and 17 NGOCC has never said the pictures wrere pornographic , they said they found them disturbing and wwere not happy that such pictures were taken and circulated
Jigga @ 21 , what extactly are you saying NGOCC did wrong, ? they are not behind the arrest of Chansa , they were however unhappy with the circulation of the pictures
I believe The Post would have failed in their duty and they would have betrayed this woman and women in Zambia had they decided to burn those pictures they received. Surely the person who brought the pictures to their attention had wanted them published. Imagine such pictures being received by the BBC or the News of the World Nkole is alleging to, do you really think they wouldn’t have published them. I think they would have, probably with a note to ‘warn’ viewers of graphic images. Or supposed a person was murdered, with his penis chopped by his assailants, shouldn’t The Post hand over pictures of the victim to the authorities who they think could do something to catch the culprits? The pictures of this woman must have been used as a symbol to for people to force this govt to act.
#22, As you can note from my Posts at #16 and #19, I actually support the stance taken by NGOCC. I have decided to protect my freedom to express my own independent views and not to be called charlatan or traitor or bought by Fred Mumembe and his reporters. The NGOCC has also expressed independent views and they have as a result been insulted by the Post whch is obviously abusing its wide circulation. As every one can see from their letter page, the Post never publishes letters which carry a contrary opinion to their own. I have written to them many times and have never seen my contrary views in print.
#21….when we were young it was considered wrong for one to REPRODUCE words of insults…..all what any good child was supposed to do was to say so and so has insulted. Now ,in this regard mmembe and his gang came across INSULTING MATERIALS and instead of destroying the pics,they decided to forward them …people this was wrong…whether its the POST or not ,its wrong…and the laws of the land were made for everyone ,if mmembe’s wench is innocent,then the law will clear her….the same with if she is QUILTY…if they were so touched with the strikes,they should have told their master sata to work with GRZ in pleading with the nurses to get back to the wards…..or better still go to the mortuary and take pics of people who had died since the strike started….not that ABORMINATION !!
#24, I like your arguments and I would never have such a complex as to insult you because of tyour views. Your views has opened my mind to other angles of this issue and this is very important. I am opposed to the Post and Fred Mumembe having such a huge superiority complex that they think they are the custodians of the national interest. Every Zambian is a stakeholder, those who agree with us and thosewho don’t. The NGOCC has executed its mandate by expressing that the photos were distasteful. And they are not traitors or snakes. As to wheher Chansa is quilty or not, that is for the Courts to decide on the basis of the charge and the evidence. The Post is not above the law no matter how many people sympathise with it.
@26 Nkole, I hope your view was not influenced by the fact that your letters were not published by The Post. They have a right to publish the letters that deem ‘fit’. Besides the fact that so many people are writing to them and the ‘competition’ is massive, they tend to represent other views besides those that are pro govt as the govt already have enough coverage in the state controlled media (Times, Daily, ZNBC). Yeah I respect the fact that you have a different opinion and that you agree with NGOCC – that’s what rights in a democratic country are there for.
Hey @ 24: NGOCC should have been mad at the gov by because this woman could NOT receive proper healthcare services due to the govt’s ineptness at the way they handled the strike by nurses. Her nakedness isn’t an issue here!
#29, You seem to be so sure the Government was wrong over the woman whose picture has become an isssue. As for me I wondered whether it was right for those nurses who were present and picketing to leave the pregnant woman to suffer and lose her baby just for thesake of the strike. By the way I have examined the Post and wwndered why they have not made the observation I have made above. Don’t get me wrong I have great respect for the role the Post has played over the years, but recently, they have become too extreme and began to talk more about themselves than the issues.. how brave they are, how honest they are, how pricipled they are.. These are for the people and readers to decide.. not just self praise and soothing Fred Mumembe’s ego.
As professional journalists at the Post, they should have blocked the offensive part of the pictures before distributing them with a message to explain the nakedness in the originals. If they did that, we’d all be going about doing useful work instead of being bogged down with this trash.
BLOGGER # 23, SURELY ANY NORMAL THINKING PERSON COULD BE DISTURBED BY THOSE PICTURES ESPECIALLY THE PIPO AT NGOCC BCOZ THEY ARE MOTHERS AND THEY UNDERSTAND THE PAIN OF LABOUR NOT FORGETING THE NINE MONTHS OF THE PREGNANCY. NO PLEASURE WAS FOUND IN SENDING THOSE PICTURES BUT THE MESSAGE WAS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT. ARE YOU SURE THE GOVT CONTROLLED PRINT AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA COULD HAVE SENT SUCH? ITS A DEFINATE NO. REMEMBER THE GENOCIDE IN RWANDA, IT TOOK SOMEONE TO SEND PICTURES OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN ORDER FOR THE WORLD LEADERS TO MAKE POSITIVE MOVES. LEADERS SHOULD NOT PLAY A DEAF EAR TO THE SUFFERING OF THEIR PIPO.
Ruphiah Banda does not need the Post to discredit him.He is a disgrace himself,and for those of you enjoying his term in office you need your thick heads examined.Without the same Post you are condemning the vampires in government would rather you remained docile and knowledgeable about nothing.The post is the only media in Zambia that enlightens otherwise all you bafoons would still be in total darkness about this Cancer you call MMD government.Most of you have gotten the courage to blog thanks to lead taken by Mmembe and the Post.If the Post and or Mmembe dies Zambia will be in Total darkness when it comes to news that digs deeper with no fear.Long live the Post and Mmembe!!!
Zambia under Lupiya has embarked on a one way slippery road to doom. Mswati is an absolute monarch and dictator and there is no democracy in his country because he won’t tolerate it. Mugabe’s is a tyrannical and ruthless dictator. There is no democracy to speak of in Zimbabwe today because he too can’t tolerate any democratic principles. These are the two leaders our president fraternizes with and finds himself in complete agreement and harmony in all areas!
@30 Nkole, I’m not the one to decide who was right or wrong! 1 thing is for sure: had the govt intervened swifter in the strike, may be the woman would have received the care she needed. To me the issue here is not the picture; rather it is the fact that such a thing even took place. The woman suffered and was in extreme pain, why? The picture is just a representation to show that such a thing took place – it’s just a picture. Many Zambians go through the same pain almost everyday and that’s why all of us ought to be mad. Whether a picture was taken or not shouldn’t be an issue – it is authentic and not a fake. But what are we doing to ensure this woman doesn’t have to go through the same pain again. I don’t think chasing away everybody with cameras will take away her pain…
#30, I bet you have feelings do you? We are talking about a strike effect here. You very much know that had there been no strike, the picture issue would not have arisen as the lady is not the first one to deliver outside the hospital or indeed to deliver by a breech birth. The pictures also were taken by the husband and not the post and so your anger at the post is misdirected. This is the problem obtaining in zambia, fighting a problem from a totally different platform unrelated to the cause of the problem. Here we can clearly see that the lady was denied health services at a govt owned hospital due to the fact that the same govt has not paid its nurses the money they need to offset their daily demands. so you need to know that the back stops at RB and no other person you like it or not.
Thats why some women NGO’s are nothing but extensions of the wife of the sitting president. NGOCC was just to quick to rap kabwela even when she wrote them the letter telling them the difficult the post had to publish those snaps. imagine, this would have been one of the best sellers for the post and i bet they could have reprinted the newpaper that day twice or three times but in their honesty and sincerity, the chose to send the photos to less than 10 people/organisations in the hope of sensitizing the ultimate authorities to take some pro active action but alas RB saw pornography instead of a woman in pain and a dead infant so innocent that a normal person cant have an erection
JIGGA & CHE GUEVARA I AGREE WITH YOU 100%. I havent seen the photos myself but honestly as a young lady I am apalled at the NGOCC completely missing the point of the pictures. Its just shameful. The point is that no one should have to go through that and some thing should be done! That is precisely why the pictures were sent to people in higher authority. It is outrageous that you should follow RB’s rants about pornography!! Come on! This is why we will continue wallowing in poverty, we are so petty.
The most shocking thing to have come out of his sags is the claim that those pictures were pornographic. Honestly if sexual arousal can be attained from looking at those pictures, then such a person is a dangerous sexual deviant.
Throughout history sexual pyschopathic offenders- Rapists, Child molesters, gender inclined serial kiilers etc. Have always shown extremely abnormal sexual tastes and preferences. What pleases these misfits is normaly what mainstream society regards sick and debase.
To see a woman struggle to give birth in public and focus on the fact hat she is naked in publiic; to see this as pornography is sick and debase
I think isukulu lyali wama, some pass thru it an aquire ama certificates and claim they are educated while others pass thru it, acrue the certificates apply the knowledge they aquired and be able to differentiate between pornography and breeched child birth
NGOCC was caught Napping and I think they never did there homework before attacking the persons who sent them thoz pics..Leaders in NGOCC need to have proper vision and insight…….
NGOCC have found out that trading their support for favors does not go down well with right thinking citizens. When the NGOCC got the letter from Kabwela, did they not READ what she intended by sending the letter? Making pronouncements on private communications in a public way will usually lead to irreparable injury to people’s reputation. Now, i have little respect for Ms. Munyinda and her gang at NGOCC. They did not act above board in this matter.
RB TALKED HIGHLY OF THE WOMEN MOVEMENT THAT WENT TO SEE HIM OVER THE SO CALLED CIRCULATION OF PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURES. IWE KA NGOCC YOU ARE THE ONE WHO MISLED RUPIAH. RB IS STUBBORN AND YOU KNOW THAT STUBBORN PEOPLE SAY AND DO THINGS WITHOUT THINKING, THEY ALSO REMAIN STUBBORN UNTIL THEY ARE INJURED .HE ACCUSED CHABWELA OF THAT CASE BECAUSE YOU MISLED HIM BY TELLING HIM THE PICTURES WERE PORN. KAMONENI UBUFI TETI MUTUBEPE MULE IKALAFYE IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO DO IN YOUR OFFICES.