Zambia’s most popular privately owned television station Prime TV has been closed with immediate effect.
It’s license was canceled by the Independent Broadcasting Authority.
In a statement to the media, IBA Director General, Josephine Mapoma stated that the cancellation of the TV licence is necessary and has been done in the interest of public safety, security, peace, welfare and good order.
She stated that the Board considered this action as appropriate under the circumstances.
The cancellation of the licence has been done in accordance with Section 29(1)(j) of the IBA Act.
The law allows Prime TV to appeal the decision to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services within 30 days.
for fudge’s sake!
Prime TV should have known from the beginning that they can’t win a fight with Government. Why fight someone you can’t win? Fred Mmembe is an example.
I don’t know what Prime TV is after, instead of concentrating on professional journalism, they went the other way.
They are now paying the price.
He was warned but he thought he was bigger than boma,
For what reason you evil people?you are the wast government
In a democratic society, these reasons are not valid. Our freedom of expression and association have been violated on flimsy grounds.
What do you expect when baboons are in the maize field
When PF Gomes rabid
These P Foooools they are making sure that all media opposed to the views are crashed …these are same foooools who complain about fake news on Facebook. They never learned anything from the closure of The Post Newspaper. …Josephine at IBA just to keep her job has to appease the Ruling Party.
What do you expect when baboons are in the maize field?
Ba PF ifi mwacita fyena fyankalipa! U will pay dearly you savages, the day of reckoning is coming.
I hope their appeal to Dora Siliya is already on the way or has already been served already. It’s a one-page appeal really. There’s nowhere in Zambia where public safety, good order, peace and security hv been compromised due to Prime TV’s broadcasts.
Instead of creating jobs with this hard economy, but you are now busy cutting work, what kind of this government?
Each time I listened to this guy called Simuwe I come to think that he really behaved like that guy in Unip era Kapotwe or Kadansa, I can’t remember his name exactly but was always making noise in town criticizing Kaunda. The only difference is that Simuwe has been given platform to always criticise government.
Simuwe not even an employee of prime TV no wonder he was careless in his talking,he knew he had nothing to lose.
It is the issue of top star, this government it is defending Chinese
Some decisions! What motivates these people? All these are traits of a regime on its way out. They think they’re being tough yet we’re just laughing at them. PF has made Zambia a laughingstock. How can one even comment further on such a decision?
The pipo will suffer becoz ur problems will never be heard anywhere Prime went everywhere and bcoz Govt realised that there inefficiency was always exposed this what they had to do Josephine Mapoma really in ur heart of hearts and before God u r sincere with the reasons given.
As we approach 2021 lungu does not want any negative publicity of his corruption and thuggery……
Infact those fake silly stories of PF jailing their violent caders was just to dupe the public for this news…….
We hope the forigne embassies in Zambia are seeing this…..
Prime tv and all opposition should undertake a massive information campain to forigne media and embassies about lungus dictatorial tendencies
By interest of the public safety Mapoma means the business that was taken to Prime TV will be taken back to ZNBC. This good order is for ZNBC to survive.
Now they will have to fight fake news Watchdog they can not see or sue….empty tins indeed.
No normal person believes watchdog
Checkmate. Game over.
Hw much time is given to the Minister of Information to hear the grounds of appeal and come to a decision?
What do you expect from dictators?
This is great news, that satanic crime tv should never see the light of day again. It is capable of bringing genocide. The proble is Shawa was promised a ministerial appointment under Akainde and he fell for it and threw caution and professionalism to the wind. Ichalo ichi.
RIP
Sungwe
“..This is great news, that satanic crime tv should never see the light of day again. It is capable of bringing genocide…”
Was it prime tv gassing our people or PF ?
Most likely prime tv were about to expose the gassing masterminds .
Prime TV was advised in good faith not to jump in the air.UPND and his zealots have cost prime tv as they did it with MUVI TV.There so many people who don’t agree with government policies but they don’t take it as NATIONAL REBELLION.Sad to say that employment has been lost and definitely the company has to pay debts they contracted.
I took many years listening to Prime TV because they covered far fetched rural areas though I didn’t agree with their editorial point and put a quarrel with government policies.SAD.
Zambians let us rise on our feet. What is this ba PF doing when the economy of the country has drowned.
Lesa tunfwileni uluse naba kabolala aba.
Yes you have shut down but we are not going see it let down like this.
Prime Tv was turned into a public relations wing of the upnd and strategically employed majority reporters from one region who are very royal to their tribe than anything.we dont want to see this tv ststion ag
We have our own battles to fight let politicians who were abusing the station fight for them
I mentioned sometime back that Prime TV will be like MuVi TV . Here it is. There reporting even those who do news analysis they take it political and always on negative sides
WHY AM I A ZAMBIAN KANSI?
Prime tv will be back.
This time i doubt, may be after 2021
What a backward power hungry despica.ble regime. When was this IBA appendage of the PF ever ‘independent’? Some zealots here, who feed from the same PF trough, unsurprisingly are supporting a further silencing of any contrary objective views – from a primitive and selfish premise devoid of all that is sane
Dictators are afraid of their shadows, they fear even to look into the mirrors because of their agree faces
KZ is drunk already with bosses celebrating the closure of Prime Tv and amused by the angry public whose public feelings is of no effect. They are in power for ever, and ever, for ever.
Civil society is weak in Zambia, compromised by politics of the belly. Unprincipled and a complete let down. They should have been working more in ‘opening’ the people’s eyes in every corner of the country – this regime would then have long gone
God come down and help Zambia these PF guys are really bad do they think Zambia belongs to them alone why are you persecuting people you closed post newspaper you banned john Sangwa you closed UNZALARU and now you closed Prime TV you are cowards and you say this is democracy this is dictatorship and remember the world is watching and your time is coming let all well meaning Zambians wake-up and protect Zambia from this PF government PF government has got no heart for the country these people are destroying and dividing the country.
Surely they went too far …bye bye polio
This COVID 19 thing is bad news. Even Prime TV has fallen victim.
Who is next after Post and Crime TV?
There is however one problem. PF will be flying blind. Flying blind is political suicide! It will be interesting to hear how the courts interpret the reason for the cancellation. Overall, our democratic credentials as a country and the rule of law is in question. This apparent clamp down on Press freedom may stand in the way of an IMF bailout we so badly need! Appeal to Dora as a matter of procedure. If you don’t get satisfactory response, seek Judicial Review.
People of Zambia if you are not careful this PF government is going to rule forever through this kind of ways PF wants to do like what Kamuzu Banda did to Malawi he ruled for a long time by making the whole country stupid through ignorance by limiting the media lack of knowledge or information makes people stupid and this is what PF is up to.
First take away all government business then send ZRA to hound them and finally use the “independent” IBA to close them. Victimization of the highest order. When they are out of power next year they will be looking for the Post and prime tv to air their views.
We can’t learn even a little from Trump. When castigates a journalist it doesn’t come to “we will no longer work with that channel and later their license cancelled” NO. You even have courage to shamelessly say “in public interest”. Which public do you people represent?
Question 1. Is it possible for them become an online media platform even without IBA licensing?
Question 2. With an affirmative answer to the above, can they at the same time become a News Agency?
ITS OK.. WE SHALL BE READING ONLINE FAKE NEWS… I WILL PERSONALLY NOT GO BACK TO ZNBC….. @ Kabu ????? IS IT A CRIME TO CRITICIZE GOVERNMENT?? WHO IS GOVERNMENT… I THOUGHT GOVERNMENT IS US THE PEOPLE…. ADVICE TO PRIME TV : APPEAL TO DORA 2. SEEK JUDICIAL REVIEW
Where is Gadaffi? He used to call his people dogs! Gadaffi was a powerful man, where is Mubarak? Where is Jacob Zuma? A time will come where those who thought were powerful will be begging for mercy!
All the current leaders are educated some are lawyers others doctors,lectures to name a few. So dont think they can’t defend themselves infact they can even buy the most expensive lawyers, stop the tread of harrasin our leaders
Mwe Lesa mwaba fumishe kwi God why did you give us PF and were did you get them.
What Prime TV reports is nothing compared to how e.g. CNN rips the US President apart. If our leaders were to be allowed to rule in the US most would go into depression
IT’S EASY FOR A CHINESE EX CONVICT TO START A BUSINESS THAN AN ORDINARY ZAMBIAN.
This coming from a govt that says it’s pro poor and amidst many people losing jobs in Zambia then out of selfish ambitions and to cover the truth you shut down a genuine media establishment just to send more people on the streets?
Prime TB has done it again. PF ddnt close the prime TB. They closed it themselves because of there deeds. Its the opposition political party of Akainde Ichilema type that can that cheated prime TB to continue with there unprofessional journalism. Akainde and prime TB thought they were punishing PF GRZ with there propaganda, least dd they know they were digging their own grave. In 2021, we are burying their friend upnd in the some grave were prm TB20 is. Am not suprised.
Zambia Slowly turning into a one party state. There will only be one media that will be reporting only what government wants people to hear.
Zambia is a backward country indeed. And it’s people are ndwi
No more DStv in my life
Make sure you give jobs to all those people who are going to lose their jobs from Prime TV.
How do you kill a company that has never missed paying their employees. Is it because Prime TV became so popular in Zambia and let to ZNBC to lose out on money resulting in salary arrears for their workers? We don’t want to hear more lies from that miniskirt of misinformation Dora bring back Prime TV.
There is nothing to comment here. A disrespectful station which broke code of broadcast has been sanctioned. Let us move on. We have better things to deal with. Have a lovely Easter and praise the lord in your homes. Be thankful for your life and that jesus died for our sins, including the sins of prime TV amen. Kz
@Kabu. It is said that nature abhors a vacuum. Kadansa who used to address people during lunch hour in Cairo Road at the Post Office filled this vacuum of lack of information. I remember to this day what Kadansa said about KK’s misuse of the 2 billion pounds the British Government left the Zambian Government at independence on such things as liberation wars on people who never appreciated our sacrifice. Botswana, on the other hand, which did not support the liberation wars, which was the second poorest country in the world at independence, used its resources prudently and is an upper middle income country. You may have been too young to appreciate what Kadansa was saying.
Aaha what happened to the ZRA audit did they conclude their audit already for govt to shut down Prime TV? So they will be auditing a company that is closed?
Lungu the little insecure wanna be dictator and his minion are the laughing stock of African government. Next they will claim that this was because of fake news and justified. I know for sure that no western diplomat is taking him and his minion serious as well as whatever he is saying, especially when he talks about fighting corruption. Imagine the country might face with that virus one of the biggest challenges ever and they only care about staying in power and silence the truth. They will be responsible of a lot of mortality when the virus will spread because of their selfish thinking.
Prime tv became a UPND mouth piece and Mr Shawa only has himself to blame!!
Really i dont know how Zambian journalists are trained because they are never objective.Their daily news is opinions from those who are against Govnt-it is very shameful indeed!!
To maintain our peace,it is prudent to close hostile media houses!! Only the opposition and their supporters will miss prime tv.The best Mr Shawa could have done is to join politics than fighting political battles with govnt officia through prime tv!!WELL DONE IBA!!
May the ballifs also visit the station,ba shawama fought he was bigger than boma, my appeal to siliya is not to sucume to pressure and sort out the issue very fast, sturdy the appeal for 2weeks and then make your ruling after 3months, shawama should know that boma ni boma.
That happens only in dictatorship.
Learn to distinguish between freedom of expression and freedom of stupidity. That is why the developed world sponsors a lot of NGOs in developing countries – use them to fight among themselves under the veil of “good governance”. There are very few NGOs in the developed world. Gerald Shawa grew big-headed and thought that he could fight the state – under the misguided push of power-hungry characters. When you push the state anyway, these are the results.
Let’s do the math 11,000 plus mopani workers, 270 Edcon workers, 200 intercontinental hotel workers and now voluntarily sending more into the ever increasing unemployment sphere in Zambia by closing Prime TV. Can PF tell the zambian people what was benefited from the closure of The Post news paper? What economic benefits are there in closing Prime TV? The PF govt must go back to the people and apologize for lying to them if PF continues on this treacherous path it will only worsen their problems, from the time Post news paper was closed how many more people lost jobs in the mines and continue to do so today. It’s not bad luck it’s PF’S own doing let them check themselves.
Which jobs are you talkin about,the post was closed and it created alot of jobs at newsdiggers and the mast, let bene simuwe look 4 jobs with their useless analysis its time 4 diamond tv to shine
Authoritarianism at it’s best. So what kind of news will now be reported in Zambia? Lick, lick, lick and lick again, ha? Now they can even falsify data, evidence, statistics, etc. without internal challenge.
How was the cancellation of the licence in the ‘public interest’? How was that gauged? They mean in the PF interest, off course.
I would advise COSTA (Diamond TV) not to employe the likes of Alexander Musokotwane those are the people who cost MuviTV and now Prime TV
@Lazi, Fred M’membe will be ushered in President of the Republic of Zambia. What has capitalistic cronies have done for Zambia, nothing, nada,Zei. They have enable to line their pockets and enrich foreigners, reducing majority of Zamvuans to abject poverty.
Time to stand up and vote for a party and candidate that will spend majority of national budget on empowering the poorest of the poor. Let the cronies febd for themselves
PF thugs watch out. Timene timene and more Timene
Come 2021, PF THUGS, TIMENE
Eve dogs can see and hear the wrongs and unprofessional conduct of Prime TV. Go well Prime TV with your pride. Self infringed pain..
GOOD RIDDANCE TO PRIME HATRED AND ITS SPONSORS
These corrupt tyrants need to be kicked out of office next year and jailed for a hundred years each. They’re using their time in government offices to settle scores. But their time is coming. Every dog has his day. Once they lose the election next year, prison will be waiting. The reason for canceling Prime TV license is neither valid nor convincing. That’s why they can’t even state it in their cancellation notice. Everyone knows that it’s because the Station refused to be controlled by Lungu’s crime syndicate. Stop violating our rights, you despicable tyrants.
Zambians need to protest.
There you are , this is the last nail in their coffin. Am sure from this one well meaning soldiers shd start formulating a kama underground coup of some kind. Only resort Zambia is left with now. Lungu can only leave power by force, and not any other means. This is the spirit, lets all turn left, from this point onwards!
This is a serious assault on Press freedom and ultimately our Bill of Rights! A normal person who understands Democracy and history will not celebrate such dictatorial acts. Just a little time longer and all Zambians will lose all their freedoms! Dictatorship is not built in one day. You start slowly chipping away at the Constitution first using Bill 10! Take away freedoms one by one. By the time the citizenry wakes up, it will be too late! Bad company corrupts absolutely! If your best friends are dictators, you become one also! I hate Mugabe, M7 and Kagame for making Zambia a Dictatorship again through their disciple!
Which Bill of Rights?? The one upnd shot down in the 2016 Referendum??? Remember, it didn’t pass.
In crisis period, a nation is suppose to have one lead to fight a common enemy. When media starts parading opposition propaganda against GRZ, then you have a problem as unity of purpose is disrupted and lost. In RSA for example, it is criminal and prosecutable to publish false info during the covid-19 period. YOU HAD IT COMING, PRIME TV. FORM A SYMPATHY GROUP WITH POST AND MUVI. DIGGERS, WATCH YOUR STEP!!
Unprofessional behaviour is costly…whatever political party in power will not tolerate such…amenso yabantu yalaponwesha
Pleading with Mopani Mines not to close so that employment is saved and closing Muvi TV station so that employment is severed and employees are condemned into poverty is very shameful. These actions will one day bite PF big time.
Today it’s someone else – tomorrow it will be you. Some of us saw this tyranny coming long ago. Going forward to 2021 elections it’s going to get worse – much, much worse. In 2021 vote like your life depends on it – because it does!
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A code of ethics and professional conduct outlines the ethical principles that govern decisions and behavior at a company or organization/ // / / // i never saw that with prime tv. . . .law is law dnt rush getting money because political situation . . . ..let us use our own intelligence to articulate issues without any political affiliation its us to suffer in the end