Sat, 20 Jan 2018 12:56:39 +0000
By KALOBWE BWALYA and ANNIE ZULU
GOVERNMENT has instituted investigations into the reported assault of Daily Nation reporter Michael Miyoba by Zambia Airforce soldiers on Monday evening, Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo has said.
Speaking during a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday at the Ministry of Health, Mr Kampyongo said his ministry will ensure that all officers involved in the harassment of the journalist are brought to book.
Mr Kampyongo appealed to men and women in uniform to ensure that they treat citizens with dignity and execute their duties which they have been assigned to do by President Edgar Lungu professionally.
Mr Kampyongo urged officers to ensure that there was law and order and not anarchy among the people in communities.
“We received a regrettable incidence of a journalist who was reported to have been mishandled by some of our officers and will ensure that the matter is probed and action will be taken when it is established,” said Mr Kampyongo.
On Monday evening Daily Nation reporter Mr Miyoba was captured and tortured by ZAF soldiers assigned to chase away street vendors from the central business district in Lusaka.
Mr Miyoba, a sports reporter, was abused and tortured by the ZAF servicemen despite having identified himself as a journalist.
One female officer reportedly pulled Miyoba’s genitals before slapping him on the face.
The servicemen believed that the reporter had taken pictures of them while they were chasing the vendors from the streets.
Meanwhile one of the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) soldiers who allegedly took part in the heinous torture of a Daily Nation Reporter was yesterday over heard boasting to his colleagues at City Airport that he poured water on the victim.
When the Daily Nation arrived at City Airport to board a plane to Muchinga Province, the soldiers manning the gate told her to wait in the lounge at the gate because the flight was to leave two hours later at 12 hours.
The presence of this Reporter prompted one of them to raise the allegations of torture with her colleagues after which the male soldier responded:
“I was there when the boy (Daily Nation Reporter) was being dealt with. Actually I am the one who poured water on him,” he said.
The other female soldier then asked him if it was true that the Reporter’s manhood was pulled by one of the soldiers.
“Yes it is true his manhood was pulled. Utu tu banthu situnvela ku matu koma kumudonsa kwamene kuja kapena angavele (These Reporters do not listen with ears. They listen with their genitals.) We even slapped him because he was getting pictures of us dispersing street vendors who attempted to regroup,” the soldier said Apparently oblivious to the presence of this Reporter or they thought the Reporter was outside earshot.
This reporter was made to wait at the gate for over an hour while her colleagues from other media houses were allowed to go in.
Meanwhile, Mr Kampyongo has announced the re-opening of National Registration and Citizenship and Passport Offices which were closed to curb the outbreak of cholera on Monday to the public.
