By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA
CROWN TV Zambia has submitted to the Lusaka High Court that Chawama member of Parliament Tasila Lungu, is not entitled to any damages in a matter where she sued for libel because the station retracted the alleged defamatory statement and made an unreserved apology.
This is a matter where Ms Lungu is demanding damages from Crown TV for alleging that she was the former councillor the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) referred to under investigation for suspicious purchase of a bank together with its assets worth K300 million.
Ms Lungu wants the Lusaka High Court to order Black Swan Media Limited trading as Crown TV, Jeff Mbewe and Mwamba Chikonka trading as The Candidate, Southern Classic Media managed by Davies Shachinda and Mwewa Chitambala running Simon Mwewa Lane Facebook Page to pay damages and retraction of the statement. She said that the statement meant and were understood to mean that she is a corrupt individual who illicitly bought the named bank.
In its defence, Crown TV admitted to have published the said words but claimed that it was not aware that the information was false or unverified. It contended that that it merely stated that Ms Lungu was under investigations as intimated to it by its sources.
The station stated that its apology to the plaintiff was aired on its 12:00 hours, 19:30 hours and 21:00 hours news as well as on its Facebook page on September 22, 2021.
