The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) is “deeply concerned” about the government’s failure to repeal anti-democratic laws, citing provisions in the Cybersecurity and Cybercrimes Act enacted by the previous administration, the colonial-era Public Order Act, and those criminalizing libel in the Penal Code.
In its Pastoral Statement on the State of the Nation dated November 15, the ZCCB states that all the highlighted provisions undermine the enjoyment of human rights and the fundamental freedoms and principles of democracy and good governance.
“They are among the repressive laws that the current President of Zambia pledged to reform if elected when he was in opposition,” the statement read in part.
The ZCCB further stated that the failure to strike these repressive laws from the country’s statutes erodes public trust in the political integrity of our leaders.
“Many of our leaders seem to find it easy to change positions on policies for personal gain, expediency, or convenience. We have seen leaders subscribe to particular principled positions when in opposition only to repudiate those very positions when accorded the instruments of power,” the bishops charged.
They have appealed to the conscience of politicians in the current government to honor their pre-election campaign promise to repeal anti-democratic laws, consistent with the principles they avowed when they were in the opposition.
The ZCCB has further asked the government to withdraw its intended amendment to the Penal Code to allow for further consultation.
“The Bill seeks to make two amendments to Section 70 of the Penal Code Act, which provides for the crime of expressing or showing hatred, ridicule, or contempt for persons because of race, tribe, place of origin, or color.”
The ZCCB’s reservation to these amendments, which seek to expand the grounds for hatred, ridicule, or contempt and to extend jail time from a maximum of two years currently to between seven and 20 years, is on the basis that there’s no definition of what constitutes hatred, ridicule, or contempt. Hence, giving wide discretion for interpretation and abuse.
Further, the bishops note that the amendments seek to “sustain the problematic current status quo” requiring the Director of Public Prosecution’s consent to pursue charges of hatred, ridicule, or contempt.
“As history has shown, this provision has enabled the incumbent DPP to make partisan calls that have previously benefited the government by way of only sanctioning the prosecution of opposition figures while declining to sanction the private prosecution of government officials or those associated with the ruling party on similar charges of hate speech.”