Zambia’s largest private daily, The Post, shut two days ago over a tax row, has continued publishing. PHOTO | CORRESPONDENT
By MICHAEL CHAWE in Lusaka
In Summary
- Newspaper copies were being sold on the streets of the capital Lusaka on Thursday with its reporters operating outside the office premises.
- The Zambia Revenue Authorities (ZRA) shut the newspaper in the capital Lusaka. The tax agency was demanding that the company pays a total of $6.1 million disputed tax arrears immediately.
- Zambian opposition parties staged a walk to the newspaper's head office in protest of the government's decision.
Zambia’s largest private daily, The Post, shut two days ago over a tax row, has continued publishing.
Newspaper copies were being sold on the streets of the
capital Lusaka on Thursday with its reporters operating outside the
office premises.
The paper said it was being targeted for its “editorial independence and political views”.
The Zambia Revenue Authorities (ZRA) shut the newspaper in the capital Lusaka.
The tax agency was demanding that the company pays a total of $6.1 million disputed tax arrears immediately.
The newspaper management says the amount being demanded
was paid almost in total, but a ZRA officer responded that they had not
yet accessed the money and thus they could not withdraw the warrant of
distress.
Opposition parties and civil society have raised alarm
over the closure ahead of the August 11 General Election saying it an
abuse of press freedom.
Zambian opposition parties staged a walk to the newspaper's head office in protest of the government's decision.
At the printing plant, ZRA officers switched off the
printing press, locked up the premises, leaving heavily armed police
officers in charge.
The newspaper, established in 1991 has been critical of
successive regimes, including current President Edgar Lungu, with
several of them moving to shut the newspaper or slapping charges on its
editor-in-chief Mr Fred M’membe and its journalists
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