The Problem with Zambian Watchdog and Kabwata Times ( By Chanda Chimba). Frankly speaking I do not like the idea of having to respond to all the things, true or false, that are said and written about me on the various news websites and Facebook. As it turns out to be, this will be the second time I will be doing so. But what has been written and said about me over the last few days cannot just pass without my comment. I want to start with something posted on the Kabwata Times Community Facebook page on October 31st, 2014 entitled “BUT I TOLD YOU SATA WILL DIE, AM HAPPY HIS DEAD HE MADE MY PASSED THREE YEARS HELL NOW MY TIME HAS COME”. With all due respect Kabwata Times Communitywe have a Head of State, President Michael Sata, who is being mourned, may God the Creator rest his soul. I may have been critical of him and did not vote for him in 2011 but that does not mean that his passing on is something to make a joke of. I feel for his family because I know what it means to lose a loved one. WAR AT HAND CHANDA CHIMBA VS WATCHDOG He was a bread winner, a husband, a father, uncle and grandfather and most of all, our president, your president and my president too. I want everybody to know that I never gave any interview to your so called reporter and I never uttered all those words you have attributed to me. In short, the Kabwata Times Community scheme is very childish and must be treated with the contempt it deserves so I will not dwell so much on it even though it has some other wild allegations. The second issue is to do with the article posted on the Zambian Watchdog Facebook page on November 1, 2014 entitled “EXPOSED: CHANDA CHIMBA BEHIND LIES THAT UPND WORKING WITH CARTEL AND MAHTANI” and also on the website entitled “CHANDA CHIMBA BEHIND LIES THAT UPND WORKING WITH CARTEL AND MAHTANI”. I personally have some amount of respect for the Zambian Watchdog because I know it is journalists behind this online publication unlike the Kabwata Times Community which is operated by all sorts of reprobates and hoodlums. The Zambian Watchdog have made a categorical accusation against me in this article with the author signing off as ‘Alert Observer’ and this is something to do with an article that was published by another online publication, Zambia Reports alleging that Rajan Mahtani is planning to create an alliance between Hakainde Hichilema’s United Party for National Development, UPND, and the Wynter Kabimba group. I was prompted to contact one of the journalists I know who has connections with the Zambian Watchdog. I wanted to know what the article was all about and why they seemed to be on a war-path against me as the article had no basis but was just inciting people against me. Later in a telephone chat I told him that I am capable of hitting back and that if I am harmed, but God willing I come out standing I will will certainly be a wounded buffalo and the swords will be drawn. He asked if I had been in touch with the editor but I responded that the only number I have seems to be out of service. He suggested that he was going to send me the editors email address. When the email address was sent to me, it was not the personal one I was made to understand was coming to me but this one – editor@zambiawatchdog. So I sent an email to the editor and this is what I wrote, “Hi, I pray you are alright. I rarely use my yahoo address – [email protected] – as it has become highly compromised and I keep changing passwords every now and then. I cannot do away with it completely as I have had it for a very long, long time. I write to you in connection with this and I am at a loss to understand the motive. But thanks for the lie and inciting people against me now am a marked man again and may your wish be granted. Warm regards.” I copy pasted the Facebook and Website versions of the article as part of the email. There was one comment on the website and more than two hundred comments on the Facebook page, most of them negative against me with some people after my blood. However, I was shocked when during the phone conversation with this journalist colleague of mine I was asked if I have administrator privileges for Zambia Reports. I countered my friend by asking if at all I had such privileges on Zambian Watchdog before they stopped publishing my articles. He responded in the negative. But he also said that I should talk to those guys, meaning the editors at Zambia Reports to stop what they are writing about Hakainde Hichilema. Again I asked him if it is possible for a contributor to have any editorial input. The answer was no. In the article by the ‘Alert Observer’ the Zambian Watchdog refers to me as broke and desperate and calling my documentaries evil, the same documentaries they called prophetic not too long ago which I stand by word for word up to this day and am ready to go to prison for. What kind of nonsensical hypocrisy is this? I may be down but I am certainly not out. My colleagues are also accusing me of insulting the courts, that I write libellous stories about the judiciary in order to defend myself in the court cases I am facing. In short they are inciting the courts to deal with me. They seem to have serious facts, facts which I think they should present to the relevant court authorities. But I know for a fact that there are at least two people linked to the Zambian Watchdog who are also facing various criminal charges and appearing in the Lusaka Magistrates Court like I am. The article goes on and on referring to me as someone with sucking behaviour and personality. They talk about my stint with the Voice of America, they mention some Americans they do not name who they allege are paying for my survival and my lawyers. Gee, they seem to know things I do not know about myself. I am convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that the Zambian Watchdog has for whatever reason waged a calculated war against me. How I wish they did not start this. The truth is I contribute articles carrying my name to Zambia Reports and am only responsible for what I write under my by-line even in this period when it has been unfashionable to openly contribute to online publications. I am still at a loss to figure out why my friends at the Zambian Watchdog, who have previously published my articles, decided to take the route they have. What is also true is that I have never written anything on Mathani. As for Wynter Kabimba I have talked about him in my articles only in the context of being Justice Minister and Patriotic Front, PF, secretary general. But yes, on October 9, 2014 I wrote an article entitled ‘Is HH Just Playing Politics?’ The article was as a result of a media briefing the UPND leader Hichilema held that day which I attended where he said among other things that he will not tolerate anyone from his party pushing around journalists, harassing journalists if you like. I commended him for that but I concluded by saying that it will be sad and bad if “Hichilema is just playing politics!” I want to believe that Hichilema did not take the conclusion of the article as harsh criticism but even if he did he is one politician am convinced respects other people’s opinions. I say this confidently because at the height of my Stand Up for Zambia documentary in 2010, we met at the residence of the Ambassador of the United States of America, Mark Storella then where we were among the guests at a thanksgiving dinner. We had a brief one on one pleasant encounter I must say. He said something like, “Ha, Chanda, that programme, one day I shall also hit back” and we simply laughed about it. So for me I think he is a gentleman. As far as I am concerned the Zambian Watchdog article is not so much about Mathani, Hichilema and Kabimba but about bringing bad blood between I, Hichilema, and the other people mentioned like former president Rupiah Banda, a statesman I have so much respect for, Dickson Jere and Henry Banda. Note that I can only be held accountable for what I publish under my signature including those articles I have contributed to the Zambian Watchdog and Zambia Reports. Anything else is not my responsibility. Let me conclude with a caution to my colleagues at the Zambian Watchdog that if they ask for a war, they will get it. They should not forget that they have a lot of skeletons in their closets that if laid bare will have ghastly repercussions. I feel sorry for the gentleman I spoke to because, like me, he is a family man and if his record was brought to the court of public opinion, he may never recover. Take heed and know you can’t play with matches when in a grass thatched hut lest you set your own house on fire. As a journalist I will continue making contributions to any medium that will give me an opportunity to express my opinion on issues affecting the country because this is my inalienable right enshrined in our constitution.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 07:40:25 +0000
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