History
Fred M'membe founded The Post in 1991 as a weekly Lusaka newspaper, along with three co-founders Mike Hall, John Mukela and Matsautso Phiri. As an accountant, M'membe was appointed Managing Director of Post Newspapers Ltd and tasked with developing the business, while the others focused on editorial content. It soon started publishing countrywide. By 1996, it had started publishing Monday to Friday. By 2000, the newspaper was publishing daily and had become the most politically outspoken newspaper. It is believed to have helped stop the then president Chiluba from changing the constitution to enable him run for a third.
In recent years, the post newspaper had become a voice of the people. Many Zambian have expressed views about the government which they wouldn't have expressed in the Zambian-government owned medias. Notable critical writings includes:
- Article by Prof. Muna Ndulo called "The Chansa Kabwela case: a comedy of errors which has resulted in the post newspaper cited for contempt of the court.
- Article by Dr. Roy Clarke called "Mfuwe" in which the late President Levy Mwanawasa is perceived to have been referred to as Muwelewele (translates: useless). The article was a satirical article. Article saw Roy Clarke indicated for deportation which he successfully contested in court
- Arrest of Dipak Patel for calling the then president Chiluba a thief, which was published in the Post
The post newspaper has also been involved in wrangles against the Zambian government. In 2001, Fred M'membe was arrested for calling the then president, Chiluba a thief. This case was disposed off by President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa in 2002. In 2005, Fred M'membe was again arrested for defamation charges "following an editorial in which he wrote that Mwanawasa was a man of “foolishness, stupidity, and lack of humility". In 2009, Fred M'membe has been indicated for contempt for publishing an article by a United States' University of Cornell Professor of Law, Muna Ndulo article, titled "The Chansa Kabwela case: a comedy of errors ".
Read more about this topic: Zambia Post
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket- handkerchief?”
—Mary B. Clay, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 3, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.”
—Pierre Bayle (16471706)