The closure of The Post Newspapers
Lungu and M’membe
By Chilufya Tayali
This afternoon Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) pounced on The Post Newspaper and closed down the printing plant in the light industrial area then went to the administration and editorial department at Bwinjimfumu to do the same.
The ZRA officials almost went into a punch up exchange with some Post workers. Within two hours both ends were closed leaving the workers at total loss as they waited for instructions from their boss Fred M’membe who was not around at the time things were happening.
The Post Newspaper issue is not straight forward to understand, but as The Zambian Voice we have followed the issues closely.
The first thing one has to understand is that, The Post has been facing a number of issues starting with the DBZ loan and two Tax cases.
The DBZ case is still in court and it has nothing to do with the current closure.
The other case involves The Post owing ZRA about K26 million by mid 2015. ZRA pounced on The Post to recover this amount and it went to court for the company to tactfully buy time
Anyway the K26 million was paid but ZRA went back to The Post and demanded over K16 million in taxes and tax arrears.
The first notice the Post Newspapers Limited was served with is a Warrant of Distress of K6, 954,911.75 in taxes and K9, 969,483.29 in Pay As You Earn and tax arrears in a second Warrant of Distress with a demand for these payments in full with immediate effect.
The Post went to court and the case dragged up to the Supreme Court where three judges, Justice Mwanamwambwa, Justice Hamaundu and Justice Kabuka ruled that The Post should pay the the total amount in full because they had earlier defaulted when they were given a chance to pay in installments.
It is this judgment, of 13th June 2016, (I have a softcopy if you need it drop and email we will send it to you tomorrow) that ZRA was effecting this evening.
However, ZRA has also demanded another K53 million which came out as a result of the investigations that has been going on which led to the confiscation of computers at one point.
So if you look at the three issues, you can see that The Post is in trouble and one wonders how they will survive.
I must say, I find this case very difficult to comment on because apparently I am have lost favor of The Post due to these cases.
I respect Ba Fred no matter what but truth be told, The Post as a company has the obligation to pay Taxes and it would have been better if my brother had taken a humbler approach to this issue than taking Govt by storm in the manner that he had done.
In different ways, Ba Fred has dared Govt and called them names, including holding them to ransom.
I personally spoke to Ba Fred over these issues and that was last, since then I don’t think he considers me a friend nor does Mutembo Nchito, but contrary to what many of you think of me, I hold my grounds.
I enjoyed the coverage from The Post but I stood my grounds to tell my elder brother what I thought. I would do the same to anyone including Edgar Lungu.
I am convinced The Post needed to pay those Taxes but because at one point they enjoyed certain a good relationship with President Mwanawasa and Sata, they ignored their responsibilities and they can’t blame the current govt for invoking the law against them.
On the other hand I believe the Govt must have a human face to think of the innocent employees working for The Post.
The Post has about 1,500 workers plus newspaper vendors and other indirect suppliers who are already anxious of their fate as The Post is reported closed. I doubt tomorrow we will have The Post on the streets, otherwise we might have to read online.
Govt must also be aware that, these employees of the Post have their families with their relatives who will equally cry should this closure be effected as many PF supporters would want.
Clearly this is a catch 22 situation for the Govt. They will succeed to fix the perceived political nuisance – Fred M’membe but they will punish innocent citizens by rendering them unemployed in an economy where Govt is trying to create employment.
This is the time of campaigns, and most definitely this will cause the PF to lose votes. Unfortunately our opposition is not threatening so President Edgar Lungu many not run the risk of losing an election due to this closure.
However, this is where leadership comes in to think of the many people that would be affected and bend a little to accommodate families.
I really wish I had a way to help in this situation because I am really worried for my bothers and sisters who might lose jobs because it seems the like ZRA has cornered Fred M’membe unless some foreign help comes in to bail him out of this otherwise, we are dealing with a Supreme Court ruling as the K53 Million demand order from ZRA pends.
No matter which way you look at it, this is Zambian politics at play, that is why, this would not have happened if Fred was supporting ECL, just like HH has been promising him(Fred) relief if he wins.
Politics teyabana iyoo, changa baseka uwachelwa.