Zambia : Hot FM Won't Air Political Content For Free, Chavula Insists

Hot FM proprietor Oscar Chavula used his Facebook page to dismiss threats he said had been directed at his station, declaring that Hot FM would not alter its editorial content or air political material for free under pressure from anyone.

“We don’t run a Charitable Organisation and won’t place Political Ads or Campaign Songs for FREE, under duress or because some excited Loser says so. It never happens and won’t happen! Even if he tried brute force it won’t happen,” Chavula wrote.

He said any attempt to shut the station down would primarily affect its employees, whom he described as no less Zambian than those making the threats. “Japhen and I don’t lose sleep over such things, they won’t be the first to try it,” Chavula wrote, adding that neither he nor Japhen Mwakalombe felt intimidated. “He can intimidate those who pander to his headless whims and caprices not us! Fear doesn’t live here,” he wrote.

The United Party for National Development (UPND) subsequently issued a statement through media director Mark Simuuwe addressing Chavula’s political commentary, including his assertions concerning President Hakainde Hichilema and the prospects of the 2026 general election.

Simuuwe said that while Chavula was free to enter active politics, doing so meant accepting the same scrutiny applied to any political actor. “Let me make one thing clear; if Mr Chavula wishes to enter active politics, he is welcome to do so. However, once he chooses to make political pronouncements and openly takes political positions, we will engage him as a political opponent and not merely as a media proprietor or shareholder,” Simuuwe said.

He also referenced Mwakalombe’s association with the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP), saying the increasingly political character of some discourse around Hot FM meant its principals should expect political scrutiny like anyone else engaging in politics. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a politician. What becomes problematic is attempting to occupy both spaces simultaneously and then expecting political statements to be treated purely as independent media commentary,” he said.

Simuuwe acknowledged that Hot FM had consistently given significant airtime to opposition voices throughout the UPND’s four years and nine months in office, and said the party had not objected to this. However, he said that where a media organisation deliberately used its platform to advance partisan interests, political actors and citizens had a right to raise concerns through appropriate institutions, including the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), within the provisions of the law.

He credited President Hichilema with supporting media self-regulation over statutory control of journalism, pointing to the establishment of an independent media self-regulatory mechanism as a step toward strengthening professional standards while safeguarding press freedom. Simuuwe contrasted this approach with what he described as past interference under the previous Patriotic Front administration, saying cadres had previously been unleashed on radio stations to disrupt broadcasts and intimidate journalists.

“Media freedom cannot mean immunity from scrutiny, just as political speech cannot mean immunity from political accountability,” Simuuwe said, describing Chavula’s assertion that Hichilema would lose the 2026 election as a political position rather than media analysis. “If Mr Chavula wants to join politics, he is welcome. We will meet him there, as a political opponent, not as a media owner.”

Neither party has confirmed whether a formal complaint has been lodged with the IBA. As of publication, no further public exchange had followed Simuuwe’s statement.

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