MDC CALLS FOR CLAMPDOWN ON SOCIAL MEDIA MISINFORMATION
Sunday, 4th February, 2024
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is displeased with the continued trend of misinformation on social media despite Zambia having adequate pieces of legislation to abate the practice.
Of particular concern to MDC is the recent misinformation regarding party President, Honourable Felix Mutati where unscrupulous people attempted to misinform the public to insinuate that he was among a drug dealing syndicate in which the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) recently rounded up suspects.
On Friday, the DEC published a statement relating to an operation that led to the shut down a notorious drug lord in Chibolya and in the process, a named Felix Mutati aged 19 of John Laig compound was arrested in relation to the drug dealing activities.
But some unscrupulous people deliberately with malice to bring the name of Mr Mutati into disrepute twisted the facts by alleging that the MDC President who is also Technology and Science Minister was the one arrested in connection with drug related charges.
This deliberate ploy to mislead and misinform the public is a serious crime under the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes law and individuals peddling such falsehoods should face consequences of the law.
We, therefore, call upon ZICTA and the Police to bring the culprits to book in order to bring sanity in Zambia’s cyber space. We also wish to commend the Government through the Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary, Mr. Thabo Kawana for clearing this misinformation.
Issued by;
Ambassador Joyce Musenge
Acting Secretary General
Movement for Democratic Change MDC