Statement for Public Dissemination Government Weaponises Cybercrime Law against Dr. Fred M’membe: A Desperate Act of Political Persecution Tuesday 3rd March 2026
Dr. Cosmas Masheke Musumali, Dr. Fred M'membe and Dr. Mwikisa
At 17:00 hours today (Tuesday, 3rd March, 2026, whilst still in detention at Lusaka’s Chilenje Police Station, Dr. Fred M’membe — President of the Socialist Party and presidential candidate of the People’s Pact Movement — was slapped with yet another charge. The new charge reads as follows:
“Prohibition of unlawful disclosure of details of investigation contrary to section 21 of the Cybercrimes Act No. 4 of 2025, in which it is alleged that you, Fred M’membe, upon receipt of a call out relating to a criminal investigation, unlawfully disclosed the details of the investigation in relation to the call out lawfully issued to you, in a video circulated on your Facebook page.”
This charge is not only malicious — it is a grotesque perversion of the law. The Cybercrimes Act No. 4 of 2025 was enacted strictly to govern individuals and entities such as internet service providers and telecommunications companies that receive disclosure orders from law enforcement agencies to assist in combating cybercrime, online fraud, and related offences. It was never designed, intended, or contemplated to be used against a citizen — let alone a political leader — who exercised his constitutional right to speak publicly about a summons issued to him.
The government is fishing for a case. Any case. It does not matter how flimsy, how legally absurd, or how transparently political. What matters to President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND administration is that Dr. M’membe be kept in detention, distracted, demoralised, and removed from the presidential race ahead of the August 13th, 2026 General Elections.
Let us be absolutely clear about what is happening here. Dr. M’membe has now faced, within 35 hours, three separate legal assaults: sedition charges for demanding presidential accountability, a police interrogation over his call for human decency in the matter of former President Lungu’s burial, and now this manufactured cybercrime charge for daring to speak publicly about his own legal situation. This is not the administration of justice. This is the administration of fear.
The Zambia Police Service has been deeply compromised. It no longer functions as an independent institution committed to the rule of law. Instead, it has been reduced to an instrument of political repression, answering not to the Constitution, but to the dictates of State House. When a police service arrests a man for speaking truthfully about his own arrest, it has lost all claim to legitimacy.
Zambians must wake up to this reality. Democracy is under attack. The rights enshrined in our Constitution — freedom of expression, freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to a fair trial — are being systematically dismantled by an administration that came to power on the promise of restoring them.
But as we have consistently stated, every act of persecution only amplifies Dr. M’membe’s voice. Every unjust charge reveals to the nation exactly who he is: a man who cannot be bought, cannot be broken, and cannot be silenced. The more the state moves against him, the more clearly the people see what this government truly represents — and what the alternative must be.
We call upon all democratic forces in Zambia, civil society organisations, the legal fraternity, media houses, and the international community to take note of what is unfolding and to speak out without hesitation. Silence in the face of injustice is complicity.
Dr. Fred M’membe is not alone. The people of Zambia stand with him. And the people of Zambia will have the final word on the 13th of August 2026.
The Socialist Party and the People’s Pact Movement remain resolute. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. Zambia shall be free.
Dr. Cosmas Musumali
Socialist Party / The People’s Pact Movement Tuesday 3rd March 2026
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