A Zambian cabinet minister has defended the country's contentious cyber-crime laws, dismissing claim that the government is using the legislation to spy on its citizens.
According to Felix Mutati, minister of technology and science, the Cyber Security Act and the Cyber Crimes Act were enacted to protect Zambia's digital infrastructure as well as citizens’ privacy from fraudsters.
The minister, speaking at Bootstrap Christian University in Ndola, the country's third-largest city, rejected the laws were a tool to intrude the private lives of citizens
“There is no surveillance in these laws,” said Mutati during a public lecture organised by the varsity on Monday. “What is there is digital protection, protecting Zambians to walk safely in cyberspace.”
Mutati added that throughout the years, the country has seen a trend in which certain citizens exposed other people's personal, explicit content online.
In Zambia, there has also been a surge on hate speech online, some of which has been spread by political leaders, causing the government to issue warnings to defend cyber space.
Mutati's comments came after President Hakainde Hichilema signed into law the Cyber Security Act and the Cyber Crimes Act in April.
Several persons have been arrested during police crackdowns in collaboration with the Zambia Information and Communications Technologies Authority.
Critics and the opposition allege the laws are intended to suppress free speech ahead of the general elections next year.
Share
