🔴 MISSING CONTEXT : Old headline falsely links Zambia’s Chief Justice to 2025 Constitutional Amendments advocacy on gay rights.

The image and headline are from 2023 and have no connection to the 2025 constitutional reform process.

A post on Facebook with a screenshot of a News Diggers newspaper front page with the headline: “Respect gay rights” – Chief Justice is MISSING CONTEXT.

The words accompanying this image state that Chief Justice Mumba Malila is currently advocating for LGBTQ+ rights as part of Zambia’s ongoing constitutional amendment process. 

Zambia is undergoing a national constitutional reform process in 2025, stirring debate around the country’s democratic direction. So does this story by News Diggers show the Chief Justice’s views about the current process? 

To verify the claim, results of a Google reverse image search traced the newspaper image to NewsDiggers Epaper Edition No. 1567, published on September 25, 2023. The headline referred to comments made by Chief Justice Malila during a public lecture at the University of Zambia on September 22, 2023, marking the Golden  Jubilee of the Supreme Court.

The following day, on September 26, 2023, News Diggers published a clarification from the Chief Justice. His clarification aimed to distinguish between advocating for the humane treatment of individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, and endorsing actions that are currently illegal under Zambian law. The Chief Justice underscored that while same-sex sexual conduct remains criminalized, this does not justify discrimination or inhumane treatment of individuals based on their sexuality.

A keyword search conducted on Google, official statements, and news reports using terms such as “Chief Justice Malila Zambia advocating  for LGBTQ rights on constitutional amendments” yielded no evidence indicating that the Chief Justice has  advocated for LGBTQ rights in relation to the current  2025 constitutional amendment process. The draft Constitution of Zambia (Amendment Bill No. 7 of 2025) also contains no provision regarding the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships. This post was examined and found to be missing context. 

This fact-check was produced by the Center for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA), by way of Mzeziti Mwanza, as part of the African Fact-checking Alliance incubation program. It was produced with peer-mentorship from Code for Africa’s fact checking initiative,  PesaCheck with financial support from Norway. AFCA mentorship respects the journalistic independence of the researchers, offering access to advanced techniques and tools. Editorial decision remains with CYLA.

HOAX: This Electoral Commission of Zambia recruitment portal is fake.

Claim: This link promoting jobs purportedly advertised by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to assist in upcoming electoral proceedings in the country is a HOAX.

On clicking the link, this notice appears; 

“The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) wishes to inform the general public that it is conducting an online recruitment drive to engage qualified and committed Zambians for various positions to assist in the Commission’s work and its upcoming electoral proceedings. Applications are now invited from suitably qualified Zambians to fill various positions across the country.”

The Electoral Commission of Zambia is currently preparing for  local by-elections in Lumezi Constituency, Fibalala ward in Milenge District and  Tuuwa ward in Sikongo District; all Scheduled for  26th June, 2025.

The website mimics ECZ's branding, using ECZ’s official logo and colour scheme to appear legitimate when it is fraudulent.

Applicants are asked to indicate whether or not they are Zambian citizens. After submitting their name, individuals are asked to provide key personal information, including their phone numbers, date of birth, level of education, and email addresses. Once all this information is provided, applicants are instead asked to share the link on WhatsApp to submit the application.

Requiring users to share applications on WhatsApp is suspicious and common with phishing scams, where people’s personal information is accessed using false promises to lure them. a phishing scam when it's shared through emails or websites that impersonate trusted institutions, aiming to steal personal data or extract money through fake applications. If the same portal is promoted via text messages with suspicious links, it becomes a smishing scam; a type of phishing delivered by SMS. In both cases, the goal is deception: to trick victims into submitting sensitive information, paying fake fees, or clicking harmful links.

Centre for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA) performed a Whois search to establish whether this application portal is registered by the Electoral Commission. However, the results show it is hosted by GitHub and registered in the United States.

On the contrary, the genuine Electoral Commission website is registered in Zambia. This was verified through a domain search conducted on the 'Zambia WHOIS Service' page of the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) website.

When contacted, Patricia Luhanga, the Corporate Affairs  Manager at the commission, confirmed that it is a fake online recruitment and  has since  been flagged the portal as a scam.

The purported jobs are not listed on the careers section of the Electoral Body’s website  and there confirms the job advertisement to be a hoax. 

This fact-check was produced by the Center for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA), by way of Mzeziti Mwanza, as part of the African Fact-checking Alliance incubation program. It was produced with peer-mentorship from Code for Africa’s fact checking initiative,  PesaCheck with financial support from Norway. AFCA mentorship respects the journalistic independence of the researchers, offering access to advanced techniques and tools. Editorial decision remains with CYLA.