Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC)

Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is Zambia’s national public broadcaster, operating the country’s oldest and most extensive television and radio platform under the policy supervision of the Ministry of Information and Media. ZNBC is headquartered at the Mass Media Complex, Alick Nkhata Road, Lusaka, and broadcasts in English and seven major Zambian languages, Bemba, Nyanja, Lozi, Tonga, Kaonde, Lunda, and Luvale.

Media assets

Television: ZNBC TV1, ZNBC TV2, ZNBC TV3, ZNBC TV4

Radio: ZNBC Radio1, ZNBC Radio2, ZNBC Radio4

Ownership and governance

ZNBC traces its institutional lineage to Radio Lusaka, established in 1941 by the colonial government’s Information Department as a 300-watt transmitter for the dissemination of wartime information in what was then Northern Rhodesia. Following independence in 1964, the broadcaster passed through successive incarnations as the Northern Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation, the Zambia Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), and from 1966 the Zambia Broadcasting Service (ZBS), which absorbed Television Zambia in 1967. The corporation was reconstituted in its present form as the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation at the end of 1988, following the passage of the ZNBC Act of 1987 (Chapter 154 of the Laws of Zambia), which transformed ZNBC from a government department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services into a statutory body.

The legal framework governing ZNBC was substantially overhauled in 2025. The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Act, No. 26 of 2025, assented to by President Hakainde Hichilema on 23 December 2025 together with the companion Independent Broadcasting Authority Act, No. 25 of 2025, is intended to repeal and replace the 1987 Cap. 154 statute, redefine the functions and composition of the ZNBC Board, and introduce a statutory framework for the imposition, payment, and collection of a broadcast levy. The Act’s commencement clause provides that it comes into operation on a date appointed by the Minister by statutory instrument, and as of early 2026 the implementing statutory instruments were still under preparation. Information and Media Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana convened drafters from ZNBC, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the Ministry of Information and Media, and the Ministry of Justice in early 2026 to accelerate the drafting of implementing regulations for both Acts, with regulations subsequently to be submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Cabinet before being gazetted as statutory instruments. Under the 2025 Act’s new board model, members are nominated by specified ministries, institutions, or organisations and appointed by the Minister responsible for broadcasting; the practical effect of this model depends on commencement and implementation.

Operational oversight of ZNBC sits with the Ministry of Information and Media, headed since 25 September 2023 by Hon. Cornelius Mweetwa, MP, who also serves as Chief Government Spokesperson. The current Board of Directors is chaired by Bishop Joseph Shapela Kazhila, who took over from Jack Kalala in September 2023 after Kalala was relieved of his duties in August 2023. Berry Lwando, appointed Director General effective 15 March 2023, left the position in January 2026 after the Board said it had mutually agreed to part ways with him, with his last working day on 23 January 2026; Reuben Kajokoto was appointed Acting Director General. Permanent Secretary Kawana publicly clarified that the Ministry had no role in the decision and that the departure followed an administrative process internal to the ZNBC Board, distinct from a contemporaneous courtesy call to ZNBC headquarters by United States Ambassador Michael Gonzales.

Source of funding and budget

ZNBC’s financial architecture is currently heavily reliant on Treasury subventions, complemented in principle by revenue from public television licence fees and commercial advertising. Available budget data cited in media-monitoring research put ZNBC’s 2024 approved budget at ZMW 43.7 million (approximately US$1.67 million), with ZMW 31.1 million released, a shortfall of approximately 29%. Senior government officials and parliamentary commentary in 2025 acknowledged that ZNBC had not turned an operating profit for many years, with mounting debts owed to domestic suppliers and foreign partners periodically constraining the corporation’s ability to meet basic operational obligations, including staff salaries.

ZNBC’s infrastructure development since the 2010s has been supported by foreign loans and grants, most prominently from the Exim Bank of China. AidData has recorded a China Eximbank preferential buyer’s credit covering phases II and III of Zambia’s National Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting System, secured partly by ZNBC income and revenues from the digital migration project. In July 2025, former Information and Media Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga publicly called for ZNBC to be weaned off Treasury dependence and pushed to develop its own commercial revenue base. The broadcast levy introduced under the ZNBC Act No. 26 of 2025 is designed to reintroduce or broaden levy-based funding once the Act is commenced and implementing regulations are gazetted; as of this review, the levy was not yet operational. ZNBC has also pursued commercial partnerships with corporate clients, including the mining sector, with Board Chair Bishop Kazhila and former Director General Berry Lwando using the 2025 International Trade Fair in Ndola to advance the corporation’s commercial-partnerships agenda. The 2026 national budget, presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane on 26 September 2025, set aside K92.6 billion for general public services within a total envelope of K253.1 billion (27.4% of GDP); the precise 2026 allocation to ZNBC within the Ministry of Information and Media vote had not been publicly itemised as of this review.

Editorial independence

Although ZNBC’s enabling legislation does not impose explicit obligations to carry pro-government content, the broadcaster has historically been criticised for editorial alignment with the ruling party of the day, most prominently during the Patriotic Front (PF) administration that preceded the August 2021 transition. After the United Party for National Development (UPND) took office, then-Minister of Information and Media Chushi Kasanda enlisted BBC Media Action to support a reform initiative intended to reposition ZNBC as a genuine public service broadcaster; her successor Cornelius Mweetwa has continued the reform agenda, including by championing the ZNBC Act No. 26 of 2025 and the companion IBA Act No. 25 of 2025 as legislative reform in progress.

ZNBC has had internal editorial guidelines since 2014, reportedly intended to insulate content from political interference, but no independent oversight mechanism was identified in this review that can enforce editorial autonomy or impartiality in practice. ZNBC’s public relations office serves as the primary channel for audience complaints rather than as a structural editorial-independence safeguard. The broader regulatory environment has seen two reforms over the past three years that may indirectly affect the corporation’s editorial latitude: the repeal of the law criminalising defamation of the President, enacted through the Penal Code amendment signed by President Hichilema on 23 December 2022, and the Access to Information Act, commenced by Statutory Instrument No. 35 of 2024, which Vice President Mutale Nalumango described in September 2025 as fully operational.

AI and digital policy

ZNBC maintains a digital presence centred on znbc.co.zm, with live streaming for radio and television channels, a ZNBC News portal, and social-media accounts on Facebook, X/Twitter, and YouTube. No publicly available evidence of a formal ZNBC policy on AI-generated content, synthetic-media disclosure, or content provenance frameworks such as C2PA was identified in this review. Implementing regulations for the ZNBC Act No. 26 of 2025 and the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act No. 25 of 2025 were under drafting by the Ministry of Information and Media, ZNBC, IBA, and the Ministry of Justice during early 2026.

May 2026