A Zambian TV presenter interrupted a live broadcast earlier last week to claim that he and his colleagues haven’t been paid their wages by the news station.
“Away from the news, ladies and gentleman, we are human beings. We have to get paid,” said Kabinda Kalimina, an employee with KBN TV. Mr Kalimina had started the show normally to give the roundup of the top stories of the day, when he suddenly made the complaint to viewers in the middle of the live bulletin.
“Unfortunately, on KBN we haven’t been paid... Sharon and everyone else hasn’t been paid, including myself. We have to get paid (sic),” he continued.
Soon after Mr Kalimina made his statement, the live feed from the studio was cut to the opening montage of the news channel.
The CEO of KBN TV, Kennedy K Mambwe, criticised the actions of the anchor on Facebook.
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Calling it “drunken behaviour” and a “one-night stunt of fame”, the chief executive in the press statement said that they “strongly condemn” the conduct of the presenter.
“As KBN TV, we are appalled with the drunken behaviour exhibited through a video clip that had gone viral on social media and staged by one of our part-time presenters during what should have the main news bulletin last night,” said Mr Mambwe.
Though, in his statement the chief executive did not explicitly deny the claim of non-payment of wages, he added that the organisation “has very well established grievance procedures for all members of staff through which they can channel their complaints.”
“Therefore, last night’s behaviour by Kabinda Kalimina is out of character and does not represent who we are as a station,” he said.
Mr Mambwe added that the management is investigating “to determine how a drunken part-time presenter found himself on air unabated and disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who may have been party to the scheme.”
Mr Kalimina, who in a Facebook post mocked the channel’s claims of being drunk, also remained defiant and unapologetic about his action. “Yes I did that on live TV, just because most journalists are scared to speak out doesn’t mean journalists shouldn’t speak out.”
Many took to social media, slamming the network for not paying wages to its employees.
“KBNtv must pay them. These aren’t the times to be playing with people’s livelihoods. Just survival for most is hard enough. Just pay what you owe. The poor quality of the reading is a separate matter for another day,” said a user.
“Everything else had failed so it was time for drastic measures,” said another.
