A young Zambian female student at the prestigious Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS) in the capital city, Lusaka, risks being sent to jail for five years along with her male partner with whom she filmed a sex video which found its way onto a hardcore pornographic website.

The couple and those who shared the link to the porn website are now being sought by the police for breaching section 177 of the Penal Code of the Laws of Zambia which states, among other things, that: “(1) Any person who (a) makes, produces or has in his possession any one or more obscene writings, drawings, prints, paintings, printed matter, pictures, posters, emblems, photographs, cinematograph films or any other object tending to corrupt morals; or

“(b) imports, conveys or exports, or causes to be imported conveyed or exported, any such matters or things, or in any manner whatsoever puts any of them in circulation; or

“(d) advertises or makes known by any means whatsoever with a view to assisting the circulation of, or traffic in, any such matters or things, that a person is engaged in any of the acts referred to in this section, or advertises or makes known how, or from whom, any such matters or things can be procured either directly or indirectly…”

While this case has attracted the interest of the police, it has also sparked a gender, culture and morality debate. Most of the people have argued that the female subject in the video has been the focus of unfair condemnation by the Zambian society which tends to ignore male infidelity.

Incidentally, section 177 of the Penal Code is not considered as a media law issue by most Zambian journalists and media organisations that fight for media law reforms such as the Press Association of Zambia, Media Institute of Southern Africa, Zambia Media Women Association and the Zambia Union of Journalists even as it borders on components of media such as photography, cinematography, printed matter etc.

The law also neither takes into account the privacy of the people involved in the production rather than distribution of the offensive materials nor their age. Zambia is a culturally conservative and constitutionally proclaimed Christian nation where pornography and related moral issues are not tolerated.