The High Council for Audiovisual and Communication (CSAC) met on May 26, 2023 to reassess the measures taken against the television channel CML13TV, the host of the special edition “Libre Opinion ” and guests. These precautionary measures, decided on May 22, were revised after heated debates.
Thus, the CSAC decided to suspend the channel for a period of 30 days, against 45 days initially planned, and the host Louis-France Kuzikeza for a period of 90 days, against 72 days initially planned. In addition, a 90-day embargo on the media broadcasting in Kinshasa to the guests, the deputies Daniel Safu and Mike Mukebayi.
The CSAC also asked the media to collaborate for the strict application of these measures. This decision follows a show broadcast on Saturday May 20 by the CML13 TV channel, regretted by the CSAC, which sanctioned the channel, the show host and his guests.
The channel’s signal has been suspended for a preventive period of 45 days, the program schedule and the specifications must be presented before its reconnection. The journalist Louis-France Kuzikeza, meanwhile, is suspended from all media in the DRC for a period of 72 days, with the possibility of possible disciplinary action by the corporation of journalists (UNPC).
The CSAC accuses Louis-France Kuzikesa of having organized a media performance whose content conveyed hate speech as well as remarks tending to incite violence against a tribe and personal attacks in this special edition. Guests Mike Mukebayi and Daniel Safu, meanwhile, are subject to a 90-day suspension from the media broadcasting in the DRC.
The Bureau of the CSAC even recommends to the parliamentary chambers concerned to initiate disciplinary actions to discourage this delinquency in the media.
This CSAC decision is part of a more general logic of moralizing the press in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country has to deal with busy news with the reinforcement of the army, the re-emergence of the Congolese opposition, the development of Kasai and international pressure on the exploitation of natural resources.