‘Slap in the face’: Zambia’s RightsCon collapse a warning for Africa’s digital rights (Part 1)
By Janet Heard, CINIA Communications Practitioner
May 2026 was set to mark a milestone as Zambia hosted the world’s premier digital rights conference for the first time in southern Africa, just months before its elections. Instead, the government delivered a masterclass in censorship by pulling the plug on RightsCon, compromising flagship World Press Freedom Day celebrations in Lusaka and issuing a stark reminder of the fragility of digital rights and media freedom on the continent and around the globe.
After more than a year of preparation and consultations, the abrupt backtrack exposed the transactional nature of modern digital sovereignty, writes Janet Heard for Daily Maverick.
Cover Photo: RightsCon
