Claim:
On January 23, 2026, the Facebook page “ZED Daily” published a post titled: “Trending: There is a pass out parade for ZNS recruits in Kabwe today even though there was no advert.” The post garnered significant public attention, receiving over 1.5K likes and 47 shares. Some Facebook users cited family members who were part of the pass out, while others speculated about the recruits being connected to some influential ruling political party officials. This fueled a broader public concern that the Zambia National Service (ZNS) had conducted a large-scale recruitment exercise without a transparent public advertisement.
Rating Justification
The claims of a public recruitment at ZNS are false. iVerify Zambia investigated the claims by reviewing the official records of the recruitment exercise and seeking clarification from the Ministry of Defence, and found them to be false. The absence of a public advertisement did not indicate a lack of transparency, but rather reflected the internal nature of the recruitment process.
An official statement from the Ministry of Defence clarified that this was not a public recruitment exercise, but an exclusive internal upgrade of civilian employees who had served in ZNS for many years. The exercise was initiated by a Presidential policy directive to enhance the skills and capacity of existing personnel.
Further, iVerify Zambia contacted Mr. Paul Shalala, the Principal Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Defence, who confirmed that the recruitment was a normal internal process which did not require a public advertisement.
Mr. Shalala further explained that for mass recruitments targeting all eligible Zambians, ZNS follows the standard procedure of placing an advertisement in the public media such as newspapers, radio and television, including online media.
Conclusion:
The pass-out parade at ZNS Kabwe Training School resulted from an internal recruitment exercise to upgrade existing civilian personnel in ZNS. The absence of a public advertisement was not an omission. , but a reflection of the internal nature of the recruitment. Public recruitment exercises by ZNS are, according to official policy, advertised through public media channels.
