 Hichilema was conferred with the Africa Freedom Award by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom on 27 October 2017 at an event held in Johannesburg, South Africa.Hichilema was featured on the popular BBC television program HARDtalk on 1 November 2017 and was interviewed by Stephen Sackur.He was the first Zambian opposition political leader to be hosted on HARDtalk and the second Zambian Politician featured after former President Levy Mwanawasa.