Sata has disturbed govt - Mpombo
Sata has disturbed govt - MpomboBy Nomusa Michelo
Tuesday October 30, 2007 [03:00]
GOVERNMENT is disturbed by Patriotic Front president Michael Sata's attempts to discredit China, acting chief government spokesman George Mpombo has said. Briefing the press at government building yesterday, Mpombo said it was apparent that Sata had appointed himself as a megaphone for Taiwan's cheap political propaganda and economic imperialism.
"It is regrettable that those seeking cheap popularity and foreign financial support are using issues involving foreign investors and their entry in Zambia for local political rhetoric. Government is particularly disturbed that Mr. Michael Sata, president of the Patriotic Front, in order to discredit China in order to get money from Taiwan has called Chinese people crooked investors," he said.
Mpombo said it was sad that Sata who seeks the office of President of the country should allow himself to be an agent of distabilisation between nations and discredit a sovereign government (China) recognised by the world community by telling lies about its nationals. Mpombo said it was observed that Sata's election campaign last year was bankrolled by the Taiwanese, whom Sata promised special favours if elected.
"He now has to embark on a campaign of lies against China to justify the money he received as he no longer can provide that favour he promised the Taiwanese," he said.
And Mpombo dismissed allegations by Sata that the Chinese who are granted work permits were unqualified labourers taking up jobs reserved for Zambia.
"What is true is that Chinese, like many other nationals have responded well to invitations to invest in various fields, including manufacturing, construction, mining, financial institutions and agriculture," he said. "Their investment since 1996 is US $377 million, employing 11,000 workers."
Mpombo said according to records at the immigration department, only 2,340 Chinese had been granted work permits, self-employment permits and entry permits between 2004 and 2007.
He said some investors might come into the country with their spouses and children and that each investor was allowed up to five expatriates of his or her choice. Mpombo said if qualified Chinese engineers in the mines or factories also do manual work of pushing wheelbarrows to speed up work, it would be wrong to call them labourers or revoke their permits for doing so.
He said Zambian engineers should instead emulate the Chinese. He said with reference to mine accidents and conditions of work, there was only one large scale mine owned by Chinese in Zambia, namely Chambishi Mines of NFC Africa Mining Plc, which had not recorded any fatal accidents in the last twelve months.
Mpombo said it was also untrue and unfair to suggest that the Chinese owners of BGRIMM Explosives factory were responsible for the accident in which 50 people died.
"The independent team of investigators into the accident did not find the cause of the accident and suggested two possible causes - a metal object of detonator in the emulsion mixing tank or a chemical contamination of the emulsion matrix to have ignited the explosion," he said.
"However, following the team's investigations, it has been recommended that the Explosive Act and regulations be reviewed, Mines Safety Department should design and distribute a standard register book and that the BGRIMM factory be reconstructed."
On the quality of goods imported from China, Mpombo said specialised agencies like the Zambia Bureau of Standards deal with quality of goods and imports. He said the agencies issue permits or certificates to qualify products and that Chinese products were no exception.
"Further, and more importantly, most of the Chinese garments are imported by Zambian traders who have found them to be in greater demand than those from other countries or locally made ones," said Mpombo.
Labels: GEORGE MPOMBO, SATA, TAIWAN
posted by MrK @ 6:54 PM
10 Comments:
"The independent team of investigators into the accident did not find the cause of the accident and suggested two possible causes - a metal object of detonator in the emulsion mixing tank or a chemical contamination of the emulsion matrix to have ignited the explosion," he said.
Who does Mpombo think he is kidding? If I remember correctly, the problem was with how and where the explosives were stored and mixed, not what set the explosion off.
From The Times back in 2005:
http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=6&id=1126811365
BGRIMM warned against producing emulsion, anfex explosives at once - witness
By Times Reporter
A WITNESS in the ongoing BGRIMM explosion inquest yesterday told the court that it was not written anywhere in the mines safety department (MSD) regulations that emulsion and anfex explosives should not be manufactured at the same time.
John Mwape, 54, of Nkwale road in Chambishi, a safety, security and environment officer at the company said, however, that officers from MSD had told the company to cease production of the two explosives at the same time.
As the Zambian government began an inquiry into the accident, the absence of union oversight was cited as the key cause of safety failures at BGRIMM. Public pressure made it impossible for the mine’s management to continue prohibiting union activity any longer.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
I kindly seek your indulgence in this matter which clearly violates the copy right content of The Post Newspapers Limited by your posting of stories on this blog without our express permission.
We had this problem with you some time back and you briefly stopped but you have started again.
Mind you The Post website stories are charged for and we have paid up subscribers and it is through such that we take care of our running costs. This is unlike other local dailies that are free.
I hope that through this sincere request, you immediately stop posting our stories on your blogspot as that has affected our subscription base. Failure to do so, we will have no option but to take appropriate action.
Yours faithfully
Kelvin Chambwa
For and on behalf of Post Newspapers
Cc Post Newspapers legal counsel
File
1) Who are you?
2) I believe in the right of the people to be informed, and that an informed electorate is essential to any democracy.
3) To what extent has it reduced your subscription base? Because I regularly get posts from people who state they would not read The Post AT ALL, as they can not afford to miss $120 per year. So to what extent exactly is The Post missing out?
4) I am simply posting in the public interest and without any financial gain at all. I believe that this keeps me well within the realm of 'fair use' exemptions to copyright.
Hey look, i made a polite request for you to stop the illegal posting of our stories, ok. I am Kelvin Chambwa - Assistant IT manager at The Post
Your beliefs must not infridge on other people or organisations in terms of their goals. We are a newspaper company and we get our income from sale of some or our stories through the online edition. Other papers have no problm with what we you do. AS a normal person, you must respect other concerns if you infridge on our rights. What you are doing is wrong.
There are many stories we post on our online edition for our subscribers to read even before the hard copy is printed and that at times even affects hard copy sales. Now you are doing a lot of damage by lifting our stories without permission. That is wrong
Had you been posting our stories a day or two later would not affect us adversely as is the case now. The problem is you post almost immediately we upload and this is where the problem is
Ok, I hear you. I will seize and desist posting on the same day.
You have my word on that.
And another thing.
I think could be accessible for free if they went after advertisers by:
1) Increasing the 'stickyness' of their site by including a blog function. It could also archive it's files/articles to make them more easily retrievable.
2) Put more focus on ranking in search engines. The post could use Google Adwords to show up in Google searches and use Google Adwords to pay for them.
3) The Post could develop alternative income streams, such as event hosting or hosting football matches (The Post Cup).
Ok, my word has just been rescinded. I have posted with a day's delay (as per "a day or two later"), and you have still sent a notice to blogger.
Besides, I doubt that my little blog is hurting The Post - it may actually work as a advertising tool, keeping people interested and getting them ready to sing up for a full subscription (which is done a lot on the internet, in various newspapers, such as the New York Times).
My guess is that you would be much better off going the route of advertising and high visitor numbers instead. It would also be more democratic and less elitist.
From here on, any further notifications will be slapped with counter-notification, by way of the Chilling Effects site.
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