ZACCI welcomes Zamtel sale to Lap Green

COMMENT - Just more after the fact justification for government corruption. Selling ZAMTEL to the Libyian government is not 'privatisation', it is just transferring an asset from one government to another government. 25% share ownership does not give the Zambian government an 'active role' in management of the company, it gives it a minority stake. And lastly ZAMTEL was making losses because the neoliberal MMD government deliberately ran it into the ground, with an eye on privatisation. They didn't pay their bills, the way they are paying their bills to ZAIN. Hanson Sindowe is doing himself no favours shilling for the government.

ZACCI welcomes Zamtel sale to Lap Green
By Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Mon 05 July 2010, 14:30 CAT

ZAMBIA Association of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI) has welcomed the sale of Zamtel to Lap Green Networks, saying the investor has committed a five-year plan which will foresee rapid and sustainable growth.

Commenting on government’s move to sale 75 per cent shares in Zamtel to Lap Green Networks of Lybia at a cost of US $257 million, ZACCI president Hanson Sindowe said it was understood that government would retain 25 per cent shares and would continue to have an active role in management and direction of Zamtel’s future.

Sindowe said the Chamber was happy that the substantial proportion of the total purchase had been allocated to the settlement of full redundancy packages, and that as part of the process Lap Green Networks would retain the proportion of the workforce sufficient to operate Zamtel in an optimal manner and in line with the five-year business plan.

He said it was understood that government would retain 25 per cent of Zamtel and would continue to have an active role in the management and direction of the company’s future, returning to seats of the board out of seven and veto rights to key decisions concerning the company.

Sindowe said the publicly available information was that Zamtel was making losses for years and government as the only shareholder was duty-bound to cover the losses in order for the parastatal to continue operations.

“Government’s allocation to such a cause derives from taxes on its citizenry. This means that as long as making losses remains under the auspices of government, taxes can only continue to increase and certainly not abate and privatization of Zamtel has positive effects,” Sindowe said.

He added that for Lap Green Networks to invest in Zamtel, it had done an economic evaluation of the company and determined that in the long-term the investments would yield returns in excess of its current investment.

“It could be argued that if a foreign investor can see such benefits in an institution like Zamtel, why haven’t we seen the same benefits and reorganised the company into a profitable entity and run it as such instead of selling it? The answer is that even if we see the benefits there is often a myriad of non-economic considerations that stand in the way of progress,” Sindowe said.

He said the decision to privatise Zamtel was to the benefit of both the country and the company.

Sindowe said it was positive that government and the people who were the taxpayers were relieved from the burden of keeping Zamtel afloat when it was economically sustainable in its own rights.

He said it was expected that the 25 per cent stake remaining in the hands of government would finally be divested to the public through a listing at the Lusaka Stock Exchange.

Sindowe said ZACCI had further recommended that measures be taken to ensure that Zamtel Technical College continues to operate in the post privatisation era either under the Copperbelt University or the University of Zambia or through a public-private partnership.