COMMENT - Swaziland = Greece
The Swazis need to get off the neoliberal economic crazy train, and reinstate the Southern Africa Customs Union, which provided the state with 60% of it's revenues before the creation of the 'free trade zone'. Economics isn't that difficult.
Also read:
Chikane hopes Free Trade Area will break barriers (linked to other articles on the neoliberal 'free trade' scam pulled on Swaziland). I wonder how much the 'pro democracy campaigners' get paid by foreign governments.
Swazi loan 'like giving money to a drunk wife-beater'
LOUISE REDVERS JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jul 07 2011 15:14
Swazi pro-democracy campaigners on Thursday urged South Africa not to give their country financial assistance without imposing conditions aimed at steering the troubled kingdom towards negotiations for a transitional government. One campaigner likened offering a financial bailout to the beleaguered kingdom to giving money to a drunken wife-beater.
A delegation of union leaders and activists, as well as politicians from two banned political parties, travelled to South Africa to personally lobby against the handout, which is believed to be in the region of R1.2-billion.
After addressing reporters in Johannesburg they were due to meet members of the South African Communist Party and other government officials, and visit a number of Western embassies.
Mario Masuku, the leader of the People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), said: "We need a commitment from our head of state and government, that they are prepared to work towards a democratic process in Swaziland."
Demands
"We want all political parties unbanned and all political prisoners released," said Masuku. "We want the scrapping of the 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act; and we want to work towards setting up a transitional government moving in the long term, towards a new constitution and, eventually, free elections."
"We appreciate this is a long-term goal and it will not happen overnight, but we need a commitment to this process," she added.
On the question of whether they would retain a constitutional monarchy or do away with the throne altogether, Masuku said that would be for the people of Swaziland to decide.
Swaziland has approached South Africa, cap in hand, after a 60% drop in its revenues from the regional customs union (Sacu) plunged it into a financial crisis that has seen wages go unpaid and public services grind to a halt.
CONTINUES BELOW
Attempts to access funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) stalled after Swaziland failed to carry out the fiscal reforms specified in the institutions' lending conditions.
SA comes clean
Two weeks ago, South Africa's ministry of international relations and cooperation finally confirmed -- after much speculation -- that Swaziland had asked it for financial assistance. On Wednesday, minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters this was still being considered.
Although she stopped short of revealing any conditions a loan might have, the minister said: "The South African government has urged all relevant parties in the kingdom to begin a political dialogue with a view to speedily and peacefully resolving all the challenges facing the country."
She added: "The government will also have to improve its governance and fiscal management system. A strengthened foreign direct investment portfolio would also help to mitigate the financial crisis."
Veteran democracy campaigner Musa Hlophe, who heads the Swaziland Coalition for Concerned Civil Organisations (SCCCO), said poor financial management and economic policy were as much to blame for Swaziland's downfall as its non-democratic system of governance, where the king has absolute power.
"If Swaziland were a company it would have been bankrupt by now, because of how it has been managed," he said.
Quid pro quo
Offering a financial bailout to Swaziland "is like giving money to a drunken wife-beater", said Hlophe, and he urged South Africans who had been helped by the Swazi people during the days of apartheid to use this opportunity to bring regime change to his country.
This week's delegation to South Africa comes after months of unrest in Swaziland, where labour unions and teachers have been calling for the prime minister to resign, and striking over plans to cut the wages of civil servant.
On April 12, the anniversary of a 1973 decree banning political parties in Swaziland, the Swazi police came under fire for heavy-handed tactics and their use of tear gas and water cannons to put down anti-government demonstrations, during which several journalists were arrested.
Hlophe said the SCCCO was calling for peaceful reform and transition but warned that there was a risk that the situation could get worse should the government continued to refuse to engage.
He also added that while Swaziland had diplomatic ties with Taiwan, one of its key sources of foreign direct investment, through textile factories, he had heard that the government was considering approaching China to secure financial backing.
"If South Africa does not give Swaziland this bailout then it may seek solace elsewhere, and that could mean turning to China. It is a wild card but it is possible."
Swaziland is Africa's last absolute monarchy, ruled over by King Mswati III, who has 13 wives and maintains luxurious lifestyle.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of his subjects live in poverty, 40% are unemployed and one in four are HIV-positive, the highest rate in the world.
Labels: NEOLIBERALISM, SACU, SWAZILAND
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Praying for peaceful elections
By The Post
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:00 CAT
Why should so many of our people be concerned about peace during and after this year’s elections? On Saturday, there was a walk for peace procession in Chipata. What was it for? What necessitated it? To what should be attributed this fervent effort of our religious leaders and their congregations?
Simply to a reality: the reality that the nation is in danger, the reality that the nation is threatened. True as it is, difficult as it is, this knowledge should not discourage anybody.
It is a reality that we need peaceful elections. It is also a reality that there is a group of people who do not want to lose power at all costs and are ready to manipulate the electoral process to keep themselves in office. In stating this, we do not lie nor exaggerate. We have never lied to the people and above all, we will never withhold realities from the people.
As we approach this year’s elections, we must express concern regarding the frightening high levels of intolerance, intimidation, malice and lust for power.
In the present atmosphere of fierce competition and an unbridled character assassination campaign that Rupiah Banda and his minions are waging against everyone who they believe do not support them or is a political opponent, we need to remind the nation of the noble goals of elections. From a Christian point of view, the noble goals of elections aim at the promotion of the common good and the service of all the people.
Rupiah and his minions seem to view elections as a fight for survival and not a competition to serve. They have confused elections with a battlefield where the aim is to destroy the other.
We need to remind them that elections are for the good of our people and our country, and not for a political survival of Rupiah and his minions or of the MMD as a political party. If they understood this, they wouldn’t be doing the things they are doing that are necessitating our people to have walks for peace during and after this year’s elections.
If the spirit of the primacy of the common good were to animate Rupiah and his minions, no one would fear for peace during and after this year’s elections; we wouldn’t be seeing the slander of political opponents that we are forced to watch and listen to on ZNBC television and radio every day, the libel we read about every day in the Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail and the other irregular publications they churn out that leave the public dismayed and disheartened and afraid of what these elections might bring.
We agree with Bishop George Lungu that in an election, peace can only be sustained when elections are free and fair.
And indeed, such elections should not just be said to be free and fair but should actually be seen by everyone to be so – to be free and fair.
And as Bishop Lungu has aptly put it, this means creating a level playing ground for all stakeholders and making the entire electoral process as transparent as possible. But to have peaceful elections, certain conditions have to prevail, have to be put in place in our country and indeed in our hearts.
There ought to be a conducive atmosphere. All key stakeholders have to agree on the conditions under which elections are held. And all the contestants have to conduct themselves in a manner that does not put others at an unfair disadvantage. There ought to be transparency in everything concerning the elections, apart from the casting of the ballot itself.
This is so because democracies thrive on openness and accountability, with one very important exception: the act of voting itself. And parallel vote tabulation must be put in place so that citizens are confident that the results are accurate and that the government does, indeed, rest upon their consent.
When the elections are over, the losers must accept the judgement of the voters. But this is only possible if the elections were conducted in a manner that is free and fair and is seen by the citizens to be free and fair. Where this is absent, peace is threatened.
And it is this absence of what can be said to be conducive atmosphere, an atmosphere that can be seen to satisfy the conditions required for the holding of peaceful, free and fair elections.
Anyone who watches ZNBC and listens to the lies, malice, slander, calumny, hatred that Rupiah and his colleagues are sponsoring against their political opponents would easily come to a conclusion that peace is threatened and needs to prayed and worked for to avert an impending crisis.
Slander is not an acceptable way to campaign. And this is made worse by the fact that the institutions that are being used to slander and malign others are state owned ones, they are institutions financed by the taxpayer. This type of abuse cannot be accepted in any decent society.
And those who engage in such activities need to be taught a lesson – there should be no impunity. And at the end of the day, they will leave these institutions with very huge defamation claims. It is clear that they will not be able to legally defend the libel suits that will arise from the material they are broadcasting and publishing.
But they don’t seem to care because the money will not come from their pockets and by the time these suits crystallize, those running these institutions will be somewhere else. Libel suits in this country take a long time to conclude – three to four years – but the time comes when they are concluded and damages and costs have to be paid. This will certainly be an abuse of taxpayer’s money.
We therefore urge all our people to vote according to their conscience, in accordance with the highest human values without allowing themselves to be pressured or dictated to by threats, bribes, self-interest and so on and so forth. We also urge our people to reject violence in the strongest terms.
They should respect truth and their political opponents. They should learn to be tolerant with people who have different political opinions and affiliations. People can differ without being subjected to defamation, character assassination, lies, calumny.
To Rupiah and his minions, we would like to remind them that they cannot talk about free and fair elections while the present situation persists, and we challenge them to rectify this threat to our future, immediately. It is only that way that, after elections, Zambia will remain united and peaceful.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, CHIPATA
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Government’s selfishness is hindering fair polls - Mulongoti
By Ernest Chanda
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:02 CAT
MIKE Mulongoti says it is difficult to have free and fair elections because of selfishness among the people running government. Commenting on Chipata Catholic diocese Bishop George Lungu's observation that elections should not just be said to be free and fair but must actually be seen to be so, the former works and supply minister said there was need to push for a level playing field.
Mulongoti said it was such selfishness, which always brought contention during and after elections.
“When you see those in power bambazonke (holding on to everything) the press and anything else, then that is the beginning of contention. In the current circumstance there is no room for free and fair elections because those in control of the treasury are selfish. And this situation will always create room for contention,” said Mulongoti.
'But if we had a situation where the controllers of the treasury channel resources to building the foundation for democracy there will be no contention.
And democracy is about people accepting the election process and the outcome. But in the current scenario it can't happen, we shall always have tension and contention in the nation.”
During a Catholic Church organised 'walk for peace' on Saturday, Bishop Lungu, the former ZEC president who was represented by Caritas Chipata director Fr Vincent Daka, said in an election peace could only be sustained when elections were free and fair.
“And as such, elections should not just be said to be free and fair but are actually seen to be free and fair. This means creating a level-playing ground for all stakeholders and the entire process is as transparent as possible,” he said.
“Therefore, all of us are called to contribute to the elections being free and fair in order to maintain peace.”
Bishop Lungu urged Zambians to preach peace before, during and after the elections.
“We stand here because we understand the value of peace. We gather here to pray for peace in our beloved country Zambia as we head for elections later this year. We cannot underestimate the importance of peace for any country,” said Bishop Lungu.
“We have only one Zambia, we have only one nation. Peace has also to be seen to be at work through forgiveness and reconciliation. We gather here today not because we belong to a particular religious background, or political affiliation or we are members of this tribe or that tribe, but Zambians.”
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, GEORGE LUNGU, MIKE MULONGOTI
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Masebo is a good leader, says Kapijimpanga
By Moses Kuwema
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:00 CAT
SYLVIA Masebo is a good leader who carries her people wherever she goes, says Judith Kapijimpanga. In an interview yesterday, Kapijimpanga who is a former MMD national executive committee (NEC) member said Masebo's move had come at the right time and that it was inevitable.
“Masebo has always carried along her people when she leaves. If you remember the time she left the ZRP Zambia Republican Party she left with her people and went on to win on the MMD ticket and now that she has left, the chances of the MMD winning are very slim,” said Kapijimpanga.
She said Masebo's move was not in vain because she believed there was light at the end of the tunnel for her.
“A good leader follows what her people want and for Masebo to have made that move, I’m sure her people expressed discomfort with what was happening because if this was not the case she would not have gone ahead to contest the position of MMD chairlady at the party convention.
I support her decision under the circumstances she was working in because if you cannot manage to fit in, it is better to walk out...she was forced to walk out because the environment she was working in was not conducive,” she said.
Kapijimpanga said there was need for any political group to consider every member as their child and that selectiveness should not be the case.
Masebo was until last Thursday the MMD national women's affairs chairperson. She quit the party, citing President Rupiah Banda's continued hatred and undemocratic tendencies against her.
She said since the death of president Levy Mwanawasa in 2008, there had been evil schemes and fabrications, which have been printed in the government-controlled Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail including ZNBC and the internet.
Labels: INONGE WINA, JUDITH KAPIJIMPANGA, SYLVIA MASEBO
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Rupiah’s stance on corruption unfortunate, says Kabimba
By Patson Chilemba
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:02 CAT
RUPIAH Banda is saying there is no corruption in Zambia in order to justify the graft practices his government is engaged in, says Lusaka lawyer Wynter Kabimba. Reacting to President Banda’s recent remarks in Ndola that there is no corruption in the country, Kabimba, who is also PF secretary general, said it was shocking that a President could issue such an unfortunate statement.
Kabimba said the question of corruption in this country was not debatable, not only to the Zambians but also the international community. He said therefore the statement from President Banda was unfortunate and inappropriate.
“What it means in effect is that the man is not serious with the fight against corruption. Mr Rupiah Banda served in late president Mwanawasa’s cabinet under a president who was very, very serious with the fight against corruption,” Kabimba said.
“For him to trivialise the levels of corruption in our country now that he has become President is not only an insult to the Zambian people.”
Kabimba said there were various reports from international organisations which had ranked Zambia as one of the most corrupt countries in Southern Africa, saying President Banda could not dispute these reports.
“There is a report now that came from the US State Department to the effect that the Zambian government is interfering with the independence of our judiciary. We didn’t hear the Zambian government dispute that statement. That is part of corruption,” Kabimba said.
“So our appeal as PF to the President is that he must get serious if indeed he’s committed to working for the Zambian people and arrest the cancer of corruption that has afflicted our country, especially under his government.”
Kabimba said the nation had seen corruption levels rising under President Banda’s government than under late president Mwanawasa because the two stood for different ideals.
“The only reason why President Banda would make that statement is that he wants to justify corruption and he knows that his government is engaged in corrupt practices. That is the reason why (a) they repealed or amended section 35 in the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act,” Kabimba said.
“That is the reason why they removed the provisions in the Act dealing with money laundering to prevent financial and banking institutions from asking the source of the money that lands in people’s accounts.”
Kabimba said all this was being done to encourage corruption because those provisions were put in place to arrest corrupt activities.
He said the nation had witnessed obnoxious amendments under President Banda which actually encouraged corruption rather than arresting it.
“If indeed that is the policy position of government (that there is no corruption in Zambia), let him go ahead and disband the Anti-Corruption Commission.
What is the Anti-Corruption Commission doing, being paid money appropriated from government if there is no corruption in the country,” said Kabimba.
“Let him disband DEC, ACC then we will take him seriously that indeed he has achieved zero-tolerance for corruption.”
During a presidential luncheon at Mukuba Hotel last Saturday, President Banda said Zambians should not listen to people who say there was corruption in the country.
“Let’s not listen to doom speakers who say that there is corruption in the country. I feel the enthusiasm of the people when it comes to the movement of the country forward,” he said.
President Banda urged the people to prove those that were saying there would be problems in Zambia after the elections wrong.
Labels: CORRUPTION, RUPIAH BANDA, WYNTER KABIMBA
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RTSA partners with ZSIC on road taxes issuance
By Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:01 CAT
ROAD Transport Safety Agency has partnered with ZSIC Group of Companies to decentralise the issuance of road taxes that will now be done at the insurance company’s branches across the country.
And RTSA head of information technology Cytone Kibela has said the institution was in the process of acquiring equipment that will allow the outsourcing of motor vehicle inspection and registration to the private sector.
In an interview at the just-ended Zambia International Trade Fair, RTSA principal publicity officer Mercy Khozi said the partnership will enable people access RTSA services since ZSIC is found in almost all districts in the country.
“We opened a tender for expression of interest and ZSIC was selected and through this innovation, we intend to decentralise the issuance of road taxes and it will also help people when paying for insurance they also pay for RTSA services and we plan to establish kiosks where people can access our services,” Khozi said.
“We also hope to decongest our offices whenever people want to pay for these services but congestion is people’s problem since they wait until the last day hence coming at the same time and yet they can buy these certificates in January for the whole year.”
She said RTSA was actively implementing the global UN programme on decade of action aimed at reducing road accidents.
“We believe road safety is a health matter and we have to ensure that all vehicles are roadworthy although 95 per cent of accidents are caused by drivers even when driving good cars because they disobey simple traffic rules and signals such as don’t drink and drive and not to talk on mobile phones,” said Khozi.
“As RTSA we are doing our best to prevent accidents and we have partnered with various stakeholders like forming clubs in schools and using role models like Muna Singh, Precious Mumbi and actor Jason from Kabanana, in a bid to raise awareness and highlight issues of road safety.”
And explaining the 2011 ZITF theme ‘Innovation for competitiveness,’ Kibela said RTSA was looking at ways of implementing the public-private partnership (PPP).
“Once the private sector meets RTSA standards we shall use their premises such as garages as motor vehicle inspection centres of excellence where services like registration of vehicles, physical inspection, new registration, change of ownership, renewal of fitness certificates, will be undertaken and RTSA will just monitor the process electronically,” said Kibela.
“We shall also implement plate scanner whereby RTSA will just scan registration number and all details about the vehicle will be detected.”
Labels: DECENTRALIZATION, RTSA, TAXATION
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Rupiah is a danger to himself, says Malwa
By Staff Reporter
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda is destroying himself and the MMD by targeting individuals in the party instead of providing leadership to unite members, says former MMD North Western Province youth chairperson Newton Malwa. Malwa, in an interview, said the MMD was being destroyed by its leadership which had stuck to undemocratic tendencies.
He said this would spell the MMD’s downfall in this year’s general elections.
Malwa said Zambians had woken up to the reality of change and there was nothing that the ruling party would do to defy the will of the people toward change of government.
He said even Dr Kenneth Kaunda was cheated by people who wanted to benefit from him in 1991, but in the end the will of the people prevailed and brought the MMD to power.
Malwa said he had warned of the unpopularity of the MMD in recent parliamentary by-elections in Mufumbwe and Solwezi Central but the party defied him leading to his resignation but was vindicated later when the ruling party lost both seats to the opposition UPND.
“President Rupiah Banda is a danger to himself; you can’t have a President who is supposed to unify members become so petty. President Banda has joined the MMD with its skeletons and has added more problems to the party…,” Malwa said. “If anyone says the truth he becomes an enemy of the state. “
He said MMD was doomed for massive failure as founder members were being hounded out of the party, leaving President Banda who did not know the ruling party well enough to provide effective leadership as he was infiltrated by the UNIP mentality.
“What people are seeing on ZNBC is all propaganda because that’s what they want you general public to feel. The current leadership of the MMD has lost focus; they have fallen short of the wishes of the people.
The wind of change is not on MMD but on PF; whether they like it or not Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata would be in State House, but there are people who always want to sing slogans to the people,” Malwa said. “The more they talk about him, the more popular they make him because people will begin to ask ‘who is this Sata?’”.
Malwa, who has since joined PF and applied for adoption to stand in Solwezi Central said Sata spoke the language of the common people and issues that affected them.
He said the political scenario in North Western Province, particularly Solwezi, had changed as the mines had attracted more people from other urban areas which had put the MMD in a disadvantaged position.
Malwa said people in North Western Province were crying for long-term infrastructure development in many sectors but the government was concentrating on costly mobile hospitals.
Labels: MMD, NEWTON MALWA, RUPIAH BANDA, WESTERN PROVINCE
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Hansungule echoes call for speedy disposal of poll cases
By Ernest Chanda
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:00 CAT
PROFESSOR Michelo Hansugule says the law should be reformed to avoid protracted delays when dealing with election petitions. Commenting on chief justice Ernest Sakala’s appeal to judges for expeditious disposal of electoral cases before and after this year’s elections, the Pretoria University law lecturer said the laws should have provided for specific timeframes within which such cases should be concluded.
“Take, for instance, presidential petitions threaten to run at the same time as the term of the president whose election is being contested, which makes a mockery of the benefits from petitioning. Both the presidential petitions against late presidents Chiluba and Mwanawasa went on and on without end,” Prof Hansungule said.
“Meanwhile, the two contested presidents were sworn-in and moved their families to State House, started signing laws, replacing military and security chiefs and performing all the functions of an uncontested incumbent.
I am not here suggesting what is impossible that the Supreme Court could nullify the sitting president’s ‘victory’. It can’t be.”
He said under the current arrangement it was difficult for the courts to decide against the incumbent president.
Prof Hansungule said instead courts had found it easier to decide on petitions involving members of parliament and councilors.
“The impossible, however, is deciding against the incumbent president who in any case is already in office. I argue that whatever the evidence, the Supreme Court can never declare a presidential election invalid. But it is a question of principle that the law should try and promote patent fairness on this issue,” he said.
Prof Hansungule said the nation should learn from Uganda which provides for a time to settle electoral disputes before swearing in the presidential winner.
“According to the Constitution of Uganda, there is a ‘cooling off period’ after elections to allow for any petition against the ‘winning president’ and a timeframe fixed to resolve the dispute before the president is sworn in,” Prof Hansungule said.
And Prof Hansungule says the Supreme Court is equally guilty of delaying election petitions.
“Therefore, the issue is not so much the High Court judges delaying petitions or not dealing with them fairly according to law. It is as much the Supreme Court which the Chief Justice was clearly not addressing to heed the Chief Justice’s advice,” said Prof Hansungule.
“For instance, it is utterly wrong for the Constitution to make the Chief Justice electoral officer for the purposes of presidential elections and then expect him to sit over petitions concerning the election of the president he had just certified.
How does the angry petitioner who feels cheated at the conduct of the electoral officer who also happens to be Chief justice who must sit together with his peers to resolve his anger come to reconcile with this? There are many troubling things that the Chief Justice omitted to say in his otherwise timely advice to the country’s judges.”
Opening a one-day conference for judges organised by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) in Siavonga on Tuesday, justice Sakala urged judges countrywide to expeditiously deal with cases that would arise in their courts during and after this year’s elections.
He said the forthcoming presidential, parliamentary and local government elections would come with massive challenges which could subsequently lead to losing candidates filing election petitions to settle differences.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, ECZ, MICHELO HANSUNGULE
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Make Mulungushi Rock a heroes’ burial site - Manda
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Thu 07 July 2011, 04:00 CAT
DR FRANCIS Manda says Zambia should not have a burial site for fallen presidents alone but all national heroes. Dr Manda, a urologist, said Embassy Park, where former presidents Levy Mwanawasa and Frederick Chiluba are buried should not be the final resting place for the country’s leaders.
Dr Manda proposed that former presidents, with other fallen national heroes, needed to be buried at Mulungushi River Rock of Authority where nationalists who broke away from the Zambian African National Congress convened a conference under the banner of a new party, UNIP, in 1960 in the then Northern Rhodesia.
He said the nationalists held a conference to look at the future direction and how to achieve independence, in a place where they could not be under the eye of the colonial authorities.
During the ZNBC Radio 4 Manzi Therapy programme, Dr Manda said the ex-presidents were not the only heroes for the country.
“We are saying we have a resting place for other heroes as well, especially those who participated in the independence of this country should be recognised,” Dr Manda said.
“I would suggest we go back to the roots of our struggle, the Mulungushi Rock of Authority. The US has Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County.”
He said there was need to come up with a heroes square where fallen heroes like Mama Julia Chikamoneka born Julia Mulenga Nsofwa and others could be reburied as was the case in countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe and the United States.
“I know in Africa, it’s not easy to exhume and rebury someone but South Africa and Zimbabwe have been exhuming their heroes everywhere they are to go and bury them,” said Dr Manda. “What we need to know is that even if you are gone, you are still a hero.”
Dr Manda made the remarks following his reflections on the passing away of Chiluba and Mwanawasa.
Labels: FRANCIS MANDA
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Spare Luapula people from cheap politicking - clergy
By Ernest Chanda
Thu 07 July 2011, 03:59 CAT
A MANSA clergyman says the dignified burial and mourning of late second Republican president Frederick Chiluba should not be interpreted as development for Luapula. In an interview, Rev Kelvin Mwitwa, who is also former Mansa Central MMD member of parliament, said the people of Luapula should be spared from cheap politicking because they needed real development.
“People gave an honourable burial to Dr Chiluba because he worked for it when he was in office. And so everyone who mourned him did that to honour him for the office he held and what he did for this country. But that gesture should not be interpreted as development for Luapula, no!” said Rev Mwitwa.
“Just yesterday Wednesday last week, I saw Lupula Province minister Mr Besa Chimbaka on ZNBC evening news where he was connecting Dr Chiluba’s burial to developments in Luapula. This is wrong because there is still no development here which he can boast about. It is wrong for him to politicise Dr Chiluba’s death and tie it to development in this province.
In any case, how does the burial of a former head of state translate into development of a particular region? I think the people of Luapula should be allowed to rest. Dr Chiluba is not here with us, so he should also be left to rest.”
Appearing on ZNBC’s main evening news last Wednesday, Chimbaka said the people of Luapula mourned Chiluba with dignity because they had seen development in the province brought about by the MMD government.
Labels: FREDERICK CHILUBA, MANSA DISTRICT, POLITICS
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COMMENT - Here we go. I wonder whether the mine industry apologists are going to turn up and complain about Anglo-American De Beers and it's violation of the 'Rule Of Law'. Or perhaps they think the rule of law only applies to Africans? De Beers should lose it's license to operate in Zimbabwe, let alone other African countries. It is obscene that trillionaires are gleaning every cent of profit they can from Africa, while the people starve and live on $1,- per day. Also, if they can't be trusted to declare their revenues, they can't be trusted to declare their taxable income. I say nationalize their assets.
Probe into De Beers operations in Chiadzwa
07/07/2011 00:00:00
by Sapa
THE Zimbabwean government is investigating the operations of diamond company De Beers in Chiadzwa some years back amid fears
the company could have looted gems worth hundreds of millions of dollars. De Beers spent
eight years exploring diamonds at the fields, but later
claimed that it failed to get anything meaningful.These are the same fields that Mbada, Marange Resources and Anjin Investment are operating on viably today and extracting millions of carats, the report said.
Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Gift Chimanikire on Wednesday confirmed a probe was already underway.
“We have requested a full report on De Beers and their operations from our officers,” Chimanikire said.
The allegations against De Beers were first made by President Robert Mugabe in March last year.
His spokesman George Charamba said at the time: "For 15 years, the Zimbabwe government believed De Beers was only prospecting and carrying out tests when the company was actually mining.
"When the government finally realised this and tried to arrest them, that's when they hurriedly pulled out and claimed the diamonds were not of commercial value."
At the time, Charamba had indicated the government could not "take the issue further" because it could not establish "how much of the diamonds have been taken".
"The most important thing now is that we now have our mines back."
De Beers' director of international relations has denied any wrong doing by the mining giant.
"We were in the Marange fields from 1993 to 2006," Andrew Bone said from London. "We only did core sampling. The deposits we found there did not fit into our portfolio. There were also disputes regarding the allocation of a second concession to another mining company, ACR. That's why we pulled out.
"The bottom line is that there are ridiculous allegations and there is no evidence of De Beers mining diamonds in that area."
But on that last point, Charamba shot back: "It is not a secret that alluvial diamonds are mined at the surface. It is not like a kimberlite. Why should it take 15 years for such an experienced company to conclude that our diamonds are of no value to them?"
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, ANGLO-AMERICAN, CHIADZWA, GEORGE CHARAMBA, ROBERT MUGABE
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Bingu ‘donates’ K3bn Malawi’s money to Zimbabwe
By Nyasa Times
Published: July 6, 2011
Zimbabwe has failed to pay back to Malawi a balance of US$22 million (MK3.4 billion) from a loan of US$100 million which Zimbabwe borrowed from Malawi in 2007 for the purchase of maize from the country.
The Malawi government, which underwrote the loan issued by the Reserve Bank of Malawi, has also failed to settle the amount with the local central bank as agreed under the guarantee agreement, according to the Daily Times. The loan was given in very questionable circumstances.
Bingu and Mugabe: Two of a kind
The Reserve Bank of Malawi in its Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2010 reports that:
“In June 2007, the Government of Malawi through the Reserve Bank of Malawi (“RBM”) agreed to lend the Government of Zimbabwe, through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (“RBZ”), 100m United States Dollars for the purpose of importing maize from Malawi. The loan agreement was rescheduled in December 2009 to run up to 31 December 2010.
“The Bank considered the recoverability of the loan as being doubtful owing to a number of times RBZ has defaulted on the payment of the principal plus interest, and subsequently impaired the loan as at year-end.”
This effectively writes off the loan, as if Malawi has now come of an age to start writing off loans along the lines of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative of which Malawi was not too long ago a beneficiary.
Ironically, the central bank says it remains optimistic that the Malawi government will continue with its efforts to recover the loan with their Zimbabwean counterparts.
This is a very sad development and it borders on gross economic mismanagement when one considers that Malawi is facing all sorts of challenges with among other things, erratic provision of essential and strategic goods and services.
Further, Malawi’s public external debt at the end of 2010 jumped 11 percent to $846.2 million (about K127 billion) from $762 million (about K114 billion), representing 16.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).
According to the Daily Times report, the amount lost to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe would suffice to buy fuel for the country to cover about 3 weeks of its requirement or 680,000 bags of fertilizer at the commercial retail prices of K5,000 per 50 kilogramme bag.
This deplorable development is one of the many that has prompted critics to question whether indeed Malawi is in good hands or on track economically. The MK3.4 billion that Malawi has just written off is one percent of the projected revenue in the so called zero deficit budget.
That Malawi can afford to donate MK3.4 Billion to Zimbabwe which has better developed infrastructure, agriculture and industry, is an insult not only to Malawi’s own poor but all the tax-payers who foot the bills arising from such misguided policies. –(Reporting by Garvey Karvei, Nyasa Times)
Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, DEBT, ZIMBABWE
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Zimbabwe could seize mines over ownership: minister
07/07/2011 00:00:00
by Reuters
ZIMBABWE could take over mines that fall short of laws requiring them to sell majority stakes to locals by September, a government minister said on Wednesday. Saviour Kasukuwere, the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister, told state television that many of the miners had submitted their proposals but they fell short of the empowerment regulations.
"We have now analysed most of the proposals that have been submitted to us and we (are) seeing that many of them actually fall short," Kasukuwere said. "What we are now doing is basically to invoke the law and ensure that we, as government ... take over those assets if they are not prepared to compromise with the position of government."
The government in March issued regulations setting a June 2 deadline for mining firms to submit plans on how they intend to dispose at least 51 percent shares in their local operations to local black Zimbabweans by the end of September.
Mineral-rich Zimbabwe has the world's second largest known platinum reserves after neighbouring South Africa and foreign miners working there include Zimplats Holdings, a unit of Impala Platinum, global mining giant Rio Tinto, and Anglo Platinum.
Kasukuwere has previously told Reuters that Zimbabwe's cash-strapped government would not pay any money for the mining stakes but would base any payment negotiations on the state's ownership of the country's untapped mineral wealth.
The television report said most miners were insisting on selling 26 percent of shares within five years while the remaining 25 percent would comprise credits from social spending, local procurement and skills development.
Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), MINING, NATIONALISATION, SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE
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Russia plots Gaddafi exit with Mugabe
05/07/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter/Bloomberg
RUSSIA’S envoy on the Libyan crisis has met President Robert Mugabe in Harare – fuelling speculation that the Kremlin has identified Zimbabwe as a potential exile destination for the beleaguered Muammar Gaddafi.
Speaking on Tuesday after a meeting with Mugabe, a close ally of Gaddafi, Mikhail Margelov said the Libyan strongman was ready to relinquish power if he received security guarantees.
“Gaddafi will be interested in getting guarantees about his personal security” before ending his four decade-rule of the oil-rich North African country, Margelov told Bloomberg.
A coalition of Western countries led by France, Britain and the United States began a bombardment of Libyan military targets in mid-March after Gaddafi launched a crackdown to contain an armed rebellion by rebels in Bengazi, 965km east of the capital Tripoli.
The United States said in early March that it would not block the path if Gaddafi were to leave, and identified Zimbabwe as a possible destination.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said "no option was off the table”, adding: “If the violence could be ended by his leaving ... that might be a good thing.”
But Gaddafi’s exile could be scuppered by an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. He may seek guarantees that no prosecution for alleged war crimes would be pursued, further delaying his departure.
Russia, which abstained from a UN Security Council resolution which authorised the use of “all necessary force” to protect civilians in Libya, has been critical of the bombardment while working to find an end to the conflict.
President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday discussed an African Union plan to resolve the conflict in Libya with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma and North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Russia’s resort of Sochi.
“The meeting was very effective because Mr. Zuma set out his vision of how to achieve a political solution in Libya,” Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s ambassador to NATO and a participant in the talks, said.
NATO must end its campaign against Gaddafi’s forces to allow the political process to go forward, Rogozin said.
A Russian newspaper, Kommersant, reported on Tuesday that France has signalled it may meet Gaddafi’s conditions by unfreezing his assets and providing immunity from the United Nations war tribunal in The Hague if he cedes power peacefully.
“It’s clear that many countries will be ready to be quite flexible toward Gaddafi to convince him to give up all his political posts and his family to give up their economic influence,” Margelov said.
The Libyan leader is also demanding that his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi take part in the elections that would follow his resignation, according to Kommersant.
Gaddafi will not be able to stay in Libya, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council of the rebels, said on Monday. Jalal el-Gallal, a spokesman for the council, had separately said that the rebels would tolerate the presence of Qaddafi in Libya were the leader to resign and face prosecution.
The next step under the African Union-sponsored peace plan is for high-ranking Libyan rebel and government representatives to agree on how to negotiate a final settlement, according to Margelov.
“The question of his personal security must be guaranteed by the Libyans themselves,” he said. “No one is demanding that Gaddafi leave Libya. He can stay in his country, of course, if there is an agreement on both sides.”
Rasmussen said this week that NATO would continue its offensive in Libya until a complete halt to attacks on civilians by government forces; the withdrawal of those troops to barracks and access to humanitarian aid for the people of Libya.
Labels: LIBYA, MUAMMAR AL-GADDAFI, ROBERT MUGABE
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Charles Taylor prophecy comes true!
Posted by By Our reporter at 4 July, at 20 : 59 PM
By Walter Chari
“…And here I am, a former African Head of State who has been transplanted from our continent to an isolated jail cell in the Netherlands, awaiting trial at the hands of a court behind which the powerful nations are to be found,… Today it is me and God only knows who it will be tomorrow”.
This was written by the former Liberian President, Charles Taylor in one of his many letters since 2007 to the leaders of the African Union , ECOWAS and other continental statesmen soon after Nigeria so infamously handed him over to the West after having promised to help him. Taylor had been hounded for Liberia and much like with Muammar Gaddafi in Libya right now, there was no real pity for a man many people viewed as a warlord in expensive clothing.
But just as with Gaddafi now, there was and still is a lot of rancour about the manner in which the West took it upon themselves to intervene in Africa’s affairs so that they could impose a regime that was better suited to them than to the people of the continent and more importantly the people of Liberia.
Taylor pleaded for the “formation of a commission to look into the political and legal underpinnings of how I ended up in Europe to face trial and their implications for other African Heads of States and Government”. The very manner in which Taylor came to be in the hands of the ICC says a lot about the disdain with which Africa is held by the West.
It was in 2006. Taylor was in Ghana and was engaged in peace talks sponsored by the African Union and the UN to end Liberia’s civil strife. Present at those talks were the host, John Kuffour, South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano, Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo and Sierra Leone’s Tejan Kabbah.
An indictment was sent via email, they did not even have the courtesy of sending an emissary to the Ghanaian government, while a Press conference was being held far away in Sierra Leone to announce to the world that Taylor would face a slew of charges revolving around alleged crimes against humanity (he is now facing 11 charges related to the war in Sierra Leone).
Kuffour, seeing that things were getting out of hand, put Taylor on his own presidential jet and flew him to Monrovia. The New African magazine (March 2004) subsequently quoted Kuffour saying he “felt betrayed by the international community” by the manner in which the Taylor issue was being handled.
“Five African presidents were meeting in Accra to find ways of kick-starting the Liberian peace process, and Mr. Taylor had been invited as President of Liberia. We were not even aware that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Incidentally, the African leadership had taken the initiative to convince Mr Taylor to resign and allow all the factions in Liberia to negotiate.
“It was when the presidents were leaving my office for the Conference Centre where Mr. Taylor was expected to make a statement that word came in that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. I really felt betrayed by the international community (and) I informed the United States of the embarrassment that the announcement caused.”
Observers said Africa’s anger at the time stemmed from the fact that it seemed the warrant for Taylor’s arrest was deliberately issued to scupper the Liberian peace talks and showed no respect for their efforts (echoes of what is happening in Libya?).
New African wrote: “The then chief prosecutor of the Court, the American lawyer David Crane, perhaps thinking about the interests of his home government more than the interests of West Africans, may have calculated that a successful conclusion of the Accra talks would lead to elections in Liberia fixed for July 2003 which were likely to be won by Taylor and his NPP party.
“That was bad news for the external agenda and the earlier the talks were nipped in the bud, the better. The plan worked! The talks continued in Accra though. Taylor agreed to step down as President if he were seen as the impediment to peace. And on 11 August 2003, he duly relinquished power and went into exile in Nigeria, after an-immunity-from prosecution deal had been arranged and secured by the African Union, ECOWAS, the UN and the US and UK governments…
The understanding was that Taylor would continue to be protected by the Nigerian government and would not be handed over to the Special Court (for Sierra Leone). To give him double assurance, Presidents Kuffour, Mbeki, Chissano and Obasanjo accompanied him to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on the first leg of the journey into exile…
“But contrary to the deal, the Special Court and Western human rights groups with an agenda to push got some 300 African NGOs to back a public relations campaign to force Nigeria to hand over Taylor. Lawsuits were hastily arranged in Nigeria and Obasanjo, facing unpopularity at home for his plan to seek a third term, began to bow to the pressure by making one fateful promise: he would only hand over Taylor to an elected Liberian president who makes the request and to that effect, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who had initially stated correctly that the Taylor issue was not a priority, came under intense pressure from Washington and the human rights community as her recent visit to the US loomed”.
Today, Taylor is at the Hague, but before his trial began he issued that stark warning: “Today it is me and God only knows who it will be tomorrow.”
In June 2008, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant of arrest to the Sudanese president Omar al- Bashir over the Darfur crisis, becoming the first sitting head of state in the world to be indicted by the ICC.
Other notable African figures to be also arrested or indicted by the ICC was the former Vice President in the interim government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean Pierre Bemba who was arrested and extradited to the Hague in May 2008.
The ICC’s rather overzealous Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who certainly appears to have no real sense of justice seeing as he rushes to indict Gaddafi, but has never uttered a word about George W Bush and Tony Blair over Iraq and Afghanistan, stands before a compliant Western media waving these indictments at the drop of a hat.
It is also rather strange that the United States, itself not a signatory of the Rome Statute that created the ICC, is always at the centre of pushing for African and Eastern European leaders to be taken to the Hague.
The Israeli government kills with impunity on a daily basis unarmed civilians in Palestine and the ICC is mum about it. Right now France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, fresh from taking the United Nations to the level of aggressors in Cote d’Ivoire is all over the show in Libya and ordering airstrikes on Tripoli in a bid to assassinate Gaddafi.
Britain right now refuses to repatriate the Islanders of Chagos to their homes after they were forcibly and brutally removed between 1968 and 1971 to make way for the American military base on Diego Garcia. All these are holocaust that are in the public glare, but Moreno- Ocampo is somehow blind to all this.
What has to be granted is that the world really does need an international court, but is the ICC as it is what we need? Was the ICC created to hound African leaders and those of smaller nations alone? Is the ICC a calculated assault on Africans to prove to the world that the continent is barbaric and needs someone as excitable as Moreno-Ocampo to bring order and development?
The world has seen rape, torture, gross human rights abuses and looting of oil and historical artefacts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but no one associated with these wars has come within even a sniff of the Hague.
Guantanamo Bay, itself located on occupied Cuban territory in defiance of international law, continues to exist and no one knows what manner of abuses are going on in there, even as Barack Obama has the nerve to tell the world about “change”. The US continues to torture prisoners of its “war on terror” in other territories so that it does not have to torture them on American soil, but no murmur is heard from Moreno-Ocampo.
The swiftness with which the ICC prosecutor has managed to “investigate” and collect “evidence” in Libya against Gaddafi is astonishing to say the least. It took nearly a decade for the ICC to collect evidence and testimony on the “war crimes” in the former Yugoslavia. Even after the investigations, the tribunal prosecuted only three Bosnian Serb commanders and the former President Slobodan Milosevic died while in detention.
At present, there are 22 cases currently before the ICC, all of them pertaining to crimes allegedly committed in five African states: Kenya, Sudan (Darfur), Uganda (the Lord’s Resistance Army), the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
Moreno-Ocampo is yet to secure any convictions, but not for lack of trying. Apart from his Libya charade, he is conducting “preliminary examinations” in Guinea, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire among others.
Obama administration officials have expressed support for ICC prosecutions in both Sudan and Kenya (never mind that they will not be party to the Rome Statute).
That is the kind of world that we live in.
In the face of all this, it is no great wonder that the civilised world has ignored Moreno-Ocampo’s bleating about arresting al -Bashir and consigning him to the Hague. African Union commission chair, Jean Ping earlier this year said: “We Africans and the African Union are not against the International Criminal Court. That should be clear. We are against (Moreno) Ocampo who is rendering justice with double standards…Why not Argentina, why not Myanmar… why not Iraq?”
It should also be borne in mind that no one has ever left ICC either free or alive. It is essentially a hanging court! Africa should dissociate itself from the ICC until Moreno-Ocampo develops a conscience of sorts or better still is relieved of his duties.
This article has also appeared in the Southern Times. Additional information was written by Mabasa Sasa.
Labels: ECOWAS, ICC, THE HAGUE
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MDC-T factional feuding intensifies
Posted by By Our reporter at 5 July, at 18 : 19 PM
FACTIONAL feuding has reached alarming levels between Tendai Biti and Morgan Tsvangirai factions in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T).
The party is faced by another acute blow of split soon if sanity is not restored urgently by the vacillating leadership, poised on personal aggrandizement, and amassing individual wealth at the expense of the party.
This scenario was visibly evidenced at a Mashonaland East Provincial Executive Assembly held at Harvest House the party’s headquarters, in Harare recently. It was attended by thirty-five (35) members drawn from twelve (12) out of the nineteen (19) District Assemblies.
Piniel Denga, the Provincial Assembly Chairperson, presided over the meeting which discussed the intra-party violence that characterized the party’s national congress which was held in April 2011, in Bulawayo.
In his address, Denga lambasted Ian Kay, the former Mashonaland East Provincial treasurer, for the intra-party violence during the party’s national congress in Bulawayo.
He claimed that youths loyal to Kay triggered violence by assaulting Ethridge Kuziva, the Provincial Youth Assembly Chairperson.
Denga further accused Kay of being power hungry as evidenced by his reluctance to recognize the current Provincial Assembly. He is also accused of mobilizing party members in the province to pass a vote of no confidence against the Denga-led executive.
Owing to the recalcitrant Kay’s intolerance, the meeting resolved to write a forceful letter of complaint to the national executive over Kay’s devilish activities in the province.
Meanwhile, as a counter-measure, Ian Kay faction held a meeting at Number 19 Cherutombo Street, Dombotombo in Marondera owned by Chengetai Murova, the MDC-T Marondera District Assembly Chairperson Kay chaired the meeting which was attended by sixteen (16) people mainly former Provincial Executive members.
The meeting was in pursuit of the faction’s objective to form a parallel Provincial Executive to advance its cause.
Kay warned followers against leaking information to the Denga-led Provincial Assembly.
He urged them to attend the faction’s meeting at his residence in Harare on 29 June to discuss strategies to co-ordinate its agenda for the nineteen (19) party District Assemblies in the province.
The meeting also resolved to write a letter to Nelson Chamisa, the National Organising Secretary, disapproving the manner in which the 10 April 2011 Mashonaland East Provincial congress was held.
The meeting also heard that Obert Nhire, a Harare-based lawyer, had written a letter to Chamisa complaining over undue ill-treatment by Denga on 24 June 2011. This skirmish took place at a meeting which was held at Chigondo Business Centre in Wedza South Constituency.
Nhire was barred from declaring his candidature for the constituency on MDC-T party ticket for the forth-coming national polls.
The meeting later set up parallel provincial Coordination Team to co-ordinate the faction’s activities in the province. This is a clear-cut indicator for escalating factional hustles in the MDC-T between Tsvangirai, the President of the party and Secretary General Tendai Biti.
Denga is Tsvangirai’s loyalist while Kay belongs to the Biti camp.
MDC-T declared violence reached unprecedented levels as they are also involved in recent murders of police and army officers in Glen View and Chitungwiza respectively.
These officers faced their fate while in the line of their constitutional duties.
Labels: IAIN KAYE, MDC, MDC FACTIONS, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, TENDAI BITI
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20 applications for auction floor licences submitted
Wednesday, 06 July 2011 02:00
Agriculture Reporter
THE Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board has received 20 applications for auction floor licences. This year there was chaos at the traditional auction floors, especially early in the selling season, as the floors were congested. The opening of more auction floors is expected to ease pressure next year.
According to the TIMB's latest weekly bulletin, of the 20 applications received, only one company had submitted completed forms. The board had set a deadline of July 1, 2011 for the submission of forms but by end of June, only Premier Tobacco Auction Floors had submitted the completed application forms.
The board has, however, indicated that it would continue to consider applications even after the deadline.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made, urged the board to move with speed to issue licenses to deserving applicants so that there would be many auction floors operating next season.
"An increase in auction floors will decongest the auction floors although it does not mean farmers will get higher prices for their crop," he said.
There has been a continuous increase in the number of farmers growing tobacco every season. So far more than 17 000 new growers have registered to grow the crop next season.
This has led to an increase in pressure for inputs such as wrapping material, while the auction floors have been heavily congested.
To address the challenges, TIMB licensed other six companies to sell hessian bags and encouraged decentralisation of the floors. However, last season no company applied for decentralisation. Nevertheless there are possibilities that some auction floors may be opened outside Harare.
Labels: TOBACCO
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PF calls on youths to reject MMD
By Namatama Mundia
Tue 05 July 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE Patriotic Front says youths in the country should use the ballot to reject the MMD because it has failed to attend to their needs. In a statement, PF Lusaka district youth chairman Yelisa Nkhondowe stated that it was not a secret that poverty, illiteracy and unemployment were high among the youths, who constitute 68 per cent of the Zambian population.
“These sufferings are due to the failure by the MMD government, which has denied the youths their economic, social and cultural rights,” he stated.
Nkhondowe appealed to youths not to lose hope because PF, when in government, will embrace them in national development.
“To enable this cause, PF has programmes such as creation of micro credit financing facilities to lead entrepreneurs, expansion of trade centres to impact survival skills such as power electrical, mechanics, bricklaying and plastering to integrate the youths in decision-making positions,” stated Khondowe.
Labels: MMD, PF
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There is no corruption in Zambia, says Rupiah
By Fridah Nkonde in Ndola
Tue 05 July 2011, 04:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has said there is no corruption in Zambia. During a presidential luncheon at Mukuba Hotel on Saturday, President Banda said Zambians should not listen to people who say there’s corruption in the country.
“Let’s not listen to doom speakers who say that there is corruption in the country. I feel the enthusiasm of the people when it comes to the movement of the country forward,” he said.
President Banda urged the people to prove those that were saying that there will be problems in Zambia after elections wrong. He said he saw in every Zambian the desire to get out of poverty.
“…because as I go round opening up institutions, I feel that Zambians are ready to take up the fight against poverty. I thank all who have revolutionised to make Zambia a less poor country. Zambian people are strong enough and have confidence in themselves,” he said.
He said he was hoping that Ndola could be transformed by having good roads, a good show ground and a beautiful airport.
“Use your vote to decide who will be your councillor, member of parliament and president. Let’s vote for right leaders because we know them,” said President Banda.
Labels: CORRUPTION, HYPOCRISY, LYING, RUPIAH BANDA
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Kenneth Kaunda attends PF conference
By George Chellah in Kabwe
Tue 05 July 2011, 04:00 CAT
DR KENNETH Kaunda yesterday received a thunderous welcome when he arrived at Kabwe’s Mulungushi Rock of Authority for the PF general conference. Dr Kaunda’s official vehicle drove into the main arena at exactly 11:24 hours, sending thousands of PF delegates converged in Kabwe into wild jubilation.
There was ululation and passionate singing as the first Republican president alighted from his vehicle to greet PF leader Michael Sata, who had hurriedly left the podium to welcome him. “Lelo, lelo, lelo! Kaunda ayisa! (Kaunda has arrived!)” chanted the crowd in unison as Sata led Dr Kaunda to the high table to join senior party officials.
Dr Kaunda’s arrival derailed the proceedings for a while as both the PF officials and delegates could not hide their excitement and joy upon seeing the former head of state whose presence seemed to have taken a number of them by surprise.
Just upon sitting, Dr Kaunda was thronged by a large group of PF officials, invited guests and observers who took turns in greeting him.
And opening the party general conference, which was also attended by US Ambassador to Zambia Mark Storella, British High Commissioner to Zambia Carolyn Davidson and Germany Embassy Counselor, deputy head of mission Astrid IIper, Sata praised Dr Kaunda for the numerous developmental projects his government left countrywide and yet there was no billboard bearing Dr Kaunda’s portrait despite the numerous developmental projects he left for the country.
“Dr Kaunda, we are very grateful for your coming… Dr Kaunda exposed me to real administration,” Sata said amidst cheers and ululation from the ecstatic crowd.
Sata urged delegates to inform party members and supporters to keep the oath of ‘Don’t Kubeba’.He said the MMD could only hope to win this year’s election by bribing the voters because they have run out of promises to the nation.
“I have every confidence in our people that no amount of bribery will persuade them to vote for the MMD this year. You must tell our members and supporters to remember our oath of ‘Don’t Kubeba’, which has worked very well in the by-elections held this year,” Sata said.
“Take the free houses, take the money brought to you at night, go and eat their food, receive the sugar and salt including their chitenge materials, switch on the geysers but don’t kubeba that you are PF.”
Sata said the PF national campaign committee would deploy 18,000 polling agents in all polling centres to guard the votes that will be cast for PF.He said PF would put in place mechanisms to prevent the MMD from ever rigging the elections again.
Sata said PF should remain committed to a culture of building a party leadership which is accountable to the general membership of the party and the country at large.
“It has been our firm belief that a general conference of PF which is not supported by established local and democratically elected party organs at all levels would be a mockery to democracy,” Sata said. “It is not, therefore, the fear of elections or the fear to lose positions which has prevented us from convening a general conference over the years.
“It is instead the fear to compromise the principles of democracy and to pay lip service to its foundation coupled with financial constraints. With this general conference, I am confident that PF will cement its ideals to enable it to excel in all its social and economic programmes in government.”
Sata said the PF constitution recognized the principle that the party shall be the leading political force in the affairs of the state.
“And shall in this regard pursue and promote social and economic policies to ensure equality, justice, liberty, solidarity, peace and prosperity for all citizens,” he said.
Sata urged delegates to build on the unity, peace and solidarity in the party, which had been exhibited by the lower organs during the party elections held over the last two years.He said he wanted to see the general conference make resolutions to guide the Central Committee in the promotion of dignity of all citizens and hence ensure social justice and equity for them.
“In order to achieve these principles you must, during this conference, elect leaders who are compassionate towards those of our citizens who are under privileged, leaders who are selfless and not self-interested and leaders who exhibit humility in the service of others,” Sata said. “My personal experience has taught me that public life is a great sacrifice with no financial rewards. It is like a missionary’s work.”
Sata said as PF, they must commit themselves and promise the people that they shall be different in exhibiting the spirit of public service in their deeds from those in government before them.
“Our people want to see a concerted fight against corruption, abuse of public resources by those entrusted with them, tribalism and nepotism which are divisive to our country,” Sata said.
“We shall without undue delay upon forming government move to engage those of our people who have been desirous to enter into dialogue with the government about their grievances but have instead been rewarded with mass arrests and beatings by the police and consequently imprisonment.”
Sata said PF shall decentralize the power structure of government administration which has given rise to some of the grievances since independence.He said the PF government would forge a strong link and partnership with traditional establishments and the people.
On the constitution, Sata said since independence, the cry of Zambians for a constitution, which represents the will and legitimacy of its people, has been unequivocal.
“The Chona commission, the Mvunga constitutional review commission, the Mwanakatwe constitutional review commission have all been attempts by the government to resolve the constitutional question in our country but to no avail,” Sata said.
“In order to respond to the demands of our people for a constitution which will reflect the people’s will and aspirations and hence guarantee them a firm foundation of the rule of law, social justice and an equitable justice system we shall within 90 days in government establish, in consultation with all stakeholders, a committee of experts to review the recommendations of all the previous constitutional review commissions in order to draft and present a constitution for submission to a referendum and subsequent enactment only by the National Assembly.”
Sata said in order to entrench the foundations of democracy in the country, Zambians must advocate for the existence of an electoral system, which serves the interest of all stakeholders.
“Dr Kaunda did not use the media to injure other people. Today, in the public media they want to paint Michael Sata very black,” Sata said. “Let’s use the media for the benefit which it was created for, which is to inform, educate and entertain.”
Sata said PF was committed to a peaceful and violent free election.He said PF had widely circulated its manifesto and disseminated the information in the social and economic sectors of the document in the country to all stakeholders.
“We have learnt from the history of other countries that a country must develop its human capital in order to foster national development. This human capital development must be supported by a good health care system which is accessible by all,” Sata said.
“As PF, we shall pursue and create a pro-poor economic growth which shall target an improved livelihood of the majority of our people in villages and townships.We shall place emphasis on and allocate our budgetary expenditure on four core programmes within the first three years in the areas of education development, health services, agricultural development and local government and housing development.”
Sata said the PF strongly believed in the social and economic development of women and the youth.He said the PF in government would use the Church as a mirror of spiritual and moral conscience in the area of good governance and the promotion of social justice.
He said PF shall also promote constant dialogue between the state and civil society.Sata said in its bid to improve the performance of the country’s economic activities to achieve maximum benefits for the people, PF in government shall diversify its international economic partnerships in order to learn from those countries with similar experiences.
“We shall in this regard seek close economic collaboration with the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and Turkey in addition to our traditional bilateral and multilateral co-operating partners,” Sata said.
“Whereas we welcome foreign investment in the exploitation of our natural resources, the investment must ultimately go to improve the life of our people who are the owners of these natural resources.
We shall expect our people to work under conditions, which are not detrimental to their safety and health.
“We expect our people to be paid a living wage in exchange for their labour.
As a government, we shall support that foreign investment which promotes the transfer of technology in order to improve our industrial output and production. We shall introduce policies for the establishment of micro, small and medium scale business ventures or enterprises which are known to enhance the creation of sustainable employment in the economy.”
Sata said PF shall also reduce marginal tax rates on income for both labour and capital.He said PF shall ensure that the trend of brain-drain is reversed through the introduction of policies which guarantee an equitable distribution of wealth and income.
“A vibrant economy which creates employment opportunities will be an automatic catalyst to reversing the brain-drain syndrome for our skilled labour,” he said.
Sata said Zambia was a rich country.
“Zambia has more minerals than people and you have these thieves who sold Kagem mine and Luanshya mine coming to say ‘they want change’,” he said.
Sata said PF’s immediate and major challenge was to win the 2011 elections.
“We have to translate all the indicators and opinion polls which favour PF into reality. We all must commit ourselves to hard work after this general conference,” he said.
Sata said from July 8, 2011, PF shall have the duty to interview aspiring candidates for parliamentary and local government seats.
“I implore you to execute this responsibility with utmost loyalty to the party. The party will not take kindly to any acts of bribery or corruption during this exercise both on the part of aspiring candidates and the interviewing committees,” Sata said.
“We shall deal firmly with those officials who shall engage themselves in such unbecoming behaviour which is detrimental to the interest of the party. Candidates who shall use money to win favourable recommendations from the interviewing panel shall automatically be disqualified by the Central Committee.”
And PF vice-president Dr Guy Scott urged party members to remain focused and concentrate on rural areas while the party’s national chairperson Inonge Wina said despite what had been said about PF in the past, the party was currently the biggest in Zambia.
PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba said the party wanted to show its critics that it was today the largest party in the country.
“No political party in Zambia today has been able to put up a gathering to show its democratic process apart from UNIP, and today it is PF,” Kabimba said. “This party is being transformed to the most democratic party in the country. Please show some sacrifice.”
And Chongwe member of parliament Sylvia Masebo’s presence sent the delegates into wild jubilation.
“I want to commend you for your good work that you have done. Your strength is not doubted. We have not come to PF to make PF win, you have done the work yourselves. We have just come to participate,” said Masebo as the crowd cheered in approval. “We are not here for positions.
We are here just to help to ensure that we have a real president in the name of Michael Chilufya Sata. I have no doubt having been a politician from the grassroots that Michael Chilufya Sata is set to be president.”
And Lukulu West member of parliament Eileen Imbwae said she had joined PF in order to add to the party’s strength which it already had.
“Politics is about numbers and you cannot do anything in this country without us the women,” she said.
Former works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti said he was happy to attend the PF general conference.
“MMD threatened me that ‘if you come to the convention you will die.’ But PF who knows democracy, you have allowed me to come here. This convention has brought shame on your colleagues,” he said as the crowd ululated.
Dr Mbita Chitala said he was delighted to be party of the ‘chi bwato’.
“We shall work together to ensure that we cross the sea. Work even harder, this year is not easy, we must work even harder,” he said.
Other notable personalities present at the general conference included former ZCTU president Fackson Shamenda, Professor Nkandu Luo, former tourism minister Patrick Kalifungwa, women rights activist Sarah Longwe, George Mpombo, Wendy Sinkala, former home affairs permanent secretary Susan Sikaneta and a number of Lusaka based lawyers, among others.
Labels: KENNETH KAUNDA, PF
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Government worshipping FDI, observes Dr Ndilila
By Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Mon 04 July 2011, 19:30 CAT
IT IS unfortunate that conditions of operating a company in Zambia are skewed in favour of foreigners, says Francis Ndilila.
Giving a private sector perspective on behalf of the Zambia Chambers of Commerce Industry (ZACCI) at the business symposium for SMEs held at the ongoing International Trade Fair in Ndola, Dr Ndilila, who is an architect, said Zambia could only be developed by Zambians if they took the driving seat and steered the country and economy in the direction it is supposed to go.
“People from ZDA might argue that government does not favour companies whether foreign-owned or Zambian in the conditions of operations that they are offered but we all agree that our government, politicians and institutions are worshippers of foreign direct investments and government institutions give maximum moral support to FDI at the expense of local investors,” Dr Ndilila said.
“Actually Zambians go to great pains and great lengths to please the foreign investor on the pretext that they might go elsewhere. It is unfortunate that conditions of operating a company are skewed in favour of foreigners and Zambians come at the bottom of the rank in being given importance of any kind.”
He said locally-owned companies needed long-term and affordable financing to invest in projects that could improve people’s welfare.
“Affordable financing means utilisation of funds to complete projects as well as realisation of profits but this is not happening in Zambia; hence foreign investors are having a field day when they come here because they are subsidising their governments and they are supported adequately through affordable financing,” said Dr Ndilila.
“But Zambian banks are charging too much, which sometimes brings your interest to about 40 per cent so the project for which the money is obtained for is doomed even before it starts.”
Labels: FDI, FRANCIS NDILILA, SMEs, ZDA
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Chimambo fears Zambia may lose out on minerals
By Ndinawe Simpelwe
Mon 04 July 2011, 19:30 CAT
ZAMBIA would have been in less debt if it had better policies on minerals, says the Zambia Climate Change Network.
ZCCN chairperson Robert Chimambo said this was the right time to create good policies that would ensure enough revenue from the country’s minerals when copper prices were high on the international market.
He, however, regretted that foreign investors were controlling the government at the expense of the Zambian people.
Chimambo said minerals were a diminishing asset that would become exhausted at some point.
“What government should know is that this copper will one day finish.
This is just the right time to put up good policies that will benefit the country.
Once our copper is finished, these investors that our government is supporting will leave the country and we will have nothing,” Chimambo said.
“These minerals are our national cake which each and every Zambian should have a share. What will our leaders say when all the copper is finished and yet the country has nothing to show for it?”
Chimambo said it was unfortunate that the government had decided to ignore the numerous calls from various stakeholders on the need to introduce better taxing systems on the mining companies.
He said it was clear that the current taxing system was not bringing the desired benefits to the country.
“What is hurting is that our leaders, when they are confronted, they are quick to side with what they are told by the foreign investors,” he said.
Chimambo said the mining companies had done a lot of damage to the land which would never be reversed.
He also said a number of families had been displaced because of mining activities without proper compensation.
“The copper prices are doing very fine on the international market.
This is the time for clever leaders to make a lot of money for the country. We will never have a better opportunity to make money out of the mines than this time. What is the government waiting for?” asked Chimambo.
Government has consistently refused to reintroduce the windfall tax despite numerous calls from stakeholders.
Finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane last Wednesday announced that First Quantum Minerals would pay US$224 million in tax arrears to the Treasury.
This was in the wake of a dispute that arose between the mine and the government over the decision to raise taxes in 2008.
Labels: MINING
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Ex-Mansa town clerk ditches MMD, joins PF
By Kabanda Chulu and Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Tue 05 July 2011, 03:40 CAT
FORMER Mansa town clerk Bwanga Kapu-mba has withdrawn his bid to stand as MMD Mufulira Central Constituency member of parliament following Sylvia Masebo’s resignation from the ruling party. Kapumba, who resigned as town clerk for Mansa last week, said many public service workers and cabinet ministers are trapped in supporting MMD because of protecting jobs.
He narrated that people had advised him that meaningful contribution towards national development could only be done if he stood on the PF ticket. He said the reality is that PF is forming the next government.
“As leaders, we must listen to people and I have followed their advice in order to lead them properly and all my family including my elder brother Mumba Kapumpa are PF, so I did not want to create an impression that we have differences,” Kapumpa said.
He said PF has laid enough ground work to form the next government because the party has become a progressive force.
“People will wonder why I applied for adoption under MMD but it is because of what I describe as smart politics and to some of us close to Hon Sylvia Masebo, we knew a long time ago that she has left MMD though she went ahead to contest at the convention,” said Kapumpa.
“Many government workers are trapped because of work and other factors even ministers are just waiting for an opportunity since, politics is about right timing hence I have escaped this trap. Of course, MMD will say ‘we didn’t even want to adopt him’ but that is their right and it is my choice to become PF.”
And more than 600 UPND members together with senior officials in Mufulira district have defected to the PF, saying they want to be part of the process of change of government.
Speaking on behalf of the defectors, former UPND Mufulira vice-chairperson Bwalya Chinda said the PF and its leader Michael Sata has become stronger and popular than ever before.
He said there was need for every Zambian to appreciate and join the root for change of government.
“We want to see a united opposition to be led by a popular candidate to take on the corrupt MMD in this year’s general elections and it is undisputable that the PF is a popular party and people want change.
The PF is not popular for nothing, it is popular because its values and ideas of running government have given hope to Zambians especially here on the Copperbelt,” said Chinda.
Among the officials who led the defectors include district chairman for propaganda Simon Banda, publicity secretary Trywell Ndhlovu and Justine Chisenga who was the district secretary and women’s secretary Annette Chewe Lukonde.
Labels: MANSA DISTRICT, MMD, PF
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Apply for solar geysers if you want, ZESCO urges citizens
By The Post
Mon 04 July 2011, 04:01 CAT
ZESCO Limited’s public relations manager Andre Makulu says people who want solar geysers that the power utility is distributing should apply for them. In an interview on Friday at the ongoing 47th Zambia International Trade Fair in Ndola, Makulu said thousands of applications had been received from all over the country although only 100,000 geysers will be installed in the first phase.
He said the conditions for applying for the geyser are that one has to be a Zesco customer and must have an electric geyser because Zesco was conducting the exercise on an exchange basis where electric geysers were collected and solar geysers installed to save energy.
Labels: SOLAR ENERGY, ZESCO
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Luapula is decided on Sata, says Dan Pule
By Ernest Chanda
Mon 04 July 2011, 04:04 CAT
A Lusaka clergyman says the government should not politicise Frederick Chiluba's funeral by parading chiefs from Luapula to gain political mileage. Commenting on some chiefs from Luapula who were paraded in Lusaka last Wednesday to endorse President Rupiah Banda's candidature, Dunamis Church overseer, Apostle Dan Pule, who also served as finance deputy minister in the Chiluba administration, said it was shameful that chiefs could be paraded in that manner.
“Our chiefs came for a good cause, to come and mourn our brother and second Republican president. But for them to be paraded in a manner that they were so that they can come and campaign for President Banda is not right,” Pule said.
“I respect their royal highnesses, and as a man from Luapula, I am disappointed that some of our brothers could do such a thing as to parade our royal highnesses to campaign for President Banda,” Apostle Pule said. “On the other hand, in as much as it's good to give gratitude where it is due, it should also be put in the right context that Dr Chiluba as former head of state was entitled to the burial and funeral that he was given by the government.
So it's not as if it was a favour done to him and the family and to all of us from Luapula. It was expected and an entitlement.
And all future heads of state will expect the same because it's their entitlement. It should not be used for political gain as if President Banda or the government were not supposed to do it on our second Republican president.”
And commenting on deliberate attacks on PF leader Michael Sata that he did not mourn Chiluba, Apostle Pule said that would not win the MMD a vote in Luapula. He said the people from Luapula were already resolved on voting for the opposition Patriotic Front.
“The fact is that all of us were mourning. President Sata actually went to Mulungushi to give the last respects to the second Republican president, his brother. This is why I'm disappointed that our royal highnesses from Luapula were used to come and attack president Sata. It is not right and that will not win them the vote,” Apostle Pule said.
“I want to say to the people of Luapula Province and indeed the whole nation that they should ignore what their royal highnesses were made to say about Mr Sata. The people of Luapula have made up their minds, they are not going to vote for MMD this year; they are going to vote for PF. Whatever political gimmick the MMD government will try and do is not going to change their minds.”
And Apostle Pule has challenged President Banda to allow the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) system if he is truly a strong candidate. He said with PVT, everyone would have confidence in the credibility of elections when the winner is announced.
“I believe that also the Electoral Commission should listen to the views of the people. And President Banda, if he wants to fight on a level ground, he should simply say like Dr Kaunda said ‘let's open it up; let's go for the PVT’, which is now what people want. Obviously, we do know that in rural areas results delayed because they were being manipulated so that the ruling candidate could win the election,” said Apostle Pule.
On Wednesday, confusion characterised the endorsement of President Banda's candidature by some Luapula chiefs in this year's election.
Some of the chiefs who were led by chief Nsamba of the Unga people from the Bangweulu swamps in Samfya district to announce the endorsement openly expressed ignorance about the event held at Lusaka's Longacres Lodge.
Labels: CHIEFS, DAN PULE, LUAPULA PROVINCE, MICHAEL SATA, PF
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Competition in banking sector still low - BoZ
By Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Sun 03 July 2011, 20:50 CAT
THE banking sector has remained fragmented with insufficient and distorted competition resulting in rigidity of its activities, says Bank of Zambia governor Caleb Fundanga.
And Dr Fundanga has expressed concern that
the increase in financial institutions has not had a significant impact on promoting competition since most of the banks are too small.
During a business symposium for SMEs at the ongoing Zambia International Trade Fair, Dr Fundanga said competition was not strong enough to lead to a convergence of prices that would ensure that banks have more or less the same prices for their services and products affordable to most people.
“This can also explain why finance service providers are not revising their interest rates and charges in tandem with the movements in key macroeconomic indicators such as inflation,” Dr Fundanga said.
“Whereas BoZ is conscious to the fact that the financial institutions are in business and are therefore expected to make profits but there is need to make financial services more affordable in order to promote economic growth and reduce poverty levels in the country since low interest rates reduce the cost of doing business and encourage investments in key sectors of the economy.”
He said BoZ had recognised that competition was an essential element in the effective and efficient operation of a market economy.
“In this regard, the licensing regime encourages entry of players that will foster integrity, innovation and competition while deepening and widening the financial sector and we have a huge list of new applicants wishing to invest and open new banks in Zambia,” Dr Fundanga said.
“The presence of reputable financial intermediaries is expected to increase competition which in turn will lead to an improvement in the quality of domestic financial services and allocate efficiency of financial intermediation will eventually be translated into higher returns for domestic savings and greater efficiency in the pricing of credit and other risks and in the allocation of credit.”
Nevertheless, Dr Fundanga said the growth in the number of financial institutions has not had a significant impact on promoting competition since most banks are small.
“A few banks continue to enjoy an oligopolistic position and this in a way explains why some inefficiency remains in the provision of services,” said Dr Fundanga.
Labels: BANK OF ZAMBIA, CALEB FUNDANGA, COMPETITION, LENDING RATES
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COMMENT - You'd suspect that the MMD knows how unpopular giving endless concessions to foreign 'investors' is at election time.
Govt gives incentives to steel, pharmaceutical industries
By Kabanda chulu and Misheck Wangwe in Ndola
Sun 03 July 2011, 20:40 CAT
GOVERNMENT has with immediate effect introduced incentives aimed at protecting the local steel-iron and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries. Notable measures include the
banning of exports of scrap metal in order to create reserves of raw material for local iron and steel manufacturers and
preferential government procurement to local pharmaceutical manufacturers.Announcing the measures at the 47th Zambia International Trade Fair in Ndola, commerce minister Felix Mutati said the growth in the mining sector which is the biggest user of steel and iron products has not translated into a similar growth in the local steel and iron industry because mining companies prefer imported products.
“This situation is resulting in jobs being exported to countries where these products are imported from and mining companies are importing products that are locally available and this is injuring local industry especially that studies have shown that local products generally meet the required standards,” said Mutati.
Exports of scrap metal will not be allowed and government has imposed a 25 per cent duty on importation of grinding mills balls and another 25 per cent import duty on rolling stocks spares for underground mines.
Other measures include a 25 per cent import duty on the railway turn outs, switch blades, crossing frogs, point rods, bolts and nuts, among others.
And President Rupiah Banda said there is need for all business houses in the country to work together with government and ensure that Zambian goods are competitive in both quality and pricing.
Speaking when he officially opened this year’s Zambia International Trade Fair on Saturday, President Banda said government was aware of the challenges faced by the private sector that have constrained innovation and competitiveness.
He said the government has approved and launched a national policy on quality to ensure that Zambian products meet both local and international quality requirements so that quality conscious could be raised among suppliers and consumers in the country.
Labels: FELIX MUTATI
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MMD wiil be history, says Nawakwi
By Kombe Chimpinde
Mon 04 July 2011, 04:00 CAT
MMD will be history by September this year after general elections, says Edith Nawakwi. Nawakwi, the FDD leader who campaigned for President Rupiah Banda in the 2008 presidential by-election, said the
last-minute projects and
politically motivated initiatives would not woo Zambians into voting for MMD in this year's elections.
“By September this year, MMD will be history and we (Zambians) will ensure that we
restore the abuse of office clause in the ACC clause to ensure that the MMD government accounts for abuse of public resources which it resolved to start looting from Zambians when they removed the abuse of office clause,” Nawakwi said in an interview.
She said the last-minute projects that President Banda had embarked on would not save him in this year's elections.
“This is a campaign gimmick, and Zambians are saying ‘we deserve planned, well thought-through development’. When the international community forgave our debt, they emphasised that the money must be spent on our social sectors.
We expected that the money was going to uplift the standards of living of the people of Zambia, the education standards, give us better health facilities and hospitals. Unfortunately this government has embarked on carrying out makeshift development,” Nawakwi said.
“In January I heard that by about April the government will contract so many road contractors who will go on rampage of 'make believe' patching and tarring of roads for purposes of campaigns.”
Nawakwi said it was sad for President Banda to think Zambians would turn around and support him after failing to deliver meaningful development in the two and half years he had been office.
“Even if they do the roads, that does not give us medicine in the hospitals. It does not give us jobs for the people because most of the contractors are foreign. It is sad that President Banda has even decided to give up the two per cent shares it government had in Lumwana mine for short-term gains when they could have been well planned and budgeted for. This is reckless spending for purposes of winning elections,” Nawakwi said.
“President Banda is a man who is so desperate to cling to power that he even goes to inspect the so-called developmental projects physically. Such kind of desperation causes injury in terms of elections as people resort to means which are not conventional such as thinking one can spend a trillion in one month for purposes of elections. That's total abuse of office.”
And Nawakwi said Zambians must ensure that President Banda and his team give an account of misappropriation of public resources that is currently taking place. She warned President Banda and his colleagues that Zambia was too small a country for them to escape from what she described as clear abuse of authority when they are voted out of power.
“This continued abuse of public office will go on unless the people of Zambia wake up and decisively agree that MMD's time is up. That's the only solution. This abuse should not go on for another term because we (Zambians) will restore the abuse of office clause.
Zambians should stop mourning about abuse of funds, get together, organise ourselves and move,” she said.
Meanwhile Nawakwi has warned that posterity will judge Eddie Mupeso, the director general of state-owned and government controlled ZNBC for denying the opposition political parties equal coverage.
“How do you ensure that there are free and fair elections when the media, from when you switch on ZNBC till you switch off, is only talking about Rupiah Banda, George Kunda or a chief talking about Rupiah Banda. Where is the fairness?” Nawakwi asked.
“In fact, Mupeso should watch out because he is collecting money from us and abusing that generosity given to ZNBC through the people. We can only warn him that his days are numbered because when MMD goes out, Mupeso should account for his misdeeds at ZNBC.”
Nawakwi also observed that the single action of delaying the announcement of the date of elections by President Banda was creating an unfair situation for other political parties as those in government would continue to abuse state resources for party activities and campaigns.
“Let us be honourable enough to go through these elections fairly and peacefully. Instead of putting up a face to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to say the country will go through free and fair elections, we must agree, believe and do it rather than just making empty statements. Zambia is a beacon of peace in Southern Africa and those in charge of these elections should know that they are holding the peace of the whole of southern Africa,” said Nawakwi.
Labels: EDITH NAWAKWI, MMD
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