Full Text: Zanu-PF Manifesto 2013
This article was written by Our reporter on 7 July, at 00 : 01 AM
This People’s Manifesto of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) for the 2013 harmonised elections comes against the background of the enduring and unforgettable fact that it is Zanu PF which liberated Zimbabwe after prosecuting a heroic
armed struggle.
It was this people’s resort to the bullet that won Zimbabweans the right to the ballot that everyone enjoys today as a legacy of our liberation struggle.
That legacy permanently connects past, present and future generations of this nation with one another. It is a legacy that we all own as Zimbabweans. Accordingly, this People’s Manifesto is a solemn call from the fallen and living heroes of our liberation struggle, indeed from the wailing bones that lie in many places known and others yet to be discovered, for every Zimbabwean to patriotically cherish and jealously guard the gains of our heroic liberation struggle.
The essence of Zanu PF’s ideology is to economically empower the indigenous people of Zimbabwe by enabling them to fully own their country’s God-given natural resources and the means of production to unlock or create value from those resources. Through our deliberate socio-economic policies and achievements since our heroic independence, we have laid a firm foundation for the attainment of this strategic goal. Notably, our achievements have been blighted since 1999 by the twin evils of regime change and the illegal economic sanctions. And the last five years of the awkward GPA government have exerted the greatest toll on the people’s aspirations.
Our People’s Manifesto provides the ways and means out of the quagmire created by the above obstacles to enable us to work together as Team Zanu PF to put our national development back on its revolutionary path. The ways and means in the Manifesto are anchored on Zanu PF’s policy of Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, which seeks to enforce the transfer to local entities of at least 51 percent controlling equity in all existing foreign owned businesses. Over and above this, the policy is to empower indigenous entities to hold 100 percent of equity to start up or take over strategic enterprises across the economy, especially in key sectors such as mining, tourism and agriculture.
The targeted equity threshold recognises Zimbabwe’s total ownership of all its natural resources as an expression of our national sovereignty. This policy will create dignified employment especially for the youth, distribute wealth amongst citizens more equitably, cause a general improvement in the quality of life of every Zimbabwean and bring about sustainable national development which is homegrown. In response to widespread concerns and expectations that ordinary people should be the primary beneficiaries of the policy of Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, the next Zanu PF Government will put in place robust measures to ensure an even more transparent, accountable, tangible and measurable implementation matrix in the national interest.
It is therefore the national duty of each and every one of us – young or old – to go out in our historic numbers to vote for Zanu PF in the forthcoming elections.
We must vote as Team Zanu PF regardless of our divergent political affiliations because Zanu PF is your Party which can guarantee you a secure future as the country’s liberator.
Zanu PF is the Party of our collective national aspirations. As we campaign for our Party, and when and after we vote, each and every one of us must draw inspiration from the eternal words bequeathed us by our beloved late Vice-President John Landa Nkomo that, “Peace begins with Me; Peace begins with You; Peace begins with all of Us”.
Let us go and vote in peace for Zanu PF and be the true masters of our God-given natural resources and our own destiny.
Pamberi neZanu PF!
Pamberi neIndigenisation!
Pamberi neEmpowerment!
Pamberi nekuhwina maElections!
Phambili leZanu PF!
Phambili leIndeginisation!
Phambili leEmpowerment!
Phambili lokuwina amaElections!
BHORA MUGEDHI IBHOLA EGEDINI
VOTE ZANU PF
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), MANIFESTO, ZANU-PF
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Kabimba challenges ministers to explain PF manifesto
By Ernest Chanda and Moses Kuwema
Wed 22 Feb. 2012, 12:01 CAT
WYNTER Kabimba has challenged government ministers to explain the party manifesto to the public so that President Michael Sata does not look like he is running a one man show in the decisions he makes.
And Kabimba, who is PF secretary general, has maintained that the party will pursue the Rupiah Banda parentage case until it is disposed off by the courts of law. Explaining President Sata's realignment of districts across the country, Kabimba said the programme was not new, but that it was in the PF manifesto.
Kabimba, who expressed disappointment with ministers for keeping quiet, said the realignment of districts was meant to enhance development in all parts of the country.
"We are committed to devolving power to local communities in order to enhance the development process, especially in the rural areas where poverty amongst our people is still endemic 47 years after independence. We are, however, disappointed as a party to see that some of our ministers in government are failing to articulate our party manifesto and hence creating the impression that His Excellency the President is running a ‘one man show'," Kabimba said at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
"I would like to urge all our government ministers to use the manifesto as a guide in all their policy pronouncements instead of resorting to common sense or personal opinions as we have seen in some cases. The manifesto is the only programme of the party which both the party and government must use for our social and economic development agenda until it is reviewed in due course or in 2016. We do not want to see the emergence in PF of the MMD culture where government ministers and party leaders make policy pronouncements which reflect their personal views and not decisions of the party and the government."
On criticism from mainly the opposition UPND that President Sata did not consult when realigning Chirundu and Itezhi-tezhi districts, Kabimba said the decision was legal.
He said even when first Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda created more provinces in the 1960s, he did not hold any workshops over the matter. Kabimba said at independence in 1964, the country only had six provinces until Dr Kaunda later created three more.
He said the programme was continued by the MMD government which led to the increase in number of districts from 65 to 72.
"The Copperbelt Province, North Western Province and Lusaka Province did not exist at independence. This therefore means that these provinces were carved out from other provinces in order to facilitate smooth government administration and the allocation of financial resources in line with the demand for improved infrastructure development due to the increase in population," said Kabimba.
"There were no workshops or seminars which were conducted by the two governments at the time over these developments. However, this is not to suggest that the PF does not believe in stakeholder consultations where this is deemed necessary to marshal consensus on national issues."
And Kabimba said Banda's parentage case was a matter of public interest rather than a PF issue.
"I want to state that the issue as to whether or not Mr Rupiah Banda was governing this country in line with the constitution of this country is a matter that the party and I'm sure the people of Zambia are interested in.
So it is not a dead matter," he said.
Meanwhile, Kabimba justified the appointment of party cadres into the civil service, saying they were not appointed by the President.
Kabimba said since they were now appointed by the Civil Service Commission, they ceased to be under any political interference.
Labels: MANIFESTO, PF, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Kasama headteachers vow to crush Rupiah
By Darious Kapembwa
Fri 13 May 2011, 10:30 CAT
SOME headteachers from various schools in Kasama have vowed to crush president Rupiah Banda and the MMD during this year’s tripartite elections. The headteachers talked to said they are angered by the behaviour of local government deputy minister Moses Muteteka and education minister Dora Siliya’s address to them.
Muteteka and Siliya last Saturday met the head- teachers at Kasama Girls High School where they instructed them to vote for President Banda and the MMD.
According to the head- teachers, Muteteka angered them when he disrespectfully rebuked them on why the MMD was fast losing popularity when they (headteachers) were supposed to be explaining various government programmes to people around the schools’ catchments.
“They came here telling us the usual rhetoric. Dora started first; she was saying she knows that all of us are politicians only that we have not come out in the open.
She asked us that, ‘why do you criticise government so much and yet you don’t praise the good thing that government is doing for you and the people when you are in schools that are receiving development?” one of the teachers said.
They said Siliya told them that Patriotic Front president Michael Sata was a bad person compared to President Banda.
“I think she got an idea of what they expect from us after elections because the whole mission here was to discredit Sata and PF and that is what unsettled all of us such that we murmured in disagreement, because she kept saying they government have a programme for us while Sata does not have.
But what programme is that which is only talked about when elections are near? So we want to try Sata because we have seen his party manifesto.
Otherwise their mission here is total failure because it is difficult to change a decided mind. We have suffered for too long and are resolved to teach them a lesson,” said another headteacher.
The school heads, however, said they became incensed by Muteteka who spoke like he was addressing ‘his children’.
They said they openly protested against Muteteka’s address until he apologised, sat down and called Siliya to address them.
“That young man, he started shouting at us like we are nothing, ‘eeh why are you not explaining? So we got angry until he said ‘sorry, maybe Honourable Siliya knows how to handle you since she works with you’,” said the headteacher.
When contacted, Muteteka failed to explain his encounter with the head-teachers and only said he and his two other colleagues Liato and Siliya were addressing workers according to their ministries.
“I don’t know what you mean. We are here the three of us myself, Honourable Liato and Honourable Siliya and we are working according to our ministries, so tomorrow I am going to Chinsali to address council workers,” said Muteteka.
Asked whether he addressed teachers at Kasama Girls High School, Muteteka hastily cut the line while Siliya was not reachable by press time.
Labels: DORA SILIYA, KASAMA, MANIFESTO, MMD, MOSES MUTETEKA, RUPIAH BANDA
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PF manifesto hollow — MUZ
TIME PUBLISHED - Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 4:03 pm
THE Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) has said the Patriotic Front (PF) manifesto does not provide any new ideas to improve the mining sector.
MUZ acting president Charles Mukuka said in an interview that the manifesto’s segment on mining did not represent any ideas that were not tackled in the MMD’s 2007 manifesto.
Mr Mukuka said it was disappointing that the PF lifted similar plans from the ones that the MMD had in 2007 to implement in the mining industry instead of working on different ideas that would attract support from the public.
He said various policies and frameworks that the PF were referring to in their new manifesto had already been or were being successfully undertaken by the Government.
“It is surprising that the PF’s manifesto talks of uncertainty in the mining industry when in fact Government has managed to woo a lot of investors to the sector,” he said.
Mr Mukuka said the PF manifesto talked of failure by the MMD Government to diversify the mining sector but he said various new mine activities had been established including manganese and nickel mining in Luapula and Southern provinces respectively.
He said Government had undertaken various policy changes, which had galvanised and increased mining investment in Zambia and that it was unfortunate that the opposition did not provide convincing new policy plans for the sector.
“This is simply a replica of the MMD’s 2007 manifesto which also tabulated how the party would provide among other things revolving funds for small-scale miners,” he said.
Mr Mukuka said under the MMD manifesto also contained plans to diversify mining activities from the traditional copper mining and a review of the legislative frame work.
Meanwhile, the Sub-Saharan Gemstone Exchange (SGE) has said there has been unprecedented investment in the mining sector in the last five years.
SGE president Phesto Musonda said in an interview that the high levels of investment could only come about with the implantation of good economic policies and an attractive investment environment.
Mr Musonda said investment confidence was clear through the amount of pledged investment by mining companies, especially on the Copperbelt.
“Already we have Luanshya Mine committing US $300 million to its expansion, with Mopani and Trident announcing billions of dollars in investments,” he said.
Mr Musonda said the long-term tax regime in Zambia had played an important role in attracting more investment because it in turn allowed the investors to recoup the investment, make their profits and remit the required taxes.
He said policy on small-scale mines had also improved with a focus on empowering Zambian entrepreneurs, especially those in the gemstone industry.
“In the past there had been challenges in implementing diversification but it was realised that the small scale mining industry was a major contributor to the success of the process,” he said.
Mr Musonda said the Government had put up policy that ensured that all artisan licenses such as construction in the industry were given to Zambians.
And some civil society organisations have described the PF manifesto as inadequate and hollow because it was mostly a replica of the MMD and UPND manifestos, with most of the proposals already being implemented by the current Government.
Committee of Citizens executive director Gregory Chifire said in an interview yesterday that his organisation was disappointed that the PF manifesto wants to promote a secular State.
“The manifesto and the party constitution contradict themselves, in their constitution they are saying that State institutions would be run by party loyalists. Instead of giving a proper road map of their own of how they want to manage the affairs of the country, they keep referring to the MMD which means it is a copy cut,” he said.
The PF manifesto did address the real issues and does not inspire confidence that the opposition party would be the alternative Government.
Forum for Leadership Search executive director Edwin Lifwekelo said most of the proposals in the PF blueprint were already being implemented by the MMD Government.
“I have read through the manifesto which the PF is circulating and clearly it is a copy cat of the MMD manifesto which RB (President Rupiah Banda) and the MMD are already implementing even better,” he said.
He said with the revision of the MMD manifesto at the party convention in Kabwe, the ruling party was well placed to move the country forward.
“The PF manifesto is a duplicate of the MMD manifesto, Mr Michael Sata has no capacity to write his own manifesto, he had copied the UNIP constitution as well, so it is a blank cheque,” he said.
Bishops Council of Zambia spokesperson Gibson Nyirenda said the PF manifesto was a confirmation that the ruling party was on the right track in developing the country.
“We have seen how the economy has been growing under the MMD Government and am sure that the PF manifesto is an acknowledgement of that the economy is growing,” he said.
The PF recently launched its manifesto which they have been circulating.
Times of Zambia
Labels: MANIFESTO, MUZ, PF, PHESTO MUSONDA
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Sata happy with PF manifesto’s reception
By George Chellah
Tue 05 Apr. 2011, 04:02 CAT
THE recently unveiled PF manifesto has shamed our critics, says Michael Sata. Sata, who is opposition PF leader, yesterday said he was impressed that the recently launched party manifesto had been well received by the general public.
“In the past, due to our humble way of doing things and our close links with the grassroots, our party has been mocked by our critics as one without any tangible ideas and policies on how we intend to govern this country,” Sata said.
“But currently, we pride ourselves as the only political party in Zambia that has launched its manifesto and opened it up for the public to debate. That is a well-articulated and solid document, so our critics have been shamed.”
He said PF launched its manifesto earlier to enable the public understand the document.
“A manifesto shouldn't just be based on what the leaders are thinking. It needs to have the input of the people you intend to govern. It must leave the electorate satisfied even before they entrust us with their votes and I can proudly state that our manifesto is a masterpiece,” Sata said.
“That is why as PF, we want the people to freely criticise the document because that document covers a number of issues affecting this country. With that document… within 90 days Zambians will see the difference and genuine change shall surely come to this country.”
Sata urged other political parties to emulate the PF.
“I challenge other political parties as well to show the public their manifestos. Let them give the public ample time to scrutinise those documents that is if they even have them manifestos,” Sata said.
“Don't give the public historical documents, no. A manifesto should reflect a political party's latest position on many key issues concerning the governance of this country. Let them also launch their manifestos and advertise for the public to scrutinise them.
“It’s not just a matter of talking about policies and programmes give people something written, something concrete, which they can hold you accountable for in future. We know some of them are struggling to come up with sensible documents so we won't be surprised if they copy the PF manifesto.”
He said once in power, PF would ensure that plunderers were held accountable.
“We will ensure that simple things like having people to account for the money they stole either through the privatisation exercise or any other programmes are done,” Sata said. “We will make sure that what belongs to Zambians is returned to Zambians. Plunderers have to return the monies they have stolen.”
Labels: MANIFESTO, MICHAEL SATA, PF
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Issue-based election campaigns
By The Post
Thu 24 Mar. 2011, 04:00 CAT
Good elections require intelligent and responsible participation of all candidates and voters.
And the political campaigning that precedes our elections is a critical aspect of the electoral process. We say this because it provides a platform to our politicians and their political parties to articulate party agenda on international, national and local issues, and ought to reflect the contestation of ideas on how the state and society should be organised and run. Such contestations are healthy for our political process in the sense that the electorate is thereby assisted to make rational political choices. The political campaign ought to highlight the outlook of the parties and therefore guide their perceptions of the state, society and economy.
The political campaign process in Zambia seems to be deviating from this normative approach we have outlined. It is rather unfortunate that the campaign process has become an instrument used to harass, humiliate, demonise, defame, intimidate and repress political opposition. We caution that our politicians should emphasise electoral tolerance and leverage on issue-based campaigns. The obvious lack of issue-based campaigns among our politicians, especially those of the ruling party who are supposed to lay a good example, is a source of serious concern. The Zambian people are looking forward to campaigns that will affect their lives and livelihood. They want to see campaigns that will consolidate and strengthen our democracy beyond individualism, ethnicity and regionalism. But what they are seeing are campaigns that totally lack vision regarding how to solve the myriad of problems confronting the nation. And maybe due to lack of any clear-cut programmes for the people, the only discernible message that they are selling is abuse. But abusive campaigns are not what the Zambian people expect to form the focal point of this year’s election campaigns. They expect to hear what plans are in the offing towards finding lasting solutions to the long queue of problems facing the country from those aspiring to emerge as our leaders in this year’s elections but not abuses.
We therefore encourage all our people to get themselves informed of the manifestos of the various political parties. The Patriotic Front launched their manifesto last Saturday in Lusaka. We expect the MMD and others to do so soon. These manifestos are supposed to have the programme of action that the parties propose to follow in order to serve the good of all people. A sound manifesto should articulate achievable programmes that will enhance the development of our country and our own wellbeing. Hence, we should be able to decide to vote for the party that has a programme we see as the best for us as a nation.
The candidates for political parties will be committed to the manifestos of their party as well as to their personal vision for their constituency.
Candidates should therefore be evaluated on their capacity to implement both their party’s manifesto and their personal vision. As we have stated before, those who offer themselves for re-election ought to be evaluated against the record of what they have or have not achieved. Did they fulfil their promises? Did they offer quality service to all the people and not only those who voted for them into power? Were they available to listen to the concerns of the people? Were they selfless in responding to the needs of all, especially the poor? Again, as we have stated before, those who have not yet held office, those in the opposition, should be carefully evaluated in terms of their competence and their reputation for honesty and selfless dedication to the common good.
In casting our votes, we should therefore not be swayed by personal profit but solely by the consideration of which of the conflicting issues or candidates is better for the nation. We should scrutinise the people who wish to represent us and select our candidate strictly according to the good we think they can do. The interest of the political parties should be kept subordinate to the public good. And at the risk of boring our readers, we again remind you that politics is for the good of the people and the country, and not for a political survival of any individual or party. And if this spirit of the primacy of the common good were to animate all the parties, we would not witness these campaigns anchored on character assassination, mudslinging, slander, lies, calumny, manipulation and deceit which leave the public dismayed and disheartened.
As we approach this year’s elections, we must express concern regarding the frequent instances of intolerance, intimidation, character assassination and lust for power. We call upon our politicians and their cadres to avoid distorted presentations of their opponents. Responsible politics demands a fair assessment of one’s opponents. We need to remember the lesson: “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
In the present atmosphere of fierce competition and character assassination, there is need to consistently remind ourselves of the noble goals of political activity. Politics should aim at the promotion of the common good and the service of all the people.
Ours is a nation where we may freely choose those who will represent us, where we may now review the performance of our present representatives, weigh them in the balance of truth, justice and unselfish service, and, if we find them wanting, reject them and elect others in their place. This is our inalienable right. Our vote can help eliminate the unworthy and improve the quality of the leadership of our country.
Free, fair and constructive elections would become a reality in our country when the politicians take their responsibility seriously by addressing themselves to real issues, to their manifesto, so that voters could judge what ideas the parties and their leaders had on problems that really matter: cost of living, unemployment, corruption, poor services in education, health, government offices and so on and so forth. They should respect truth and their political opponents.
It is always interesting and inspiring watching the leaders of the advanced democracies of the world during electioneering campaigns. Their campaigns are usually issue-centred. Candidates do take one another up on critical issues affecting the lives of their people, especially during presidential debates which we hardly hold here because the ruling party has consistently refused to take part in such debates. And theirs goes beyond ‘I will do this, I will do that’, ‘I will provide this, I will provide that’, which have become usual platitudes with our politicians here. They make it a matter of duty to truthfully explain how they intend solving identifiable problems in every facet of their lives and how to make life more liveable for their people. They hardly engage in name-calling, abuse, lies, slander, character assassination, malice and insults. This is the kind of campaign approach one expects our politicians, especially those in the ruling party, to emulate. Only those candidates who have nothing to offer the electorate resort to lies, slander, character assassination, calumny and deceit during electioneering period. This is unacceptable and should be discouraged. This is the type of politics and campaign the Dutch Ambassador to Zambia, Harry Molenaar, is discouraging in favour of issue-based campaigns. There are many issues for any serious politician to pick on.
Elections are an opportune time to review our past in order to prepare for better political choices for the future; it is a time to vote for honest and selfless leaders. Those whose only discernible preoccupation is to demonise, scandalise, defame and character-assassinate others don’t deserve our votes. We need honest and clean politics. Liars, crooks and dishonest politicians of all hues should not be given our votes – they don’t deserve them.
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, HARRY MOLENAAR, MANIFESTO, POLITICS
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This is my manifesto for economic transformation in Zambia and Africa. I would love for anyone or any party to pick up some or all of it, so that the country can go from being poor, to being as rich as full of opportunity for each and every citizen, as it deserves to be.
I have the following suggestions to turn Zambia around though. It isn't going to be 'easy', and it isn't going to be quick, but it will be dramatic. This manifesto concists of three simple points:
1) Government Reform
2) Economic Reform
3) Land Reform
1) Government Reform
Decentralize government. Most modern nations funnel half of their revenues into local government. Unlike this government, which seems to think a lot of unfunded mandates, budgets as well as responsibilities should be decentralized. I imagine a government system, where there are:
- 350 local government units, of
- 30,000 people each, receiving
- $1million (or more) per year, to do the following:
a) education
b) healthcare
c) policing/security
d) public amenities
e) administration
This would:
- take basic services out of the hands central government politicians
- create government units small enough to sidestep tribalism or regionalism
- take tribalism out of the national debate by making it irrelevant in the political arena
- boost local economies, as $1 million will be spent on an anual basis
- bring government close to the people, as unlike MPs, all council business is done locally
- make healthcare and education universally available
- sidestep waste of resources at the ministerial level
- make government directly accountable for local decisions
- enable participatory budgeting
- ensure similar services being available nationwide, irrespective of the council in question
- slow down or prevent urbanisation
- help spread economic opportunity equally across the country
- prevent epidemic outbreaks related to trash collection or contaminated water
- leave some money available to solve local issues
- expedite paperwork, so that licenses, etc. can be picked up at the local council
- shorten the time it takes to set up a business
How money would be made available:
1) dismantle central government
Right now, Zambia has about 29 ministries. Most countries have about 10-12. The problem comes in the thinking that central government can solve local problems, when there are huge barriers to that happening. However, it is very easy for the President to, instead of solving the problem, simply be seen to be doing something by creating another ministry. Look how serious I am about women's issues, I have just created a Ministry for Women's Affairs. But look at the same time, how unwilling the President is to make money available at the local level. Further more, every ministry has one minister (usually elevated to Cabinet Minister), 2 deputy ministers, a permanent secretary. Then, there are district commissioners, and a whole host political positions.
2) Combating Corruption
Track the money. The government should at any time know where it's money is. Both income and expenditures should be carefully monitored and should be published on a regular basis. The prices paid for government expenditures should be monitored and made available to the public, as should government contracts. This way, the minsister or council leader can be held accountable.
3) The Mines
The mines must start paying their fair share. What is more, new deposits should no longer be sold to mining companies, but should stay in the hands of the state, to be exploited on behalf of the government, on a cost only basis. That way, the state will benefit maximally from the country's natural resources.
Apart from making sure that 1/2 or more of national revenues ($1.1 billion in 2004) are spent all around the country, and boosting local economies, there are many, many advantages over the current system. The 30,000 people size means that any notion of region or even tribe are done away with. 30,000 people is simply too small to pander to any of Zambia's 72 tribes, 9 provinces or 4 regions.
I would say that money should be collected and disbursed to both local and central government by the ZRA, which should have it's own financial police, and should routinely monitor all local government expenditures.
There should checks and balances in the system, like monitoring of local government expenditures, but also by democratically electing council leaders.
In two words, the Zambian government is top heavy. There are (I have counted) 29 ministries. Every ministry has 1 minister, 2 deputy ministers, a permanent secretary, etc. The Ministry of Local Government receives more state money than all local councils combined. And to what end? Do these 29 ministries make Zambia the bests governed country in the world? Or are 80% of the people living on less than a dollar per day?
The massive concentration on central government and government from the ministries must end, and make place for government through local government. I hope people will bring this up whenever a president creates another ministry to cater to some political hot topic issue.
2) Economic Reform
The state should own all natural resources. The time for the colonial era practice of selling concessions should be over. In fact, it would be best if selling concessions was banned all over Africa. Because this is how neocolonial elites are created and sustained. It doesn't just pander to corruption, it is corruption. Instead, the state should maintain ownership of the mines and in the very least the minerals, while exploitation should be done by private companies, preferrably Zambian, but international if necessary. These companies must run without politial appointments, and should be payed on a cost only basis, with small incentives as benchmark payments.
However, the present situation, where foreign companies own Zambia's wealth, are simply leaving the people and the country poor, and standing on the world's economic sidelines. As we all know and can attest to. This has to change. Selling off the mines was a criminal act, treasonous, and should be reversed immediately. (A massive windfall tax, strict enforcement of labour laws and environmental laws, go-slow actions on companies that will not comply, there are a myriad of legal and non-violent options for getting the mines back.)
I estimate that every year, Zambia is missing out on $1.6 billion in lost copper and cobalt sales. Compare that to the government's income of $1.1 billion in tax revenues (mostly from the huge PAYE sweated out of the workers of the country and massive, stifling taxes on legal businesses), and $600 million in donor money (now there is a humiliating term if ever there was one - Zambia is giving much more to the world than it is receiving, and yet one would never know it looking at the size of donor aid in the national budget; and forgetting the implications for national sovereignty that go with it).
Indigenous business is being stifled by massive taxation, yet foreign companies are given decade long tax hollidays to set up shop in Zambia - which neatly gets back to the original issue of the braindrain, and why this is a symptom, not a cause.
3) Land Reform
- land redistribution
- irrigation
- mechanisation
80% of Zambia's agricultural land is not under cultivation, making it a major potential growth industry, one that should be exploited by ordinary Zambians, not multinational corporations. We should strive for a position where every present day subsistance farmer has access to 100 hectares, instead of the present 2-3 hectares. Less than 90% of Zambia's agricultural land is under irrigation, and yet Zambia has access to 10% of Africa's fresh water resources and is even named after one of Africa's greatest rivers.
One hundred hectares allowes a farmer and his family to earn $10,000 per year or more, from just growing staple crops, using only 50 hectares.
(Good land produces 2 tonnes of maize per hectare, which I think is still sold for $200 per tonne. 2 x 50 x $200 = $20,000, and presuming half of that is spent on operating costs, that would leave a family with $10,000 per year; compare that with the average annual wage of $280 and that would be a huge step up.)
This would have the effect of distributing wealth and wealth creation into the country side; it would eliminate poverty; it would create the need for for semi-professional jobs (doctors, laywers, accountants, mechanics, veterinarians, suppliers of inputs, teachers) in the countryside; it would slow or stop urbanisation; (in combination with a good food storage/distribution network) it would eliminate famine; it would turn Zambia into a food exporting country.
Obviously, these farmers would need some startup help, mainly with access to machinery and some education, but these businesses would be inherently profitable. There would also be more than enough room for expansion into dairy farming, cattle herding, agroforrestry, etc.
Also, only a tiny percentage of arable land is irrigated, with the rest depending on rainfall. There are two sustainable alternatives to rainfed agriculture. One, riverine irrigation - Zambia has 10% of Africa's fresh water resources. Two, rainwater catchment systems. I would suggest something like Keyline, as well as the use of swales (strategically dug shallow ditches), which slow the movement of water across the land. If you compare a rainforrest and a desert, what you are looking at is not good soil versus bad soil, but slow movement of water versus fast movement of water across the land. Plants are great at absorbing water, but the soil (humus) is even better. If land is systematically logged with water, drainage becomes very slow, vegetation can grow and protect the soil even more, and poor soil becomes rich soil.
This could be a huge works project, that would do a lot to alleviate the massive unemployment.
To get back to the land issue - the whole issue at the ministry of lands is I think hugely important, but it is also a minor issue when compared to actual land distribution. Is the situation in Zambia really so different than that in Zimbabwe - or Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, Namibia or South Africa? There has to be a distribution of (unused) land to the poor subsistence farmers, and without pay. This would be a near instant solution to a lot of economic problems. Obviously, there would have to be a continuous monitoring of possible bottlenecks in the agricultural production process (land, machinery, fertilizer, marketing, transportation, etc.) but it would be a huge new beginning.
Lastly, I think that the rest of the state's money should be used to create infrastructure - roads, bridges, large scale irrigation, etc. This would make business in the country much more feasible, and it would create huge mass employment opportunities. And none of these will come from 'foreign investors'. As the MMD, UPND and even PF seem to believe.
Conclusion
The above have cronicled most of the Zambia's economic/governmental inefficiencies. This is where the real opportunities lie. The waiting is only for someone who will put all of the above into action.
NOW, WHO IS GOING TO MAKE POLITICAL CAPITAL OUT OF ALL THESE OPPORTUNITIES??? :)
You have 4 years to set up a party, and run on this simple 3 point platform for the 2011 elections.
For some miraculous reason, none of the political parties are willing to go this far. They are all satisfied with their ascendance to power, without a clue what they are going to do with that power that will make a huge and positive difference to the country. Which is why people cannot make a real distinction between them. And also why there was no policy debate during the last elections.
Labels: DEVELOPMENT, DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS, LAND REFORM, MANIFESTO, MINING CONTRACTS
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