ZCC welcomes sugar imports
By Joan Chirwa and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Friday June 06, 2008 [04:00]
ALLOWING imports of sugar in a convenient manner will assist in addressing interests of consumers on the local market, Zambia Competition Commission (ZCC) acting executive director Thula Kaira has said. And Shoprite and Spar have received consignments of sugar with a two kilogramme being sold at an average of K9,000.
Kaira in an interview said the government could find a way of allowing imports of sugar while protecting its own industry.
“In our view, allowing imports of sugar in a controllable way could address the interests of consumers,” Kaira said. “Again, allowing imports should not have adverse effects on the local market. We need to come up with long-term solutions to certain situations, not only when there is a crisis. In the current situation where there is a shortage of sugar, it was important for Zambia Sugar, as a monopoly supplier to notify consumers so that government can find ways of mitigating the deficit.”
Kaira further said the commission had received numerous complaints from industrial users of sugar on inadequate supply of the commodity.
“In the circumstances, it would appear plausible that imports should be encouraged as there is no stringent requirement that industrial sugar be fortified with Vitamin A at the point of entry,” Kaira said. “On the other hand, it would be critical for Zambia Sugar not to lose its domestic market for commercial sugar. To ascertain this, there would be need for assurances from Zambia Sugar that they would favourably satisfy local demand.”
And by Wednesday afternoon, Shoprite and Spar had stocked both brown and white sugar on their shelves.
Workers at Shoprite confirmed that one-kilogramme packets of sugar were received on Tuesday night while the two kilogramme packets were stocked on Wednesday. And a check at Spar Arcades revealed that the chain store had enough stocks of sugar, although demand for the product was not much.
“We are not having many people coming to buy sugar because they don’t know we have it in stock,” said one of the shop attendants at Spar Arcades.
Zambia Sugar on Monday announced that it would soon flood the market with its products so that sugar prices could get back to their original trading levels of K8,500 per two kilogramme packet. The shortage of sugar on the local market resulted in an inflation of prices to an average of K20,000 per two kilogramme packet.
Labels: SUGAR CANE, ZCC
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Zim churches call for peace ahead of runoff
By George Chellah in Harare, Zimbabwe
Monday May 26, 2008 [04:00]
THE Church in Zimbabwe has called for peace in the country ahead of the June 27 presidential election runoff. And the Church has condemned the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, saying that it was disturbed with the unfolding events in that country. In an interview on Sunday, chairman of the Christian Heads of Denominations in Zimbabwe, a composition of church leaders from the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Dr Goodwill Shana appealed for peace and stability in Zimbabwe.
“As a church we would like to see peace in the country and we are concerned… that’s why with what is coming (presidential runoff) we have to bring a positive resolution to what is happening,” he said.
Dr Shana said the three Church mother bodies were currently mobilising women countrywide.
“We are launching the women’s national prayer task force. We are mobilising a Christian community of women because they are multiple victims of any national turmoil or instability. When a nation is in turmoil the most vulnerable people are women and children,” Dr Shana said. “That’s why we have to mobilise our women across the political divide because a mother is a mother whether she is ZANU-PF or MDC especially in times when there is violence and instability.”
There has been widespread political violence in the countryside with both rival parties accusing each other of perpetrating the heinous acts of violence against their supporters.
Several civil society groups in Zimbabwe and Amnesty International have accused ruling ZANU-PF supporters of violent acts since the March 29 harmonised elections, where MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai emerged victorious ahead of the veteran leader.
But on Friday, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka told the state media that police in the eastern border town of Mutare arrested 12 opposition MDC activists on public violence charges.
He said the 12 activists where arrested after police received a tip-off from members of the public.
Mandipaka said the police were informed that the perpetrators were using marked and unmarked vehicles to terrorise people in the communities.
“They would go and perpetrate the acts of violence and retreat to their hidden bases, which we are still to establish,” he said.
The police swung into action barely a week after President Mugabe accused the opposition MDC of launching an evil crusade of dividing the nation on political lines through heinous acts of political violence.
And Dr Shana condemned the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, stating that the Church was disturbed with the unfolding events in that country.
“We are very concerned and disturbed with what’s happening there. But we are encouraged with the across the board condemnation by the country, from the government, civil society and the Church,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean government announced on Friday that it would help to repatriate its citizens that were victims of xenophobic attacks that had rocked South Africa.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement indicating that the Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria and the consulate in Johannesburg would also assist with returning the bodies of those killed in the attacks.
Labels: EFZ, ZCC
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ZCC implores state to introduce economic zones in rural areas
By Times Reporter
THE Government should introduce Multi Facility Economic Zones (MFEZ) in rural areas so as to reduce the problem of rural urban drift. Zambia Competition Commission (ZCC) acting executive director, Thula Kaira, said this when he appeared before the parliamentary committee on economic affairs and labour, chaired by Zambezi East MP, Charles Kakoma (UPND).
He said MFEZ should be located in both rural and urban areas as that would entail the country’s economy growing at the same rate.
He said currently, the economic growth was concentrated in urban areas but that the trend would change once MFEZ were introduced in as many rural areas as possible.
“There is need to have a holistic national industrial and commercial development policy that stimulates and creates wealth even in firms outside the MFEZ, more so the micro, small and medium scale enterprises who are the backbone of any economy,” Mr Kaira said.
Much as the commission was in support of the establishment of MFEZ, Mr Kaira said that precautionary measures ought to be undertaken so that these do not act as bottlenecks in the economy.
He said if not handled properly, MFEZ would prevent, restrict or distort the growth and development of the general industry in Zambia.
Mr Kaira said that before establishing the MFEZ in rural areas, Government should take into account the comparative advantage of the particular area.
At the same time, Mr Kaira implored the Government to revitalise industries that were outside the line of rail such as Mansa Batteries, Kawambwa Tea Company, the pineapple canning industry in Mwinilunga and the cashew nut and rice industries in Mongu among others.
He said concentrating the MFEZ in urban areas was a disservice to the economic development of the country.
“Infact some companies operating outside the MFEZ may fail to compete and exit the market. This frustrates the efforts of developing Zambia and, therefore, hinders the creation of seed bed companies that would be corporations tomorrow,” Mr Kaira said.
Mr Kaira said that MFEZ should operate like they did in other countries where they run side by side with what were known as virtual zones.
Labels: CHARLES KAKOMA, MFEZ, ZCC
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Consumer body cries for 'teeth'
By Joan Chirwa
Wednesday March 19, 2008 [03:00]
ZAMBIA Competition Commission (ZCC) has been inactive in enforcing existing laws due to the absence of punitive measures against offenders, commission director for consumer welfare and education Chilufya Sampa has said. In an interview, Sampa said the major problem that the competition commission has had in terms of enforcing consumer laws was the non-existence of punitive measures, as the current court process was time-consuming and costly on the part of the commission and consumers.
“If we need to take someone to task, we have to go through the courts but that is not effective. We have used advocacy instead and we have not taken anyone to court over the last 10 years,” Sampa said. “We have come to realise that this is a weakness on the part of the competition commission for not being able to take people to task over various complaints that we receive from consumers around the country.”
Sampa noted the need for the amendment of the Consumer and Fair Trading Act for it to be more effective in terms of enforcement of the laws.
“The current court processes take so long, so this is why we have just been using advocacy methods in dealing with complaints on products from the consumer. This method is however not the best, but it is quicker compared the court process,” Sampa said. “Because of the absence of punitive measures, we have a number of companies coming out in consumer complaints every now and then. We are now even thinking of just taking some of these companies to court even if the process takes long and is an expensive venture.”
The competition commission last year handled a total of 62 consumer cases on misleading information, deceptive products and foreign particles in foodstuffs, among others.
Labels: CHILUFYA SAMPA, CONSUMERS, ZCC
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State-owned companies shouldn't be exempted from competition law
By Kabanda Chulu
Friday January 11, 2008 [03:00]
ZAMBIA Competition Commission (ZCC) has submitted draft proposals to government which recommend that state-owned companies should not be exempted from the competition law. ZCC acting executive director Thula Kaira yesterday said the draft proposals would result in amending the 1994 competition and fair trading Act in order to make it more responsive to the challenges facing the Zambian market. He said certain areas in the current Act were not clear hence the commission found it difficult to enforce the law.
“The position currently obtaining whereby the Act states that government must be exempted from the competition law must be stopped because it is not clear to what extent the exemption must be applied to public owned companies especially when these companies are dominant,” Kaira said. “The exemption clause in the Act is not clear, for example, Celtel can be punished for anti-competitive practices but it becomes difficult if similar cases are raised against Zamtel since it is government-owned and must be included in the exemption clause.”
Kaira said there was also need to have a competition and consumer tribunal to be put in place to ensure quick dispensation of cases.
He further noted that the consumer law was not adequate to protect people because it was too fragmented, resulting in higher cost of enforcement.
“Need has arisen to have law covering all sectors in order to ensure full protection for consumers because consumer rights are synonymous with human rights and another challenge is that the commission has no powers to punish offenders administratively through fines and penalties but just recommend to courts of law, which is costly to prosecute hence we are proposing the creation of a tribunal to arbitrate cases in a quick and fair manner,” said Kaira.
The draft proposals were compiled by ZCC together with various stakeholders and have been submitted to the Ministry of Commerce so that the minister can present the bill to parliament for amendments.
Labels: COMPETITION, PARASTATALS, ZCC
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