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Mining

The Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) says government is still mute concerning the way forward of the operations of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mines (MCM). The two mines are the economic bedrock of four major towns on the Copperbelt that include Kitwe, Chingola, Mufulira and Chililabombwe.

MUZ General Secretary George Mumba said the union is still anxiously waiting for the road map from government through the mines Minister Paul Kabuswe who has not shared anything on the matter noting that the union’s interest is to see that the two mines are brought back to full production.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Mumba said the best option is to have the locals run the mines as the country needs to have a footprint and if possible use the two mines as a yardstick for other mines. The other option find a proper equity partner.

He said government’s plan to achieve a 1.3 million tons of copper production this year 2022 is not attainable because some of the key operations like Mopani Copper Mines and Konkola Copper Mines still have unresolved issues adding that the two mines add some good numbers in terms of the total tonnage of Zambia’s annual production.

The union representative re-iterated that the workers, the community and even other stakeholders do not want to see Vedanta Resources coming back to run KCM mine because the company failed to honour the assurances that it had previously given to the nation.

“Vedanta tortured us, the mine was almost grounding to a halt. That’s why for us as workers’ representatives and even the community of the Copperbelt, we are very skeptical about Vedanta. The assurances that he [Vedanta owner] kept giving the nation, he didn’t honour.

So that is why for us as workers’ representatives, Vedanta is a wrong investor, their season has passed and they are  history, we don’t see anything different that they can do”, he said. Vedanta is not welcome back as per consensus of our members.

Vendanta’s image in Zambia was further hurt by a video recording that went viral on social media in Zambia were the Vedanta owner was mocking the Zambian leadership of late President Levy Mwanawasa on how he managed to dupe him and buy the copper mine for a song. This incident alone dented the company’s relations with the Zambian general public.

The Minister of Mines Kabuswe has given several assurances and indicative timelines for announcing the way forward on these two important copper mines but no substantive decision has been made. He has conducted physical tours of the two mines and assured that a way forward would be announced soon.

But the procrastination is daily costing the country as copper is currently enjoying excellent prices, which gives the negotiators on behalf of Zambia an upper hand. Moreover, the minister of Finance Situmbeko Musokotwane already announced that government had set a target of hitting 3 million tons of annual copper production in ten years, a goal that may become far fetched if KCM and Mopani fails to timely get back to optimum copper production levels.

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The Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) says

Tech

Chapter One Foundation has disclosed that the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has denied allegations that the ICT regulator was responsible for shutting down internet services during the recently held general elections on August 12 2021.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Foundation Executive Director Linda Kasonde said the hearing of the main case is coming up on 17 March 2022 and the authority’s position is that they were not responsible for the internet shutdown during the general elections.

The Foundation has taken on the ZICTA management and confirmed that they are proceeding with the judicial review in a matter where the ICT regulator – the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority has been taken on for the disrupted internet services (Social media services) in the country during and after the August 12, 2021 polls.

Kasonde said it was illegal for ZICTA to disrupt or block provision of internet services in the country. There was widespread complaints across the country by social media users after the services were disrupted without notice or reasons being given and the civil matter is currently at the high court.

She noted that the Non-Governmental Organisation has not taken out any criminal charges and the cases it is handling are civil matters in the civil registry, adding that the organisation challenged the decision of the authority to shutdown internet services and will soon find out what the actually happened through the court proceedings.

On 12 August 2021, which was the general elections day, ZICTA has been accused of shutting down internet services and communication in Zambia. The internet services were only restored after Chapter One Foundation got a court order the following day on the 13th of August 2021, ordering ZICTA to resume internet services in Zambia, particularly social media internet access such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Non-Governmental Organisation served ZICTA with the court order directing it to resume all internet services on 13 August 2021 but they failed to do so as at 07:30 hours the next morning. The non-governmental organization then subsequently instructed its lawyers to commence contempt proceedings against ZICTA for failing to abide by the order.

The internet services mostly for social media were only restored in the country on the 14th of August 2021. This situation raised suspicion that the shut down could have been used to tamper with social dynamics as well as hacking of the electronic electoral results transmission systems.

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Chapter One Foundation has disclosed that the

Lifestyle

GEARS Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi has questioned whether Europe has academically unqualified Members of Parliament in their parliaments after the European Union Election Observation Mission ( EU-EOM) recommended that Zambia scraps off the G12 academic qualification requirement for those seeking elective political positions.

Chipenzi said Zambia must instead advocate for upward adjustment of qualifications for position of Mayor/Chairpersons, MPs and Presidents from G12 academic to a degree qualifications for quality leadership and debate in parliament.

In an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Chipenzi has opposed the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM)’s recommendation to do away with the G12 academic qualification for one to aspire for elective political position.

He said in this millennial era, going back to those dark times when people went into these positions without defined qualifications, are long gone and now requires all to have some qualifications to their names.

Chipenzi explained that with the decentralisation process at its peak, having councilors, mayors/council chairpersons, MPs/Ministers and Presidents who can barely read and write or competently debate, dissect and analyse local, national and global issues will undermine the decentralisation process in Zambia and is tantamount to a democratic suicide.

The Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services (GEARS) Initiative Executive Director said as of today, Zambia has enough secondary school and university graduates to provide leadership nurseries with qualifications to participate in politics and any field favourably.

“We have enough G12 graduates now than ever before to fill all layers of elective and nominative political positions in Zambia. Zambia now has more than one secondary school in each constituency and is not short of G12s”, he said.

He mentioned that further, the electoral demands that an MP can aspire for election in any constituency even where s/he is not registered from while to be a councilor and Mayor/chairperson, one has to be domiciled and registered in that district.

“For instance, in 2020 alone, 147, 055 pupils sat for school certificate examinations at G12 level. Out of the 147,055 candidates that sat for the examination, 94,010 (63.9%) obtained a full certificate, 49,032 (33.3%) obtained GCE certificate while only 4,013 (2.7%) actually failed”, he said.

“From the above, just for 2020 G12 graduates who obtained full G12 certificates and GCE are enough to fill all the elective positions at ward level (1852 seats), Districts (116 seats), Constituencies (156seats), vice president (1) and President (1) which is a total of 2,126 seats” Chipenzi said.

Chipenzi added, “Now, add the number of G12 graduates Zambia has since 1964 to 2021 and one thinks the country would fail to identify one for elective leadership? What is deficit is motivation among citizens to participate in partisan politics due to perceptions that politics is a dirty game and not qualifications”.

He has therefore opposed the scrapping off of the G12 academic qualification requirement as recommended by the EUOM adding that Zambia needs quality law and this can only be done with well-qualified elected leaders.

 

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GEARS Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi has questioned

Mining

As Zambia continues to lose millions of US dollars in lost production hours and revenues, the indefinite closure of Kasenseli gold mine has also put the build up of gold reserves by the central bank – BOZ in disarray, contributing to the current streak of the Kwacha depreciation.

A check by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT with the Zambia Gold Company Limited, the special purpose company set up to exploit gold reserves in Zambia has revealed that the date of re-opening of the gold mine is still a mirage.

Analysts say the prolonged closure of the mine by new mines minister Paul Kabuswe is resulting in lost revenue for the country. Building up of gold reserves was also signaling to currency speculators that the government of Zambia was stocking up an alternative war chest of assets to defend the Kwacha.

A further review by ZBT on the exchange rate shows that the Kwacha is again on a depreciating streak is is now trading for about K18.5 to the US dollar, coming from a lower base of about K16.1 to a dollar in the last four months.

The Zambia Gold Company disclosed that discussions concerning the future of Kasenseli Gold Mine, which is located in Mwinilunga district North Western province are still ongoing and whether operations at the mine will resume is dependent on the conclusion of the discussions.

Company Public Relations Manager Mathews Liyani said there is no agreed target date as to when the discussions will be concluded but once discussions with all the key stakeholders involved are concluded, the future of the mine will be decided.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZBT, Liyani said the company produced about 130kgs of gold since operations started at the mine in June 2020.

“Negotiations are going on and depending on how long it takes to conclude these negotiations with all the stakeholders,we might open the mine soon if the negotiations finish tomorrow,we will open tomorrow. The minister is consulting all stakeholders “, he said.

He noted that production at Kasenseli mine used to fluctuate depending on the conditions and the area the company was mining from at a particular time, adding that production was low during the rainy season because the area has too much rain which made Mining more challenging.

Liyani said from what was produced, the company sold about 110kg to the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) and still has the rest from the total production.

He explained that the first gold sale to the central bank was on 31st December 2020, which was 48kg worth about K59 million, the second sale was 20kg for the price of about K25 million, the third sale involved 17kg worth about K18 million and the fourth sale which happened in July 2021 was worth K24 million and involved 23kg.

Liyani revealed that everything that was produced from Kasenseli gold mine was being bought by the Bank of Zambia.

 

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As Zambia continues to lose millions of

Lifestyle

Livingstone residents have expressed concern over the delayed operationalizing of the newly built inter city bus terminal and the untra modern market five months after it was officially  opened. The residents have accused the council of lethargy.

A check with the Livingstone City Council (LCC) has confirmed that the Livingstone Intercity Bus Terminal and the ultra-modern market in Livingstone, which were commissioned in August 2021, are both not yet open to the public, a move that has a huge opportunity cost.

LCC Public Relations Manager Melvin Mukela said the Ministry of Local Government, the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and the council are still ironing out certain issues and once concluded, the two facilities will be open to the public. He however did not disclose the specifics of the issues at play.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Mukela stated that the two facilities are not open because certain logistics were not put in place but he is confident that the two facilities will soon open. He however did not give a specific timeline.

On the value which the two facilities will give to the tourist capital of Zambia, Mukela explained that it is anticipated that there will be more business as people will be able to take up more shops at the modern market and bus station and that business will improve adding that the two facilities are modernized and passengers will be able to buy tickets online before going to the bus station.

“We are in the modern world and the bus station has been constructed in such a way that it is the state of the art, currently the situation is that Livingstone does not have a permanent bus station. We don’t have a shelter, so bus operators are operating in a difficult condition but once the bus station is open they will have a shelter, they will have a place where they can bath and proper toilets, so it will help both the commuters and the bus operators”, he said.

Mukela added, “You can buy bus tickets wherever you are, you go to the station and just present the receipt and be able to board any bus you wish to get on. It will operate like the way we operate at the airport”.

He mentioned that the local authority would also benefit because more revenue will come in as a result of the shops that will be operating at the bus station noting that the facilities have lifted the face of the district being a tourist capital. The LCC PR Manager added that the council and the residents are all longing for the facilities to be open to the members of the public.

The Zambian Government has over the past decade embarked on a massive infrastructure drive, which eventually led to debt accumulation  mostly due to the over 60% depreciation of the local currency – the Kwacha, making US dollar denominated debt serving unsustainable.

Productivity and economic efficiency remains one of the biggest challenges most emerging market countries like Zambia are facing. The country currently has notable infrastructure projects which are completed but not operational, while others are at over 70% completion stage, but are not being completed leading to costly wastage and huge opportunity costs of funds already invested.

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Livingstone residents have expressed concern over the

Lifestyle

Residents as well as traders in the capital city of Lusaka are to blame for the filthy state of some trading places and neighbour-hoods, a situation that is a ticking time bomb for waterborne diseases with the current rainy season.

Some areas of Lusaka that include parts of the central business district, Lumumba and Chachacha roads, Kamwala trading area, and some markets across the city are currently a health hazard following the piling up of uncollected garbage and mass littering.

Citizens have called on new local government minister Garry Nkombo and the various local municipalities to take charge and ensure that public places are kept clean to avoid disease outbreaks that will even be more costly to the nation than upscaling the clean up exercises.

A check with the Lusaka City Council – LCC by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT revealed that the council is indeed aware of the piling up of garbage and the resultant public health risks.

LCC admitted that they are facing challenges in managing waste but blamed it on the indiscriminate and illegal dumping, littering and a public which is seemingly not sensitive to the garbage around it.

LCC  Public Relations Officer Mwaka Nakweti told ZBT that the Local Authority has been facing challenges with waste management in the central business district – CBD due to indiscriminate disposal of waste by members of the public.

Nakweti confirmed that the cleaning of the CBD is done on a daily basis but the challenge is that waste generators neither want to dumb waste in designated places nor subscribe to have their waste collected, a combination that defeats the daily efforts of the local authority.

She stated that in a bid to bring sanity to the Central Business District (CBD), LCC has placed waste receptacles on islands on Freedom Way, but that it is disheartening however to note that despite the waste receptacles being placed in strategic places, some traders and members of the public still opt to dispose off their waste indiscriminately.

Disposing off of waste indiscriminately and failing to subscribe for waste collection goes against the solid waste regulation and management regulation which mandates waste generators to subscribe for waste management services.

Successive governments and ministers of local government in Zambia have for years struggled to clean up the city of Lusaka. With the change of government and a new minister in Garry Nkombo, many hoped that the situation would be different.

Waste management continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing the city of Lusaka. With the size of waste being generated and indiscriminately dumped continuing to increase annually, there is an urgent need for a long lasting solution.

There was proposal to create a waste management company that would operate as a government agency after a devastating cholera outbreak, but those plans seem to have been shelved and may only be revisited when another waste management related public health pandemic emerges, a clearly re-active than pro-active approach.

With the current above normal rainfall that is being experienced, uncollected garbage is not only blocking the drainages, but also posing unquantified health risk on both surface and underground water pollution.

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Residents as well as traders in the

Mining

Environmental experts have questioned how the country will this time around manage to get maximum benefits from the proposed mine when it’s a known fact that successive governments including the current government have failed to get maximum benefits from the existing large scale mines on the Copperbelt and North-Western provinces.

As the debate rages on following revelations that the immediate former ruling party PF government had approved the opening an open pit mine in the lower Zambezi national park, and the current ruling UPND government’s decision to go ahead and implement the historical approval, more environmental experts are speaking out, calling on the government to halt the planned mining.

The lower Zambezi National park which was founded in 1983 and covers an area of over 4,000 square kilometers, lies on the north bank of the Zambezi River in south-eastern Zambia, is bringing out the old age debate between the huge profits to be gained from mining against the environmental considerations, which the tourism sector somehow managed to better take care off.

An Environmental expert Timoth Kamuzhu Phri in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT stated that Zambia Environmental Management Agency – ZEMA and Minister of Environment should reconsider the decision as the area has resources that have been found to be of huge ecological significance.

Phiri told ZBT that mining is okay in places that are not protected but putting it in areas that are protected like a national park will mean degrading the ecosystem.

“There is an argument raised that not a lot is being done by tourism for the locals, that is not a lie it is true but that problem can only be solved if we involve more local people in tourism and empower them.” Phiri stated.

When asked if locals are better benefiting from the current tourism activities in the national park compared to what the promoters of the proposed mine are pledging, Phiri noted that it does not call for a mine to realize that the Zambian people are not benefiting from tourism but something that can be dealt with even without a mine.

He said bringing a mine is an economic activity which will bring in more damage than tourism would ever cause.

The environmental expert said even the late founding President Kenneth Kaunda knew that minerals were there, but did a cost benefit analysis and found out that a national park had more benefits than extraction of minerals. Phiri is of the view that a social, economic and biophysical implications have to be taken into account before establishments of businesses in such places.

Until 1983 when the area was declared a national park, the area was the private game reserve of Zambia’s president which resulted in the park being protected from the ravages of mass tourism and remains one of the few pristine wilderness areas left in Africa.

Phiri stated that it is worrying to note that the current government has decided to go ahead to open an open pit mining project in such an area which is also the world heritage site.

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane had announced that the UPND led government plans to expand copper production from the current 850,000 tons per annum to 3 million tons per annum in ten (10) years. He has however not given a breakdown on which mines, timeline milestones or specific investment pledges on how this target will be realized.

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Environmental experts have questioned how the country

Markets

The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) has challenged the Zambia National Commercial Bank-ZANACO to plough back the reported K1 billion profit after tax, which it posted in its 2021 financial year into improving customer service as well as to support local businesses that need capital for growth.

ZACA Executive Secretary Juba Sakala said the bank posting K1 billion profit is an indication that it is performing well, therefore it should come up with ways of distributing what it is making to local industries such as the manufacturing as well as other industries that are struggling.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Sakala said the bank should not just end at showcasing its super normal profits but reinvest the money by giving soft loans to small and medium size businesses so they can do better than they performed in 2021.

He explained that most businesses in the country are struggling and do not have the financial capacity to expand their businesses, therefore ZANACO investing back that money into the Zambian economy will boost the operations of such businesses and industries.

Sakala added that most local businesses are shunning getting financing from big financial institutions due to the high interest rates as well as unrealistic requirements, therefore if ZANACO would come up with soft loans with competitive interest rates, it would attract many customers and many people would benefit from those profits.

“When we have more industries, we will have more jobs, when we have more jobs people have income and when people have income they are able to live a better life and even bank with the same institution. Whatever they have, let them plough it back into the local industries so that they create more jobs as more jobs mean more money in the pockets of people and people will live better lives”, he said.

He mentioned that ZANACO should also reinvest in improving their infrastructure and services because most of the time, it is either their ATMs are not working or the online banking system is not accessible, therefore the bank should use its huge profits to work on resolving such issues.

Sakala has encouraged members of the public to register their complaints against ZANACO to the Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) or the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) so they can liaise with the bank or take action against ZANACO and see how they can improve their services.

When you look at civil servants forums, you can appreciate that the bank has some work to do. There are a lot of unresolved complaints. ZACA has since urged ZANACO account holders to report their complaints to the regulators, regulators would sit with the bank and see how they can sort out the problems and improve the services to satisfy the customers.

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The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) has challenged

Markets

Lusaka based Economist Lubinda Habazoka noted that the reducing of prices of fuel is a move in a positive direction. This follows the change in cycle from three months to now monthly fuel price reviews by the new board at the Energy Regulation Board – ERB

Habazoka told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that Zambians should not however expect a reduction in transportation and cost of daily commodities following this decrease in fuel pump prices.

The former Economic Association of Zambia President stated that the business community at the moment may not be certain if the prices of fuel will continue to go down and that there is always a general hesitancy in reducing prices by markets. The cost of goods and transportation may not reduce until there is some level of certainty on the direction.

There has been debate on whether the fuel price cut announced by the Energy Regulation Board on 31 January 2022 of about 6% for both diesel and petrol after the same prices were raised a month ago by between 20% to 30% was done based on economic fundamentals.

The debate is that fuel which is an imported commodity in Zambia has been adversely affected following the Kwacha depreciation. The Kwacha is now trading at about K18.2 per dollar while it was trading at K17.1 per dollar a month ago.

The government was accused of making political decisions as there was a by-election in Kabwata, an important Lusaka constituency that the ruling party badly needed to win to consolidate their claim of political support of the capital Lusaka.

And Chief Government spokesperson Chushi Kasanda refuted allegations that the reduction in fuel pricing was a political move targeted at winning the kabwata by elections.

In an exclusive interview with ZBT, Kasanda said government has put in place a system that is reflective of what is obtaining at the international oil market and follow the pricing of the international markets

Kasanda challenged those that think the fuel reduction had anything to do with politics to move on and support the government of the day than to just criticize even what she termed is right and positive decisions.

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Lusaka based Economist Lubinda Habazoka noted that

Lifestyle

By Staff reporter

The increase in reported cases of suicide following the announcement of grade twelve (G12) results has been blamed on the increased number of broken families.

Lubanda Luyando a Psychiatrist at Lusaka’s Chainama Hospital has disclosed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that growing up in brocken families is one of the major contributing factors to the increase in the number of suicidal cases.

Luyando revealed that about 90% of people with mental disorders, depression, alcohol & drug abuse or low blood pressure have been found to be at a higher risk of suicidal behaviour.

“I have seen practices that a lot of people who have problems with depression, drug addiction and alcohol abuse are the ones who in most cases commits suicide because when you go the the root of their problems, you find that they were once abused or come from brocken families”, Luyando added.

In another separate interview, Clinical Neural Psychologist Khaluso Masuwa told ZBT that suicidal cases have been on the rise because of lack of support systems in families, churches, communities and the nation at large.

Masuwa said this makes people feel vulnerable and end up thinking suicide is the only solution. He noted that the country currently only have a few hospitals offering dedicated mental facilities. There is need for the ministry of health and government in general to add mental health and the respective mental health facilities to the overall public health priorities for the benefit of the nation.

With increased social and economic pressures to do well on young people today, families and households have been advised to exercise restraint as they handle the performance of their family members reflected in their grade 12 results. Families need to realize that they are the last line of support system for their members.

According to the World Health organization – WHO, globally every year, almost 800 000 people die from suicide, and four in five of them are from low and middle-income countries with Zambia not being exception.

While suicide is believed to be the second leading cause of death mostly in youths, a number of cases have been recorded in the country especially after the recent announcement of the grade 12 results by Minister of education Douglas Siakalima.

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By Staff reporter The increase in reported