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Companies

Management controls and the procurement procedures at Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority-TAZARA have come under question following the company’s legal actions taken to recover advance payments, a process which should have been smooth if the company had put in place adequate advance payment guarantees from its suppliers.

TAZARA has sued another company, Kenites Investment Limited for failing to deliver after being awarded a K3 million contract.

According to a statement of claim seen by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, TAZARA is claiming for an order that Kenites pays K784, 280 being the balance of the amount advanced to the company for the work, damages for breach of contract, interest, any other relief the court may deem fit and costs.

TAZARA advertised a tender for sealed bids from eligible potential suppliers for the supply and installation of a single Axle Drop Table and Portable Hoist System Electrical Jacks in 2012.

Kenites was the successful bidder and was awarded the tender and a contract for the supply and installation of a single axle drop table and for the supply of a portable hoist system electrical jacks.

The contract worth K3, 114, 200 was executed on 7th February 2013 and TAZARA made a 40% advance payment amounting to K1, 245,680 with the view that Kenites takes site possession and performs it’s part of the contract.

Kenites took site possession on 25th August 2014 and commenced civil works by digging a pit and engaging TAZARA’s civil department and purchasing quarry product from Mununga Quarry and according to the contract, Kenites was to complete works within twenty four weeks from the date of commencement of works.

The company then demanded that TAZARA makes another 40% advance payment and TAZARA demanded that Kenites furnish proof that the first advance payment had all been utilized and also demanded that the company provides an insurance bond of 80% to cover both the first advance and the second advance demanded for by Kenites but the company failed to secure the insurance bond of 80%.

On 8th July 2015, TAZARA and Kenites held a meeting at which it was discovered that during the bidding process, Kenites submitted documents indicating that technical support would be obtained from YALE in Germany and it was on that basis that the company was awarded the contract, however, Kenites obtained and paid for technical support from ASHOCK manufacturers in India.

Kenites did not supply or complete works on the installation of the single axle drop table or the electrical jacks and to date, the contract has not been performed.

On 5th December 2017, TAZARA reported the matter to the police and consequently, the two parties entered into a deed of settlement on 20 February 2018 in which Kenites consented to repay the payment advanced by TAZARA before 30th November 2018.

The deed of settlement expired on 30 November 2018 but Kenites did not finish refunding the advance and on 15th May 2020, the two parties entered into another deed of settlement under which Kenites was to make monthly minimum payments of at least K15,000.

On 31 December 2020,the second deed of settlement expired and Kenites only made two monthly payments in June and October 2020.

Kenites requested a six-month break from making payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic and requested to commence refunding in June 2021 but on March 22nd 2021, TAZARA advised that it could only consider the request if the arrears due under the expired deed of settlement were cleared in full.

TAZARA has not heard back from Kenites and because of the company’s actions, TAZARA suffered loss and damage. There are calls that the company should be further investigated as these advance payments seems to have been made without adequate risk assessment, which raises suspicion.

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Management controls and the procurement procedures at

Markets

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defended its proposed Extended Credit Facility  – ECF programme that the new Finance Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane has proposed to close before the end of the year 2021.

The IMF has stated that the programme will help Zambia to underpin the reforms that government will undertake to address macroeconomic imbalances.

IMF resident representative for Zambia Preya Sharma told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interaction that an IMF arrangement would help Zambia underpin those reforms and would support the authorities’ request for a comprehensive debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework.

Sharma said at the end of 2020, the Zambian authorities requested Fund support to help implement their economic reform programme to restore macroeconomic stability and address the human and economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

She noted in an interview with ZBT, that notable progress was made during earlier discussions in detailing the key policy measures to address the macroeconomic imbalances currently facing Zambia and to enable a return to sustained growth with enhanced fiscal space for social and development spending.

“We look forward to discussing the new government’s reform priorities as soon as the new Cabinet is in place and with a view to advancing the ECF negotiations,” Sharma said.

When asked if Zambia still needs the IMF bailout package even when it is getting the IMF SDR, She explained that, “While substantial, the SDR allocation does not eliminate the need for external official financing, including from the Fund, and does not change the need for Zambia to undertake the reforms necessary to address macroeconomic imbalances.

Sharma said separately, as a member country of the IMF, Zambia will benefit from its share of the recently approved general allocation of $650 billion of Special Drawing Rights.

She said this decision will help address member countries’ needs for international reserves, build confidence, and foster resilience and stability. Sharma said, importantly, it is expected to help vulnerable countries address the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

“To avoid confusion, it is important to emphasize that the general SDR allocation is completely separate and distinct from the discussions on an IMF-supported program with the Zambian authorities.

“An IMF arrangement would only be approved if a member country’s debt is assessed to be sustainable with sufficient capacity to repay the Fund.  A comprehensive debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework would be expected to achieve that for Zambia,” she added.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defended

Tech

Zambia’s  chances of getting a fourth mobile telecoms network operator for the past four years has suffered yet another setback after Beeline Telecoms failed to start operations within the initially designated six months and has instead asked for an extension.

The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has confirmed that Beeline Telecoms Limited has not commenced operations because the company asked for an extension which was granted by authority.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ZICTA Public Relations Officer Hanford Chaaba said the telecom company extension is now up-to 30 June, 2022 as the deadline for which it shall be required to commence operations.

Asked the reason for the delay and why the company had asked for an extension, Chaba did not respond by press time. This is despite the fact that even the previous failed license issued to UZI had asked for several extensions before it was finally cancelled.

ZICTA awarded a fourth mobile licence to Beeline Telecoms Limited on 19 February 2021. According to then ZICTA Director General Patrick Mutimushi, the company was required to commence operations within six months, failure to which the international network and national service licence would be revoked.

ZICTA stated after awarding the successful bidder of the licence after the UZI failure that it was in line with the authority’s regulatory mandate under the ICT ACT No. 15 of 2009, which includes the promotion of competition in the ICT sector.

The decision by the ZICTA to introduce a fourth mobile operator was arrived at after conducting an analysis of the ICT sector market from the perspective of the quality of services being offered by the incumbent licensees as well as the need, or otherwise, to raise the levels of competition among others.

To award the license to Beeline Telecoms, ZICTA invited requests for proposals and applications for a network licence under the international market segment and a service licence under the national market segment with associated resources.

The Authority stated at the time of issuance of the license that after a thorough evaluation process, the ZICTA awarded Beeline Telecoms Limited the licence after it met the minimum criteria.

A review of the initial failed Licence for the fourth mobile operator in Zambia shows that on September 4th, 2018, ZICTA, under the guidance of the Ministry of Transport and Communications issued a network licence under the international market segment and a service licence under the national market segment with associated resources to UZI Zambia.

After awarding of several extensions, UZI Zambia failed to commence operations by March 3, 2019 which was the final deadline issued by the authority and this was notwithstanding  two earlier deadline extensions, the first being November 30, 2019 and the second May 30, 2020.

UZI Zambia’s licence was then cancelled and the challenges affecting the sector have continued such as reduced levels of competition, ZICTA re-embarked on seeking to licence a fourth mobile operator, which led to the issuance of a licence to Beeline Telecom Limited.

 

 

 

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Zambia’s  chances of getting a fourth mobile

Mining

The new Minister of mines has with immediate effect halted all mining activities by mostly undertaken by local small scale miners famously called Jerabo’s. The local mining activities halted are at the copper slug dump famously known as the ‘Black Mountain’ in Zambia’s second largest city of Kitwe.

Minister of Mines and Minerals Paul Kabuswe said as Government moves to bring sanity and clarity in the manner the copper slug dumpsites are operated, there should not be any mining activities happening at the sites especially the Black Mountain for now.

Speaking during media interaction which the Zambian Business Times – ZBT attended, Kabuswe said the government’s intention was to bring sanity and roll it out proper procedures to ensure that not only a few Zambians are benefiting, but to also ensure that the dumps are for everyone’s benefit.

He said this move was not to remove the youths operating on the black mountain but that Government will create a legal framework in which the youths and other small scale miners operate to encourage them to participate in small scale mining.

“For now, we need to bring sanity and order to the dumpsites, issues of the black mountain and all those things. There has to be sanity. We need to promote local and small scale mining and the black mountain falls in that category, so for now we need to sit down and bring sanity.

“There shouldn’t be any activities for now at the black mountain until we bring sanity and roll it out properly so that it benefits not only a few and I want to say this, can we please stop being selfish because there is wealth for everyone in this country,” Kabuswe said.

He said, “The new Government is talking about youths being involved in small scale mining, we are not going to remove the youths from the dumpsites but we are going to create a legal framework in which they operate so that we encourage them to participate in small scale mining.

Kabuswe noted that small scale mining is not just dumpsites but there are a number of other explored areas where the youths can participate.

He said, “The impediment mostly for Zambians was financing but if the mining value chain could be used through the big mines, suppliers on the on the Copperbelt, the value chain is worth about US$5 billion [annually], so if we get about 20% of that, that is a lot for the entire Copperbelt.

“That is a lot of capital that can be used by our youths to partner and run mines, so these are issues that we must run with as a country. We must think outside the box and begin to own this country, we must have Zambian billionaires in dollars and the mining sector can produce such, Kabuswe said.

The new mines minister further said that “for now, can we wait until we bring sanity and clarity on how these areas are going to operate. Kabuswe said government wants a proper legal framework to guide how the black mountain is operated on and how Zambians will benefit from that.

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The new Minister of mines has with

Agribusiness

Just when some price reduction benefits are starting to trickle down with some retailers reducing their prices of imported products following the Kwacha appreciation, one key household commodity, cooking oil price hike is just about to hit home.

The Crushers and Edible Oil Refiners Association (CEDORA) has revealed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that cooking oil prices may soon go up due to the significant increase in global shipping costs and various other challenges being encountered with shipping and the global supply chain.

Association Director Aubrey Chibumba told ZBT that according to international reports which have been reviewed, shipping a container from Asia to Europe which used to cost around US$ 5,000 is now costing around US$ 15,000 , which is a big change.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZBT, Chibumba said the association members import crude palm oil which is then distilled into various brands of cooking oil through shipping into places or ports like Dar es Salem – Tanzania and Durban – South Africa, therefore the increase in shipping costs might start pushing cooking oil prices up.

“I’m not so sure how much our prices have gone up by, that is shipping from Asia into Africa, I haven’t seen those [actual] numbers yet, but there is definitely some increases in shipping prices. This is so because if they have increased Shipping costs for Europe, they will definitely increase for us [Africa] too”, he said.

He said one of the major reasons why cooking oil prices had gone up in the past months was because of the Kwacha devaluation, therefore the appreciation of the kwacha has contributed to the recent reduction in prices, which may not last if high shipping costs persist.

He however said it was difficult to say whether prices would continue to go down due to various factors that play a part in terms of pricing for the commodity, which does not only include the exchange rate, but also supply chain as well as global supply and demand dynamics.

Chibumba noted that there is a severe shortage of containers used in shipping due to the COVID-19 pandemic as many containers are in wrong places. The places that need containers to ship out don’t have them, so that has affected the supply chain and it is unknown when things will go back to normal.

“Even the UK is expecting that they are going to have empty shelves this Christmas, that’s how bad it is”, Chibumba told ZBT. He further stated that the price of soya beans and oil seeds have remained elevated than what people would normally have expected in other parts of the world, which means it is possible that crude palm oil prices may start going up.

He said the association would engage the new government, find out what it wants to achieve with hopes that the association’s approach for the industry is in alignment with what government wants in order to be able to receive the necessary policy support so that the association can achieve its industry objectives.

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Just when some price reduction benefits are

Mining

The National Union for Mine and Allied Workers (NUMAW) says Government and the new mines Minister Paul Kabuswe should consider resolving the issues relating to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mines Plc as a matter of priority.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, NUMAW president James Chansa said Government needed to sit down and look at the way forward for both companies to the benefit of the country.

Chansa said, “Our expectation in the first place is that the Minister of Mines and Minerals must work closely with the technocrats and other key stakeholders to address the various challenges that are in the mining industry.

“When you look at the mining industry in Zambia, we have the issue to do with Mopani Copper Mine and KCM. We know what has happened at the both companies. We have to sit down and look at what the way forward is, where we are now and what are we aiming at and then move in that direction,” he said.

Chansa said the trade union is very ready to work with the Government of the day because they cannot afford to them aside. He said Government must also work on creating a predictable and stable tax regime to create investor confidence.

Chansa noted that the mining tax regime has been inconsistent over the past few years, which somehow eroded investor confidence. “The other thing is that the tax regime policy in Zambia has not been consistent. We want a predictable tax regime that in the long run will also create investor confidence.

“If we can start with this, this will be the foundation on which investments in the mining industry will be laid,” he said.

Chansa also urged the new Minister to find ways of encouraging mining companies in North- Western Province to continue making investments and creating more jobs for the Zambian people.

“We must also look at the mines in North Western Province, they are heavily investing, they must be encouraged to continue and possibly encourage them to recruit or create employment because at the end of the day Zambians must benefit through job creation,” he added.

 

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The National Union for Mine and Allied

Markets

The Zambian Government has accrued cumulative debt service arrears of about US$1.5 billion following the debt service standstill put in place for all its non-multilateral creditors not participating in the Debt service suspension initiative (DSSI).

The ministry of finance however spent a reduced total of US$88.09 million as debt service payments comprising of principal pay down of US$ 65.17 million and interest payments of US$22.92 million respectively in the first half (H1) of 2021.

According to information made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the significant reduction in external debt service payments in comparison to US$410.62 million recorded in 2020 for the same period was due to the debt service standstill that the Government put in place for all its non-multilateral creditors not participating in the Debt service suspension initiative (DSSI).

This was aimed at allowing Government time to review its debt portfolio in view of the scheduled restructuring discussions with the creditors.

And Former Secretary to Treasury Fredson Yamba said arising from the debt service standstill, Zambia’s cumulative external public debt arrears amounted to US $1,475.89 million as at end June 2021, of which US $ 1,005.5 million were principal arrears (included in the debt stock), US$470, 347.2 million were interest arrears and US$6. 84 million were other debt charges.

“A total of US $624.51 million was accrued as arrears between January and June 2020, of which US $379.3 million were principal arrears and US $240.4 million were interest arrears.

“Debt service further reduced as a result of the debt service suspension granted to Zambia by members of the G20/Paris Club and other private creditors from January to June 2021, under the DSSI extension,” he said.

Yamba said Government’s external debt stock as at end June 2021 increased by 1.3% to US $12,909.85 million from US $12,738.30 million as at end December 2020. He said the increase was on account of continued disbursements on existing project loans largely from multilateral institutions and supplier creditors to finance on-going priority infrastructure projects.

Yamba explained that the proportion of Commercial debt to total public external debt was 46% in the first half of 2021 accounting for the largest proportion, with the Eurobonds accounting for 51% of commercial debt.

He said bilateral debt accounted for 30%, while multilateral debt (including plurilateral) accounted for 24%.

“In the first half of 2021, Government contracted one new concessional loan amounting to US$105 million as additional financing for the Girls Education and Women’s Empowerment and Livelihood Project (GEWEL).

“The funds were earmarked for support to girl’s education and women empowerment,” Yamba disclosed.

He said the stock of domestic debt contracted through issuance of Government Securities, grew by 38.42% to K180.24 billion as at end-June 2021 from K130.21 billion as at end December 2020. Yamba said the increase was necessitated by the need to finance the budget.

He said in terms of borrowing by instruments, Government bonds accounted for 80.42% while Treasury Bills accounted for 19.58%.

“The stock of Government Bonds stood at K144.94 billion compared to K97.21 billion at end December 2020, while the stock of Treasury Bills also increased to K35.30 billion from K33.01 billion as at end December 2020. This represents a percentage increase of 59.02 % and 6.93%, respectively,” Yamba added.

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The Zambian Government has accrued cumulative debt

Markets

Association of Microfinance Institutions of Zambia (AMIZ) has urged the President Hakainde Hichilema and his government to look at ways and initiatives of supporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in accessing credit from both banks and non-bank financial institutions to unlock the huge potential of the sector.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, AMIZ  President Webster Mate noted that Zambia’s private sector credit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the World Bank data, private sector credit to GDP for Zambia stood at 15.6% in 2019. Mate said this situation affects the creation of jobs in the country considering the fact that MSMEs employee the majority of Zambians.

He said in this regard, the association would like to see more being done in area of supporting initiatives that can facilitate access to credit for MSMEs and individuals in the informal sector.

“In medium to long term, this economy needs revamping, its good that the new President is already talking about more investments in the mining sector, investment in agriculture, and hopefully we begin to see more in the SME sector because as you might know, private sector credit to GDP in Zambia is amongst the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa.

“So if credit is not going in the productive sector particularly the MSMEs, then how do you create jobs. From a micro finance perspective, we would like to see more being done in the area of supporting initiatives that can facilitate access to credit for the small local businesses,” Mate said.

He said the government should work on stabilizing the economy, which, has been depressed for a sometime. Mate said the depression in the economy has led to the high cost of borrowing in turn resulting in suppressed lending to MSMEs.

He said, “In that regard, we would love to see more being done in the area of high cost of business operations. As you may know Zambia is the high cost economy and our interest rates are what they are because those that provide finances are bearing a lot of risks and at the same time their own costs of operation are quite high that it then reflects on the interest rates.

“I think time has come for us to begin to see what is causing this, so that we try and unbundle it so that it can come to a level where our costs become reasonable. Because if someone is going to borrow at 60-80% in an environment where the economy is not even growing, it becomes difficulty to see how he or she will be able to service that kind of debt.

That is why you see that there is more consumer lending than lending to productive activities because consumer lending is premised on the lender having preferential access to individuals or to the borrower’s salary,” Mate said.

He said the association believed that for this situation to turn around, there was need for macro economic stability in the country. Mate lamented that even if private sector credit to GDP is still low, micro finance institutions do not inject capital in their operations in order for them to increase lending and develop their capacities to lend.

“We think micro finance institutions in this country need to begin doing that but to do that, they also need some assistance and this is where Government in partnership with its cooperating partners can come to the aid of micro finance institutions to provide capacity building.

“You know training is costly and because it is not their core business, it will be good if public finances can help them build that capacity because once they are capacitated they will begin to grow their outreach and be able to reach more people with financial services,” he added.

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Association of Microfinance Institutions of Zambia (AMIZ)

Markets

The Association of Bureaux De Change of Zambia (ABCZ) has called on President Hakainde Hichilema and his newly constituted government to work on reducing the number and cost of licenses needed for a business to run in order to reduce the cost of doing business.

And the Association has disclosed that high licensing fees by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has deterred many bureaus and local businesses from starting and expanding their branch networks in the country, which has slowed down the spread of financial services and inclusion.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ABCZ President Paul Kalumba noted that there were too many licenses in the country for a business, which make businesses inefficient and expensive to run.

He disclosed that bureaus pay more than K79, 000 to the central bank for software license whenever they want to open a new branch a situation that has deterred many bureaus from expanding their branch networks. Imagine how many more branches can open if this fee is scrapped off.

“Bureaus pay more than almost K79, 000 to BoZ for software license whenever they open a new branch. This high license fee has deterred bureaus from expanding their branch networks.

“Actually we are not supposed to pay anything because this system belongs to BoZ, who uses it to monitor the bureau activities in realtime. This system is like the Zambia Revenue Authority’s online system, the public do not pay to use it, same with the NAPSA system or any other system of public interest. ,” Kalumba said.

He stated that currently, bureaus pay the cost of BoZ to monitor bureaus adding that this is a matter of public interest and should therefore, be funded by public funds just like the ZRA or any regulatory online system.

Kalumba explained that this money is supposed to be paid by BoZ as a software charge by their provider  but the Central Bank passes the charge to the bureaus. “Its a software license charge. BoZ is charged by the provider of the system and they pass that charge to bureaus. Ideally, it should be their charge because the system is for BoZ to monitor Bureaus,” he said.

Kalumba said, “We have too many licenses in Zambia for a business, even for a business like ours, (Golden Coin Bureau De Change) that does not sell food, it has to pay fire permits, health permits, we have to pay for trading license, at times we have as many as 15 licenses in a business.

He said there is need for the new government to come up with a policy that will allow a business to only apply one license and be able to operate freely. “We expect that the new government will have a policy where you pay one license and your business is free to do business. Its policies like that make businesses efficient and cheaper,” Kalumba said.

He said looking at the fact that the President is a businessperson himself, it is expected that Zambia will see policies that are pro-business and those that will help the businesses to flourish. Kalumba said for the bureau sector, which largely depends on other sectors, the effects of Covid-19 than policy currently affects it.

Kalumba said that the new government should focus on solving this problem by putting in place measures such as having more people vaccinated and ensuring that borders are open to trade.

“The bureau sector’s primary purpose is to serve the travelling public, cross border traders, and the current environment is impacted more by covid-19 than policy. Therefore, it is solving these other problems like getting more people vaccinated and opening borders for our people going to trade, that answers the success or failure of the bureau sector. Our sector heavily depends on other sectors being operational,” Kalumba said.

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The Association of Bureaux De Change of

Agribusiness

Wonderful Group of Companies has exclusively revealed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that they have reached an advanced stage  in setting up a US$300 million local fertilizer manufacturing plant in Zambia to be called United Capital Fertilizer Zambia Company Limited.

The group intends to build a large fertilizer plant that will cut the importation of fertilizer for Zambia by about 60% and reduce the cost of fertilizer by about 40% due to use of local raw materials and economies of scale.

Company Board Chairman Roy Mwamba told ZBT that said once the plant is operational, the company would be able to supply 80% of the total percentage of urea demand and 60% of the total percentage of D compound required for the country.

Mwamba said all the raw materials, which include coal and phosphate, would be acquired locally in Southern Province and once operational, the plant will create about 1,100 direct jobs.

Mwamba further stated that 60% of the investment funds are being sourced from financial institutions outside Zambia with 40% being sourced locally, adding that US$ 20 million from the US$ 300 million is working capital for the first two years as per draft cash flows.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZBT, Mwamba said the fertilizer manufacturing company would have a production capacity of 135, 000 metric tonnes per annum for fertilizer and 80,000 metric tonnes per annum for ammonia bicarbonate.

He said the company would have a robust and state of the art integrated cross-circuit production process such that there will be no emission of either smoke or gasses adding that the smoke will be converted into a gas by-product, for which the company already has a captive market.

He noted that the gas produced in the production process and other by-products that come out of the production of ammonia bicarbonate can be used in the production of fire extinguishers and baking powder.

He mentioned that the treasury spends about K4 billion on the importation of fertiliser for the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) annually, which is drain on forex, therefore the urgent need for a fertilizer manufacturing plant to be set up in the country in order to substitute for the imports and avoid price escalations.

Mwamba stated that apart from reducing the prices of fertilizer, the manufacturing plant would also enhance agriculture activities, which is what the country currently needs noting that the company would be producing ammonia that would be supplied to Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ), and these raw materials are currently imported.

He further said that currently, every fertilizer manufacturing company in Zambia imports raw materials, mostly from South Africa. The new plant would be producing ammonia as a by-product, therefore there will be no need to continue importing from South Africa, thus boosting the production for local companies such as NCZ.

Zambia has been importing its bulk fertilizer to meet its growing land under cultivation. However, prices of the essential commodity had escalated following the depreciation of the local currency – the Kwacha, contributing to making food prices unaffordable for a good section of citizens.

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Wonderful Group of Companies has exclusively revealed