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Agribusiness

The National Union for Small Scale Farmers in Zambia-NUSFAZ says government’s decision to give inputs directly to farmers under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) will address the exploitation that farmers experience.

Minister of Agriculture Reuben Mtolo announced that government would not give inputs to Cooperative Chairpersons on behalf of the farmers in the 2022/2023 farming season because the Chairpersons end up selling the inputs therefore all registered farmers will receive inputs on their own.

Union Executive Director Ebony Loloji explained that some FISP beneficiaries make the right amount of contribution towards the programme in order to access the required inputs but walk away with fewer inputs due to manipulation from Cooperative Chairpersons.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Loloji said another problem observed is people have been forming cooperatives for the sole purpose of benefitting from inputs, which is wrong because cooperatives are supposed to be formed with a different agenda other than that of benefiting from FISP.

“Earlier, even the Food Reserve Agency was using the cooperatives as their agents but the problem that has been observed is abuse amongst the leaders of cooperatives. For example, a cooperative has 10 beneficiaries, the Chairperson of that particular cooperative would say for you to benefit through my cooperative you are going to forego one bag of fertilizer, so the Chairperson will have his allocation plus 10 bags from all the 10 members of the cooperative”, he said.

Loloji noted that this would ensure that farmers get the correct amount of inputs that they are supposed to get as opposed to Cooperative leaders abusing the programme adding that the model of using Cooperatives has been around for some time in as far as implementing the Farmer Input Support Programme is concerned but the change is welcome.

“As long as they have collected the data from the farmers, the farmers will simply go to the District Agriculture Coordinator (DACO)’s office, process their papers and go and get the inputs from the warehouse which is simple”, he said.

 

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The National Union for Small Scale Farmers

Agribusiness

One of the commercial tomato farmers accused of oversupplying the market by local emerging farmers has refuted the allegation, stating that the drop in the price of tomatoes on the market is due to the increase in the number of people who ventured into tomato production this season.

The Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) had earlier asked some few [commercial] farmers who were dumping fresh commodities such as tomatoes on the market to stop oversupplying the market on a daily basis as this was causing a significant drop in tomato prices and killing local emerging farmers.

One of the commercial farmers accused of dumping Tomatoes – Jacob Rafik, explained that he planted nine hectares of tomatoes this season and usually supplies five trucks of tomatoes every week with one truck carrying between 300 and 400 boxes of tomatoes adding that in some instances, he supplies 10 trucks of tomatoes to Soweto market in a week.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Rafik said the plan is to limit the supply to not more than two trucks a day in order to preserve a good price and not spoil the market adding that, there is demand for tomatoes in Zimbabwe but the prices are too low.

“Word has gone round to say there is money in tomatoes, this season everyone wanted to make money so that’s why there is this downward trend. But now there is no control at Soweto market, there is no regulation to say a farmer can only bring a certain number of trucks, it’s up to the farmer”, he said.

Rafik noted that some farmers used to sell their produce in other places like Chongwe but because of the high fuel costs, every farmer is now selling their tomatoes at Soweto market and is hesitant to go to other areas because of the cost of transport.

He mentioned that as of today, the highest price a box of tomatoes is fetching at Soweto market is K100 and that is for tomatoes of good quality noting that the current situation is normal but prices will soon start going up.

The farmer added that prices are expected to increase significantly within a month or two because the rain fed tomatoes would have finished with most of it going to waste due to the high supply, which has outstripped demand.

Rafik mentioned that he does not usually sell his tomatoes at Soweto market but Kasumbalesa; however, the customers at Kasumbalesa are asking how much he is selling the tomatoes at Soweto market in order to determine how much they will pay for the tomatoes.

“If the Soweto price is lower, those guys will insist on a low price so what makes us send to Soweto is because we are confident of our quality, today it has fetched K100 so I have told the customers to say the transactions we do on Monday will be for K100”, he said.

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One of the commercial tomato farmers accused

Companies

Despite the initial public uproar on Honey Bee Pharmacy Supplying expired drugs and condoms, and expectations that the company and its directors would be indicted on these charges, the Anti-Corruption Commission has instead arrested its directed on a charge of uttering of false documents relating to the tender.
When asked to confirm why the directors have not been charged with a more serious offense and initial allegations of supplying expired drugs and condoms which the public has been expecting, ACC says investigations on the other aspects involving Honey Bee Pharmacy have continued even as the arrest of  three of its Directors is only one part of the many aspects of the case.
The Commission has arrested three Directors of Honey Bee Pharmacy Limited for uttering of false documents. ACC arrested Abdurrauf Abdurahim Motala, 41 of house number 107 Umodzi Highway in Chipata, Zakir H. Motala, 42, of ABM Apartments in Lusaka and Imran Runat, 40, house number 429 Obote Road in Lusaka.
They have been arrested on one count of uttering of a false document contrary to section 352 and 347 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia. ACC has not confirmed if the charges relating to supplying of expired drugs will be added on the way but promised that investigations are underway.
The arrest comes in the wake of a contract awarded in August 2019 by the Ministry of Health to Honey Bee Pharmacy, for the supply of 22,500 health kits to health centers countrywide at a contract sum of $17 million.
Investigations have established that the three directors of HoneyBee Pharmacy Limited, uttered false documents to the Ministry of Health as part of the tender documents for the supply and delivery of health kits. The documents included, undated recommendation letters from South Africa, Malawi and an Audit Financial Statement purportedly prepared by an auditor but which was not the case.
ACC has since been challenged to fully investigate and lay charges relating to supply of expired drugs for Justice to prevail. Some staff at ZAMRA and Ministry of Health have lost jobs and careers on this case, it’s therefore only right that if the drugs supplied are not expired, then those officers who have lost jobs have their cases heard for consideration of being re-instated.
Theres is also need to confirm if the drugs, health kits and condoms supplied are verified for expired or being substandard, so that the truth comes out. It’s important that we build public service on principles of integrity for posterity purposes. See earlier article on Most drugs supplied to Zambia not certified
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Despite the initial public uproar on Honey

Mining

Expansion of Zambia’s total annual copper production remains a challenge as the re-opening date of Mufumbwe’s Kalengwa mine which is believed to have the highest copper ore grades in Zambia remains undecided.

North-Western Province Permanent Secretary – PS disclosed that he is yet to meet Moxico Resources Zambia (MRZ), a company which has taken over the running of Kalengwa mine in Mufumbwe District as to be able to determine the reopening  date of Kalengwa copper mine.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the North-Western Province PS Grandson Katambi said the new Management should be able to say how far they have gone with preparations for reopening of the mine.

Katambi said the reopening of the Kalengwa Mine will transform the economy of Mufumbwe town as there shall be money circulation as well as good paying jobs within the District. This is expected to spur housing and other community services and infrastructure development.

He said the management should give a briefing on how ready they are and the things they have put in place towards the resuming of operations. Katambi said he will only be in a position to give more details once they have a meeting which was scheduled to take place earlier but has been moved to next week (mid August 2022) due to some circumstances.

“They have to come and brief us on how ready they are, let them indicate when they will open that mine.” He said. Katambi told ZBT that the reopening of the mine will help in solving the challenge of youth unemployment as most of them are expected to be employed from the mine while others may provide support services once the mine starts operating.

Kalengwa mine has been mired in legal complications around ownership but this is were government true efforts can be directed to come up with a win win solution that will allow this mine to become operational and contribute to overall national copper and other minerals production.

Government has a huge youth unemployment problem to immediately solve with the opening up of more copper mines remaining one of the most viable ways to create more jobs and juice up the local economies of various districts across the country.

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Expansion of Zambia’s total annual copper production

Mining

Despite copper prices and other minerals mined enjoying excellent international prices and Zambia having over eight (8) large scale copper mines, local authorities mostly known as councils have reported having serious challenges collecting land rates and other levies from mining companies.

Most council officials and contacts spoken to by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT have indicated that compliance levels from mining companies are too low, and when the councils push for collections, there is heavy political interference from senior government officials and politicians which make it impossible to collect the dues.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZBT,  Mwinilunga Town Council Chairperson Jonathan Chinyemba confirmed that for instance, a gold mine in his district has not been paying the rates since the time it was opened.

The Council chairperson said local authority which is constitutionally mandated to raise revenue from which ever mine that might exist within its jurisdiction has not been getting anything from the mine. He said from the time the gold mine started up to the time it was closed the local authority did not get any tangible benefit from the gold mine and that was the more reason that led to the closure.

He explained that the local authority in mining towns and cities are entitled by law to get revenue which can be turned into service delivery to the residents of that town or city which has not been the case in Mwinilunga and many other mining districts.

Most districts in Zambia’s Copperbelt and North Western Province have large scale mines but a check on the local authorities state of finances and operations shows that there is little to no compliance by these large mining companies in paying local levies. In functional economies, projects such as community roads are undertaken by the council from levies collected.

When one looks at council offices and finances in areas such as Masaiti and Lufwanyama districts of the Copperbelt which are rich in limestone and emerald and house large cement and emerald companies, one can tell the low levels of compliance to payment of council levies and land rates.

As a result of this, it has become very difficult for the councils to collect even straight forward levies such as market levies or trading license levies from locals as the big companies that post big revenue and profits numbers are themselves not compliant.

With the exception of Solwezi and Kalumbila district councils which have seen some decent office buildings being put up, most councils across the country are a sorry site and have been incapacitated by political interference that is preventing them from collecting levies.

The Zambia Revenue Authority – ZRA recently announced that they are setting up a unit for small scale and artisanal miners tax collection unit, but analysts say this may not be successful as long as the tax collection levels from large scale mines remain either low or shrouded in secrecy under the guise of tax payer confidentiality.

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Despite copper prices and other minerals mined

Mining

The target of hitting three million tons of copper production per year by 2010/2011 announce by Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane may be easier said than done as more mining, exploration and engineering experts express doubt on its feasibility.

The Association of Zambian Mineral Exploration Companies – AZMEC has also disclosed that the 3 million tons copper production target per annum for Zambia by 2030 is unachievable. This is after Zambia’s renowned Engineer Professor Clive Chirwa also indicated that the target is not achievable.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, AZMEC President Evans Kanche said the target is a very ambitious but looking at the current happenings in the mining sector it is not possible to reach a production target of 3 million tons of copper per annum in nine years time.

He explained that the current existing mines only have the capacity to produce around 800,000 tons of copper per year, meaning there is need to do more than 3 times that much in the next eight years.
“It is a very ambitious target, unless something drastic happens, otherwise it is not attainable.

But if we had another two (2) or three (3) mines of the size of Kalumbila or Kansanshi coming on stream and then every mine doubling there current productions, then the target would be achieved.” He said. Unless something drastic happens.

The AZMEC President explained that “unless the existing mines are ready to start giving and start delivering, I don’t think they are, so in my view, it is not attainable unless a lot changes in terms of productions which cannot happen overnight.

Kanche told ZBT that Copper and mining in general is a long term business and usually you project 5 to 10 years to plan and look at what plans the mines have at the moment.”

Kanche said there is more that need to be done if the target is to be achieved in the next 8 years from now. He also said in the exploration sector, one of the biggest things that need to happen is the regional data search, as the country needs to be shown at the much higher resolution to attract investors in the exploration space to come and test whatever new information has been generated.

ZBT has been attempting to get a breakdown per annum and which projected mined would produce what quantities to review the feasibility of the 3 million target, but so far no details have been made public.

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The target of hitting three million tons

Tech

The Copperbelt University Student Union – COBUSU has called for the urgent completion of stalled hostels construction, further disclosing that only about K9 million (about $530k) is need for the completion of the stalled hostels at one of the Zambia’s biggest higher institution.

Construction experts indicate that the more time is taken to complete abandoned structures, more value is being lost and that the amounts that will be needed to complete these infrastructure projects may further escalate especially after more rainy seasons of being idol.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, COBUSU President Nancy Taonga Ngwira said the Union would like to have a representative on the negotiating team if the hostels are to be completed via Public Private Partnership – PPP.

“We are lobbying for a student council representative to represent the student populous interests when making decision if it will be done under the PPP arrangement”, Ngwira told ZBT. She said the PPP which was signed for completing the hostels cannot be implemented without the University council representative who makes overall decisions for the student populous.

Ngwira said there is currently no University council representative to make that overall decision of the PPP arrangement in order to finish the government structures. The COBUSU first female President has since challenged the Ministry of Education to appoint a student council representative so that the overall decisions can be made for the constructions to resume as soon as possible.

She explained to ZBT that the money is supposed to be raised through partnership with interested companies who will be able to get back their money in the long run when students start paying for accommodation. Others say the PPP model of financing the completion will make the hostels unaffordable to majority of the students, but until the details are agreed, that’s when we can confirm.

Ngwira stated that it is the role of the student union to push the relevant authorities to ensure that the hostels are finished and for a start, the ministry of education should appoint the student representative as soon as possible if the PPP route is to be implemented.

A check by ZBT with the ministry of infrastructure shows that even the much talked about PPP for the construction of the Lusaka to Ndola dual carriage way road has had the dates for commencement moved from as early as first quarter to now approaching the fourth quarter of 2022, with no specific dates set.

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The Copperbelt University Student Union - COBUSU

Lifestyle

Zambia Police Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga has disclosed that the upcoming model who accused a Trade Kings staff for soliciting sex in exchange for a K50,000 contract has been detained.

Hamoonga said Daniella Chimenga has been detained because she is not being cooperative in the on going investigation regarding the screenshots she posted on her Facebook account which allege that a Trade Kings staff solicited sex in exchange for a deal.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times -ZBT, Hamoonga explained that the upcoming model is failing to disclose the identity of the person that solicited sex in exchange for a deal adding that if she does not identify the person she is accusing she is likely to become the accused.

“Unfortunately she seems not to be cooperative meaning that she may end up being a suspect herself because if you post something on social media and it is bordering on tarnishing someone’s image and we question you to find out who the person that might have done that is and you are not cooperating, it’s either the allegations have been bordering on lies or otherwise”, he said.

“When you say that somebody wanted to have sex with me and then we ask you who is this person and then you say I don’t know so it means now you become the accused because you are tarnishing the image of that person you are accusing”, Hamoonga added.

He stressed that Chimenga needs to have proof of her claims or she becomes the suspect herself.

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Zambia Police Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga has disclosed

Lifestyle

Upcoming Lusaka based model has revealed that a Trade Kings Media team staff member requested for sex from her in exchange of a media deal, a contract which she rejected and ended up not being engaged.

Daniella Chimenga disclosed that she had been chasing the deal since last year November 2021 when Trade Kings management saw her art work that was first published by vlogger Simon Mwewa’s lane social media page where the art work was posted, which eventually attracted the interest of Trade Kings.

The model stated that Trade Kings Management liked the advert before referring her to the Media Director – James Songwe, who requested her to redo the shot to correct certain errors adding that the pictures were meant to be used for a Vatra campaign advert and as such, they were not to be shared before work is executed.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the model revealed that she had shared the requested photos with the Trade Kings media director as instructed, who later did not share the pictures with his team resulting into the team selecting different pictures to use for the Vatra (Bottled Water Brand name under Trade Kings) Campaign Advert.

“Mr. James stopped picking my phone calls, so I was unable to set up an appointment with him, he only called me back after learning that I had visited his office unannounced and his team disclosed to me that he never shared my work with them, so that it can be evaluated in readiness for the K50,000 contract”, she said.

She further stated that on the phone call the Media Director [James Songwe] blasted her and stated that he should not be bothered adding that he has never slept with her nor has she ever seen his genitals or broke your virginity.

Daniella said that “it was  after Mr. Songwe blasted her that another member of his team known as Michael contacted her through WhatsApp and promised her to have her art work selected by Trade kings for the Vatra Campaign but only in exchange of Sex stating that there is nothing for free”.

When ZBT reached out to James Songwe, he stated that the matter has since been reported to the police and that investigations are currently underway to find out who exactly what behind the solicitation for sex in exchange for the K50,000 media contract from the model.

The allegations against the trade kings staff by an upcoming model may become damaging if proved to be right. Trade kings is big on advertising and has various brands and advertising deals that risk being damaged. Police high command has also been urged to do independent investigations and ensure that the truth comes out.

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Upcoming Lusaka based model has revealed that

Lifestyle

The Bars and Night Clubs Owners Association of Zambia says there is need to curb the illegal sale of alcohol, as it is the cause of alcohol abuse in the country, which has grave consequences.

Association President Peter Mwale said the association is aware of the alcohol abuse going on in the country, which is largely due to illicit beer practices therefore the relevant authorities should deal with the matter.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Mwale said there is need to enforce, regulate and monitor the sale of alcohol in order to uproot the people who are selling illicit alcohol.

He noted that alcohol abuse is a problem that has been there time immemorial and the country has adequate laws to deal with the issue therefore the relevant authorities should step up their efforts to deal with the matter adding that the problem is with law enforcement agencies who are not doing their job.

Mwale added that alcohol abuse is largely due to illicit beer brews like kachasu therefore the authority should turn up and deal with this problem, which can be sorted within a month because the law is clear on the issue.

“We know where the problem is, I don’t understand why we go round in circles, we know where this problem is coming from and it’s coming from tujilijili. If you go in town people are selling beer in makeshift places, why are we ignoring where the problem is coming from?” he said.

He stressed that the association represents legitimate bar and nightclub owners who have a valid liquor license and anyone without a valid liquor license is operating illegally adding that it is those illegal businesses that government should deal with.

“Go round in town, you will see that most people in there are drunk, street kids are drinking and they drink tujilijili. The street kids drink kachasu, they don’t drink mosi and they smoke, you can’t blame those on bars and nightclubs”, he said.

Mwale noted that the association complies with the Liquor Licensing Act in the manner which it sales its alcoholic beverages adding that the association does not allow underage drinking and regulates operating hours.

 

 

 

 

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The Bars and Night Clubs Owners Association