By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Farm-gate Scandal
Buying Zambeef Chiawa Farm, an Investment or Bail-out?
…the $13.5million scandal…
It appears the declaration of the national disaster and the respurces raised to combat it, is being used to loot the Treasury and impose extremely liberal policies as seen in the energy sector, decisions that would,under normal circumstances, require broad consultation and consensus.
Government has bought, without tender, budget or competitive process, the 8,000 hectares ZAMBEEF Chiawa Estate for $13.5 million.
Here are some troubling facts;
● Government has millions of hectares of fertile land most of it lying fallow.
● Government has set aside one million hectares of land across the country for farm block development but the development of infrastructure in farming blocks such as dams, bridges, roads and electricity, has been hampered because of lack of resources. But Government has chosen to buy a commercial farm at great cost.
● ZAMBEEF is currently troubled. British International Investment Plc ( formerly colonial Development Corporation and later Commonwealth Development Corporation), the UK development finance arm, invested $65million in Zambeef Products PLC securities in 2016 when the market value of the company was $59million. But now the company has a market capitalisation of £28million when the invested securities are due for maturity. BII has hired Lazard Inc. to help restructure and reschedule the debt.
● Government is using Zambia National Service and Zambia Correctional Service to buy the Zambeef Chiawa farm. There are orobably bigger and far better developed farms that are on sale that were not given similar opportunities bu Government.
● Among the investors of Zambeef is AfLife Financial Services. AfLife has investors that include President Hichilema’s long-time business partners; Mr. Muna Hantuba and Mr. Valentine Chitalu.
● We raised similar concerns when AfLife Financial Services were awarded to be fund Managers of the $40million Environmental Protection and Management Fund that has previously been housed at Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development.
● Similar decisions are troubling where multinationals are feasting on government resources. A mining firm, First Quantum Minerals (FQM), has been given a maize haulage contract to transport maize from Tanzania.
● Newgrowco Zambia Limited, a South African company registered in Zambia, has been given a $22million maize importation contract by the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) without public competition, when government has already signed a government-to-government contract with the Union Republic of Tanzania to purchase 650,000 metric tonnes of maize worth US$225million.
Clearly the corruption under President Hichilema has quickly escalated to a deliberate and calculated utter plunder of national resources without restraint.
so are thieves here now that clear hh is a great lair
He is a conman, what do you expect?
We were warned about him, now we are paying the price of not listening.
Vote wisely in 2026.
HH and his friends are tealing in million dollars. Do you even think there’s any need for salary?. It’s a reason why he’s paying a deaf ear to calls of him declaring his assets.
Continue exposing the thieves we have in Zambia Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba…
The 3 musketeers have never done any clean business in their life. They looted during privatisation and they have now come back to steal Zambia..to run the Treasury dry. They sniffled out the $40million from the Ministry of Mines and empty Head Kabuswe doesn’t have any control on the so called Environmental consultancy these thieves are supposed to be doing. And now the they are siphoning out $ 13.5 Million Dollars on this so called sale of 8,000 Hectares. This thieves know they will get this 8,000 Hectares elsewhere tomorrow. If they can give 10,000 Hectares to Rwanda’, what is difficult about giving themselves huge chunks of land in the north east.
The 3 musketeers are hard core criminals…bold thieves with insatiable pockets..and we aren’t seen nothing yet. Zambia will be in their pockets.
Ati ambassador Mwamba.
Caught in ” fragrante delicto” yet again !!!
Where is his embassy naimwe?
Zambeef is a diversified food-producing and marketing company that is vital to the Zambian economy. It probably employs agricultural science graduates in numbers that are second only to the government and its various agencies. It’s also one of our leading exporters. Zambeef is right now probably too large to fail because so many jobs depend on it, including the viability of some small towns. The company has been very productive but there have been a few management mistakes along the way such as the ill-informed purchase of the palm oil farm from Diego Cassili in Mpika and the merger with Amanita Zambiana, one of which it has since divested from by dumping it on IDC. Zambeef has hard currency loans and a largely kwacha revenue base. The volatility of the kwacha has wrecked havoc on the company’s balance sheet over the years. Financial turbulence affects just about every business but it should not mean curtains.
Emanuel Mwamba will oppose everything the UPND government does because his greatest desire is to see the government fail.given a choice I too would buy a farm that has the infrastructure the tools the cleared fields plus electricity already there. Can you imagine how much would be spend on virgin land ?
I think we should all bother to visit this farm that is worth 13.5 million US dollars. Is it really worth that much? What was its total sales last financial year and the past three years? What is it projected to turn over next financial year? What is its net asset value? How many people does it employ? All these questions and more are vital if anyone has to make an informed commentary. Emmanuel Mwamba doesn’t even bother to consider any of these questions. He concentrates on being Edgar Lungu’s political attack dog.
Ba Gunner Abassador of lies Mwamba should not forget the Wonderful fimo fimo company that IDC bought and the state of the balance sheet of that entity.
As we are critical of this transaction. What we see are snippets that prejudice the narrative.
I think it would only be right for Zambeef to give us the numbers that would explain the transaction.
Mmembe is already wailing about facing the courts after suggesting stories that the law is only seeking the truth. Manje aba bayamba anso futi.
Anyway give us popcorn…we shall follow the matters as they unvail. Kikikiki
The author has no understanding of Chiawa Farms as his write up is lope-sided. The most important thing is the farm will remain in the Zambian hands. This is not a greenfield project like Zampalm but fully automated farm with two main water intakes from Kafue and Zambezi congruenting right in the farm. All the 34 fields have center pivots and balancing dams with functional workshop, office blocks, modern staff housing and lodge plus airstrip. There are too an animal park within the farm, fish farming project and above all the farm is fenced to deter encroachment. Based on the above, the payback period for a 13M initial outlay is favouring short-medium term as the current assets valuation are far more than the disposal amount. What can the buyer do is to prioritise on opening up new fields, continue maintaining the PPE, employ qualified staff, expand the fish farming as the environment is conducive. Further all this investment must be under the company vehicle to cut out bureaucracy and hectic reporting lines and who knows open up retailing shops for selling own brands. Lastly as it is only 105km from Crossroads Leopard Hill, lobby to finish off the road for easier transportation.
Good and sober questions from Gunner in Zambia…And the government should give us the information on the many questions surrounding this transaction…A praise Thug like Gunner in Zambia shows a bit of appreciation of a few concepts here and there , and some analytical skills. He is not in the class of the useless tribal zealots and Hard core Praise Thugs who support shit..no matter what.
Indeed, what is the value of this farm? Who did the valuation?
Is it just barren land with trees and mouses having fun?
And I know the modus Operandi of the 3 musketeers. They are going to give themselves huge chunks of elsewhere free of charge. If these thieves can think of giving 2 million Hectares to a fake vietnamese…10,000 Hectares to Rwanda, what can stop them from getting rid of 8,000 Hectares for a free 13.5 Million and get a Million Hectares free of charge tomorrow? We have eyes but we can’t see.
Don’t you call me that. I do not lower myself down to insulting other commentators. It’s beneath my dignity.
Doesn’t understand the term agriculture mwamba therefore don’t expect to say anything good.
Why don’t you wait to hear from the horse’s mouth? I believe the government will respond at an appropriate time. Mwamba and his friends are on rampage to propel propaganda aiming at scandalizing the ND government. So there is no credible information than one can get from him. The farm is a high tech mechanized farm and we want Mwamba to tell us how much he would spend to develop it up to its current standard. The government is in a hurry to stabilize mealie meal prices and therefore wants to have stake in maize production, don’t you see any sense in that? Don’t just yap for the sake of yapping, it’s even better for the government to buy something tangible than embezzling the money or supplying air as it used to be in the past.
Tell us on gulf stream $400m, Lusaka/Ndola dual carriage way $1.2BN now $650 m. You kept quiet because you were busy chewing coins Mukula money with ECL.
Atleast , let them steal we don’t care mwe. 13m on a farm that we can all see and touch is way better than 400m on just one aeroplane carrying only one person and everything that onen is carried, the cost of carrying that person is 1m. What a shame to even open your mouth full of vinkubala.
@Kubweka, indeed buying an already set up farm makes absolute sense. The issue here is that we are talking about govt buying that farm.
Government should consider wider benefits of them opening up other farming areas so that even nearby farmers can benefit.
This would in turn create more employment and tax revenue for govt.
This is the logic