Not all PF members went out smiling after the loss of political power at the hands of UPND during the August 12 General Election.
A quick survey in many, if not all the districts of Zambia, the once fearful CADRES have fallen on hard times. The very first pronouncement by President Hakainde Hichilema was the banning of cadres at bus stops and markets. Everyone recalls that markets and bus stops were the milking cows of PF cadres. These are llaces where the PF thugs collected cash 24/7 and 365 days a year! Suddenly these outlets were plugged off! Cadreism was over. This caught most PF cadres with pants down: they didn’t expect PF to lose elections to UPND as they were sure that their masters would successfully rig the election and determine its outcome like they always did.
These cadres were soaking in the monies they extorted from Zambians: marketeers, bus drivers and illegal allocation of land. They played with cash! They married pretty girls and even grabbed other people’s wives. They even married professionals such as teachers, nurses, doctors, police officers, etc! They bought any type of motor vehicle for themselves and their wives/concubines. They lived extraordinary lives through extortion. They established their own class in society – people were envious of cadres. Many young men despised education and felt being a cadre was the coolest achievement. They identified themselves by different praise-name tags in the turfs in which they operated. Their sole insurance for continuity of this newly found business, was loyalty to the PF leadership hierarchy. These were the ones who made life of the opposition; especially UPND members a living hell. They had more powers than the police; they were above the law and operated like the Mafia! It was so good as it lasted.
Suddenly, NO MORE CADRERISM! This was the first executive order by Bally upon assumption to the office of the Presidency. Just like that! By the stroke of a pen. Markets and bus stops were liberated from the jaws of the cruel cadres. Since they didn’t see it coming; and typical of illiterates, they didn’t invest. Barely a year into the new dawn government, most PF cadres are a sorry sight. All the monies that fell like manna from heaven is not forthcoming. The marriages which were contracted as a result of money that cadres had, are now broken down. Cadres’ wives have fled with their children. The cadres are lonely and unrecognizable – they have dropped all the fancy nameplates. Some have resorted to dangerous crimes of stealing and kid napping. Their masters are also fighting their own corruption battles in courts of laws: their properties are subjects of seizure by the State. Annoyed cadres have become whistle blowers spilling everything that was deemed hidden.
The PF house is rattled and on fire and the comradeship is also questionable. Some outspoken and boastful characters seem to have gone crazy and bonkers. You can hear them hallucinating! This is the reality obtaining in the world of corruption. Few people are even scared to spend a night in their own houses, fearing the combined investigative wings’ visitations. Most have aged beyond recognition and have forgotten the use of Inecto to dye their hair. It’s getting rough out there!
The new dawn government may be faltering in dealing with the PF thieves but the Zambians have given it the cart blanche mandate to squeeze and deal with them severely. For the cadres, it is done: they have to embrace hard work and acquire new skills such as computer technology, agriculture, carpentry, bricklaying etc; and assimilate in the society as responsible citizens. Clearly, it doesn’t pay to be harassing other Zambians as attack dogs for PF leaders. Do you ever sit down and ask yourselves; why don’t PF leaders use their own kids as cadres?
Belgium’s King Philippe recently expressed his deepest regrets for the abuses committed by his country in its former colony, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The King arrived in Kinshasa this week on his first official visit to the country and gave a speech in which he stated that Belgian colonial authority was racist.
The King informed a joint session of parliament in Kinshasa that “I’d want to reaffirm my sincere regret for the past atrocities in front of the Congolese people and those who continue to suffer today.”
He added that “even though many Belgians committed themselves truly to loving Congo and its people passionately, the colonial government itself was built on exploitation.” The regime was marked by paternalism, discrimination, racism, and acts of violence.
In recent years, Belgium has had to face the consequences of its colonial past. The King’s remarks came two years after he made similar remarks on the 60th anniversary of Congo’s independence, when Belgium demolished a statue of King Leopold II, who plundered Congo’s resources from 1865 to 1909, enslaving thousands of its people for his own profit.
Killings, forced labor, and other sorts of brutality were common in the early years of King Leopold II. It is estimated that 10 million Congolese were killed during the first 23 years of his reign, from 1885 to 1960, when he ruled the Congo Free State as a personal fiefdom. Villages that failed to meet their rubber collection expectations were notoriously forced to offer their severed their hands.
After Leopold’s claim to Congo expired, he turned it over to the Belgian state, which ruled the territory until 1960, when the African nation gained independence.
King Philippe arrived on Tuesday for a week-long visit with his wife, Queen Mathilde, and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. His visit has been warmly welcomed by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and numerous politicians.
Large numbers of supporters of the DRC ruling party waved Belgian flags as the monarch spoke to legislators, while a banner hanging from parliament read: “A common history.” Some Kinshasa citizens expressed anticipation that the visit might result in investment. Some have expressed their willingness to forgive the Belgians for what they did to them during colonization.
While some Congolese praised the Belgian king’s comments as courageous, others were upset that no apology was offered. Regrets have been deemed insufficient in the face of Belgium’s awful atrocities. Congolese from opposition political parties have declared that they expect the king to apologize and offer reparations. They say that Belgium owes the Congolese compensation for several minerals and cultural artifacts plundered during the colonial period.
Others have characterized the King’s visit as a distraction that does nothing to promote the DRC or improve the Congolese people’s economic situation. President Tshisekedi, on the other hand, said during a brief press conference with Prime Minister De Croo that he was focused on enhancing collaboration with Belgium in order to attract investment and enhance Congo’s healthcare.
I’M not a fugitive and I will freely report myself to the police for questioning unlike the scenario that has been created that I have been evasive, Chishimba Kambwili has said.
Mr Kambwili said that they had brought the summons and that he was ready to face them on Monday despite not knowing why they called him.
He said it was clear that the UPND was after him from the time they ascended to power but that he was not scared and would face them.
Police have summoned Mr Kambwili to report himself to the police on June 20, 2022 at 09:00 hours for the purpose of inquiries.
According to a call out dated Jane 17, 2022 Dr. Kambwili was supposed to report himself to the Zambia Police headquarters at Crime 1 room 45 on.
The call out was issued and signed by inspector Makukwani and requested the PF aspiring president to report himself to the police on Monday June 20.
“We are going to hear which charge they are going to give me, but you and I know that they have been after me since they won elections as they wanted to slap me with propagating tribalism but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) quashed it,” he said.
He said that the call out came immediately after being appointed as Member of the Central Committee but that he was ready because he had been detained over 12 times.
And Dr. Kambwili’s lawyers Ferd Jere and Company on June 16, 2022 wrote to the Inspector General of police Mr Lemmy Kajoba suggesting that their client instructed them that on June 15, 2022, there was a story that was circulating on social media entitled “Police looking for Kambwili”.
The letter indicated that there was a story which saying the police had difficulties of effecting a police call out issued on June 14, 2021 on their client.
The lawyers said it was further asserted that their client had been evasive to receive the said call out, thus suggested that he was on the run.
The legal team also said it appeared that the said call out was served on the PF party secretariat and on an unknown residence in Luanshya.
“However, if the above assertions of a call out are true, kindly note that we have instructions to receive it on his behalf. We further reaffirm that our client shall abide by the terms of the call out and is ready to appear,” the legal team indicated.- Daily Nation
China has urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to expedite its consideration to assist Zambia with the $ 1.4 billion Economic Recovery Package.
China’s Department of African Affairs Director-General Wu Peng has said that the financial assistance will help Zambia to invest in productive sectors.
Mr. Peng says he is in the country to coordinate China’s response to help Zambia deal with the debt situation.
He says this follows the telephone conversation that President Hakainde Hichilema had with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Mr. Peng says from the foregoing, his country and France Co-Chaired a Creditor’s Committee meeting on Zambia’s debt yesterday.
He said this at State House when he paid a courtesy call on President Hakainde Hichilema.
And President Hichilema has thanked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for his intervention which has placed Zambia’s debt restructuring efforts in high gear.
He said the country’s debt needs to be unlocked because it is strangling the economy.
The President said that his government wholeheartedly thanked the People’s Republic of China for agreeing to co-chair the IMF Common Framework meeting with France.
“Zambia’s debt situation needs to be unlocked so that Zambia’s economy can be opened up. Mr Peng indicated that his country is ready to partner with Zambia for economic growth and improved living standards for our people, “ Mr Hichilema said.
The president said that his government agreed to work closely to further strengthen an all-weather relationship which saw the TAZARA Railway built by our Chinese brothers and sisters, and helped to open up Zambia to the sea port of Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania.
The President said that he is delighted that the phone call he had with President Xi, just over two weeks ago, has already begun to bear fruit.
Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA) Zambia National Coordinator Lutangu Daisy Mwilima has demanded for the full disclosure of the IMF programme to give citizens an opportunity to scrutinise it.
“The details of this deal have been kept under wraps and away from the public eye. If it’s good for us as a country, as the government and the IMF claim, I dont see why it should be such a big secret.”
Ms Mwilima cautioned that the country could not tolerate a situation where anti poor austerity measures were being imposed, with harsh and damaging impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods. The country remains scarred by the IMF ‘structural adjustment programmes’ of the 1990s which massively contributed to the high levels of poverty and inequality that we see in Zambia today.
Ms Mwilima revealed that FIA has expressed concern about how the government has negotiated the IMF programme. FIA demanded government to conduct an in-depth assessment of other options beyond the IMF programme, but so far this demand has been ignored.
The FIA National Coordinator said since the IMF programme was nearly concluded and the 2022 National Budget almost depended on it, the alliance is alarmed by the lack of transparency with regards to the IMF loan.
“Our government says we are pursuing an IMF programme, and economic reforms will have to be taken. But we need to know as citizens what exactly these economic reforms are because we are the ones that will be paying back the loan financially and it is us who will feel the pain of austerity” she stated.
“We need a reversal of the current priorities – so that multinational corporations are no longer given tax breaks and citizens are pushed beyond breaking point with the rising cost of living. The poor cannot afford the austerity the IMF and the government are agreeing to on their behalf,” she said.
“So we are getting on an IMF programme and we want to revive the economy. But what are the details of what will be undertaken? What austerity measures are we taking up as a country? Even when the government says the IMF programme is home grown, what exactly is this economic recovery plan for the UPND government because we do not know what it is as citizens?” she questioned.
The FIA National Coordinator was of the view that in the interest of transparency and accountability to the people of Zambia, there was need for the details of this loan to be scrutinised by the National Assembly which was the house of representatives.
“The MPs need to know what is in the loan, they need to go back and get feedback from the people that voted for them to go into Parliament in terms with regards to whether this is really what we want or not as Zambians, are these the sacrifices that we want to take? Are there any other alternatives? What sacrifices exactly are we making? How long are we expected to sacrifice for, in short at what cost?” she asked.
Ms Mwilima is concerned that IMF has not been opening up when asked about the deal.
“How can the people of this country be expected to ‘own’ something that is not transparent and has not been subject to public debate and scrutiny?” she questioned.
Ms Mwilima emphasised that her organisation demands that Government discloses in full the details of this IMF programme, allow parliamentary oversight and scrutiny and guarantee that there will be no austerity measures.
“Moves such as the removal of subsidies that have already contributed to rising prices must be reversed,” she said.
PRESIDENT KENNETH KAUNDA AN ARCHITECT OF OF OUR SHARED SELF DETERMINATION – HH
President Hakainde Hichilema has described late first President Dr Kenneth David Kaunda, as an icon of global peace and a great champion of national independence. He was speaking at Dr Kaunda’s first Anniversary of his death at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka today.
President Hakainde Hichilema writes below:
Fellow Zambians,
Today we took part in the solemn ceremony of the first memorial service of our Founding President and Father of the Nation, Dr Kenneth Buchizya Kaunda.
Dr Kenneth Kaunda was a great champion of national independence, an icon of global peace and an architect of our shared self determination. He was a visionary, a freedom fighter, a true Statesman and a man of great history.
At this moving occasion attended by hundreds of people and watched by countless others via Television and social platforms worldwide, we spoke of how his vision of the transformative power of Agriculture enhanced the food security of our country. How his proponency and belief in the power of education, yes free education, transformed our nation and the lives of millions of our people.
We urged fellow citizens to take a leaf from Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s belief in honest hard work, his ethos of intergrity and discipline, and his great sense of love and respect for humanity, and passion for his country that surpassed his love for self and his family.
We prodded the Kaunda family and all citizens to be passionate custodians of the Kenneth Kaunda history, a history enriched with his fight towards creating a just and fair society, a society where equity and fairness and the promotion of dignity, non exploitation and equal opportunities for all regardless of colour, tribe, religion and sex, defined who we were as citizens.
President Kaunda’s love for humanity will forever ring out to the uttermost parts of the earth.
May His Soul Rest In Peace.
Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia.
“Julian Assange will kill himself if extradited to the US”- His wife and lawyers warns Julian Assange’s wife, Priti Patel, has warned that if her husband is extradited to the United States, he has threatened to kill himself. Priti Patel signed an order to have Julian Assange moved to Virginia to face espionage charges that could result in a 175-year prison sentence.
Stella Moris said that her husband had told her’recently’ that if he was extradited, he wanted to kill himself, and that a new appeal would include evidence that the CIA attempted to poison him while he was sheltering in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
‘I’m going to use every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free,’ Ms. Moris declared, vowing to appeal the ruling with ‘every available avenue.’
It happened just hours after the Home Secretary signed a judge’s decision to fly Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, where he will be handed over to federal officials and placed on trial.
Ms. Moris, who had two children with Assange and married him in Belmarsh Prison in March, told a press conference in central London today: ‘We are not at the end of the road here. We are going to fight this. We are going to use every available avenue. I’m going to use every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served’.
Ms. Moris added: ‘If he’s extradited to the US, the conditions he will be under will be oppressive. It will drive him to take his own life. That’s not simply a regular discussion about mental health. We are talking about driving a person to take their own life’.
She went on: ‘It is very difficult to describe what it’s like as a family. Our resolve is redoubled for every decision that is taken which is a travesty. I have no words to express what it’s like to see the UK process being used as a way to prolong Julian’s suffering. He’s very strong… we have to fight back. His instinct is to fight back and so is mine. We’re going to fight back harder’.
And asked if she thought their young children would ever be reunited with their father as a free man, she said: ‘We have that image and that hope. That’s what drives us. But we have the conviction that this wrong will be righted and the courts will, eventually, do the right thing.’
Assange, who is currently held in the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, has 14 days to appeal.
His barrister, Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, said she would now ‘exhaust’ every legal avenue possible including going to Strasbourg.
She said: ‘We have 14 days and we will appeal this all the way – if necessary to the European Court of Human Rights.’
Crowdfunders have raised more than £55,000 since the start of the year to help pay his legal bills.
If the appeal is rejected in the coming weeks, Assange will be flown to America, potentially in July.
WikiLeaks today declared it is ‘not the end’ and pledged to go back to court to try to keep him in Britain, claiming today is a ‘dark day for press freedom and British democracy’ and accusing Ms Patel of choosing not to ‘do the right thing’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel made her decision on Friday, which WikiLeaks said was the ‘very last day’ it could be announced.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Under the Extradition Act 2003, the Secretary of State must sign an extradition order if there are no grounds to prohibit the order being made. Extradition requests are only sent to the Home Secretary once a judge decides it can proceed after considering various aspects of the case.
‘On June 17, following consideration by both the Magistrates Court and High Court, the extradition of Mr. Julian Assange to the US was ordered. Mr. Assange retains the normal 14-day right to appeal.
‘In this case, the UK courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr. Assange.
‘Nor have they found that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and to freedom of expression, and that whilst in the US he will be treated appropriately, including in relation to his health.’
A mum, Britni Church aged 33, from Arkansas City, Kansas in the US says she is done having children after giving birth to 12 children in the last 17 years.
Church was only 16 when she had her first child in 2004.
She then had three more children from the ages of 17 to 19, then another four in her 20s, then she welcomed triplets at 30.
Two years later, at 32, Britni gave birth to one more baby, bringing her total to 12 children and meaning she had been pregnant on and off for almost 17 years of her life.
Now, she says she’s done having children but her husband doesn’t agree.
‘I think I’m done,’ Britni told Today, adding that husband Chris, 30, would be keen to have even more kids.
Mum of 12 children who has been giving birth the last 17 years says she is done having kids (photos)
The couple share seven-year-old Silas, five-year-old Christopher Jr., three-year-old triplets Oliver, Asher, and Abel, and 11-month-old Rowyn.
Britni also has six older children from two previous relationships. These are Crizman, 17, Jordan, 16, Caleb, 14, Jace, 13, Cadence, 12, and Jesalyn, 10.
Before meeting Chris in 2014, Britni spent three years raising her children as a single mum.
Her oldest child, Crizman, graduated high school last month .
‘They were all vaginal except the triplets,’ she explained. ‘With them I had a C-section.’
Britni documents her family life on her TikTok account @ourlargefamilylife, which has more than 1.8 million followers. She told Today that people are fascinated by big families and have questions on everything from groceries to cars.
She says the family eats meals together at a custom-made 12-seat table that Chris built. Each child also shares a room with another sibling.
When they’re all together, they travel in a 15-seat Ford Transit that they bought after the birth of their triplets.
The mum says that the children take up to two gallons of milk a day, which costs them roughly $200 a month.
Britni says she has been accused of everything from being on welfare to contributing to overpopulation.
In a recent video she used the caption: ‘I used to care so much about what others thought of me. Don’t let them mean comments get to you. Be someone who spreads positivity!’
She also told Today that people often make assumptions about her large family.
‘I get a lot of questions like, “Are you Catholic? Are you religious?” I’m Pentecostal, but that has nothing to do with why I have so many.’
She added; ‘We are happiest when we’re all together.’
Britney Spears deactivates her Instagram account again after slamming her family over conservatorship
Back in March, she also took down her Instagram page after posting about her conservatorship.
Shortly before deleting her Instagram account this week, she lamented over how her sons Sean Preston and Jayden James ‘don’t need me anymore’ and ban her from ‘showing recent pics of us’ but she ‘respects their wishes.’
In August 2018, the singer was downgraded from 50-50 to 30-70 custody of 16-year-old Sean and 15-year-old Jayden from her two-year marriage to former backup dancer Kevin Federline, which ended in 2007.
On Wednesday, she insisted ‘never invited’ her older brother Bryan Spears, 45, to her wedding to Sam Asghari despite his girlfriend previously citing a scheduling conflict as the reason for his absence.
The pop star set the record straight in a lengthy text post about her conservatorship, she slammed Bryan and the rest of the Spears family for their alleged treatment of her during her now-terminated conservatorship.
Britney also touched on the fact she ‘didn’t drink a sip of alcohol’ on her special day because she’d been ‘drug tested at least 3 times a week’ for the past 13 years and was never allowed to drink.
‘You were never invited to my wedding so why even respond ?? Do you honestly think I want my brother there whole told me no to a Jack and coke for 4 years … what ???’ wrote Britney in Tuesday’s post.
She’d claimed that Bryan’s go-to drink was ‘a Jack and coke’ and that he’d have it ‘every night’ in Las Vegas while she headlined a four-year residency at Planet Hollywood. Britney said that he ‘would never even let me have a sip’ of the drink and accused him of being on the same power trip as her father Jamie Spears.
She continued: ‘If we were going to drink together at the wedding and play the classy roles for the children like you and mom [Lynne Spears] do as you people literally hid coffee and alcohol when I would come home … you hurt me and you know it !!!
Britney and 28-year-old Sam, who began dating in 2015, tied the knot last Thursday at her Thousand Oaks home.
Standard Bank which trades in Zambia as Stanbic Bank says it expects the Zambian government to have a resolution in place with creditors between December 2022 and March 2023.
And the Bank says since IMF funding is tied to progress on the debt restructuring, it expects the IMF will likely finalize Zambia’s programme during the second half of 2022.
In a research paper, Ferishka Bharuth, Economist – Africa Regions at Standard Bank says as negotiations between Zambia and various creditor committees begin, creditors would have 6 to 9 months to come to an agreement.
Mr. Bharuth also stated that creditors are facing haircuts of over 40%.
“Consistent with the IMF’s recommendations, we’d expect the sovereign to apply the G20’s common framework to the debt restructuring. This framework sets out to help coordinate debt reprofiling or restructuring efforts between all creditors, including non-Paris club creditors and commercial creditors,” Ms. Bharuth said.
She said this framework should improve coordination amongst creditors but it is unlikely to eliminate all coordination problems.
“As negotiations advance, we would get a better sense of how coordination challenges are affecting the process. We have therefore factored delays into our timelines.”
“Since the common framework requires private creditors to participate in the restructuring on comparable terms, the haircuts that all creditors will ultimately face will become a point of contention because we’d foresee some divergence on haircuts the bilateral, multilateral and commercial creditors would be willing to accept.”
Ms. Bharuth added, “We have calculated the expected loss, using two approaches: First, calculating net present value (NPV) of the original instruments (assuming no default) and NPV of the new (restructured) instruments. The NPV is calculated using the immediate post-exchange, or exit yield of the restructured instrument, to discount payment streams of the new and old instruments. However, this approach applies when the terms of the restructuring are known, which isn’t the case for Zambia.”
“We therefore opt for the second methodology (that estimates haircuts by using the market price before and after the default is announced). We calculated that the estimated loss for the 22’s, 24’s and 27’s at 41.1%, 42%, 42.6% respectively.”
“For instance, in 2017 Mozambique defaulted on its Eurobond (set to mature in 2023). Using the market price 6-m before default and the price on default, our expected loss was 17.5%. This bond was later restructured into a 12-y Eurobond with a coupon of 5% and a face value of USD900m. The amount issued included the 23’s face value and some of the accrued, unpaid interest.”
She added, “Applying the first approach, the 23’s bond price would have been 108.3 at the time the new bond was issued. As at the restructure date, the price of the new 12-y bond was calculated at 89.8. Therefore, the haircut on the Mozambique restructure was 17.1%. Applying the second methodology, we calculated a similar haircut of 17.5%.”
“Since Nov 20, overall Zambian eurobonds have gained 40.13%. On an annual basis, these bonds have returned 21%. However, this year, the credit has had a return of -5.11%, with geopolitical risk and tighter monetary policy conditions in developed markets weighing on its performance.”
She added, “Furthermore, the uncertainty related to the haircut likely tempered the market’s reaction when Chinese creditors in Apr announced their participation in the debt restructuring. Ahead of this restructuring, we remain neutral on Zambia’s eurobonds, setting our portfolio in line with the SBAFSO index.”
“However, a few factors are still in Zambia’s favour. Firstly, Zambia’s government has prioritized the finalization of debt restructuring, which should further fuel forward momentum in the debt restructuring talks. The FY2022 budget even sets aside funds to clear outstanding debt service arrears. Moreover, authorities’ engagement with the IMF have been robust, with full debt disclosures being made.”
Ms. Bharuth added that with many sectors recovering from the pandemic shock, a stabilization in domestic economic conditions also provide a constructive backdrop for negotiations.
She said the copper mining sector is a mainstay of this economy and, with copper prices remaining elevated and exports reaching just over 900,00 tons, the sector has proved a buffer.
“Though higher inflation may limit the recovery in private consumption this year, further public health restrictions disrupting growth now seem unlikely. When the sovereign initially engaged creditors after the default, at the time many creditors questioned the then macroeconomic forecasts as well as the sovereign’s debt disclosures. This time, the IMF’s involvement should support the forecasts presented to creditors; IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis will likely be applied.”
She said, “Moreover, Zambia’s progress on an IMF after the debt restructuring is essential because it should prevent defaulting again in the medium term. Zambia’s IMF programme will likely focus on fiscal reform, which should help restore fiscal policy credibility and keep public finances on a sustainable path. As IMF funding is tied to progress on the debt restructuring, the IMF will likely finalize Zambia’s programme during H2:22.”
She warned that, “Should securing IMF financing be delayed, local bond yields may rise more than we expect over the next 6 months. Tighter monetary policy conditions would reinforce that, too.”
.. As he says the company is beyond redemption and Government won’t waste resources on it
By Scoop Reporter
TECHNOLOGY and Science Minister Felix Mutati has disclosed that Zamtel is in a loss-making venture as a business, with about 90 percent of its revenue being utilized for administrative expenses.
Mr Mutati said Government will however, not recapitalize Zamtel because it has other priorities it intends to spend its resources such as funding the teacher and health-workers recruitment, Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and youth empowerment.
Mr Mutati says estimates show that Zamtel currently needs a sum of US$265 million in order to survive as a company by way of investing in its co-networks, infrastructure and other business support services.
Mr Mutati says this is in exception of a staggering debt of around K3 billion and the over US $500 million owed to Lapgreen, without taking into account other liabilities.
He said Zamtel as a company has a deficit on working capital ranging around K1 billion with its balance sheet unable to support programs such as maintenance of current infrastructure, expansion and modernization, a key issue requiring to be addressed urgently.
“Go there and think, dialogue and find innovative solutions particularly the $265 million need, then give us a roadmap to implement a solution. That solution will then be referred to the steering committee chaired by the President. We need to find solutions and that should be our target,” Mr Mutati said.
He says the Minister of Finance has his hands tied for him to begin financing Zamtel’s operations as he has to deliver value to the people.
“If it means we need to cut some limbs in order to save the life of Zamtel, so be it because that is where the solution for Zamtel lies. Let’s not take it as an easy conversation,” the minister told Zamtel Managing Director.
A 61-year-old grandmother to 17 children is preparing to have a baby with her 24-year-old husband.
In 2021, Cheryl McGregor tied the knot with her husband Quran McCain after meeting him at a Dairy Queen shop in Rome, Georgia, in 2012.
McCain, who was just 15 at the time, was working for Cheryl’s son, Chris.
However, it wasn’t until eight years later, in 2020, that the two reconnected, and sparks flew. They dated for about a year before McCain proposed to her.
After a live-streaming wedding to over 20,000 people, Cheryl and McCain are looking to take the next step in their relationship and bring a child into the world.
“He’s always wanted children, and I want to be the mother to his child. Of course, because of my age, we’ll have to get a surrogate or adopt, which we’re looking into,” Cheryl said.
According to The Mirror, her seven children, whose ages range from 29 to 41, all said they would team up to help raise the new baby.
Her grandchildren have also accepted McCain into their lives and call him “pawpaw,” which is slang for grandpa.
The large age gap between the spouses has provoked a lot of interest on TikTok, where McCain has garnered 2.2 million followers as he shares videos of himself and Cheryl.
While chatting about their plans to welcome a baby, Cheryl told McClain’s following that they’re “going to have a baby this year.”
“It’s coming, 2022, McCain added.
The couple are also “still looking” for the best way to have their baby, but they are also reported to have already started shopping for baby strollers.
People on Tik Tok have expressed mixed emotions about McCain’s videos, with some in support of the pair and others not so much.
However, he has insisted that he and Cheryl are very serious and committed to one another and described them as a “team.”
“She is my wife. Till death do us part, we ain’t going nowhere. Forever,” he said before kissing Cheryl’s lips.
In conversation with News 24 following their wedding, Cheryl said she never felt a stronger connection with another man.
“He is my soulmate, he genuinely makes me happy, and I make him happy,” she told the outlet.
“He is in tune with his emotions, which makes us so much closer, and it’s what I love most about him.”- The Independent
The European Commission has backed Ukraine and Moldova to become candidates for EU membership.
According to European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, the case of Ukraine is that “we all know that Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective, we want them to live with us, the EU”.
The bloc chief said that leaders of EU countries will then have the final say at a summit in Brussels on 23-24 June.
The announcement comes a day after leaders of the bloc’s three biggest member states — France, Germany and Italy made a long-awaited first trip to Kyiv and clearly stated their backing for Ukraine’s bid to join the EU.
France’s Emmanuel Macron insisted that it would provide “a strong, quick, expected gesture of hope and clarity that we want to send to Ukraine and its people” while Germany’s Olaf Scholz stated that “Ukraine belongs to the European family”.
The EU leaders stressed, however, that there would be conditions and that the war-torn country would not get preferential treatment over other counties that have been in negotiations to join the 27-country bloc for years.
On Friday, June 17, from the EU’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Von Der Leyen praised the country’s pre-war reforms to tackle corruption, curb the influence of oligarchs and strengthen the rights of minorities although she noted that “we want to see results on the ground”.
She also said that the country enjoys a “very robust parliamentary, presidential democracy” and that its public administration has kept the country going despite the war. She also noted that “Ukraine has a very vibrant and active civil society”.
“To conclude on Ukraine, we have one clear message and that is, yes Ukraine deserves European perspective, yes Ukraine should be welcome as a candidate country,” she told reporters.
Any country that wishes to join the EU must fulfil what is known as the “Copenhagen criteria” for a functioning market economy, a stable democracy and the rule of law, and the acceptance of all EU legislation, including accepting the euro currency. These usually require the candidate country to undertake a series of reforms.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has backfired by leading to a flurry of countries looking to join the EU and the NATO military alliance.
Ukraine announced its wish to join the EU just four days after Russia launched its attack on 24 February. Kyiv filled out all the necessary and lengthy paperwork in a single month after receiving it on April 8 during a visit to the Ukrainian capital by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
STATE HOUSE PLANNING ECZ CLEAN UP …before new Voters’ Register comes into effect – sources.
By Mast Reporter
STATE House has started a purge of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) in a bid to ‘weed’ senior officers ‘still’ aligned to the PF and gain control of the institution, sources have revealed.
According to government sources, the new dawn administration seeks to control the Voters’ Register just as their predecessors supposedly did, hence the purge.
“At policy level you have seen that the President has indicated that he will not renew contracts for the chairperson justice Esau Chulu and the vice Dr Emily Sikazwe. So far, two people have been lined up for those two positions. A prominent UPND lawyer, Madam…will take up justice Chulu’s position while Dr Sikazwe will be replaced by Mr McDonald Chipenzi from GEARS Initiative,” the source told The Mast. “Apparently, it appears that State House is not comfortable with most of the senior officers at the institution. So they want them cleared before the new Voters’ Register comes into effect. Unfortunately, for the new dawn they have a misconception that their colleagues, the PF, were influencing things at ECZ. So, they want to control things also based on that misconception; which is not true.” When reached for comment, Chipenzi said he was not aware or approached for any appointment. “I am hearing that from you. If I am approached I will be able to give a detailed comment,” said Chipenzi. The source said State House is also making serious changes at operations level at the institution.
“They want to kick out the Chief Electoral Officer Mr Patrick Nshindano. For him, they feel that he is denying them contracts which UPND members and their allies have been looking for. So, they complained to State House, and this is the reaction that has come about. They think that Mr Nshindano is not being helpful.
They want to bring back a former director of elections as a replacement. They also want to bring back one gentleman in the IT department who was their link when they were in the opposition but was dismissed under the previous administration,” explained the source. “In fact, there are some senior officers who have been giving false information to State House about others. There is a serious witch hunt from some officers because people are jostling for favours from the new government.
All those who feel insecure want to be recognised as the only ones ready to work with the new government. But, you see, every civil servant is mandated to work with the government of the day. That is the general standard. So, it is shocking to see these levels of witch hunt.” Presidential spokesperson Anthony Bwalya did not respond to The Mast press query over the matter.
But when asked if the government was carrying out a purge at ECZ, justice minister Mulambo Haimbe simply gave a very short response: “No it isn’t. Contracts expire. Its normal. Nothing sinister.”
A video circulating on social media platforms in which some youths were being tortured, subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment by some military personnel for pouring some expletives against President Hakainde Hichilema for alleged failure to honour some promises is just a tip of an iceberg of what has become common treatment of suspects who are poor and ordinary in Zambia.
Article 15 of the Constitution of Zambia states:
“No person shall be subjected to torture, or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other like treatment.”
Beyond these written words must be a realisation that our country’s Constitution is a useless and meaningless document to millions of poor, ordinary Zambians but a treasure to elites and politicians in their quest to gain, use or manage political power.
For the record, I have don’t support anyone who insult the Republican President, regardless of whether I agree or disagree with such a President. It may be okay, legal or cultural in America to find Americans who vent their anger and insults on the American President but Zambia is not America.
Zambia, like all other African countries, has an African culture that emphasises respect for elderly persons, especially those who provide leadership in our homes, church or country as a whole. President Hichilema deserves the same respect we all can give to our father, regardless of whether we annoyed with the failures or even lies of our biological to deliver his promises.
But the issue here is simple and require us to reflect on the meaning of our constitution. The Zambian Constitution is only good for our courts and academic elitist debates and giving powerful elements some advantages in our society. The Zambian Constitution is not about the interests of ordinary and poor Zambians.
Unfortunately, our courts have also become a subtle accomplice in the violation of the rights of those who are seemingly weak, poor or ordinary in our society. The courts have failed to personally hold and punish officials who violate our people’s protected human rights, especially when these violations are done against ordinary and poor Zambians.
Compensation for human rights violations have only been possible when the same are done to politicians and their allies who can sue and walk away with thousands and millions of taxpayers money for wrongful detention, torture, degrading or inhuman treatment. What is a Constitution for when law enforcers and not the military can violate the rights of others, including children, with impunity?
But that is the kind of constitution Zambia has today – useless and meaningless document to millions but a useful document the country’s political power. The Constitution is good and enforceable when the powerful and affluent class is affected and but it doesn’t matter when it is the poor about who are subjected to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment by our law enforcement agencies. This kind of treatment ends with valueless media statements from some toothless Human Rights Commission
It is indeed a curse to be born in a Komboni or village in this country.
Worse still, our country is now witnessing a new wave in which people are politically reported to police posts in far-flung, less developed areas, arrests are done in one districts, suspects transported and abandoned in other rural districts, away from their families or where they can get help. When all this is happening, the Executive and the Judiciary go to bed as accomplices in their failure to frown and stop this practice.
The once vocal international community, through their Embassies, have also become conspicuously mute or probably don’t want to be caught in a crossfire which will stop their countries from exploiting our natural resources under the new management. Is this an endorsement that all is okay or they will begin to speak out only when their interests begin to be threatened?
I am deeply troubled by this video of torture and I repeat; the Zambian Constitution is a useless document to millions of poor Zambians. Beyond that document being useful to politicians in the management of political power, it does not serve or protect the interests of ordinary Zambians whose rights keep being violated.
In Zambia, you get promoted for violating the human rights of ordinary citizens especially if it done to please the powers-that-be.
If you’re looking for jobs from mining investments, forget it – M’membe
By Thomas Ngala
TODAY, one small excavator costing $30,00 or $40,000 wipes out 2,000 to 3,000 jobs of miners, Dr Fred M’membe has said as he warns those looking for jobs from mining investment to forget.
Speaking when he featured on Diamond TV’s COSTA programme on Sunday, the opposition Socialist Party (SP) leader said mining and technology have changed.
He reminded Zambians that mining did not start yesterday but in the early 1900s.
Dr M’membe said Zambians have been fooling themselves for a long time adding that citizens needed to sober up.
“Mining did not start yesterday, let us look at the history. Mining started in the early 1900s by the same people who are coming back. By the same people we are dealing with today, by the same entities we are dealing with today. Where are we? More than 100 years of mining, where are we? We are talking as if mining is starting tomorrow. What major changes have been made in the way mining is conducted? What fundamental changes have been made so that we benefit from this mining?” he asked. “And if you are looking for jobs from mining investments, forget it. Mining has changed, technology has changed. Today one small excavator costing $30,00, $40,000 wipes out 2,000 jobs, 3,000 jobs of miners. If you are looking for jobs from mining you will not get them. What we need is to get fair taxes from the mines so that we pump those fair taxes into education, health and agriculture. Let us not get excited with old things that appear to be new. We have been dealing with these people for a very long time. We have not benefited. We keep on fooling ourselves for a long time. Let us sober down. Let us avoid this unnecessary excitement.”
Dr M’membe charged that the investors are not coming for the country’s benefit but for themselves.
“We are not new to these people and they are not new to us. These people are not coming for us, they are coming for themselves. We are in a weak negotiating position. How strong are we? What have we agreed? Let us be clear about this. In life it’s important to be clear about things. What is on the table? You are talking about electric vehicles, batteries and so on. You have not seen any plan, any deal about that. And this is the problem of getting excited with just even an idea,” he said. “We are not saying there should be no investment in the mines. Let us look at every deal that is there. Put everything on the table for people to see for themselves. For people to analyse things for themselves. Even you a very well informed journalist, what do you know about these investments on the Copperbelt? I am in politics, what do I know about the investments? What have they disclosed to us? Maybe you are an investigative journalist, tell us what you have dug out. Show us what is there for us to get excited.”
Dr M’membe said the UPND is not the first government to promise so much investment.
“We have been on this path for a long time. This is not the first government to promise so much investment. Over the last 30 years plus, we have been on this path. The [Frederick] Chiluba regime was there, privatised, inviting foreign investors and so on,” he recalled.
Commenting on the inflation rate, Dr M’membe said the cost of living keeps escalating despite the fall in inflation.
He explained that there are two economies, the real economy and artificial one.
“Any student of political economy, not just mere economy will tell you that we have two economies. There is the real economy, that is based on the goods being produced. There is what we call, for lack of a better term an artificial economy that just deals with the exchanging economies and you make money. Today you can incorporate a company saying there is uranium found in Chongwe. And that company starts to sell shares because they believe that the grade of uranium is very high in Chongwe that you have found,” he explained. “You list that on the stock exchange, it will start to make money. It may take 10 years to actualise that project but shares are being exchanged. No production at all. Then later on in the ninth or eighth year they realise that actually the grade of the uranium you are talking about in Chongwe is of low quality. So that project will not take place.”
Dr M’membe said what is being seen with the figures of inflation is not coming from the production of goods and services.
He explained that it is rather coming from “simply” playing around with monetary issues.
Dr M’membe warned that Zambians should not be excited that inflation rate is going down.
“Demand and supply, you reduce it. You suppress a bit of demand from the kwacha, from the dollar and so on. That pushes the exchange rate a bit lower. That also helps lower inflation and so on. Have you reduced the cost of living? No. Are prices really coming down? Have prices really been coming down the way the rate of the inflation rate is coming down? Or prices have been going up? On the real economy, prices have been going up,” said Dr M’membe.
Lusaka family drags lawyer Irene Chongo-Lamba to court over deceased’s estate
A family of lusaka has sued lawyer Irene Chongo-Lamba together with two of their family members in the lusaka High Court for allegedly managing the estate of their late sister Jacqueline Filamba without their consent.
Brother of the late Jacqueline together with his sisters Audrey Kapapa Cathedrine Mwamba and their niece, Sophie Kapapa have sued Lamba and the deceased’s nice Enelesi Nzovwu Lungu and nephew Chongo Nkalamo seeking an order of the court to compelling the defendants to render an account of the manner they administered the estate from December 3,2021 and produce property documents.
They want an order directing Lamba to produce the power of attorney jointly signed by the four executors of the estate authorizing Lamba to unilaterally steward the late Jacqueline’s estate.
In their statement bof claim the plaintiffs said Jacqueline Filamba was admitted to Forest Park Specialized hospital on September 5,2021 and died on September 25,2021 due to an illness.
The plaintiffs stated that on October 5, 2021 Lamba announced to the family that the deceased had left a will and briefly read out part of it relating to the cremation of Jacqueline’s body.
They said their sister was neither survived by a husband nor a child and upon perusal of the said will and testament they discovered that it was executed on March 1, 2021.
“The deceased’s purported will and testament drawn by Messrs Chongo Manda and associates legal practitioners shows that it was purportedly witnessed by Sandra Mutapa and Jane Nakazwe both employees in the law firm as security and office manager,” the plaintiffs said.
“Jacqueline Filamba’s purported last wish shows that the contents of the non existing clauses 18 and 20 coupled with numbering mismatches are unknown.”
They said Lamba and Jacqueline’s brother Anthony and nephew Nkalamo obtained a grant of probate from the High Court family division confirming them as administrators of the estate of the late Jacqueline Filamba.
The plaintiffs said upon perusing their sister and aunt’s emails on her mobile phone they established that Jacqueline had reviewed her will on March 4,2021 and on July 8 Lamba sent Jacqueline a final draft will dated March 1,2021 for her approval.
They stated that Lamba on several occasions since December 3,2021 unilaterally undertaken steps to try and administer Jacqueline’s estate without consultation and knowledge of every executor especially her brother Anthony and declined to give the latter relevant and necessary documents belonging to his sister.
“Contrary to the usual and reasonable practice of joint administration of a deceased’s estate Lamba refuses and has continued to deny Anthony access to some documents and correspondence with various institutions including several financial institutions, debit and credit cards as well as bank statements, constitution and statements for village banking groups relevant to the administration of the estate, certificates of ownership for her motor vehicles and title deeds to some pieces of land,” The plaintiffs said.
“By reason of the foregoing circumstances the plaintiffs have reason to believe that the purported last will and testament of the deceased is a false and fraudulent document duly executed on or after July 11,2021 and not on March 1,2021 and was properly signed hence a nullity.”
They are further seeking an order declaring that the will and testament of Jacqueline Filamba drawn on July 11,2021 but purportedly signed on March 1,2021 is a false and fraudulent document and null and void.
The quartet wants an injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the estate of the late Jacqueline Filamba including access to her account domiciled at Investrust Bank Ody’s branch on Great East road.
They want an order that the court appoints a registrar of the High Court to take over the administration of the estate.
They are seeking an order directing the chief executive officer of Investrust Bank to furnish them with some documents signed by Jacqueline to constitute part of the forensic handwriting examinations specimen.
They also want an order directing MTN chief executive officer to issue or release the call records on the late Jacqueline Filamba’s mobile phone no. 0966580299 between February 1,2021 and October 5,2021.
IMF DEAL NOT MAGIC SOLUTION: Fred M’membe Says UPND Focusing In Wrong Place For Economic Recovery
Socialist Party president Fred M’membe says the $1.4 billion IMF deal will not provide a magic solution to Zambia’s struggling economy.
He writes …
It’s going to be another wait until the IMF deal is perhaps reached. We continue to wonder why so much hope is still being placed on the US $1.4 billion IMF loan as if this will provide a magic solution to our economic and social problems. Should the US$ 1.4 billion loan be granted, it will only be used to provide “Balance of Payment Support”. It won’t do much to aid or generate a recovery for the rest of the economy.
We need to collect fair taxes from the mines and pay more attention to peasant agriculture.
Agriculture offers us the highest growth potential. But our agricultural programmes don’t seem to be focused and well prioritised. There’s too much rhetoric, posturing with not much substance or clarity. With the right approach and programmes we can grow to as much as 50 per cent of the current GDP from agriculture.
Today although 54.8 per cent of our workforce is deployed in agriculture, the sector only accounts for 7.5 per cent of the GDP. Industry, in which we have deployed 9.9 per cent of our workforce, is making a contribution of 35.3 per cent to our GDP. And 35.3 per cent of our workforce which is deployed in services is producing 57.2 per cent of our GDP.
The contribution to agriculture – in which we have deployed the majority of our workforce – to GDP is dismally too low to make a meaningful contribution to poverty reduction or eradication.
Today, our people are faced with the most serious and anguishing situations ever known to them. But no matter how enormous the difficulties, no matter how complex the task, there can be no room for pessimism. This would be to renounce all hope and resign ourselves to final defeat. But, we have no alternative but to struggle if we wish to harbour any hope for survival. Only with tremendous effort can we face a future that objectively appears desperate and sombre.
Ukranian President, Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, June 16 welcomed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to Kyiv as the EU leaders show solidarity towards the besieged nation.
Scholz, Macron and Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv on Thursday morning after taking a night train from Poland and were joined later in the day by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
The meeting with Zelensky carries heavy symbolic weight given that Western European powers have faced criticism for not providing Ukraine with the scale of weaponry that Kyiv has been asking for.
The EU leaders inspected war damage on a visit to the town of Irpin, which Russian troops occupied at the war’s start.
Macron denounced the “barbarism” of the attacks that devastated the town, and praised the courage of residents of Irpin and other Kyiv region towns who held back Russians forces from attacking the capital.
“It’s here, among other places, that the Ukrainians stopped the Russian army descending onto Kyiv,” the French leader said. “It represents the heroism of the army, but also of the Ukrainian population. And alongside that, you have traces of barbarism.”
In response to a question on his previous remarks that Russia must not be humiliated, Macron said “France has been alongside Ukraine since day one.”
“We stand with the Ukrainians without ambiguity. Ukraine must resist and win,” he said.
“Look at that, ‘Make Europe, not war,’” Macron said when he spotted some graffiti in English. “It’s very moving to see that.”
Russia has reacted to the unexpected visit of the leaders to Kyiv, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying he hoped it would not focus solely on supplying Ukraine with weapons as that would cause further damage to the country.
FAKE ‘HIPS’ TAKES KIDIST KIFLE TO COURT, TO PAY K800,000.
By Prince Kaliza Jnr.
Socialite and Media Personality Kidist Kifle who happens to be wife to Elton Mulenga aka Yo-Maps has been sued in the Lusaka high court, for denouncing a herbal product that enlarge female Hips.
According to court documents filed in the Lusaka highcourt, Kidist Kifle is allegedly to have agreed to promote a ‘Congo × 2 shape up hips’ for Congo Kwetu natural products in 2021.
As part of the agreement, kidist Kifle agreed to try the product on herself, to do photo shoots with the product and be used as advertising figure to attract some business and sales before it is brought in Zambia for consumption.
Congo kwetu natural products alleges that as part of the agreement, Kidist Kifle agreed that she uses the product for 2 months to prove if it will make her have good hips.
It is alleged that after two months of trials and getting better results as agreed, Kidist Kifle made defamatory remarks against the product which has dented its imagine, loss of business value and failed to Penatrate the Zambian market through ZAMRA as it can be a waste of resources.
Congo Kwetu natural products is demanding for the sum of K800,000 as compasation and any other relief the court might deem fit.
On dates unknown but between November 2021 and June 2022, it is believed that kidist Kifle posted on her social Media page distancing herself from the Congo Kwetu natural products.
“I have nothing to do with this nonsense, I’m not on any supplements and very much against the use of these things, do not be fooled, peace of mind and agreed diet is the secret to gaining weight, I’m suing” kidist Kifle wrote.
RUMOURS THAT HE IS WANTED BY POLICE UNSETTLE KAMBWILI
By Scoop Reporter
LAWYERS for Chishimba Kambwili have written a letter to the Insepctor General of police demanding to know if the police wish to interview him.
Stories have been circulating since Sunday that police have been looking for Mr. Kambwili to question him over unknown matter.
However, his lawyers, Ferd Jere and Company, have advised the police that assertions that Mr. Kambwili was served with a police call-out were false and malicious.
The lawyers stated that there were reports that a police call-out was served at the Patriotic Front (PF) Secretariat in Lusaka or at an unown residence in Luanshya.
Dr. Kambwili has asserted that he has an established and known residences in Luanshya and Lusaka and wondered why the police would create a dramatic scenario like he was a fugitive from the law.
The lawyers have since encouraged police officers seeking to interview Mr. Kambwili to serve such a notice on his lawyers.
Police have however never mentioned of him being served with a call-out thus far.]
A dad kidnapped his own daughter after she inherited a fortune in her grandad’s will.
Student Noura Aly Essam, 23, was abducted by her dad after she was left a third of her grandfather’s estate.
Her father, who has not been named, snatched her at her home after hearing about the inheritance on Saturday, June 4.
Noura, who is half-Egyptian and half-Korean, had been living with her grandparents for years, police said.
She was beaten and dragged out of her home back to her father’s house where she was locked in a bedroom, according to the force.
Prosecutors say “disagreements erupted between the father and his daughter after her grandfather’s will”.
They claim he “took his daughter with him out of hatred for her and assaulted her”.
He also injured her eyes when he “stepped” on her.
To prevent her for calling for help, the father allegedly confiscated her mobile phone.
Noura was only saved when police spotted a viral social media appeal to find her.
The campaign went viral on June 12 and, two days later, Egypt’s Public Prosecutor’s Office announced in a statement that she had been returned safely to her family and that her father had been arrested.
It read: “As the Monitoring and Analytical Unit of the Statement Administration in the Attorney General’s Office, yesterday, observed several posts circulating on social media about the abduction of a father of his daughter called Nora, 23 years old, in Maadi region, detained and assaulted.”
The Egyptian authorities added: “Therefore, the prosecutor ordered the detention of the accused in the department court, and requested the police investigation into the incident.”
Meanwhile, the Korean Embassy to Egypt said on Twitter : “Welcome back, Nora! The Embassy is thankful and assured for the timely address on Ms Nora’s case by the Egyptian relevant authorities according to the request of the Embassy.
“The embassy has exerted its maximum effort to return Nora safely to her grandmother within Embassy’s every capability.”
Sadio Mane returned to his childhood village in Senegal to take part in a muddy local football match as speculation surrounding his Liverpool future continues to rumble on.
Mane, who looks set to leave Jurgen Klopp’s side and seal a move to Bayern Munich this summer, went back to Bambali to play in the local kick-about alongside some star names.
The 30-year-old was joined by former Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse and ex-Liverpool forward El-Hadji Diouf, as well as international team-mate Mbaye Diagne and Beninese star Desire Segbe.
In a video posted on his Instagram, Mane can be seen playing on a muddy pitch alongside the aforementioned players and friends from his village.
He wrote alongside the post: ‘Back to the source with a gala match on the Bambaly pitch where it all started!!! A big thank you to my brothers @papissdembacisse @mbayediagne909 @desire.segbe and without forgetting my lifelong idol, sacred @elhadji_diouf11_officiel’.
Mane was seen playing alongside his friends in Bambali as talk of a potential move to Bayern Munich continues to gather pace.
Football journalist Fabrizio Romano claimed on Wednesday that Bayern have agreed personal terms with the Liverpool winger, who will put pen to paper on a three-year contract at the Allianz Arena.
All that’s left to iron out is a transfer fee between the two clubs, and German outlet Bild are reporting that Bayern hope to make it third time lucky with a bid of £34.6million.
Liverpool are said to have placed a £42million price tag on Mane, but despite falling £7.4million short the German champions believe that offer will be enough to get their man.
It is believed the deal would see them fork out an initial £30.3million with another £4.3million to come in add-ons.
Mane only has a year to run on his current contract at Liverpool, where he has developed into one of the best attackers in world football over the past six years.
Since joining from Southampton in 2016, the Senegal international has scored 120 goals in 269 appearances while winning the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
UPND HAS USED,DUMPED PARTNERS …it’s highest mark of betrayal, insincerity – Changala
By Ernest Chanda
BREBNER Changala says the new dawn administration has used and dumped most of its Alliance partners and individuals who supported them in opposition.
Recently, All People’s Congress Party leader Nason Msoni warned against trivialising partners in political alliances. In his Facebook post, Msoni said it was dangerous for the UPND to sideline people who fought with them in opposition. “It is dangerous political assertion to trivialise the working together of the Opposition political parties by the UPND party. Dismiss the opposition political parties working together at your own peril and especially after engaging yourself into treacherous politics against those who assisted in grabbing power from the PF,” posted Msoni.
“Whereas we demand for loyalty from our colleagues but we too as political leaders should be willing and must endeavour to be loyal to our colleagues. Dr Kenneth David Kaunda’s longevity in power was never a product of an accident or as a result of dictatorship but was one of loyalty to his comrades. Likewise, his comrades had remained loyal and true to him to the very end. Those who think that loyalty to their friends count for nothing in their political ambition will certainly one day pay a heavy price. In politics there is no higher sacrifice than that of your colleagues laying down their own political ambition in order to hand you the political momentum.”
And Changala, a good governance activist agrees with Msoni, adding that the ruling party has “indeed forgotten where it is coming from”. He said the UPND has not shown gratitude to citizens who helped it come into government. “The lamentation by Msoni who is a member of the UPND Alliance is a talk in town in which a lot of people used by the Alliance feel that they have been betrayed. They have been sidelined. They have been used and they have been bruised by the new dawn administration,” he told The Mast. “The UPND has not taken care to ameliorate or indeed repay that critical support that they canvassed prior to the August 12 general election. They brought many political parties, individuals and organisations on board in which UPND was used as a special purpose vehicle to remove the cantankerous PF.”
Changala catalogued some of the critical voices that spoke against PF brutality which the UPND has completely wiped out from the scene. He wondered if President Hakainde Hichilema or any other member of government has spoken to any of the people that helped them win. “When did the President or indeed anybody in government ever speak to Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa? When did the President or anybody in government ever speak to Gilbert Temba? These people were very critical. When did the President or anybody in government ever make even a simple call to Linda Kasonde? When did they ever pick up a phone and speak to John Sangwa,” Changala asked. “I want these people to know how they have separated themselves from the people who were movers of change and fighters at a very critical time when their lives were at risk because PF was a very dangerous organisation. So, it is important for John Sangwa’s contribution to the revolution to be remembered. Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa, Gilbert Temba, Trevor Simumba, Fackson Shamenda; these people sacrificed among many other Zambians of goodwill. They (UPND) abused people and have abandoned them. They went to create new friends for convenience; new friends who had no role in the struggle. That is a high mark of insincerity.”
Changala said because of such betrayal, most of those who helped UPND have gone quiet in frustration. He reminded the UPND that on their own they could not have won the election. “Going forward, I have been asking questions on several fora. What is it that all the people that were coerced to come on board and support UPND and win an election have gone quiet for? They are not visible. And this looks like it was a one-party show. It was a one man show where other people’s efforts, resources and critical support have been relegated to history,” he added. “This is the highest mark of betrayal and insincerity in a leadership. What do you expect if a party cannot respect small things, small individuals? They cannot respect small parties; how will they respect the bigger picture and the nation at large?” Changala also reminded UPND about the role played by organisations like the Our Civic Duty Association (OCiDA) and other individuals such as Kelvin Fube Bwalya in bringing down the PF.
“There is a loud silence from one of the key players – KBF. There is a loud silence from one of the key players – Simuyemba. There’s loud silence from one of the critical organisations that actually played a pivotal role in the Alliance – the OCiDA. Nobody seems to remember OCiDA from the new dawn administration,” he said. “There’s a loud silence on their engagement with one bishop – [Arch]bishop [Telesphore] Mpundu. A man of immense wisdom, a man of immense character. A man of immense and strong Christian values who rose like a middle finger when it was not fashionable to speak against the Patriotic Front because of their brutality. He risked his life singularly and descended to the people that were under threat – the UPND and the Tonga in general.” Changala noted that the UPND has instead acquired new and convenient friends at the expense of those who supported them when it mattered most.
“We also had some human rights groups which became the clarion call for the new dawn. These are men and women who have been shunted to the back seat of this administration,” he said. “We are now seeing people who wouldn’t defend their rights at that time; who wouldn’t condemn the abuse of the Patriotic Front – the criminal activities of the Patriotic Front. They have come in the forefront to take care of themselves and members of the ruling party. This is not the way to treat the people on whose glorious concern and mind you assumed power.”
He however praised Msoni for voicing out when others chose to keep quiet in frustration. “The people have decided to fade away quietly. But I give credit to Msoni, a Ngoni warrior who has refused to keep quiet. He’s making a point that they were used and dumped,” Changala said. “And it’s not too late. This new dawn administration should assemble a meeting for everyone else that celebrated with them when the Alliance was brought together by the OCiDA. They must remember the launch of the Alliance. That day was very important and critical. It was a matter of who will join the struggle and kick out a criminal organisation; that was the PF.”
He reminded the UPND that their victory came from Zambians and not their own capacity. “And I want to remind the new dawn that the victory of the new dawn was a cake handed to the new dawn without much ado because it was a fight between the Patriotic Front and the people of Zambia. The UPND was brought in as an alternative because there was no other opposition that could unseat the Patriotic Front. It was a struggle between the good, the bad and the ugly. It is a message on which the new dawn administration and its leadership must reflect,” said Changala. “They cannot allow every man and woman who participated in the struggle to go about complaining. To feel left out, to feel neglected – where this leadership of the new dawn cannot even lift, pick up a phone to call somebody and greet them. Just a phone! But they are able to travel to go and greet citizens around the world, leaving their own men and women at home without showing any sense of gratitude. It’s totally unacceptable and we must revisit how we take friends. It’s very important.”
By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
Before his sentencing to life imprisonment at his 1964 Rivonia trial, Nelson Mandela said, “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
During the last decade of PF in power, our nation got polarized to alarming proportions! While consideration of individuals for important government positions was mainly reserved for those from certain tribes, any semblance of development we witnessed was lopsided – it largely went to certain regions at the expense of others! How on earth do you commence constructing 3 universities in one region at one goal?
Now that we have a Tonga-speaking individual in State House, it doesn’t mean that those of us who have been bitter opponents of subjugation of certain tribes by others should lose guard and allow the ugly head of tribalism to rear up its ugly head ever again! Just as Bemba tribalism is abhorrent, equally Tonga tribalism is disgusting!
However, we won’t allow the likes of Socialist party leader, Fred M’membe, to mislead the nation on this matter. If at all there’s any person who should be the last one to talk about tribalism, it’s Dr M’membe! During his helm at the defunct The Post Newspapers as Editor in Chief, the now self-proclaimed hardcore socialist never missed an opportunity to repeatedly bash UPND as “Bantustan,” a misnomer which made the general public actually believe indeed the party was tribal!
Featuring on Hot FM immediately after President Hakainde assembled his cabinet, M’membe observed that the president had endangered the unity of this country by tribal appointments. He further claimed that all the key ministries are from same the region. This is a wild and malicious accusation farthest from the truth! He continued to repeat the same allegations on Diamond TV the other night.
This article shall seek to demonstrate that Hakainde is a true statesman whose credentials are comparable to those of our forefathers. Despise him or not, the man has gone an extra mile to reunite what was once a divided nation.
In keeping with our much-touted “One Zambia, one nation” motto, first republican President Kenneth Kaunda always tried his best to balance his cabinet. This was the complexion of KK’s topmost cabinet ministers at independence: Vice President – Reuben Kamanga (Eastern); Finance – Arthur Wina (Western); Defence – Grey Zulu (Eastern); Home affairs – Aaron Milner(Minority); Foreign – Simon Kapwepwe (Northern); Legal affairs – Mainza Chona (Southern); Local Government & Housing – Sikota Wina (Western); Health – Kanoso (Luapula); Information – Peter Matoka (N/western); Commerce & Industry – Nalumino Mundia (Western). The secretary to the cabinet was, of course, Aaron Milner from the minority group.
You can see from the foregoing that KK’s cabinet represented a national character. And even if reshuffles would occur from time to time during his prolonged stay in office, KK would ensure every region was represented in government.
PLAN B TO DEBT RESTRUCTURING AND IMF DEAL- WHAT SUGGESTIONS DO YOU HAVE?
By Alexander Nkosi
Our dependence on mines for revenue and forex is like a patient on an oxygen support machine. A patient on an oxygen support machine cannot effectively negotiate the price of being on that machine. This is the challenge most copper producing countries like Zambia, Chile and Peru that have been trying to increase benefits from these natural resources face. As for Norway, it has a diversified resource base and its government directly owns and runs a huge share of the oil and gas industry. Its approach to investors is that they can either take it or leave it. This is why its tax rate is around 78%. For Zambia and other countries, prolonged disputes that impact on production have a huge and immediate impact on the economy and playing hard-ball with investers becomes a challenge. The previous government had to make some quick reversals when mining firms stood firm on tax proposals because we just could not stand our ground for too long. This is why increased local ownership and economic diversification is key.
Here is how this complicates economic recovery options: Most people are asking the Minister of Finance to state what options Zambia has in the event that we don’t get our debt restructured and the IMF deal. The consequences are that we are going to default big time, kwacha will swing into rapid depreciation and there will be capital flight. A weak kwacha means import of inputs in production and machinery will be very expensive. The cost of production will be way to high and some firms will close down. Imported consumer goods will be very expensive and the cost of living will go up.
Government will be left with limited options to raise revenue: increase taxes, fines and fees and borrow heavily from domestic market. With a huge increase in taxes in the mining sector, mining firms will play hard-ball and government will be left with an option of whether to lose what we are currently getting and risk economic collapse or give in. The situation is explained in the first paragraph. If government taxes locals more, most of them will collapse. Should government tax workers more, they will struggle with the high cost of living. Increased domestic borrowing will crowd out the private sector and this will impact on their performance and revenue collected by government.
How did the previous government resolve this? They did not increase domestic resource mobilisation but continued with heavy borrowing. A few times they tried to adjust mining taxes, they had to make quick reversals. There was no clear roadmap on KCM and plans for Mopani were to find a new partner. This explains why the previous government also insisted on the IMF deal.
To those asking about concrete alternatives, my question is what exactly are you suggesting? Provide details of how much revenue we would raise and how that can help us meet annual debt service which might soon be above K100 billion, cover the wage bill and fund all sectors. We also have domestic arrears which soon could be way above K50 billion.
ON PRIORITIES and
ZAMBIA’s GOVERNANCE
[The Curious Case of Virgins and Debt Restructuring]
______________
OUR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT His Excellency Mr Hakainde HICHILEMA has travelled abroad about fourteen times in the last ten months.
And as if Zambia is for sale, he has been travelling as our Chief Marketing Officer, he loves to naively proclaim.
A new record.
Note that all these trips are funded by the poor people of Zambia.
Close to a humongous K500 million spent so far I hear, money which translates into about 50 fully built primary schools.
Now, fellow citizens, is this the fiscal discipline or prudent use of Zambia’s scarce resources that we were promised and lectured on prior to the 2021 general elections?
Curiously, note that his very first trip was to the United States of America [USA] One wonders why.
Even little Swaziland, now called Eswatini, paid host to our most prized citizen number one.
Swaziland, eeiisshh!
Not ONCE has he gone to China. Aarrrgh! It hurts.
As all this is happening, our now openly despondent finance minister Situmbeko MUSOKOTWANE, sitting next to the IMF Deputy Manaing Director Antoinette SAYEH, pitiably looking sheepish, is FAILING to find the right words to inspire the expectant and suffering nation.
In Zambia, Antoinette SAYEH’s own words: The IMF is waiting for ‘creditors assurances’ before Zambia’s plea can be taken to the IMF board for consideration, ‘without which we cannot go to the board’ for ‘this [Zambia’s] ambitious reform program.’
Note here the keys words, ‘CREDITORS ASSURANCES’ and Zambia’s ‘AMBITIOUS REFORM PROGRAM.’
When I heard SAYEH use the word AMBITIOUS I heard/picked an IMF disapproving submission/tone.
Clearly, the IMF’s hands are tied.
The IMF, without the creditors assurances is impotent [please don’t bring Swaziland on this point].
I mean the IMF on its own cannot do anything for Zambia.
But then if we can go to a country, inter alia, largely teeming with virgins with no money, why haven’t we gone to China, a country teeming with money and power?
Further, note that China is Zambia’s CHIEF creditor.
And China is now CO-CHAIR of the Creditors Committee whose assurances the IMF is waiting for and which Committee will soon meet in France.
Now Hakainde HICHILEMA listen to me, my man.
China is an ECONOMIC ELEPHANT in the world that cannot be ignored.
A mere phone call to Xi JINPING won’t do, it is NOT respectful enough. It is NOT a convincing reflection of your sense of priorities. It is demeaning to this thriving global economic animal.
Washington owes China over USD 1 trillion. Washington listens to China.
Now hearken, my man, motivated by various geopolitical concerns, China, to merely show the present world its ballooning strength, can easily flex one of its small muscles and REFUSE to give the required assurances for Zambia.
Zambia would then be fixed.
Trust me. Just to teach us table manners.
Elephants are fighting, Hakainde HICHILEMA, can’t you see that?
And poor Zambia is the grass, which is already sickly and brown.
My man, now that we are done with Eswatini and its varied attractions, go to Beijing ASAP! Wena hamba kahle!
And whilst there, with a tear in yout eyes dramatically roll on the ground, without dropping the economic begging bowl.
Then new dawn shall come with its hopes.
The dragon, now spitting fire, might then just smile at Zambia again.
So much has been said about trending news of ZCCM-IH engaging Rothchild to advise on the restructuring of Mopani Copper Mines.
We all know the problem at Mopani. It lacks sufficient capitalization to operate optimally. Rothchild is not going to bring the capital required. So, whatever advice Rothchild gives, that will not bring or generate the requisite money to pump into the operations to scale up production.
Remember the 1995 Kafue Consortium saga? The Consortium offered the Chiluba government to buy ZCCM as a single entity for US$1 billion cash payment and US$5 billion investment? The Chiluba government rejected the Consortium offer and instead hired Rothchild to advise. Rothchild advised the government to unbundled ZCCM. Ultimately, ZCCM was sold in unbundled format and government ended up realising peanuts for the assets.
What do we expect from Rothchild this time around? It will be unbundling of Mopani. The gem is Mufulira smelter and refinery which will be sold for less than US$300 million. Then the rest will fetch less than US$200. And consultancy fees will be in the range of US$20 million.
After the sale, ZCCM-IH will receive no more than US$500 million but still with a debt of US$1.5 billion dollars due to Glencore. So, Glencore will demand to be paid the US$500 million. After that, ZCCM-IH will still have a US$1 billion indebt to Glencore plus the US$20 million fees.
By the way, Rothchild is reported to own shares in Glenmore. So, it is like asking the a person you owe to advise you on selling your asset so as to raise money to pay off the debt. Do you really think that such a person can render sound advice to you?
All in all, I think the best way resolve the Mopani problem is to find money to capitalise the company. I have made proposals before on how to raise the funds, one of which is through Bank of Zambia. You may Google my several solutions to the Mopani problem. I think they are by far better than this Rothchild approach.
Without the stability that the IMF deal was poised to offer the Zambian government, we foresee a sustained high cost of living, ActionAid Zambia has said.
In a statement issued to the media today, ActionAid Zambia Country Director Nalucha Ziba said the organization is concerned with the implications the IMF deal delay would have of on the 2022 national budget, and ultimately the state of the economy.
Ziba said the lack of funding will hamper the ambitious pronouncements such as scaling up teacher recruitment, free education, and improve the health sector.
This follows the joint media briefing held by the Ministry of Finance and National planning and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the status of the extended credit facility.
From the same briefing yesterday, it emerged that the bailout plan is much further from conclusion than initially anticipated.
“Six months into 2022, differences between Zambia and its Multilateral partner are clear to see with further delays emerging today. As ActionAid Zambia, we are concerned with the implications this development would have of on the 2022 national budget, and ultimately the state of the economy,” she said.
“The expansionary annual budget was heavily dependent on external and domestic financing. It is, therefore, unclear where the government will source the necessary funds for budget execution. In effect, the lack of funding will hamper the ambitious pronouncements such as scale up teacher recruitment, free education, and improve the health sector.”
Ziba said the high external debt servicing costs, considering the Eurobond bullet payment due later this year, have adverse effects on macroeconomic stability.
She added that without the stability that the IMF deal was poised to offer the government, “we foresee a sustained high cost of living, fluctuating exchange rates and continuous hardship for the general citizenry.”
She however implored government to provide clarity on how they intend to effectively actualize the national budget.
“With the potential foregoing of the IMF deal, the government would need reconsider their tax policy position that provided incentives to various sectors such as mining and agriculture. Domestic resource mobilization would subsequently become a key strategy to finance development going forward. New efforts to develop revenue measures must be conducted progressively with consultation from relevant stakeholders,” she said.
A MAN of Kafue will spend the rest of the freezing cold season coiling himself and hugging pillows under his bedsheets after his wife of 25 years shoved him deep in the dark pit of loneliness and bachelorhood owing to his stinginess.
59 year old Douglas Phiri was red-carded from the field of marriage by the Lusaka Boma Local Court after his wife Eunice Daka, aged 57, indicated that she could no longer stand her husband’s tight marking of his wallet and finances.
Eunice told the court that from as early as 2005, she began to notice traits in her husband that would guarantee him a lofty position in the Stingy Men Association of Zambia (SMAZ) but ignored the signs believing he would change.
Eunice told senior local court magistrate George Kaoma that despite her husband having received a handsome retirement package recently, she, like Sean Tembo at the ballot, had gotten zero share of the money.
“When my husband got his pension in 2018, l suddenly became talkative and annoying. He did not want to involve me in anything. He refused to tell me about how much money he got as his pension and started doing everything on his own,” Eunice told the court.
She begged the court to dissolve her marriage.
However, Phiri pleaded with the court to preserve his marriage, saying he still loved his wife.
Phiri told the court that the only reason he did not give her money was that he wanted her to return to the matrimonial home in Kafue after they separated following a misunderstanding.
Passing judgment in the matter, senior local court magistrate Kaoma dissolved the marriage and ordered Phiri to maintain Eunice with K850 monthly.
He noted that the marriage had experienced disputes leading to violence, hence the decision to grant divorce.
Furthermore, the court noted that Eunice had lost interest in the marriage and therefore the judge could not force the marriage to continue.
By Dr Phillan Zamchiya| The Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) released the Afro-barometer round nine survey on Zimbabwe on 15 June 2022.
The survey shows the incipient decline of the ruling Zanu PF’s leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the rise of Nelson Chamisa the leader of opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
If presidential elections were to be held at this juncture, the Zanu PF leader would lose to the CCC leader. The survey signals that 33 percent of respondents would vote for Chamisa against 30 percent for Mnangagwa.
This is only the second time that Afro-barometer survey has shown an opposition candidate leading in Zimbabwe. The first time was in 2009 when former Movement for Democratic Change (MDC T) leader Morgan Tsvangirai led over the late Zanu PF leader Robert Mugabe. That was two weeks after the consummation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) and euphoria was high.
There is a systematic pattern in the decline of Mnangagwa’s vote. In 2017, when he took over as president in a military coup, at least 38 percent of surveyed citizens expressed intentions to vote for him and five years later this has dramatically gone down to 30 percent.
On the other end, Chamisa’s vote has been growing exponentially. In 2017, only 16 percent freely expressed intentions to vote for him but this has gone up to 33 percent in 2022.
Chamisa has also taken over the lead in the late Mugabe’s home province of Mashonaland West and in the late Tsvangirai’s home province of Manicaland. Chamisa is leading by 38 percent to Mnangagwa’s 33 percent in Mashonaland West. In Manicaland, it is blood on the floor for Mnangagwa as he is trailing Chamisa by 58 percent to a mere 18 percent. Both provinces are dominated by rural constituencies considered to be the ruling party strongholds.
However, a significant number of respondents, 27 percent, refused to reveal their preference. This is not surprising in a repressive environment. A corpus of qualitative studies shows that in such authoritarian contexts, opposition supporters are more likely to fear expressing their political affiliation compared to ruling party members.
Nevertheless, part of the 27 percent can still swing the vote for Mnangagwa through programmatic delivery dividends in the next 12 months, the margin of terror (intimidation and violence) and or margin of error (through manipulating votes). The voters can also choose to vote for Chamisa through the margin of influence and the margin of affect. There can also be the role of unforeseen events that can tilt the vote for example, death, accident, scandals et cetera.
Even the social contract between Mnangagwa and the citizens is also weakening. The trust for the president has gone down from 64 percent in 2017 to a mere 51 percent in 2022. On the other end, only 41 percent of respondents approved the president’s current performance in office. Even the trust for the ruling Zanu PF was at 44 percent compared to 48 percent for the opposition.
Changing fortunes … The CCC has overtaken Zanu PF among voters, according to Afrobarometer
The people are not happy about economic mismanagement, looting of natural resources like land and minerals, soaring prices of basic goods, the rise of domestic and gender-based violence, corruption and deteriorating infrastructure. Within Zanu PF, there are 32percent who do not believe that citizens have a voice in natural resource extraction. This is a portent for Zanu PF supporters voting for another party as a way to express disgruntlement.
However, Zimbabwe seems incapable of running a democratic and legitimate election. More than a third of respondents (36 percent) do not believe that an election will be able to change the leaders who are not performing well. Only 50 percent feel completely free to choose whom to vote for. In these circumstances, without the needed political and democratising reforms, elections can be a mere ritual and fail to express the people’s will.
The survey is not all rosy for CCC. The electoral hype about generation consensus is still to yield the much-needed vote for the opposition. Younger respondents (54 percent) are far less likely to be registered as voters compared to their elders. Geographically, the voter registration is also low in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South. One hopes a special voter registration drive can happen alongside the ongoing government mobile blitz for civil registration.
Chamisa is also still fairing less than Mnangagwa in most rural dominated provinces like Mashonaland East, Masvingo, Midlands and Mashonaland Central which remains an Achilles heel. In Masvingo, voter registration among respondents was as low as 42 percent. Yet turning the tide in Masvingo, as in Manicaland, will make it easier for Chamisa to consolidate the lead.
Now a brief synopsis on how the political parties might react to Chamisa’s current lead.
For Zanu PF, this will possibly worsen intra-party contradictions within the party. New questions will be raised on whether Mnangagwa is the right man to lead Zanu PF in the 2023 election. This will worsen divisions and suspicions between vice president Constantino Chiwenga leader-follower groups and Mnangagwa’s leader-follower groups. Second, Zanu PF elites and their military allies might regroup to defend the ‘revolution’. This will mean a rise in authoritarianism to eliminate either ephemerally or collectively organised dissent ahead of 2023. A wounded Zanu PF is likely to increase the securitisation of party and state institutions, intensify efforts to infiltrate and decimate the CCC from the political map, target civil society activists and ensure their lives are ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.’
This possibility calls for continuous societal mobilisation against the chicanery. Given that citizens risk being at the mercy of the bullet, this will require regional, continental and international support.
For CCC, we are most likely going to see Chamisa consolidating his authority, vision and ideas on the party. Those who doubted his strategies will be forced to retreat by the power of science, at least for now. Second, Chamisa’s political stature will continue to grow nationally and he will remain the centre of any convergence politics.
Third, the survey gives Chamisa a psychological edge over the voter and those on the line. In this regard, it gives Chamisa more ammunition to persuade a doubting Thomas or a Benjamin the donkey. Nevertheless, Chamisa will still confront questions from his former MDC-T structures [ from the branch to the top] and from other critical stakeholders on whether it is about him or about them too.
Fourth, it places an onerous political reality at the doorstep of CCC that should take them back to the political drawing board. As the survey signals, Chamisa might win the presidential vote but he also must stop Zanu PF getting the two thirds majority in parliament it currently enjoys because in such a circumstance, it will be a herculean task for Chamisa to govern and deliver to the people not happy with the status quo.
For other opposition political parties, whether well-meaning or not, the survey shows that Zimbabwe remains a two-horse race. However, other opposition political party leaders might continue to hold on to political straws. Their first reaction is most likely to make reference to the 27 percent of respondents who refused to divulge their voting intentions. To them, this can signify the possibility of a third way. In my view, this is a self-soothing political position. Zimbabwe for now, will remain a two-horse race between CCC and Zanu PF. A third way can only emerge once Zanu PF is dislodged from power. This is because Zanu PF will not survive a day without state power given the conflation of the state and the party from the centre to the periphery.
So, the smaller opposition parties are likely to suffer defections to either CCC or Zanu PF ahead of the 2023 general election.
The Nipsey Hussle murder trial began Wednesday, June 15, with the jury hearing opening statements.
The shooter, Eric Holder has been charged with Hussle’s death. He was indicted on one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Nipsey Hussle murder trial begins as jury hears how the rapper was shot
‘It was a devastating attack ….a very personal attack,’ Deputy District Attorney John McKinney told the jury of nine women and three men in his opening statement at the trial of aspiring rapper Eric Holder, 32, the man accused of using two guns to shoot Hussle at least 10 times in March 2019.
Holder, who grew up in tough south LA where both he and Hussle were recruited by the Rollin’ 60s gang, also known as the Neighborhood Crips, is charged with one count of murder, two of attempted murder, two of assault with a firearm and one of possession of a firearm by a felon. He faces up to life in prison if convicted as charged. He has pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution began by describing Hussle as a father, a son, comparing him in sharp contrast to Holder.
“The defendant, in this case, was also an aspiring rapper – not nearly as successful, not nearly as respected and the two didn’t really have a lot in common,” McKinney told the jury. “They were two men whose arcs in life were bending in two different directions. The one thing they did have in common was their roots.”
Calling the star’s killing a ‘premeditated and deliberate’ murder, McKinney said Hussle was ‘shot from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head,’ after accusing fellow gang-member Holder of being a ‘snitch.’
Just before firing, he added, Holder told Hussle. ‘You’re through,’ and when the first shot hit him, the Grammy-winning hip hopper yelled, ‘You got me.’
Witnesses, including the woman who drove Holder from the scene, are expected to describe a conversation between Holder and Hussle that apparently had to do with rumors about “snitching,” before Holder allegedly fatally shot Hussle 10 times.
Following that conversation, McKinney said Holder asked the woman who was driving the car to circle behind the parking lot, before they return to the scene where he fatally shot Hussle 10 times.
Videos presented in the courtroom will show the moments that Holder allegedly fired at Hussle.
“There’s a range of consequences for people who snitch,” McKinney said. “No gang member wants to be considered a snitch.”
L.A. County Deputy Public Defender Aaron Jansen said Wednesday in his opening statement that his client was Hussle’s killer.
However, he told the jury that it was Holder’s passionate response to the “snitching” accusations against Hussle and was not premeditated.
“This is a case about the heat of passion,” said Jansen. “The provocative act in this case was that Nipsey Hussle made an accusation against Mr. Holder that he was a snitch.”
Jansen said that the first-degree charge for premeditated murder should instead be “voluntary manslaughter.”
Hussle, the grammy-winning rapper whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, was gunned down in April 2019 outside of his clothing store in South Los Angeles.
Hussle was standing in a parking lot when Holder allegedly approached and shot him multiple times and left two other people wounded, police said. Hussle was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The coroner determined the rapper died from gunshot wounds to the head and torso, ruling the manner of death a homicide.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said the slaying stemmed more from a personal dispute between the two men, though Holder is believed to have been involved in gang activity.
The rapper was an anti-violence advocate who had a meeting planned with the city’s police chief and the president of the police commission to discuss ways he could help prevent children from getting involved in gangs.
He was a father of two, leaving behind daughter Emani, 13 and son Kross, 5 – from his relationships with Tanisha Foster and Lauren London, respectively.
His estate was appraised at $4.1million after his death.
THERE was drama last Friday at a bakery in Graniteside, Harare, when a married woman clashed with her husband after parking her vehicle at the complex and then leaving in the company of someone believed to be her lover.
Sinikhiwe Phiri-Machanja (42) left her Toyota (registration number withheld) parked at the complex, which houses a leading fast food outlet, on Thursday evening. She was driven out of the premises by Timothy Nyoni.
The two returned at 0115hours, at least, according to the booking recorded by security guards.
Sinikhiwe’s husband, George Machanja, (48) following a tip off, visited the premises and confronted security guards asking why his wife had permission to park her vehicle there.
This caused an altercation which ended in the hands of management.
Sinikhiwe found her car keys in the hands of George, upon her return, and she lodged a police report against him. Timothy told H-Metro he repairs Sinikhiwe’s vehicle.
But, on the day in question, he spent the better part of the night in Cranborne counselling the latter on her marital challenges. He denied allegations that he is in love with Sinikhiwe.
“She was introduced to me by one, Amai July, and she told me that she has been having some differences with her husband and wanted me to help her.
“Akanditi haana hama irimuHarare and on that day I drove her to Cranborne to consult a prophetess about the best way to solve her marital issues.
“We took time there and returned at midnight and found that her husband had taken the car keys. She has since collected her vehicle, after the intervention of our managers. I never dated her as alleged,” said Timothy.
Sinikhiwe promised to give her side of the story only after she was told the identity of the person who took the matter to the media.
“I will be able to give my comment if you tell me who exactly told H-Metro about this matter,” said Sinikhiwe.
George confirmed causing a stir at the premises where he recorded a video of Sinikhiwe’s car parked and his meeting with management over Timothy’s conduct.
“I was informed that Timothy was dating my wife so someone tipped me that the two were meeting at the bakery to go out together,” said George.
“She left home without explaining where she was going and I rushed to the rendezvous where I found Sinikhiwe’s car parked.
“I confronted security guards and coincidentally Sinikhiwe had left the car unlocked with keys inside.
“I took the keys, locked the car and left only to return around 2am on Friday.
“They found the car locked and she lodged a police report and the matter reached Timothy’s management and we later agreed to remove the car.
“Sinikhiwe has been cheating on me and, upon confronting her over where she had gone with Timothy, she said they were consulting a prophet. Anoenda kumuporofita nemurume wemunhu husiku kumba asinakutaura kana ndimiwo munozviwona sei? We are married – legally, only to be abused like this because she found a job at Envision Zimbabwe Women’s Trust this March.
“She has defiled our bed and brought shame to the family with such behaviour,” said George. H Metro
ZCCM-IH hires South African bank Rothschild & Co
…to review Mopani Copper Mines economic strategy
By a correspondent
ZCCM-IH has hired South African investment bank Rothschild & Co to help it “unlock” the potential of the state-owned Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) in a deal shrouded in mystery.
It is not known how much ZCCM-IH will pay the South African company that normally charges millions of dollars for such consultancy, nor is it known how Rothschild was ´handpicked´ for the job at the expense of local experts.
A statement from ZCCM states that the company, “engaged an international investment bank (Rothschild & Co) to assist ZCCM-IH with the strategic review of MCM plc to ensure its sustainability and continued development.” Details remain vague.
Zambia recently acquired a stake in MCM and KCM in order to help the country earn more money in foreign currency, as the price of copper and cobalt in London shoot near to the milestone US$10,000 mark per ton in the near future under the previous administration of the PF.
But the first order of business, against sound expert advice from the markets has been to try and sell of MCM and KCM to the chagrin of many right-thinking Zambians.
Of the most vocal critics of the UPND governments inclination to sell of the mines have been Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, Socialist Party President Fred Mmembe and Sean Tembo.
The trio, among many believe that government could re-invest in the mines and own them totally on behalf of Zambians without necessarily selling them off
But the major concern following the engagement of Rothchild &Co from many pundits is:
• How much the South African bank is being paid
• Why a Zambian banking firm or experts were not hired?
• Why was a tender not advertised in the local media?
• What are the terms and references under the engagement agreement?
This is one of the many business transactions President Hakainde Hichilema´s government has committed Zambians to without an “open and public” tender in less than ten months.
Others include the fertiliser scam deal given to Alpha Commodities belonging to the husband of Chushi Kasanda, Maurice Jangula a Minister of Information and the US$ 107 million ZESCO pole deal awarded to South Africa and Zimbabwe amidst protests and reports to the ACC.
Even though President Hichilema said he wanted to empower Zambians in business, it is increasingly appearing that his word does can’t march his actions.
Let us go back in time and look at what happened during the privatization of our mines. Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) was sold in 1998 for a total price of US$627million, which was divided into 7 sections which included, the Konkola Copper mine was $25million, Kansanshi Mine was $28million, Luanshya mine was $35million, Chibuluma mine was $20million and others.
Some Rothschild experts told lies at the time that the life of the mine was only 20 years but 25 years down the line, some very bad Zambians were duped of $1.1Billion worth of copper over the same mine to people that bought it for half the price!
24 years ago, the price of our copper had dropped from $2,300/ton in 1997 to about $1,500/ton in 1998 and remained at that level till 2003. These same experts told lies that the Government of Zambia was subsidizing the mines by approximately $ 1 million per day and that this was too expensive to run the mines just so that they could justify the looting.
No one ever did an operation audit independent of these people that were prospecting to buy the mines to verify these figures, but the alarm caused by their reports was enough for those tasked to sell the mines to get into overdrive with the sale. They scorched the Earth with their lies.
The carnage caused in the mines and the subsequent destruction of our assets that came with it was caused by NM Rothschild & Sons and Clifford Chance because it was their ZCCM Privatization Plan that was used to destroy the Copperbelt.
So, it was shocking to learn that ZCCM-IH which was seeking a financial adviser to restructure Mopani and help find a new external investor for the mining complex, settled for the same people that gave us wrong advice.
These are the same people whose report in 1998 told you that the mine was worthless and in 25 years (2023) the copper will be finished, now they have to come back and will give us Paid advice over a mine we have already lost $1.1 billion to their thieving relatives at Glencore, that we can make money up to 2030?
What is going on here? #i_wish_i_had_more_time_to_write
PROTESTING NHCC and National Museums Board workers intend to force the closure of Victoria Falls to press for implementation of the 2022 improved conditions of service.
And the University of Zambia and Allied Workers Union (UNZAAWU) has accused Ministry of Tourism permanent secretary Evans Muhanga of not being keen to achieve improved conditions of service for workers under his ministry.
According to a National Heritage Conservation Commission worker who spoke on condition of anonymity the workers will carry placards and block the entrance to Zambia’s only World Heritage Site inscribed by UNESCO in 1989.
“Come tomorrow and you will find us here and I can tell you that this will not be a good image for Zambia because the whole world will see that someone is no doing his job correctly,” the worker said. “All we need is what was given to us through a bargaining unit. We are not demanding for things that are not yet agreed on, is that wrong? And when we do this I can tell you that no tourist will enter the falls. They will run to Zimbabwe.”
The iconic waterfall has never been closed to the public before.
According to a 2022 collective agreement REF: NHCC/101/05/1 sent to the Labour Commissioner on May 19 and signed by Monday Mungaila for NHCC management and Moonga Mupuma who is the University of Zambia and Allied Workers Union general secretary, the bargaining unit concluded the negotiations for the 2022 collective agreement for NHCC unionised employees on April 26 at Choma Museum Craft Centre.
“The specific conditions which were reviewed include the following: salary increment of K1,009.00 had been awarded to all employees per month with effect from 1st January 2022; repatriation allowance for normal retirement, early retirement, medical discharge was increased to K15,000 across the board,” the agreement reads in part.
As for National Museums workers, the conditions of service for 2022 were adjusted upwards by K920 across the board at a bargaining unit meeting held from May 26 to 27 and the memorandum of understanding was signed by National Museums Board (NMB) acting director general George Mudenda while UNZAAWU president Gasi Giancarlo signed for unionised workers.
The memorandum of understanding adds that non-salary related allowances would be with effect from June 1, 2022.
And in a press statement read by Giancarlo at the Victoria Falls, Mupuma said unionised workers under NHCC and the NMB would jointly begin a sit-in-protest today.
He expressed displeasure that Muhanga who gave a go ahead for the salary negotiations on March 30 was now U-turning over the implementation of the same.
“It took chest-breaking arguments with the current permanent secretary Evans Muhanga for him to give a directive on 30th March, 2022 for negotiations in the two institutions to commence. Surprisingly in a move that has taken our members completely aback the same permanent secretary who gave a go ahead for the negotiations has U-turned after the negotiations have been concluded claiming he has no authority to allow implementation of the agreements of the bargaining unit because there are no management boards in place,” Mupuma said.
He said the union has noted that the absence of the management boards in NHCC and NMB is now being used by Muhanga to “perpetuate infringements of our rights to negotiate for our members contrary to labour laws”.
Mupuma further noted that there are other institutions that have no management boards but are having their improved conditions of service implemented.
“Could it be that our permanent secretary is not keen to achieve improvement of conditions of service for workers under his ministry? Secondly we would like to know what is causing the delay in forming the two boards given that other institutions have had their boards announced… because of the situation stated above our members at both NHCC and NMB have resolved to stage a sit-in-protest on Wednesday 15th June to press for the following: immediate implementation of the 2022 collective agreement and release of information regarding the installation of the respective institutions management boards,” said Mupuma.
Amber Heard has admitted to still loving her ex-husband Johnny Depp while saying she is afraid of potentially being sued again by him.
Depp sued Heard for $50 million, alleging she defamed him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote about her experience with domestic violence, though he was not mentioned by name.
She counter-sued him for $100 million and they both were found liable for defamation, though the jury awarded $8.5m damages to Depp.
Heard, 36, sat down for an interview with the Today show’s Savannah Guthrie, which was taped on Thursday and aired in part on Wednesday morning, June 15, it will be shown in full on Dateline on Friday.
It is Heard’s first interview since the high-profile defamation trial between her and Depp.
The actress said “yeah, absolutely” when Gutherie asked her if, after everything, as she said in court during their defamation trial, she “still has love” for Depp.
“I love him. I loved him with all my heart,” Heard said.
“And I tried the best I could to make a deeply broken relationship work and I couldn’t.”
“I have no bad feelings or ill will towards him at all,” she added.
“I know that might be hard to understand or it might be really easy to understand if you’ve just ever loved anyone.”
In part one of the interview which aired Tuesday June 14, Heard said she believed “the vast majority of this trial was played out on social media” and spoke of the vitriol directed at her Depp’s fans.
She reflected more on the public perception about her in the segment Wednesday, after Gutherie asked Heard about a text in which Depp promised “total global humiliation” for her.
“I’m not a good victim, I get it,” she said. “I’m not a likeable victim, I’m not a perfect victim. But when I testified I asked the jury to see me and hear his own words which is a promise to do this.”
Heard told Guthrie she “took for granted what I assumed was my right to speak” and now is nervous to speak out.
“I’m scared that no matter what I do, no matter what I say or how I say it, every step that I take will present another opportunity for this sort of silencing,” Heard said in response to Guthrie asking if she had concerns that Depp could sue her again in the future. “Which is what I guess a defamation lawsuit is meant to do – to take your voice.”
When grilled by Guthrie about audio clips that were played during the six-week trial in which the actress could be heard admitting to being physically abusive towards Depp, Heard insisted that she only ever ‘responded to [physical violence]’ but that she ‘never instigated it’.
‘I never had to instigate it, I responded to it,’ she claimed. ‘When you’re living in violence and it becomes normal – as I testified to – you have to adapt.’
Heard added that, while she ‘has so much regret’ over the ‘horrible’ and ‘ugly’ things she did and said to Depp, she was only acting as a ‘person in extreme emotional, psychological, and physical distress’ who felt that their ‘life was at risk’.
‘I know much has been made of these audio tapes,’ she said. ‘They were first leaked online after being edited. What you would hear in these clips [was] not evidence of what was happening, it was evidence of a negotiation, of how to talk about that with your abuser.’
She continued: ‘As I testified on the stand about it. When your life is at risk, not only will you take the blame for things that you shouldn’t take the blame for, but when you are in an abusive dynamic – psychologically, emotionally, and physically – you don’t have the resources or the luxury of saying, “Hey this is black and white.”
‘Because it is anything but when you are living in it.’
As for the “Aquaman” star’s future, she said her major focus will now be to her one-year-old daughter.
Government spending is good for the economy but in our case the debt crisis complicates everything. The past decade, government spending was not driven by increased revenue collection but by heavy borrowing.
How was this a problem? Ideally government’s role is to create an enabling environment for the private sector to flourish. Heavy borrowing over the past decade negatively affected the private sector and left us in a situation where revenue remained low while debt grew to unsustainable levels. Government borrowed heavily on the domestic market pushing total domestic debt to K189.7 billion as of 2021. Heavy domestic borrowing crowded out the private sector. What this means is that banks prefer lending to government than individuals, this results in high interest rates and the private sector finding it difficult to borrow to invest in expanding their businesses. This meant that while government was spending heavily on roads, bridges, airports, schools and health facilities- the private sector could not fully utilise these investments to grow their businesses because they could not borrow from banks as required. In the end since the private sector was not growing as required, government was also affected as it could not collect more revenue and create more jobs. Since revenue remained low, government struggled to pay private players that provided goods and services leading to domestic arrears growing to K46.9 billion as of 2021. Hence, the private sector did not only struggle to borrow from banks but some of those who provided goods and services to government were not paid. The end result was foreign debt, domestic debt and arrears were all increasing while government revenue remained low.
How do we resolve this? Heavy borrowing to finance increased government expenditure isn’t the solution. Having concluded our debt sustainability assessment which is essential in debt restructuring discussions with creditors commencing this week, it is important that we don’t go out of the way and borrow heavily to a level where the debt sustainability assessment report becomes useless. It is inevitable for government to manage spending during this period so that once our debt is restructured we can increase spending due to funds released from reduced debt service outlays. This will help us dismantle debt and put money back into the economy without borrowing heavily. Debt restructuring will also reduce government domestic borrowing and allow the private sector to borrow at reduced rates. Debt restructuring and subsequent IMF deal will attract capital inflow (more dollars into the economy) thereby strengthening the kwacha. A strong kwacha will reduce the cost of imported inputs needed for production like fertiliser, fuel and machinery. This will present three benefits to the private sector: (i) increased access to credit at lower rates needed to expand production, (ii) reduced cost of production as a result of strong kwacha (iii) increased government spending through dismantling of domestic arrears and implementation of projects. This is key in supporting private sector production.
In conclusion, low government spending is temporal but key in ensuring that we don’t worsen the economic challenges we are facing. Balance and sustainability are key.
It would be naïve to ignore the fact that Fraser’s exposé might be part of the factional fights within the ANC; that he has been used to undermine Ramaphosa in the hope of snuffing him out of the race. The criminal charges laid by Arthur Fraser against President Cyril Ramaphosa may have a serious negative impact on him.
At the moment, the road to the December elective conference seems a bit shaky for the Thumamina faction. As we stand, the President, who is the man behind the faction, is skating on thin ice as calls for him to step down are gaining traction. Meanwhile, the RET faction seem to be fighting tooth and nail to have Ramaphosa removed from office. If Ramaphosa gets removed, that may be the end of his faction and should ANC win the 2024 elections, the RET forces will take over and rule the country.
A diehard supporter of Ramaphosa, Goolam, has taken to Twitter to share a list of leaders who may succeed Ramaphosa if he is removed from Presidency. “If you don’t support President Cyril Ramaphosa then you will end up with this. Yes, you will vote for someone else in 2024, but if the criminal RET wins the 2022 ANC elective conference they will remove Ramaphosa and you will have Ace Magashule as president”, Goolam said. “I am talking about the period December 2022 to May 2024, ANC will still be in power. Impossible for any other party to be in government”, Goolam adds.
In my opinion, if this list gets in power, the process of removing the whole ANC from power will be final. It’s not many citizens who would want to be governed by the people on that list. Yes, they may be leading after the December elective conference, but come 2024, no one would want anything to do with the ruling party. That slate scares me, if those guys come to power it’s history for South Africa, they might end up looting this country to the bones.
![ON PRIORITIES and ZAMBIA’s GOVERNANCE [The Curious Case of Virgins and Debt Restructuring]- Dr Canisius BANDA](https://i0.wp.com/zambianobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/14448829_1069771456476282_8157790486922958498_n.jpg?fit=600%2C350&ssl=1 "ON PRIORITIES and ZAMBIA’s GOVERNANCE [The Curious Case of Virgins and Debt Restructuring]- Dr Canisius BANDA")
