“Zambia nationalised the copper mines, which supplied 90% of its exports, in the early 1970s. It ended up hiring back the multinational copper companies to manage them,” the ANC said.

As international copper prices fell, the companies enjoyed guaranteed management fees while the State had to bear the losses to the mines, the ANC added.

The ANC Youth League’s leader Julius Malema has repeatedly called for the nationalisation of SA’s mines while President Jacob Zuma has made it clear that nationalisation was not on the cards.

However, the ruling party said debate on the nationalisation of mines was “vexed” by the fact that nationalisation took many different forms.

“We need to ensure that proposals become more specific about who would end up owning the assets, who would manage them, and with what purpose, what would be the costs to the fiscus and the economy, and what would be the risks of failure as well as the benefits of success.”

The nationalisation mines will be discussed at the ANC’s national general conference in September.

Monetary policy

On monetary policy, the ANC said debates remained as to whether monetary policy had been sufficiently supportive of equitable growth.

Specific debates included whether interest rates were too high, stalling investment and consumption.

“It is true that both nominal and real interest rates are higher than in the global North so what is the impact on the economy, employment creation and equity?”

Another debate centred around the issue that rates were high to target inflation.

“This policy requires the Reserve Bank to use its policy instruments – mostly the interest rate – to keep inflation within the 3% to 6% band set by the National Treasury.

“Arguments for inflation targeting are that it stops the Reserve Bank from holding down inflation at any cost, while signalling private investors that inflation will be controlled.”

The ANC said critics had argued that inflation targeting inherently prioritised inflation over equitable development and employment creation, in contrast to the ruling party’s stated aims.

It also questioned whether the state should intervene to stabilise or reduce capital inflows.

“Short-term capital inflows permit increased and lower-cost imports, both for consumption and investment.”

The consumer goods imported included low-cost clothing, petrol and food as well as a significant share of luxuries, especially cars.

Investment goods included inputs for the infrastructure build programme.

“In either case, the capital inflows help sustain imports at a lower cost, holding down inflation … but they also push up the value of the rand, which makes exports more expensive.”

In addition, the increase in imports constrained demand for local production, and consequently employment creation, the ANC added.

- SAPA

Luhila said from Lagos on Wednesday that there is no excuse for Zanaco to fail to qualify for the Confederations Cup group stage.

Zanaco thrashed Enyimba 4-0 in Lusaka on July 17.

“It will not be easy for Enyimba to beat Zanaco 5-0. President Banda and the 11 million Zambians are expecting nothing but victory. When the boys will be on the pitch they will be representing Zambia and not Zanaco,” said Luhila, who led embassy staff to welcome Zanaco on Wednesday.

Luhila said he is looking forward to seeing Zanaco being crowned Confederations Cup champions.

He said it is time Zambian teams made a mark in African club football.

Enyimba coach Felix Ermodi says the match against Zanaco looks insurmountable but he is confident the Nigerian champions will come out smiling.

Emordi said in an interview from Aba yesterday that his team is not new to this kind of situation, citing the 6–1 defeat to Egyptian side Ismaili before winning the 2004 Champions League.

“We in Enyimba have erased the word impossibility from our vocabulary long time ago this philosophy has seen us through…this match against Zanaco cannot be an exception.”

www.kickoff.com

In a press release made available to the Watchdog and signed by MISA national Director Sipo Kapumba, Kabwe has since been replaced by Joseph Mkandawire one of the board members.

“In view of the finding raised in the final MISA Zambia audit report for the year ended 31st March 2010, and following a meeting held between the MISA Zambia Trustees and the MISA Zambia National Governing Council (NGC), at the MISA Zambia Secretariat on Friday, 30th July 2010, a decision to suspend Mr. Henry Kabwe as Chairperson of the MISA Zambia forthwith has been endorsed”, said the statement from Kapumba.

“The NGC has invoked the powers vested in it by Article 7.6 of the MISA Zambia Constitution, which states: “The NGC in best interest of MISA Zambia shall have the power to suspend any paid up member, pending investigations by an ad hoc committee whose final recommendations shall be considered and approved by the AGM or Extra-Ordinary General Meeting.”

“The NGC has further appointed Mr. Joseph Brown Mkandawire, who is the incumbent Chairperson for Print Media, to act as Chairperson of MISA Zambia until the next AGM,” read the statement.

Vice president Kunda

Vice president George Kunda has maintained that the media in Zambia need statutory media regulation.

Mr. Kunda has noted that the standards of journalism in the country have continued to deteriorate.

He says the position of the government is that the media should be regulated through a statutory regulation.

During the vice presidents question time in parliament this morning, Mr. Kunda observed that some outlets of the media in the country have continued to be unethical.

He added that if the government comes up with the statutory regulation, a larger percentage will be borrowed from the Fringila consensus.

The vice president further said that wide extensive consultation will be made from the media in coming up with the statutory regulation of the media.

QFM

Steven Lungu is the current president of LAZ. LAZ is tough on erring members

Edgar Lungu, the lawyer who has been representing the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) – Zambia has been barred from practicing law in Zambia.

According to a notice dated 23rd July, 2010,  and signed by Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) honorary secretary Musa Mwenya, Lungu of Messrs Andrea Masiye and company has been barred from appearing in any court or tribunal.

The notice is copied to the Chief Justice, Supreme Court, High Court, all constitutional tribunals and all lawyers in Zambia.

The decision by LAZ was taken following a complaint that Lungu misapprorpiated K160 million belonging to his client.

A Mrs Wendy Kanyanta won the money as terminal benefits from her former employers Lafarge cement through a court action. She was represented by lungu in Court.

Santosh Paudel, Kiran Rijal, Sandhya Lamsal, Radha Paudel, Buddi Sapkota, Bikas Bishowkarma, Rajendra Rijal, Bhoj Raj Devkota and Rewati Prasad Naharki and two other students were reported missing by their families last week. Their kin had requested foreign ministry to help find their whereabouts, as they had not contacted their families here in Nepal.

In the response MoFA had written to Nepali embassy in Egypt to gather information on the disappeared students.

When told that the students had landed in a Lusaka jail, MoFA wrote a letter to Zambian authorities, requesting them to ensure their release and safe return.

The students were bound for South Africa through illegal channels. Four of the 11 stranded in Zambia were going directly from Nepal, whereas the remaining had been studying in the UK. “The students were lured by a manpower agent with attractive employment opportunities in South Africa,” MoFA source told THT.

According to the students’ kin, an agent named Santosh was taking them to South Africa. His real identity is not known. Students’ families had told MoFA that they had taken Dubai-Kenya-Tanzania-Zambia route.

Himalayan News Service

And President Banda says Zambia and Malawi should take full advantage of opportunities such as agriculture and commercial shows to promote trade and investment in the region.

Professor Wa Mutharika said Zambia belongs to all Zambians who should contribute to the development of the country as opposed to always criticising the government.

He was speaking last night during a state banquet hosted in his honour by his Zambian counterpart at Hotel Intercontinental in Lusaka.
Professor Wa Mutharika is in the country to officiate at the 84th Zambia Agriculture and Commercial Show, whose theme is Sustainable Development.
He challenged civil society organisations to seek opportunities which would move the nation forward instead of being critical of President Banda’s administration.

Prof Wa Mutharika said the future of Zambia and Malawi is tied together and that it is important for the two governments to create opportunities for both countries to benefit.

He said his leadership has always been committed to building stronger relations between the two countries.
President Wa Mutharika reaffirmed his government’s willingness to continue working towards closure ties and political development between the two countries.
He said Zambia is his second home because he lived in Lusaka and two of his children were born here.

Mr Banda said some Malawian companies participating in this year’s show will foster trade relations between the two countries, which have been low despite the existing warm political ties.

Mr Banda said the presence of Prof Wa Mutharika underscores the importance Malawi attaches to the cordial relations between the two countries.
He said the history of friendship and mutual understanding between the two countries is solid because it is founded on a common cultural and ethnic heritage.

President Banda said the agriculture show is an important annual event which not only provides a platform to showcase Zambia’s products but also affords equal opportunity to foreign participating firms to promote their products on the Zambian market.

Mr Banda said this year’s event is happening in special circumstances as the country and the peasant farming community is reaping another bumper harvest of the staple food – maize.

He said the abundant crop of maize will help Zambia strengthen the country’s food security which has, for the past few years, captured the attention of the international community.

“As a good neighbour, we are not indifferent to what you are doing in Malawi. We have, therefore, taken a leaf from your success in agriculture,” President Banda said.

He said with statistics by the food and agriculture organisation showing that over one million people go hungry each year the focus on investment in agriculture and food production is something worth noting.

Mr Banda also commended his Malawian counterpart for his commitment and exemplary leadership in steering the African Union’s vision.

“We have been able to attain these achievements due to the spirit of understanding, compromise and reconciliation that has guided our relations and interactions. I am confident that the same spirit will characterise our future relations,” he said.

Mr Banda said the challenges that exist between the two countries are not insurmountable if efforts and resources are harmoniously put behind the countries’ development process.

“I have every confidence that we can achieve the desired outcome of mutual economic growth and development,” he said.

Prof Wa Mutharika arrived in the country yesterday to a thunderous welcome.
President Banda and First Lady Thandiwe received the Malawian President who arrived shortly after 15:00 hours at Lusaka International Airport.

A huge crowd waving Zambian and Malawian flags welcomed President wa Mutharika and his wife, Callista. Immediately after arrival, President Wa Mutharika was accorded a 21-gun salute as the national anthems of the two countries were being played one after the other.

The Malawian President later inspected a guard of honour mounted by the Second Battalion of the Zambia Army Regiment.

President Banda then led his Malawian counterpart to meet Cabinet ministers and other senior government and party officials who were present.
The two leaders watched some traditional dancing before they left together.

Daily Mail

KK with Chissano

FORMER Zambian president Dr Kenneth Kaunda had Grahamstown school leaders eating out of the palm of his hand yesterday when he picked up a guitar and sang a love song about his wife Betty.

Flanked by former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano – who does not appear to have been blessed with the Madiba Jive – the 86-year-old told the Dispatch he had been happily married for the past 63 years.
Although Kaunda asked Chissano to dance with him while he strummed the guitar and sang, it appeared the former Mozambican leader was blessed with two left feet and hands made of lead, so he stood to one side, smiling. Kaunda later thanked the clapping crowd for giving him “a chance to misbehave”.
Both former presidents were i nvited to the City of Saints by the fledgling Pan African Youth Dialogue . Chatting to all and sundry – between shaking hands and posing for pictures – the two elders employed contrasting styles in dealing with school and university students as well as academics .
Shaking hands the traditional South African way, a laughing Kaunda said “one, two, three” every time he pressed flesh – much to the amusement of onlookers.
The two leaders kicked off the morning yesterday giving school leaders and budding Upstart community newspaper reporters a crash course in the history of both their countries before answering questions from the eager youngsters.
Both men explained how they rose from humble beginnings to lead their respective countries.
Inspired by Mahatma Ghandi, Kaunda adopted an approach of passive resistance while Chissano and his Mozambican comrades took up arms against the Portuguese.
Questioned by Nathaniel Nyaluza student Dumisani Payi about the future of the African continent, both former presidents expressed faith that things looked bright.
They said it was about time a United States of Africa was formed to address problems the continent faced.
“Africa has rich resources but we have been impoverished by colonialism and its policies of divide and rule,” Chissano explained.
“People feel poverty when they are poor, but as soon as they have resources they forget about it.”
Payi later described his interaction with the two former leaders as “very special”, saying he was “very inspired by what they went through … it makes me want to reach for the stars”.
Upstart head Shireen Badat said the experience helped tomorrow’s leaders realise “they are part of one African continent”.
Speaking to the Dispatch – while he patiently waited to address the Rhodes University student representative council, foreign students and other groups – Kaunda attributed his extraordinary endurance to a strict vegetarian diet.
“I stopped taking meat, chicken and eggs in 1953 and stopped fish in 1968 … that is my secret.”
A caterer said Kaunda’s lunch order consisted of “raw vegetables, whole- wheat bread, yoghurts, cheese and, specifically, macadamia nuts, dried fruit and 100 percent apple juice”.
After spending hours with the students the two men went to a local B&B for a few hours’ rest before meeting Mayor Vumile Lwana.
They then attended a panel discussion which included planning commission czar Trevor Manuel and Eastern Cape premier Noxolo Kieviet.

Dispatch Online