Thursday, March 28, 2024

Felix Mutati denies purchasing a plot worth K2.8 billion

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Former Commerce minister Felix Mutati
Former Commerce minister Felix Mutati

Former Commerce Minister Felix Mutati has denied purchasing a plot worth K2.8 billion and asked the Times of Zambia to seek more details on the matter before he could clarify.

“Try to get more details for me because I am not aware about that plot or farm. Get details and then I can comment,” Mr Mutati said.

Mr Mutati was reacting to President Micheal Sata’s accusation. President Sata disclosed that Mr. Mutati had acquired land worth K2.8 billion and declared that the “real” fight against corruption has just started.

The president said more corrupt activities committed during the MMD reign would be exposed, especially after Mutembo Nchito is sworn-in as Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
Speaking on arrival at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport from South Africa yesterday, the president said the Government had no reason to relent and wondered how a former Cabinet minister could afford to procure land at K2.8 billion.

President Sata said he would soon swear in Mr Nchito who would “go for them, especially that he knew them well.”?“Very soon, I am going to swear in Mutembo Nchtito who knows them better.
He will sort them out including Dora Siliya. She must recover quickly,” Mr Sata said.

President Sata said the recent recovery of money underground provided a fertile ground for more intense investigations.

“We have not started. If they start burying money, we are going to dig all the money they have buried down. How can you expect a former minister of Commerce to buy a plot for K2.8 billion? Don’t worry this is just the beginning,” President Sata said.

[Times of Zambia]

57 COMMENTS

    • Zambia is very rich that is one thing we can not dispute but whether or not a minister who has served for many years can afford to buy a plot worth k2.8b is another issue.firstly , we need to establish the minister’s savings relative to his remuneration and other perks,any borrowing one could have made( and if also if the same has since been liquidated)?if these do not add up then ostensibly we can safely say that the source of money was questionable and would require qualified investigative units of Government to ascertain legitimacy of the funds.For instance, if a minister served for 20  years and his take home pay was k15m , he would have  on paper close to k3.6b .To part away with k2.8b for a plot leaves much to be desired.

  1. Yawn, next up is Hon Charles Muteteka, and then any other future MMD aspring presidential candidate.

    Next line of action, Police Summon Mutati. Then Police warn and Caution Mutati

    Again I repeat in boldness

    Do investigation quietly, gather all eveidence and then anounce to the media that so and so is charged with this case and he will appear in court tomorrow. That is what we want to hear, please

  2. were are the jobs which you promised us? The benefits of investigations on former leaders are not tricling down to the poor.

  3. Who qualified Sata to comment on the competency of learned lawyers?
    For all we know Sata was an incompetent constable who was arresting freedom fighters in colonial days and he has not grown any wiser, he is now running the country down. He has no clue about law and does not even deserve to be listened to.,,,, This Old man is sick.. he needs proper medication…….SATA IS AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF ZAMBIA…AND HIS NONEDUCATIONAL PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF ZED…THIS OLD MAN IS DULL…..NOW IT IS MUTATI………YOU OLD MAN  YOU ARE STU..PID

  4. Felix do not worry.The man wasnt talking about you. The former Minsiter of Commerce he was reffering to is the one who served in the UNIP administration in 1967. Have you forgotten that he has gone to the archives in everything? And so the amount is 2.8billion shillings.. LOL

  5. this man is mad,he is so excited for nothing,he seems to have forgoten that he is in that position to better the economy not the nonsense which he is championing.let investigating wings take up that fight.on the other hand you want to pursue mutati whilst letting mahtani who had charges before the courts go off the hook.

  6. If indeed Mutati has nothing to hide then let the investigations clear him.
    I’m not a PF or Sata Supporter but the grapevine suggests Mutati,Dora and the Banda children have a lot of properties acquired dubiously.
    Sata himself failed to declare all his wealth at the last pre-election declaration so again he must lead by example too and tell us how he managed to own half of Avondale.

  7. We have seen many civil servants who have acquired property not from their salary but from the genuine savings they make whenever they go on trips, now tell me don’t ministers recieve allowances when they are on trips. Are we not going back to UNIP days where everyone was expected to live in mud brick houses for fear of being questioned where they got the money to build proper house? I lived in such a house but when I got employed I started saving so that I did not live in such a house any more. Moreover, thanks to MMD for reintroducing democracy which ushered in new thinking in people and now everyone is building and are doing one or two things to sustain themselves.

  8. To me this presidency is becoming too much boring and disgusting.i had hoped they will be a little bit of change .alas. it is like everyday our patient is getting worse….and therefore i have given up.waiting for mother zambia s fate.

  9. What does the president mean when he says Nchito knows them well? That statement suggests a different fight not that of corruption but vindictiveness. The president should avoid making such public statements. Maybe when he is with his cabinet or PF leaders he can not in public like that. Well we shall wait for Mutati to be brought before court and clear himself. One thing I know though is Mutati as an individual and as a family have been in the money making business for long. If one is from the copperbelt they will know that Mutati is a name associated with wealth such K2.8 billion is not money to talk about. But anyway if there is evidence of illegality put him behind bars after all even rich people do steal.

  10. There is noyhing new about SATA,that ia what the man has been. and you went ahead and voted for him despite having more credible people around. Shame on you and Ka Fred Mmembe’s Postnewspapers,you are even ashamed of reporting the ilegalities your kaponya president has been committing from the time he took over power.

  11. @ Joe – there is nothing wrong in people saving money and building houses, there is nothing wrong in people working hard and earn a comfortable living – and I am sure if your record is straight now one will follow you.
    However, there is something wrong to steal and use the name of working hard as an excuse. When you are entrusted with public resources and you start living beyond your means to an extent that when we add up all your savings, allowances, salaries, etc, you still cant buy a plot of K2billion and yet you have one then we get concerned. You need to explain how that has happened. This is a right thing to do!! Let the former Minister of Commerce be investigated and cleared of this allegation.

  12. Find out how much KCM was giving Mutati into his overseas account on a monthly basis!! This nthug must be locked up for deluding Zambians that he was clean! He also wrote mines department to give an Indian a prospecting  or mining licence without going through normal procedures.

  13. The President can be public relations nightmare at times, this is the reason why people will always cry “witchhunt” if the Sata carries on carelessly yapping like that in public…you need to put in a more sustainable more systemic robust method of fighting corruption not only in the former regime but in all sectors of the economy. The Director of Public Prosecution is not the president’s personal bagman, he works for the people of Zambia.

  14. The Chief Constable cum Chief Labour officer cum President of Zambia is using police tactics. This is what the police do. They float an accusation and state that ‘we have arrested a 39 year old man on suspicion of r a p e .’ They have no evidence but they hope that other victims will turn up and say, ‘Yeh, me too!’ This is what President Sata is doing. He floats the charge in public and hopes that thius will encourage people to whistle blow and come up with evidence. Funny thing is that all Presidents have done a bit of this in the first year of their reign, but they soon learn to keep quiet. Kaunda vs Lenshina, Chiluba vs Zero-option, Levy vs Sata, Banda vs Zambian Airways owners.

  15. Ok maybe i do not get this right. Is it corruption for a minister to buy a farm or land in Zambia? Did he use his own money or government money? As far as i know Felix is a business man capable of buying land or a farm

  16. The question is where did he get that type of money since his job was work as a Commerce minister? Or did he peddle his influence to earn that type of money? If yes, then he was abusing his office for personal gain.

  17. BUT can Sata himself explain why his MInister was contracted to repair State House? Can Sata himself explain why he continued to stay in his own house for which he was being paid thousands of dollars every month? Can Sata explain how he acquired all those properties in Avondale? Can Sata explain how he evicted the Zambia Airways family that used to live in the Rhodes park house and then went on to buy the house himself? Sata will face a storm immediately after leaving power. He must be very very careful not to conduct a wild witch-hunt and sentence people before they even face the courts of law. He will end up very badly.

  18. Leave Mutati alone, where is this country going to? just becoz he wants to stand as MMD President and eventually Zambia’s president then he shud be a threat to other pipo leave him alone pliz. Does this mean that we now can’t buy properties as long as we are associated to working in govt or we are former ministers? i’m about to start building and i work for a private company owned by a former minister i’m sure the investigative wings will come after me becoz my boss is a former minister. this PF govt is whack!!!

  19. Someone gave his favourite Ministers ama K5billion for “campaigns” One burried half his money in the ground, the other gave her sons to deposit in their accounts and the other was clever, he paid a little more than the actual value for the land! Now which of these Servants will the master reward?

  20. The idea is to destabilise the MMD as much as possible so that they have no chance to make it to the convention. Dora, Nevers, Mutati, Musokotwane are all people that can take on Sata. So the best way is to cut them off by smearing as much sh.it as possible, leaving the party vulnerable. This is what Mmeembe did to RB. Attacking someone daily lends credence to the accusations, so that doubt grows in people’s minds. These guys have perfected the art. So HH, sharpen your blades in readiness for work at Statehouse as noone has got something that can stick to you. Remember, you have had issues about privatisation recently, but who does not know these issues from the past. Mazoka was accused of stealing fat cows, but he still performed well in the elections. It is your time basa.

  21. I am wondering what the president means when he says; “Wait until I swear in Mutembo Nchito as DPP. He knows them and he will go after them”. Does this confirm what people have been saying all along that this corruption fight is nothing but a wild witch hunt for perceived political opponents? Is Mutembo Nchito going to work for the Zambian people or for the PF? We would like to know because if tax payers money is going to be spent, there is no way the president can begin prescribing the DPP’s activities. This has never happened before. Are we in a circus?

  22. Read # 24 Mr Sata is innocent, but Zambians may not have the opportunity to question him as it will be too late.

  23. The fight on corruption need not be selective. Here is now Permanent secretary in the ministry of health Dr Peter Mwaba who is at the centre of loss of K billions whose explanation is jorpadising the Zambian health sector. Dr Mwaba stole $356,601 which is K1.2 billion in circumstatnces which he has never explained, even after officially writing to him. This is American funding to which he controls under account Centre for Infectious Diseases in Zambia. The Americans have suspended funding all Zambian health related projects until they get an explanation. Meanwhile, Mwaba owns several houses acquired over time and a multibillion farm. Corruption is at the centre of this theft and Zambians are made to suffer on account of one person whom PF Sata can not touch. How serious is PF with corru

  24. Corruption fight with PF is a smoke screen gimick to hoodwink Zambians so that PF can steal more without questions being raised by the general public. As said before, single one corruption case committed by a PF member (there are many), subjected to ACC and police investgations. The fact that there is non implies this fight on corruption is not real on the part of PF govt. Zambians need to be aware of this fact. This is said without prejudice.

  25. Mwamona ba MMD Mps, you supported the appointment of Nchito without realizing that he was a hired gun to sort you out. Presido has come out openly to reveal the reasons he recommended Mutembo for office of DPP. UPND opposed but MMD supported it. Sata is all out to ensure MMd dies. He has managed to silence Nevers Mumba, Kabinga Pande, Musokotwane, Dora, Mutati and the list is endless. What is very bad for us is that our president is very vindictive. This man must realize that he has only one term to run and thereafter he will be voted out and the new president will oppress him also more than how he is doing it. Let us learn to forget the past and co-exist Mr. cobra. Be at peace with all people otherwise you are only making enemies all arround yourself..

    • #37 we muntu uli chikopo sana, the only president who can deliver is mr sata. look at your brother ba rupiah he failed to deliver and failed elections terribly like a baby.

  26. #5  -Arresting freedom fighters does not make a policeman incompetent, he is simply doing his job if the freedom fighters are in the wrong!

  27. Awee ine napapa sana. How can the whole lot of a head of state be busy commenting on simple issues that are supposed to be dealt with by his juniors. Osatichititsa manyazi a president, this is very cheap thinking on your part…….please!!!! asiyeni ana agwire nchito, imwe makula.

  28. @chiengi, I am Bemba but not impressed with the behaviour, character and mannerism of our president. Tribe to me is nothing but being Zambian is imperative. I support the fight against corruption however the approach is very unprofessional. Does he really have advisers?

  29. Stolen money will never quench your thirst for richness especially when it is stolen from the poor. Thats why i hv respect for peolpe making their money in diaspora- it is none corrupt money most of the time and not stealing from Zambians. Viva diasporans!!!

  30. MMD Chief Bootlicker the source of the CHITENGE SHIRT YOU ARE WEARING needs to be probed. Did you get it during election campaign 2010? You also need to be questioned about the source of your MMD Chitenge shirt. Was it one of those from MMD obtained using the looted public funds? After questioning you MMD Chief Bootlicker the Police then need to warn and Caution you!

  31. The Mutati’s are a very wealthy family and K2.8billion does not appear beyond Felix’s young brother never mind him. It appears are looking at what property an individual owns then assume corruption if what they find is beyond their own expectations. Sata will end up humiliating himself even more because this is not the way to fight corruption.

  32. K2.8 billion is about USD650, 000 for a plot or farm?? Coz that sounds quite expensive. Ba Mutati got big kickbacks from foreign investors, as he controlled ZDA?? These thieves should be investigated, what you have heard of is Nothing; they have Property Abroad, at a value a normal minister would not afford. Ask us we will tell you.
    Check his kids Drive Range Rover sport?? A student?? This is not witch hunt but to justice prevails. Zadians in SA, don’t you Dora’s Houses???

  33. @51 IT’s A WORRY: are you Mutati’s son?? He cannot justify such a purchase, let’s face facts, Mutati and most MMD leaders stole from Zambians. It’s really sad to see such theft, with no hearts for poor Zambians. Don’t back thieves, let them be locked-up

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