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Govt considers options of nationalising ailing mines

By editor
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President Banda says government is considering taking over operations of mines that are facing operation difficulties on the Copperbelt province.

President Banda has disclosed that government through the ministry of mines is having discussions as to when government would nationalise the mines.

He said government will not nationalise mines with vibrant operations because its vision is to encourage the private public partnership spearheaded by the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry in conjunction with the ministry Mines Ministry.

The President was answering questions from Journalists shortly before departure for Kasama, in Northern Province where he has gone for a four-day official visit.

On arrival in Kasama, President Rupiah Banda said it is a misconception for some people to conclude that his administration would immediately address all the challenges facing the country.

Mr Banda said critics of his administration have mislead some sections of society that during elections campaigns him and the MMD campaign team had promised to immediately address all the challenges facing the country.

President Banda said the correct position was that his administration would work with the sense of urgency to address the challenges the country is facing .

Mr. Banda said efforts by his administration can be seen through the fuel and mealie meal price reduction.

Mr. Banda has pledged to spread development to all part of the country even in areas that did not vote for him.

The President said his administration would be all embracing as he is the father of all Zambians.

Mr Banda stated that a number of projects have already been started across the country even in opposition strong holds.

The president is accompanied by Tourism and Natural Resources Minister Catherine Namungala, Works and Supply Minister Mike Mulongoti , Presidential Affairs Minister Gabriel Namulambe , Local government and Housing Minister Benny Tetamashimba, Deputy Minister in the office of the Vice President Gunstone Sichilima and Finance Deputy Minister Chileshe Kapwepwe.

ZANIS/KC/ENDS/SJK

editor
editorhttp://www.lusakatimes.com

206 COMMENTS

  3. Being an assistant accountant (very world paid by the way), just been told I could lose my job, because of this global financial stuff. Please pray for me.

    Chewe if they put us in a boxing contest I think I can knock you out in 1 min, you may be older but you are lousy unless you hit me with uppercuts your chances of winning are ZERO. You talk rubbish, I will KO and be the NEW LT heavyweight Champ. And then I will offer challengers who want to. Too much porridge chewe ! I ve come from work and you talked rubbish about yesterday’s b/day boy (me) why?

    -3 degrees is ridiculous, here I need an electric blanket.

  5. Thats the news we needed raised this point last night , Way to go Govt.

    We all know excessive loquesty can not be compatible with mental fecandity !

  8. Why is the government accompanied by so many nobodies, Including body guards and all, this will like a football team going up and down. Why is he accompanied by so many ministers?

  9. The manner in which the western governments have managed the global financial crisis must teach us one thing “when your key industries are in trouble, you don’t stand aside and leave things to market forces – you intervene”.

  11. Oh No!!! UNIP is back!!!

    What is the world is going on with this administration. We have just emerged from a long era when government engaged in business on behalf of the Zambian people and all it brought us was debt, inefficiency, corruption and more debt.

    The time for parastatals is gone. Remember when they run losses they do not go under like a private company but have the central government absorb the loss. This breeds moral hazard since management will not mind loses. Just look at the craziness at Zamtel, Zesco and ZamPost.

    Oh my!! Privatization in reverse!! Now, can the government tell the nation how this move will be insulated from the external problems the mines are faces.

  12. Chewe lets fight ! >:/

    No 4 why call yourself Supperboy, are hungry? Superboy is better.

    LUTI ( Lusaka Times)I requested to write for you, I havent had any answer is that a No? lol

  14. why does this guy enjoy seeing other peoples wives shake botoms?these women should be taking care of families if the dont have formal jobs.instead yakulashanisha ifitenge kuma politics.nowonder they leave their hubbies for politicians

  16. Without being just a critic, let me present a suggestion to the administration. It is clear that the Zambian Government cannot influence the external environment we find our country in. However, it can try to improve the what it can domestically. Government has a direct effect on the cost of doing business is Zambia. Its clear to many that Zambia is a high cost area in terms of energy, taxes, water, communications and host of other factors. Look at the World Development Indicators on the internet you can see that we have not done enough to streamline the bureaucratic processes in Zed. Buying the mines will put us in trouble. Remember in 97 we were paying $1 million a month on KCM.

  17. Ya,but this Infected meat make me laugh.Why cant you just be yourself?English is not about consulting the dictionary before you start blogging.It is the way you construct your sentences,panctuations,avoid repeatations.And the words you use should show that you are an interactual.I have a very big dictionary and i read a lot.But i wouldnt be going to my dictionary whenever i want to blogg.But uyu ena ni wire Zoona. Ala uli ngwele iwe,why are you troubling yourself.Ala naseka,because this was junior secondary mentality.uufuu!

  18. Zambian bloggers allow me to log-out and steam off. I do not like what may happen to our economy if Zambia thinks it has the fiscal clout to nationalize mines. This will scare away meaningful investors not to mention waste out hard earned Kwacha.

    If anyone want to make any sensible contribution to my comments you are most welcome. I think this matter deserves more serious comments than “shaking bottoms” or “superboy”.

    Is there anybody out there?:((

  19. They didn’t need to fully privatise these mines, all they need is a partner GRZ 51%. Not ZCCM-IH which is just there collecting dividends. Yes government needs to be involved in the operations but with serious investors not on it’s own.

  20. Dont use Tax payers money for Assets that are depreciated. Baluba mine should just be closed. It is st….u…pid to throw money into a bottomless pit. Baluba can only be profitable if the price of copper per tonne is above $4500. Govt should use the money it has on Agriculture. You cannot keep flogging a dead horse. Goodbye Baluba. Rest in peace!

  21. That will be great RB,hope you are not just saying it to calm us down.The question is,are there minerals there,coz for the fake investors to abandon those mines,awe ninshi balipwa copper.

  22. In terms of buying back mines cheap and selling them later at a profit (and not for a song) it makes sense. But if we are buying to keep the mines ready for resale when things are well only leave the treasury empty. I do not agree with Dark Knight that Government should be involved in operations. Government has never been a profit maker. in Botswana where there exits a 51-49% structure, government is involved at the board level. This works well because management decisions are made on a business basis and government just safe guards the assets of the public.

  25. December awards

    COMEBACK OF THE YEAR Ponyax

    DISLIKED BLOGGER Infected Meat,Zondiwe

    POINTLESS CONTRIBUTER Impersonators

    ATTENTION SEEKER Pinkly

    CONTRIBUTER OF THE MONTH Matworld-Nice guy!

    STRANGEST ID NKOLE WA MAPEMBWE, UMUGAZEBO and FAMILY

    EASILY LIKED ID Ba Maureen

    RESPECTED ID Free Market Capitalist, Biggie Jim

    COOLEST ID Sharp shooter, Blackbelt Dan 4

    HUMUROUS ID BUN DEM DREAD

    MISSED ID Mwiinga

    ALWAYS AWAKE ID Nine Chale

    LEKENI NJISHIBE IF IT IS TRUE

  26. I agree with you Tau Tou wa Lealui. What we should hear from the president is diversification instead of further concentration on mining. Invest in agriculture; Europe still eat our agric products even if they are recession. The weak Kwacha can help our exports cheaper…

  30. Ba Spectator how are you? Missed you so much. You forgot drunkard of the year Cutey! She will be on the blogg around 03AM.

  31. 1st week January awards

    OPEN FEMALE Pinky

    DISLIKED BLOGGER Anonymous

    POINTLESS CONTRIBUTER Impersonators

    ATTENTION SEEKER Pinkly

    CONTRIBUTER OF THE MONTH Matworld-Nice guy& Ba Moze

    MOST KNOW IT ALL Ba Maureen

    HUMUROUS BLOGGER Nine Chale

    MISSED ID Prof Mutengo

  32. 17

    Chewe also for your wn information i never did secondary school, you did. I did high school, which you will equate to secondary school. The difference between you and me is that you are an Immigrant whose bluffing amounts to a desperate Man. You cant eeven type repitition, and you was early saying enemity, in the blog words which only exist in your world.

    Stay away from me, because your paranoid worshiping of myself qill quiete frankly leave you exposed embarrased, and confirm the obvious , you being either a paedo or a C**t

  33. a position with 51 % held by ZCCM-IH could be a good solution.
    ZCCM-IH could realy influence the politic of the mine and zccm-ih will receive dividend that it could invest in other mining..
    For the moment, the mining don’t want give dividend to zccm-ih (held 86 % by the GRZ).. now they want to stop because they don’t earn enought money ? !!
    now ZCCM-IH must to take 51 % in all mining and be a real partner with a technical shareholder with 49%…

  34. i think this is an issue that needs careful consultation.i dont believe this govt can make acurate predictions.they will just waste the taxes and the treasury will be empty

  36. OK #32 I was agreeing with until when cursed. That was the final straw. I think you owe an apology esp. to female bloggers coz you are not a sailor to have a dirty mouth like that.

  37. Yabaaaaaah!!!!!!! but kwena; Kuti wasenda ifintu ifishikwete profit webo, but kwena pa Zed ine palampapisha! O my GOD [-0<

  39. The idea of nationalising some of our mines is very welcome.Looking at what is happening in the mines,you get to realise how sad it is for the mines to be in the private hands. People have lost their jobs,instead of creating jobs the situation is getting worse. These are some of the devastating effects of privatisation.As much as we know that when some companies are in private hands they can operate effectively.we should also acknowledge the fact that there are some disadvantages.And these were ignored by Chiluba and HH because of the love of money.And today Ka HH wants to like he is very innocent.

  40. Nationalising the mines is a step back too far…Government needs to work in partnership with other stakeholders to sustain the mining industry. Look at what happenned with ZCCM, some people are in prizon and others are still going through the criminal justice process. If the state takes over full control, issues of transperancy, accountability and nepotism (employment)predominant in most govt. sectors will prevail. Therefore, working in partnership with the private sector would keep the state on the leash!! Please, lets not go back to the UNIP era. We have come a long way!!

  43. ba chewe finish what you started na infected meat waona baba,you called me nonsense,manje wamupeza wachizunga,kaya lelo,respond please to him we dont need your comments for the time being

  45. Politics of appeasment…do we have the capacity to run these mines. the answer is no. the only way is to borrow from china or imf. borrowing borrowing. besides why are the infestors running away? copper prices have fallen. are we really serious? your friends are fleeing the war zone who have great weapons and u ahead in the very direction. what does it take for Banda to see and think. please Banda be innovative… find something in the country that is marketable. try fisheries, mansa battery, ncz, if posible even UBZ. Zambia is rich. i thought your tours in the game parks is to divert attention to tourism and thereby open a national airline. What zambians need is not appeasement.:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?

  53. Kawalala iye u are the hopless guyz bapa z. ninyele yaku kola. wenda ku poni che osati ukazibendelela ba first lady bapa blog respect ka ukuba namuzuba iwe sakala :x:x:x:x

  60. We can say tha nationalisation is a step backwards. But we have to look at the immediate alternative to what is going on in some mines. And the only solution is nationalisation. Because investors might not want to invest into the mines,because of the low copper price at the moment.So in order to save the jobs of the Zambians like in case of Luansya mines,the government should take over. Are you going to wait for an investor who wil not even be wiling to do so,and leave people languishing without jobs.No!

  62. Who is using beta window 7 on desk top which came out 2 to 3 days ago?It is da best windows ever.I’ve it on my desk top.

  64. “‘Mr. Banda has pledged to spread development to all part of the country even in areas that did not vote for him”. The worst comment a person called a president can make.

  68. Kawalala ine niyopa kuaniwa so niliche bo mudala nigolf noya gay ifuna mihalf so nikugona che kuchaya yakutulo che [-([-([-([-(

  74. aye mudala yesako che kabili ndiwe kawalala ugabe bwanji tuma takitic twabena chiluba pali regina kabili yapwala. oppositio yafwa ya chewe monga ni HH alizeee
    :(:(

  78. Mirriam these are serious issues. I can keep you no problem,and am capable of providing whatever you need.Iwe Kawalala respect yourself with your friend Rotten Meat,You are just one of the hopeless chaps on the blogg.shaa!

  84. boyi chewe kakukanila ka gelo,she is just too beautiful for you can faint since uli na mutima wabakazi niwe,kafunika ifwe

  87. Unfortunately, I have to again come to the conclusion that we as Zambians tend to be myopic. Does anyone remember what were the fundamental factors that got Kaunda out of office. It was the adherence to a domestic economic policy that was not sustainable and caused sever stain on taxpayers money. In an attempt to keep jobs we ended up with inefficient, corrupt and nepotistic companies. Government should NOT nationalize but work to improve the business environment period.

  88. Mirriam,dont take this as one of the jokes on the blogg.Am single and serious,its too much of barchelor wood boyi please.I dont care what tribe you are as long as you are Zambian.

  90. This blog has educated people and I am only 23 and still learning from all these people.. If you don’t know what is cooking on the blog rather keep quite as a lot of people do, and not trying to be pompous, because if someone is going to be knocked out, it will be your brainless self.
    Sit read and learn a lot of people are very wise, wisier than both you and me , at least I know even if I take 3 pints of lager I will be three times the man you will ever crave to be. Grow up!
    Bukaponya too much.

  92. So this time Cutey is just watching and taking wine.She will come and start blogging when all of you are sleeping.She wil be blogging alone ninshi buli mumutwe elo basabaile nomba. Ala kwena apa pa blog pali ba abafulunga.

  93. Look at the grammar at no 88 Chewe. The only similarity between you and me is that we are from the same tribe, after that you are in another world. You must be sad, ugly and cheap to be asking someone off a blog, with broken English ‘barchelor’ lol
    You are busy ridiculing yourself, and shaking your zip, as i can imagine chatting up anyone with a female name, who could easily be a male. Use that brain wisely, and talk of the topic at hand.
    I hope you distance your rants away from me, and let alone anyone in the blog, for anything you spit, it will be poisonous and will be repelled with interest.
    Oh leave Mirriam alone, you know nothing about her, you probably know little about yourself a

  95. Infected meat!

    Chill a little bit

    Hold it down a little bit

    Don’t go there again

    You are letting people get to you so much

  96. I am sorry Mirriam , i will stop now. Just that he was trying to talk nonense, and i thought i could tell him exactly what thye deal is.

    I will stop and sorry for anyone offended. I will be a spectator. happy new year Mirriam. Happy new year Kawalala. 🙂

  97. Zambians where do we stand. we have been complaining that the Zambian companies have been privatised now we are complaining that the Govt is coming in.Honestly i think the kaunda era was better because as a nation were running all of the companies, if mismanagement was the problem this is what we should be finding control measures to avoid. Local Investors should also be encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity. In terms of the President saying that they did not promise to fufil their campaign promises immediately , we need to see that they are working towards the right direction and that progress can be measured , not open ended.

  98. You don’t have to apologize.

    Much love to every one Kawalala, Infected meat, King Cobra and Chewe too!

    Chewe relax now-we need peace!

  99. contd, Infact during the 2011 Election Campaigns all parties need to campaign using measurable plans and promises so that we can hold them accountable, we need to see Presidential debates and the Zambian people asking them questions.The era of ignorance is over.

  100. INFECTED MEAT no one has ever insulted me like that.In my entire life and i have never watched blue movies in my entire life. If God lives and he is there.You have brought curses upon your life. Unless God doesnt live,i have gone to bed.These are my last words to you.Bye!

  101. Imagine its your wife dancing like at the airport, you went for work and you just see her on 19 hours news.=d>

  102. INFECTED MEAT

    Come on stop that my dear you are too smart to fight your friend on the blog,after all you come from the same place why fighting him.Please Chewe na Infected Meat for the sake of peace stop fighting.You Know what It will be very sad when you guys meet in future.Iam also capable of fighting with anyone here,but I cant coz This is not a boxing ring,if anything this site has brought all Zambian around the world together.I was once a victim of attacks from other bloger,but I just told myself not to hit back coz I Have faith that One day I will meet with pipo am bloging with on this site.You never know both of you may help each other in future.Guys good night and God bless you

  104. Mr Banda is a president for the republic of zambia and not a party president.What am trying to say is this habit of bana maliketi dancing for the president with party flags or sybols should come to an end. What ever he is planning to do is not just for MMD members, but for every zambian citizen. Its not an appropriate way of welcoming the presdo, Fine put on the zambian flag, and not those sky blue mipangos, and tee shirts written mmd all over them. On the plan to take control of the mines?:-? i dont think its a good idea at this particular moment of time.I’m looking forward to hearing on how the budget willbe. Remember $1600 we are waiting.

  105. #100 the word of God says bless those who persecute you and pray for those who despitefully use you, we understand it’s very painful and you are very hurt but learn to forgive you do not know that through your love and forgiveness those you are feeling are insulting you may come to know Jesus through you.Jesus did not come to destroy lives but to save them, this is Christianity and everyone who follows Christ will be tested.Remember the words of Jesus ,he prayed Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing. It’s not an easy road but it is worth it.Just a word of advice. God bless you.

  108. To give my two cents to this issue, I find it very incredulous that RB and his government want applause for doing their job!! Why should he forever go back to the mealie meal price issue? thats just colonial mentality that if they do what is required of them they should get thanked. Secondly, nationalizing a bunch of the mines will not solve the problem that they are facing. Is the government going to pay competitive salaries to the employees? As the past has shown, this is not the case. What sholud be done is to buy part of them and let business minded individuals to run them. The US govt didn’t buy the big 3 automakers So, govt should come up with a bailout plan, nt buy the damn mines!

  109. #105 and maltworld your words are so touching,your are the truth,I holla love,though I get nasty too sometimes.From my personal observation people on this blog sometimes try to get in peoples way deliberately,and when they cant contend nomore they try to involve God,somebody should no better before he or she engages in a warfare,do a little bit of some math, measure your heart,if you can take it or not if u fill you canup then go for it but of course you pay for your irresponsibities. How beautiful love can be On this blog if we all can reach that frequencyAs men we were taught to hold it in, that’s why we don’t know how ’til we’re older men

  110. iwe chewe a curse causeless shall not come on him,God does not take part in blogging,he is so big too involved in your business,right now God is busy with salvation and not cursing.

  112. Good people, I am in need of your urgent help. I am looking for the
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  113. 108. Yalipasa!!,

    It is clear you are clueless in your blogging on nationl issues.Faied mines have opted to withdaw frm th inustry then if GRZ buys part of those businesses who retains the other part when no new equity partner intereted in the mining business?

  114. don’t eveen hesitate chi rupiah just do it!it’ll give goverment a reliable source of income in the longrun which will translate into the easing of taxes and better pay for civil servants!what’s this about not addressing the country’s problems now?i thought that’s the reason presidents are elected,unless of course they like to take naps on duty!if this adminstration can’t address the issues at hand now then they might as well do it a 100 years from now – when we’ll all be alive! :-l:-l:-l:-l:-l

  115. I am really surprised to see people insult each other on the blog. This is why you get few people blogging, because some can not take the insults. In the end, even very good ideas that could have contributed to our development are not put across. Ladies & Gentlemen,please avoid insults.

    Now coming to the topic, I think this will be a good move on the part of Govt to maintain the work force in the Mines, and they need to also start thinking of setting up manufacturing Industries that will create more jobs and sustain the economy rather than have money from IMF & World Bank. We need to stop this habit of expecting handouts all the time as it reduces even the Nationals to begging.

  118. RB, I recommend you on the efforts you applying to help sustain the closed mines in Luanshya.
    you are a good president, just like the late LPM. LPM never relented to helping the people of Luanshya even if they never voted for his MPs. what ever help in Ly, these people will never appreciate, so you too dont expect vote, GOOD.

  119. RB do some actions time is running out for you. by time you woke up, it will b time for elctions and more promises. Go to work man.

  120. To LT: I believe the idea of allowing comments on articles is for you to get sample views from Zambians on the issue at hand. Its now dissapointing that instead of bloggers enganging in serious intellectual arguments, we are now being subjected to childish postings of insults and personal attacks by grown ups who should be sensible. Can all bloggers know that the way you behave in secrecy, thats what you really are. So LT dont just be blocking psedo names, block IP addresses of the sources of silly and unconstructive postings…some humour is welcome but not insults and personal attacks. Am Engines and I approve this posting.

  122. I think posts with insults,threats and no relevance should be deleted by LT then all bloggers will blog responsibly. We could also vote down all insults,threats &irrelevants this will bring about responsible blogging. We do not know who reads these blogs, i am sure even people from other country and it would be good for Zambians to be known as intelligent and mature.God bless Zambia.

  124. Special dedication to Haters to eachother

    Heartless by Kanye

    How can you be so heartless

    How can you be Doc Evil

    You want to bring another side of me that I don’t know exists

    The coldest story ever told

  129. Go to the following site. Type as ONE WORD;

    the citizens democratic party “dot” com

    The Draft Manifesto is posted, and it is full of nothing but practical solutions. Ba PF/UPND/MMD balala.

  131. #s 10 & 11.
    Bane this is a serious issue. I have just returned from Zed, some investors in the mines especially in Luanshya are pulling out. Others have gone already. The govt therefore needs to save the situation. The nationalization of the concerned mines is just an intervention measure.

  133. Screw this dude he aint my father so hush ur gummy bears,jus cos ur president dont mean ur our father jesus christ how long is it gon take to move fowrad feels like we stuck in last centuary..some fresh blood is needed, we got people with so much sense but because of some old farts we’ll never get a chance for the next 5 years.

  137. Zambians we talk too much but less actions, thats why things will never change in our country. Lets act more and talk less i see a lot of brililliant ideas on this blog. Am for the idea that all bloggers on this site we form our own political party to stand in 2011 general elections may be we can win and change things.

  139. 136 i think you know that zimbabians are not as crukeds as zedians. their infrastrucures are still intact,not sold much of factory equips to outsiders like we did as scrap, as such it will only take a political harmonisation to get the economy back on its footing.
    I however have hope for RB, only if he can show us his focus on leadership as regards to economic development we could dash out even the beneft of doubt we have his 2011 candidenture.there isnt a definit challenging threat for 2011 running mate. he just has got to learn quick the duties of the highest ffice to maintain the benefit of doubt!!!!!

  140. The mines are the blood line of the zedian economy and an attempt should be made at arresting the possible collapse. They should be restructured so that they can at least break even and they can then be resold when the copper price stabilizes. We have seen this happen in developed economies and why can’t we? It will be disastrous to let the industry go under.

  141. Born in Zambia is a girt and a blessing. Dispite of 72 imitundu, we do not have wars and yet this presidents apart from LPM want to throw our country into war. KK malawi born, Kafupi DRC and now RB zim, Do you beleive why our country will not prosper we need to have learders who are real zambians like late LPM. Come 2011 lets vote a zambian not imutation.

  142. Mealie meal and fuel prices were suppose to be reduced because the price of crude oil on the international dropped from $160 to $45 per barrel. This made it possible for food and fuel prices reduce though our government was taking long to put all this in actions. It is like they wanted to steal a bit of cash from the poor Zambians.

    The biggest problem we have at the moment with our government is that they haven´t come up with some measure to fight the global financial crisis which is affecting our economy. They just think of getting money in the reserve accounts while they are giving themselves increment in salaries. I don´t know if we will develop if we continue with such people

  143. #137 is on point, but to be honest it’s gon need a revolutions, these old farts have been there since 1960 0r 1970 or 1980 and they stuck in that year that u cant teach them how to use a computer or understand what surfing is, its so sad!!!reality to them is people starving and them feeding there bloody fat tummies nothing more, nothing less…we have a long time to go before we develope,we moved from developed to less than developed, geez it just shows loss of direction by our “so called leaders”

  145. # 142
    The reduction in mealie meal prices was effected just before the christmas. And later we have seen the reduction in the fuel pump prices though not significant compared to the neighbouring countries and yet the source is the same. But the govt has slap import tax on any fuel that will be brought in the country.

    This is in a bid to direct the suppliers of fuel to utilize INDENI oil refining which currently has been supplying to DRC. If they go that way we then expect a significant reduction which of course could have a ripple effect on the market.

  146. Well i think Nationalizing the mines will bring more chaos to the Zambian economy.Please reverse your ideas sir.Know that a blander was made when considering fully privatizing (zambia) in the Chiluba era .Why don’t the Zambia gov ever think of having 51% shares in all the huge companies so much of the administration and the like can be controlled an monitored?
    Ask yourselves why China India etc are growing so fast.Lets look ahead and stop making funny decisions.If you nationalize mine i bet individual pockets and not the country shall benefit.MAY GOD BLESS ZAMBIA,THE LAND FULL OF MILK AND HONEY.DZIKO LAMKAKA NDI UCHI BUT JUST SPILT AND IN HUNGER WE SLEEP

  147. The heading “Govt considers options of nationalising ailing mines” has a cooling effect considering what we have gone through as a nation from Kaunda’s nationalisation to Chiluba’s privatisation. By considering options, it should mean finding the right balance among
    1.Total nationalisation
    2.Partial nationalisation
    3.Total privatization
    But the question that bothers me is this: As Zambians, do we really learn from our past mistakes or successes? If so it should be clear that partial control of our mines and our minerals is the right way to go.Copper prices are bound to bounce back with govt and the Zambian people making huge profits. tbc

  148. Agriculture should be on the number 1 list in driving the economy and not copper. From the time Kaunda left, agriculture has been a mess. Those of you that were old enough those days can still remember the big pyramids of maize along the railway line from Southern province and other outlaying areas. We used to have a serious maize belt in those days. A clear lesson from history is that diversification in agriculture is key to agricultural success. Not growing maize year in and year out. This in turn will result in a shift from nshima dependence which some people have started to worship and kill others for. There appears to be a lack of serious political will in the agriculture sector.

  149. Good morning Bloggers!! :)>-

    One sentense missing from the above story:

    When asked what mode or proceedure the Govt would use in selecting which mines to nationalise, President Banda replied’ “I don’t know yet”.

    There is Akhulu Mphuno for you!!

  150. What if the state owned the mines, and hired a privately owned mine management company to run operation, stay out of their way and collect profits and taxes?

    What I am concerned about is that they only want to nationalize badly performing mines. I guess it is all about how it is carried out.

  151. PRICE OF COPPER AS AT TO DAY IS 3,331.00

    LME Official Prices (US$/tonne) for 6 Jan 2009 LME Official Opening Stock (in tonnes)

    COPPER

    CASH BUYER 3,331.00

    CASH SELLER & SETTLEMENT 3,332.00

    3-MONTHS BUYER

  152. You PF chaps are a disgrace. I remember a whole lot of you yapping your mouths about how GOVT needs to nationalize the mines.

    Today you are criticizing the GOVT for considering the move. You guys are hypocrites and big ones at that.

  155. He says that some people have misled society that he had pledged to correct…. But that is what he was saying during his campains. Its in the times of Zambia, Zambia daily mail etc. All he should say is that this was campain gimmick. On the nationalization of the mines the president is being economical on the truth. Fact is GRZ has shares in all the mines and all they have to do is increase their share instead of misusing the word nationalization. But then this is politics.

  156. I agree that Govt should be involved in the running of these mines. However they should let it be run by a local management. We have locals capable of running these mines, the only problem is where can a local investor borrow say $200 million to invest.

  157. Kawalala and group, you are proposing using a keyboard? You will be shocked to find that Mirriam, Ba maureen , Pinkey or Cutey are just Internet Servers. But hey, before I blame you too much, Ba maureen sounds human but I wouldnt be suprised if she is very fat. For her to even call herself ‘Ba’.

  158. WELL DONE Mr PRESIDENT
    AS AN EXPATRIATE WITH A ZAMBIAN WIFE AND 5 ZAMBIAN CHILDREN, I BACK YOU WHOLEHEARTEDLY. I’M CURRENTLY WORKING IN A NEIGHBOURING STATE. I HAVE COPPER MINING EXPERIENCE IN ZAMBIA, DRC, INDONESIA, OMAN and MAURITANIA. I WILL WILLINGLY RETURN TO MENTOR MY ZAMBIAN COLLEAGUES AND TRANSFER SOME OF THAT EXPERIENCE. WE HAVE THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO MAKE THE MINES PROFITABLE. IN ADDITION, THERE IS A HOST OF WELL TRAINED ZAMBIANS LANGUISHING IN THE TOWNSHIPS. WE NEED TO REESTABLISH SOME MODICUM OF NATIONAL PRIDE. BALUBA IS A POLYMETALLIC MINE(COPPER & COBALT)THE COBALT CREDIT WILL MAKE IT PROFITABLE AT A COPPER PRICE OF ABOUT $3 400/tonne, AND THIS IS BEFORE COST CURTAILMENT.

  159. I personally believe its the best government can do at the moment. Everyone knows leaving it to the investors is the best but what can one do under such dire circumstances? At the end of the day we need to eat don’t we. So just nationalize the mine RB but be open to advice. When a right buyer comes, sell it again. I mean look at a football club like Newcastle United where the owner Mike Ashley put the club for sale but because no one was coming forth, he pulled down the ‘for sale’ banners. Its a rough world.

  160. The government is working. Atleast we are able to notice tangible changes. Nowonder why the PF leader has now concentrated in arguing with the former President, FTJ.

  161. #25 Nkole wa Mapembwe is prose played pa ng’oma ya Mondo as follows:
    Nkole wa mapembwe umfwe milandu
    Chiti Chiti chamutunga mu linso
    Chamulenga umona ukupompa
    Ukwenda kushintuka menso mumbali
    Panshi apa pali imikuba ya tata umwanda

    WASHINGTONIAN: It is now an accepted paradigm in Zambia that the economy will be private sector driven. RB believes in this. The intervention will be temporary and profit motivated. Government will sell when the price of copper recovers. Number 18 Baluba is still a very viable ore body and government would sell it at a good profit

  162. RB I support you entirely and please move fast. Luanshya and baluba mines are very viable. We have the expertise and the infrastructure eventhough some of it has been vandalised by the so called investors in the name of scrap. by the time 18# and 28# were being flooded, the shafts were ahead of production interms of development by 8 months. What more of the cobalt dome we discovered at 28#. Zed people at the moment we have a problem and this just a step towards solving the problem. Those who think Luanshya and Baluba mines are not viable you are highly mistaken and myopic. Talk about the old old tailing dams which contain above 1.6%TCu, what of the green field Muliashi. Processing of the Baluba and Luanshya ore which is predominatly chalcopyrite is quiet friendly. Lastly Zedians let us blog seriously to serious matters like this one. What the President has said is serious business and blogers should be serious. Go ahed RB and then take aleaf fro Botswana how the govt is involved in BCL and Debstwana. Go on and move fast. You should also look at some of the mines that potray to be doing fine yet the are just transfereing funds to there countries.

  163. Those dancing women at the airport?……I think it all depends on the President. Its up to him to say “NO MORE NONSENSE AT THE AIRPORT”.

  164. Nationalising the mines is not the best option, reflecting on massive mismanagement that is embedded in government operations.Commercialisation might be the best answer to the current problems facing the mines on the copperbelt.Efficiency is key to productivity success at every level of operation of giant firms. Nationalisation will most likely induce corrupt government leaders to employ unqualified staffs

  165. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

  166. #163, SISTER,

    The women dancing at the airport….It depends entirely on an individual. My mother has never danced for any president. She does not want to. Poverty is not the reason. My grandmother and my mother are still poor but they have chosen never to dance for any president. Key word: CHOICE.

  167. Sister, your friends are earning a living and you are condemning them. Its better than standing in Adis Ababa at night. There is a global economic crisis remember!

  168. Every mine has a life span. Luanshya’s life has come to an end. Let us just accept this fact. The succesive govts never planned for this eventuality that is why a lot of people are hallucinating about renationalisation. You cannot compare the rescue of manufacturing plants to the rescue of mines. In the former all you have to do is retool or reengineer. For the latter like in thecase of Luanshya mine we are talking of a wasting asset with a life span. At a certain level it becomes uneconomic to extract natural resources. Remember they are finite. Settle these former miners on some farming block. Time 2change direction. [-(

  169. With ingenuity and innovation Tau Tou, the material in the ground becomes a valuable resource. The guys at Baluba treated 14 shaft waste dump and recovered 65% of the copper which it contained!!!
    18 shaft, 28 shaft and Baluba waste dumps all contain copper. There is no mining involved. The material is already crushed. Even at $2100 per tonne copper price, these materials can be processed through the concentrator plant. Finite yes, but the life of the mine will be prolonged until we get our colleagues in the right frame of mind to diversify into agriculture.

  170. LT, It is about time u blocked bloggers whose filthy writings are not even relevant to the story like infected meat and others exhibiting immature views apart from insulting each other. It is time for constructive blogging and not insultants. Zedians, it is about time we behave maturely.

  171. Tau Tou Wa Lealui. As one who once worked for Luanshya Division I can tell you that Luanshya has another 15 – 20 years life depending on the investor and investing in research and development. We treated sla at luanshya through the floatation process, Binani never invested in exploration, come LCM under J & W they never invested in Baluba but started treating waste damps as Bashi Chiku No. 169 has said. So from the time Luanshya Division was sold todate not much mining has been done. So the reserves are still there and in abundance. I agree with you mining is a waste asset but with R&D and proper investment we can do it at Luanshya and do it better. When I joined Luanshya in 1995 I was told Luanshya was closing but I never saw Luanshya close. Remember Nchanga treating tailings on what is called TLP! Agric yes but let us make mining a stepping stone for a better agriculture industry. Mining is what God has given us so let us use it to better other industries. Did you know that Nchanga open pit can be a forex earner as a tourist attaction. Guys in tourism you need to sell this tourist attraction.

  172. Pls dont blame Infected meat, every new thing comes with excitement, Infected meat just finished his internet lessons.

    Let him flourish, let his new skills develop.Dont limit him.

    The blog is his newest discovery, where he can blab about5 anything he ever imagined.

    Dont cut shot his excitement by shutting him down, mind you he has rights equal as ours to use the blog.

    But, peace of advise, this is a blog spread world over, if you speak nonsense, you are just exposing your ignorance, just seem quiet infected meat ,pipo might mistake you to being sharp.

  173. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in for very rude shock of the New Year!!
    Are we going back to old 7billion debt we had acrued in the Unip era or forgot to mention that we have a Unipist in the House.
    No one anticipated this very unfortunate econmical meltdown,i suggest that our Government should not rush to make decisions to nationalise the mine for obvious reasons ie Investor confidence which has been built will be eroded and secondly we just dont have the mine to venture into such a business,please help this Government find other avenues to venture into other than the mines,it will be sucidal for the masses!!!
    Mr Toad face try agriculture which does not diminish in its values.

  174. #166. The President can give instructions that he doesnt want to see women dancing for him at the airport. Instead they should earn their living by doing people’s laundry, selling at the market etc.

    #167. I am not condemning the mamas. I’m just saying, there are better ways of earning a living. Whats the difference between dancing like that at the airport and standing in Addis Ababa Drive at night? SAME DIFFERENCE

  176. You know i spent a few minutes to read what u guys are writting.Zambians are brilliant pipo,with all those ideas am sure we can go far.

    Now why are our leaders not seeing what you guyz are seeing.Is it because they are far from us,or that ideas you guyz are giving are impracticable.

  178. #169 and 171 please work with other Zambians to revive Luanshya as you are suggesting but please do not use tax payer’s money. I am a fiscal conservative and I do not think govt should be risking public money. People pay money so that govt invests in public goods…ie roads, hospitals, schools, water etc. Its quite ironic insnt it thatthe previous three regimes and the two companies that ran Luanshya never saw what you’ve seen in Luanshya. Arent your views been clouded by your emotional attachment to Luanshya. Sometimes its better to let go.

  180. Ok. Well said but let’s do this. Otherwise we are still lost out there. Yeah…..Roger that! Out to Gaza to see who has received a whipping amongst those terrorists

  181. AT LEAST NO MORE S T U P I D CHEWE. is he Sata’s nephew..looks like ignorance and under education no ma bvuto ku li mbuya.

    :d

  183. The government needs to seriously consider setting up a Think Tank of eminent persons from within the country and abroad to plot the country’s economy properly.These ad hoc decisions or knee jerk reactions, doing the same things that have not worked or simply hoping for the best will not do.For example the talk of diversification away from mining has been going on for decades (back to the land etc etc)without any meaningful progress.Talk,talk,talk!

  184. LT should no block Inftected i agree, atleast he talk what makes you read and is very often reacting after someone talk amalabishi. although i dont like him, he is good for LT, pinkly is sweet as well

  185. Sister, dancing to our president has been there since time immemorial. Its like its tradition. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it since they are MMD cadres though I wouldn’t want my wife to do it. To say dancing for the President is like standing in Adis Ababa at night is not being truthful. I agree with you there are many ways of earning a living but some are more respectable than others. If it wrong for those women to dance for the President like that, then we might as well stop all traditional ceremonies that have women dance either for the king, chief or the like.

  186. It beats me how bloggers keep on correcting each other over spellings. For heaven’s sake, you are not writing a final year university thesis or are you writing an application letter for knighthood to the the Queen of England at Birmingham palace. This is just a social networking forum where people exchange views. Its informal. Just like your text messages on your phone can be abbreviated, you can afford to be a bit careless with spellings here as long as the messages goes through. I feel for people like Sister who feel indebted to correct a wrongly spelt word after submitting a wrongly spelt one. Relax people. We have past the stage were 1 divided by zero is ‘it cant’.

  187. Wrong move, nationalisation is not the way to go! If current owners abandon the mines, let GRZ find new investors or do a public-private JV with various Zambian stakeholders. Experience has shown us that nationalisation breeds complacency and we’ve maintained unprofitable entities in the past! Even in the US, they’re NOT nationalising but rather providing bridging loans that WILL be paid back with INTEREST! IF RB’s team go ahead, it’ll be money down the drain! If we’d diversified our economy decades ago, we would’nt be in this mess. We need to find ways of making mining less than 10% of GDP

  188. Capitalism has clearly failed, its time to go back to communism, even the USA is slowly becoming a communist state.

  190. Okay folks, enough!!! Do we all believe that the global economic recession is permanent? Why would a big giant that caused the steer like Uncle Sam partially nationalize institutions like banks, though not stated categorically, by owning shares in major banks that were bailed out, Uncle Sam will have control of how future debts are managed. The idea of nationalising mines especially now is excerptionally excellent because the recession as you and I know is very temporal. Now with copper rebounding to $8000 from $3000 currently and govt owning some mines, who stands to benefit? The only shortcoming with nationalization was poor management coupled with political interference, but what a

  191. Heck, why not engage a private company solely for management purposes? This way, we shall get our mines back and when they become very unprofitable again, we shall privatize them wholely. Come on , lets resonate with time and space.

  192. You my fellow Zambians are smart. If there was a way, I’d challenge someone to implement a summary of ideas springing from here. If there was a means of using open talk even in constituencies before implementation, we’d be a better and unique Zambia by now. Big up to you all bloggers in general …and LT the facilitator.

    After learning from your different views, I believe Partial Nationalism is the way forward. It may NOT be in the interest of the most brilliant, but the fresh wounds of unemployment in towns like Luanshya just necessitates it. Too careful never does it. We’ll get it done and correct the mistakes we made, as a nation, during extreme cases of the ZCCM era.=d>

  193. 192, Precisely. The only problem with ZCCM was that govt could not continue running such a conglomerate when the price of copper had plummeted to zero. The privatization song was modelled by the same free market song composers who now are partially nationalizing in the name of bailing out. Just before the copper boom, they knew that the demand from the Chinese economy would push the price of copper to all time high and they therefore forced us to sell the mines for a song. Shortly thereafter as they calculated, there was a boom and we lost out because we were almost getting negative instead of at least zero from there but we had sold anyway.

  194. The fake mining investors should not be allowed to close the mines, Katumbi says they have done it in Congo. Zambia should do the same as they had made huge profits, they should use some of these profits to keep the mines afloat until the sales pick up

  195. No, Bashibumi, lets nationalise them. We will privatize them when they are no longer profitable. We are always on the receiving end when it comes to raw deals, I mean how did we accept to privatize and barely a year after, the copper prices get to all time high? Do we not think or are incapable of projecting into the future? Don’t we have IT experts who can model global economic trends particularly focussing on copper production and consumption trends? Why do we go to school? Is it not to learn how to focus into the future using as many parameters at our disposal as possible? Look we even offer 5 years tax breaks to criminals who abandon us after the period lapses? Hello!!!!!!!!

  196. LT. Take a closer look at the perprator at #32 and #92. would you you like to have such repeated comments on you(personally) all your life on the blogg>?????

    The person is forgiven because of Time zone ignorance..

  198. Better to nationalise viable and profit making mines. Dont nationalise a mine at the end of its life. It will cost us more than we put in.

    One option is to nationalise Luanshya and put it in care and maintenace until copper prices rise again. The Govt can be paying the hibernating minors say 50% to 75% of what they currently earn. Miners’ salaries are low. The Govt can allocate say $5m to this.

    Please dont run the mines when you will not make any profit. The money we’ll lose could be used on other projects. Be sensible and not just sentimental.

  199. Cutey, forget about # 30 and # 92, they are just teasing. What’s your take on the future of Zambia with respect to nationalization of the mines? How would you like Zambia to develop? We all have the urge and urgency to achieve this only that we lack people to show us the way on how to do this, thats why we even differ in opinions and thats why opposition parties, ruling parties etc. What’s your take on all these issues? Forget Chewe and all, they’are having a little fun.

  200. UK-Zed Observer, but what’s the use of privatizing a viable and profit making mine when you can not get anything out of it. I mean, all the money is externalised? Not until the windfall taxes, Zambia was getting zero from the profitable mines. Look at DEBSWANA what percentage does the Botswana govt have in it and how much is derived from the diamonds for national development? Its not at the end of its life, privatize when the prices of copper fall, thats not the end of the life of a mine, the new owners have to also speculate on future trends after we make our money, in any case if we nationalize now, we will also be speculating for the price to rise after the global down turn.

  201. We need to accept that when times are hard, tough decisions are made. Check this on BBC.co.uk

    Marks and Spencer plans to close 25 of its small Simply Food stores and another two of its regular stores.

    The closures will mean the loss of 780 jobs. The retailer is also planning to cut 450 head office jobs. The retailer hopes that its redundancy programme, store closures and pension cuts will reduce its annual running costs by between £175m and £200m.

    “But given that we expect challenging economic conditions to continue for at least the next 12 months we believe we are taking the right action to maintain the strength of our business.”

  202. #200 Real Brain

    Copper prices will bounce back as global recession eases. This would be the best time to buy up the miners as the share prices will no doubt be lower. ZCCM would have brought back all the money being externalised. Sad we sold the mines for a song. Guess we were desperate to qualify for HIPC and we were under donor pressure. We owed so much then that even ambassadors in Lusaka treated Govt shit.

    Unfortunately now we own no assets and we have no money. Zed would have to borrow heavily again to buy or develop a mine. Interest rates are very high now. Govt need to be careful.

  203. It was wrong to privatise the mines. Edith Nawakwa recently said the World Bank lied to them that copper prices will never recover. She was Finance Minister. If only we had held on to our mines under ZCCM and only remove political interference.

    I worked for Zccm and oil companies b4 I left Zambia. I saw that the biggest problem was political interference. The behaviour was that the Govt and ministers owned the companies and therefore employed you. Zambian managers were generally very competent.

    We negotiated privatisation from a point of weakness. Got a bad deal. Lumwana is new. Why didnt we own it?

  204. Thats a very bright idea. How i wish it can be realised. I think its time that our Govt run some companies. The Govt should also consider setting up a public transport company so that they can set some competition to these private transporters. Remember that even these Indusrialised contries also have public companies. Any ideas pipo??????? [-(

  205. #193 Real Brain the prices of copper have never gone down to Zero. ZCCM was poorly managed. Remember in 1972 Zambia and Chile were producing the same amount of copper tonnage i.e 750 000 tonnes per annum. However from 1972 onwards Zambia’s production started to go south. Things got worse with the creation of ZCCM with Francis Kaunda at the helm when the decline accelerated. By 1991 production had nose dived 250 000 tonnes. Chile however was a revelation. Chile never relented even as you wrongly claim that prices had reached ‘zero. Production in Chile on the other hand had quadruple by 1991 to 3m tonnes. Todate it is 5.5m tonnes. The problems in Zambia have to do with mismanagement. The…..

  206. …largest copper mining firm today is Chile’s State-owned Coldeco which accounts for 1.8 million tonnes of Chile’s 5.5m production capacity. Ask yourself why a state-owned Chilean copper mining firm succeeded where Zambia’s ZCCM failed. Iam quite sure the reason is not ‘zero prices’ of copper but sheer mismanagement like everything else has been mismanaged in Zambia.

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