The mining sector declared a paltry K35 billion mineral royalties out of a staggering profit of about K1,589,196,180,000 it recorded in the financial year of 2005 to 2006.
Minister of Finance and National Planning, Ng’andu Magande, said in Lusaka yesterday that the mining sector had a profit of US$397,299,045 last year.
The profit is based on the mineral royalty tax of the current 0.6 percent.
However, Government has informed mining companies that would increase the mineral royalties to 3 per cent
Mr Magande said last year’s profit margin was a significant improvement on the US$242,452,534 declared in the year 2004/2005.
He said this also reflected a tremendous leap in the profits following losses of US$274,486,745 in 2002/2003 and US$43,251,785, recorded in 2003/2004.
“In 2005/2006, mineral royalty receipts improved to a level of K35,749,042,707. The contribution of the mining sector in form of mineral royalties has been positive,” Mr Magande said.
He said mining sector declared K3,633,795,469 as mineral royalty for the 2002/2003 period while in 2003/2004, the State only collected K792,168,131.
The minister attributed the paltry declaration in the 2003/2004 financial year to low copper prices on the world market and the withdrawal of Anglo-American Corporation from the mining sector in Zambia.
”A positive outcome was experienced in 2004/2005 with mining companies contributing K6,308,022,604 as mineral royalty,†Mr Magande said.
And Mr Magande said there was a process in place to ensure that tax audits were conducted to verify the profits declared by mining companies.
He said the audits covered company tax, value added tax, mineral royalty and pay-as-you-earn.
Mr Magande also explained that there were no tax-free imports in the development agreements with mining companies.
He, however, said the Mines and Minerals Act provided for companies with large-scale mining licences to submit approved programmes of mining and metallurgical processes, which were technically scrutinised within the law.
He said when the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development was satisfied and approved the programme, the importation of materials and equipment for the purpose of implementation of the programmes were then given tax concessions.
”Note that the concession in this case is for materials and equipment. The materials and the values to be considered are specified.
During execution of the implementation, the quantities and values are monitored to check compliance with the agreed and approved quantities and values,” he said.
Mr Magande said Government had made it clear that the development agreements would be renegotiated as provided by the clauses of the development agreement and that the nation would be informed as and when the process had been firmed up.
And Mr Magande said the mining sector continued to perform well in 2006.
He said real gross domestic product growth in the mining and quarrying sector increased to 19.6 per cent from 7.1 per cent in 2005.
Mr Magande attributed this to the rise in mineral production, investments in rehabilitation of infrastructure and technological innovations in existing mines, the coming on board of new mines and increase in small-scale copper mining activities.
He said copper production increased by 11.5 per cent from 461,748 tonnes in 2005 to 515,010 tonnes in 2006.
Mr Magande said cobalt production, however, dropped from about 5,537 tonnes in 2005 to 4,658 tonnes in 2006.
He said Government was happy that direct employment in the mining industry was now close to 50,000 employees.
Mr Magande said Government would continue to promote both large and small-scale mining by providing a conducive business environment, updating current legislation and providing more geological information to allow for extensive exploration work.
He said Government would provide support to the small-scale mining sector, given its potential in employment creation and poverty reduction.
Mr Magande said through the use of the mining revolving fund, small-scale miners would continue to be assisted with funds for, among other things, hire of plant and equipment.
Meanwile KALUBA BWALYA reports that the Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) has welcomed Government’s decision to temporarily suspend new applications for mining rights for six months.
MUZ president, Raymond Mbulo, said in an interview yesterday that the decision to suspend applications for mining rights was good, as it would accord Government a chance to adequately scrutinise some applications.
“MUZ will always support any Government decision that is well intended and also that addresses the plight of miners in the country,†he said.
Mr Mbulo said having a computerised system was a good development, as it would ensure that applications were processed faster and more transparently than the manual system.
Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Dr Kalombo Mwansa, announced on Saturday the intended suspension of the issuance of mining rights.
This would be effected from July 1, to December 31,2007.
Sorry, members of the blog BUT i need to know if kalampa, Nkana FC managed to get a win in yesterdays fixture.
Hmm..$390 million profit after expenses, wages and all. Not bad. No wonder these are all over Zambia even in funny places ..nice one.
#1 We lost to prison leoprds 1-0
#3. Nkana Played on Sunday. It was a 1 all draw with Afrisport. The loss to Prison leopards was a week ago.
Nkana FC 1 Afrisport 1
Lets go Kalampa, Ba FAZ ni mbushi!!!
Nkana lost one zero
Ba FAZ balitumpa sana. They must be impeached and Kenneth Malitoli must become the President!
only a fool can say we are doing fine in mining, plz i dont want to mention names like chanda phiri te? ala ifi ma-figures ifyo magande atupele fya fake te. the best is to use stastical analysis data to make good analysis…perhaps percentages would have been better to compare what we got at the end of the day.plz umutwe ulakalipa sana nganalanda ichisungu…so lekeni mbike home service, aba ba magande baletumona kwati tulipofu te? ayo amadukis(money) yonse yesu pali ifyakwakani apa naba investors te? plz wake up zed? grab back our mines. kwena magande chikopo sana sana. on his own resources ageta pofye kasosela nako aka nono. what a shame.
only a fool can say we are doing fine in mining, plz i dont want to mention names like chanda phiri te? ala ifi ma-figures ifyo magande atupele fya fake te. the best is to use stastical analysis data to make good analysis…perhaps percentages would have been better to compare what we got at the end of the day.plz umutwe ulakalipa sana nganalanda ichisungu…so lekeni mbike home service, aba ba magande baletumona kwati tulipofu te? ayo amadukis(money) yonse yesu tapali ifyakwakani apa naba investors te? plz wake up zed? grab back our mines. kwena magande chikopo sana sana. on his own resources ageta pofye kasosela nako aka nono. what a shame.
Ba Joze, people like you can run these mines as investors te?
Let’s grab ’em
Nkana is even struggling just because of them “infestors”
#1-6 you are offside, go sports page and ask Kemps from USA for these results, this topic is for people with analysis like BaJoze and Born rich.BaJoze continue with your explanation since this your speciality.
And Bakabolala ba FAZ are adding salt to the wound.
FAZ are a bunch of quarks!!!
They are plunderers.
Magande,ensure that capital gains are correctly applied.These guys especially KCM have a habit of capitalising work in progress in form of copper concentrates just to evade tax, and sometimes in poen pit mining they capitalise the amounts used to remove the waste before mining cobalt all these are loopholes which need to be checked.And dont just look at final corporate tax employ quarterly visits by your men,indians have a habit of maintaining two sets of books of accounts so if you let it to the end of the financial year,you wont have any audit trail of their figures,they are smarter than smart.But for now the figures showed are not as bad but we expect a higher figure if all disallowbales are thoroughly scrutinised.Mines need a dedicated and intelligent team to uncover certain funny transactions.Dont use people like Citizen with just C.A.B.S to go on these audits otherwise it will be a big loss.Use people like AM and Ba Joze who are well versed with mining transactions to audit
Magande,ensure that capital gains are correctly applied.These guys especially KCM have a habit of capitalising work in progress in form of copper concentrates just to evade tax, and sometimes in poen pit mining they capitalise the amounts used to remove the waste before mining cobalt all these are loopholes which need to be checked.And dont just look at final corporate tax employ quarterly visits by your men,indians have a habit of maintaining two sets of books of accounts so if you let it to the end of the financial year,you wont have any audit trail of their figures,they are smarter than smart.But for now the figures showed are not as bad but we expect a higher figure if all disallowbales are thoroughly scrutinised.Mines need a dedicated and intelligent team to uncover certain funny transactions.Dont use people like Citizen with just C.A.B.S to go on these audits otherwise it will be a big loss.Use people like AM and Ba Joze who are well versed with mining transactions to audit
#13written by Kuku, sorry bloggers for duplication
Kuku, is nationalisation the solution?
It seems this investor thing is not working at all.
Can the difference between “Capitalism” and Socialism make the difference for our country?
please help me.
#11 kuku, pakuya kuma order ni nawishiba ati ulesangamo profit te? imagine you send K100,000 and wagetamo K1000 profit and born rich a-spenda K1000 kuma order nokugetamo K600. nomba how do you compare how is doing fine mu business? bushe kulolesha pama-figures te? the answer is NO !!!!! first calculate the percentages and compare te? Thats is what magande has failed to do te? nokutulanga ifima-figure ati we are doing fine te? After all mukuba wesu onse. Chuchu wake up and grab what belong to zed.
#11 kuku, pakuya kuma order ni nawishiba ati ulesangamo profit te? imagine you spend K100,000 and wagetamo K1000 profit and born rich a-spenda K1000 kuma order nokugetamo K600. nomba how do you compare how is doing fine mu business? bushe kulolesha pama-figures te? the answer is NO !!!!! first calculate the percentages to compare te? Thats is what magande has failed to do te? nokutulanga ifima-figure ati we are doing fine te? After all mukuba wesu onse. Chuchu wake up and grab what belong to zed.
#17. Ba Joze
Mudala ulimukali. Walikwata good analysis.
Not gk.
I now know why Jude is madly in love with yo!
#16 read ubwina lebi chap 5 vs 1. you will get the ans.
#21. Which Version and what is lebi, Leviticus?
Official Results, Coutesy of the Sports Page
Afrisport 2 Nkana FC 2
Kuku nomba naya kuma order mushita avogado pears(amakotapela).ala ama zim-zim balitemwe bread yama kotapele ngabalenue tea pa inters.
so kuku be incharge until tomorrow.kuku, ama organic fruits pa teka farm yalishaini kumutengo?
What!! can compare expenditure and revenue for this figures to make sense. How much is going for Debt servicing?
For aculate results visit soccornetzambia dot com
#24 BaJoze last time Born rich went to buy oranges for ba mudala ba FTJ we were shocked that TEka Farms doesnt grow organic fruits, his farm manager confided in Born rich that LPM wants this to be a top secret , all the fruits are actually GMOs the same with those at curry farm(VJ’s farm),So this LPM is a man of double standards-on one hand he is condeming GMOs and yet he is in the forefront to do the opposite.His love for a bigger bottom line(profits) has caused him to behave the way he does, Africa utubelele uluse lelo tetulabe
First of all is this $390M profit or gross earnings before rayalties,corperate tax a and expenses? Can some one with accurate info enlighten us. Some times data is misrepresented just create Animosity. I dont believe there is accuracy in these figures. If they can make that much i dont think they would be urguing over a 6% rayalty tax. Before we loose our cool lets get the true picture.
#25 ci easy 1kg+1kg=2kg te? so 1+1=4 te?(let me explain 1 heap of sand + 1 heap of = 4 heaps of sand te? so there must be an equation to be used when analysing the end results not ifyakufubulafye ama-figures ati we are doing fine. mwaice i said used percentage for comparisons…wetatawe !!! mwati vyakulanda nakulanda? vyakulolavye, kalanda kasikolo. iwe mwaice easy ulicikopo sana sana.
Nothing is going to debt serving pantu chuchu ali major muli kaloba. so is planning to get more from your cousins ama chang cheng chung so that tasebene muka Goerge Bush nga aisa pa 26/06.
Ba Jose 1 heap of sand + 1 Heap of sand = 1 big heap of sand twice as big. what are yoy trying to say? before you confuse us.
#30 SAGE i put te at the end to make it have more solutions te? can be 1, 2, or more te? now my point is that in business percentages are good to make analysis of explained variable and unexplained variable te? nomba magande atupelafye ama-fitures ati we are doing fine te? nomba nishinga baletwala kuli kaloba? still the coffer are empty, completely empty, tapali ifwesu. manje what chuchu must do is to grab ama mines so that yonse profit yaba yensu te? so nishi twambeko nokucefyako kaloba te?
31# I get your point. Point of correction , the coffers are never empty no full. The government operates on continuum of cush flow. for example if GRZ collects K30B and its budget is K29B although the projected taxs K100B GRZ has a supplus of K1B despite only collecting 28% of the intended taxes. Words like “Empty Coffers” where coined by the FTJ admin in order to create animosity between the people and KK admin and at the same time detract peoples attention from the real issues. By the way, Do you ever think there is alot of non Bemba speaking people in the blog who would really love to understand your intelligent point of view?
This tax money from the mines is too little. GRZ needs to move quickly in renegotiating the agreements so that the Country can start benefiting from the mines. Just because they fund their campigns should not make them procrastinate on this issue. We need money to maintain our infrastructure esp. roads which they are ruinning as they transport abnormal loads the copperbelt and north western provinces. As you know country men we have no toll gates like in SA or Europe. We (ordinary users) cannot continue paying thru our nose in terms of fuel levy, VAT, excise etc to fund the roads they are using no. We cant afford to leave things to chance. There is this talk of ‘encouraging companies like mine to take up the role of good corporate cizenship’ by ‘ploughing back into the communities’. This song by politicians should not replace the tax system. That is why a new good constitution becomes imperative. Please ministers responsible do something about this now, otherwise we shall lose out.
#32 SAGE, ala ichisungu chilakalifa mutwe pakulemba, anyway I will try. SAGE my young brother, when we talk about coffers, in the nutshell we talk about money in the reserve bank and we dont talk about money thats in circulation te? now tell me, how much money is in circulation and reserve bank? the national budget cannot even reach its intended goal te?mind you, a certain portion of the budget comes from donors te?
coming to your surplus. when there is surplus the govt must give something to the pipo and not to keep money (like IDs passport), reduction of fuel price, renovation of health centres, school etc.in addition you talked of 28% from tax collection which is below par one can not even talk about. SAGE, the system of tax collection needs to be rejuvanated. Sorry naya kuma order.
#16 The mines, our most precious national asset, were given away for a song under pressure from the international donor community and the multilateral financial institutions that pushed the agenda. What has this benefited the average Zambian on the streets? Has it given the Zambian government more money to spend on social services?
It is important that when we talk about these taxes that we should examine the real benefit; we should quantify the financial benefit that is coming into the economy.Our watch Born rich is match the benefits not just mere rethoric from Magande. Rantionalisation Born rich we have no capacity cos our Leaders signed contracts without paying attention to small prints so the only way forward is resound financial prudential measure of maxising collection of Tax from these guys-WHT on dividends,VAT,PAYE,Mineral Royalties,Corporation Tax,in as much as that CEO is building a University in GOA we should also build one in Chingola
Ala,aya amfiga yakwa Magande and Co. yanchita confuse.But we must bear in mind that this is the intended purpose.If the average Zambian tried to take the govt. to task over these figures you can be rest assured you would get a mouthful of jibawash !!! Reminds me of Penza and his “Penzanomics”.Can’t these figures be reported simply for all of us to understand?? Being average i have understood the current 0.6% tax to be too low.This means our investors are seriuosly minting coinage from our diminishing resource.I further assume Magande proposes correcting this imbalance without annoying the investors too much. To Magande i say……go for the jugular becoz these chaps are not going anywhere no matter what you charge in mineral tax.They need us just as much as we need them.Most of them have “forward sold” the copper anyway and they need to continue mining in order to pay their creditors !!!! Magande we are NOT in a weak position so begin to behave like a landlord and not a tenant!!!
Zed I surprised who can tell me the truth I saw a documentment on European TV give Zambia as an example of the benefinaries of the IMF/World Bank Debt relief ati People in village now get free medicine. Iam behind when I stayed in the village we never paid for medical consultantion and tablets. Were Zambian clinics at one time fee paying. know this because my Dady built a clinic with the community which now part of a malaria research center. Ba Joze you are wise I almost rated you person with water in the head but now that you know govt coffers, reserve bank ans culculation then you have mongs in your head. Talk sensible things like you will contributing to the nation by educating others. You no illeteracy is one of the big problem of Zambia. Brain Drain are the Russian Doctors in?
Zed I surprised who can tell me the truth I saw a documentment on European TV give Zambia as an example of the benefinaries of the IMF Bank Debt relief ati People in village now get free medicine. Iam behind when I stayed in the village we never paid for medical consultantion and tablets. Were Zambian clinics at one time fee paying. know this because my Dady built a clinic with the community which now part of a malaria research center. Ba Joze you are wise I almost rated you person with water in the head but now that you know govt coffers, reserve bank ans culculation then you have mongs in your head. Talk sensible things like you will contributing to the nation by educating others. You no illeteracy is one of the big problem of Zambia. Brain Drain are the Russian Doctors in?
Now Ba Magande you are comparing USD 7 million to $397 million what a shame!!!!
Ba Jose… There is never money in reserve. The physical money at the BOZ is there to meet the demand from circulation and support the balance of payments. A surplus simply means the projected tax collection is more than the projected national budget.If you have a surplus in a country like Zambia the president should be impeached. There is just too much to be done. GRZ can not give money to people directly. But it can be done through tax credits for both low income families and also make grants available for small businesses. For example if GRZ made K100B available in terms of low interest loans and grants to deserving citizens with good business ideas. say for the nex 5 years. bearing in mind a 20% attrition rate. The tax base would increase by more than 500% and GRZ would have 10 fold return on investment while growing the economy. This would give them the necessary cash for service delivery such as hospitals, roads. But there has to be a delibarate policy with a capital investment
#38 alabane mulebwela no kububwela mwaisamona icalo efyo cili.Ala konse kwali ama user fees ranging from K500 to K3000 depending on the area.Not long ago after HIPIC was reached the user fees have since been abolished, that is why Sylvester Mwanza posted an article by BBC where there was congestion at hospitals like Kafue and else where and people were on queues as early as 04.ALa ba Easy icalo balyonaula bamambala aba.Come out of your comfort zone and contribute to rebuilding of Zambia, even where you used to play icimpombwa palyapa Shibwalya Katema’s village now its a complex for Lebanese its no longer a play park.How does that sound?
#40 SAGE our govt will never have a surplus because they have accepted to rely on donors than developing policies that are home grown.Our govt fiscal policy is so shrewed that credit from financial institutions is almost non existence especially for indigenous business men.In as much as they try hard to practice borrowing restraint they go indirectly and abrogate it leaving the economy with high interest rates because the huge credit facilities.Secondly its the misapplication of these ‘foreign aids’, ideally these should be for reconstruction but because our people in leadership are so blank they opt to use Aid on recurrent expenditure and then struggle to keep up with grant repayment.Excessive aid is dangerous in as much as we need,capital investment and broad tax base are key but goes with proper systems, regulation and monotoring of what is happening in the economy,todate I dont think Magande knows what goes in the economy.How much investment has gone into North western?
Zambia not to privatize national telecom company
Zambia on Thursday dispelled speculations on the selling of its national telecom company Zamtel, saying privatization is not its choice for the sensitive issue.
Mike Mulongoti, the chief spokesperson for the Zambian government, said in a statement that Zambia preferred to commercialize Zamtel with fear that the privatization of the state- owned enterprise would damage its fragile economy.
The statement follows recent media reports that the Zambian government was seeking an equity partner for the commercialization and privatization of Zamtel.
Mulongoti, who is also minister of information and broadcasting services, said that his government is fully involved in the commercialization process of Zamtel aimed at improving capital investment at the company.
“As part of the process of commercialization, Zambia Telecommunication Company (Zamtel) is operating according to a five-year strategic plan for the period 2006 to 2011 and Zambia Telecommunications is operating in accordance with this strategic plan,” Mulongoti said in the statement.
The plan was designed to inject more energy into Zamtel and reposition the company in the competitive telecommunication environment.
Source: Xinhua
#40,SAGE have you seen the kind of leaders you have?Mulongotinomics now has subsituted ‘capital injection’ with ‘energy injection’, how nice read the last statement in #43.
It is very important that our political leaders talk about things they are very clear about. It is not good for top political leaders to start making absolute statements about things they least understand. They should not try to explain that which is not perfectly clear to them .
Africa utubelele uluse lelo tetitulabe nakalya .
Nkhata boy mwaice have been arrested in Germany? I was waiting for you now AM off til next month
Kuku .. good to hear from you. Zamtel is a time bomb however way you look at it. First of all the privatization of Zamtel would have zero effect on the economy given the positive results we are getting from the mining sector.Secondly it will just pave way for the establishment of many telecom companies which will create jobs and increase the tax bas for GRZ.I have been seriously engaged in the telecom business here in the US. VOIP is upon us. We can not ignore the inevitable. the major traditional telecom in the US has been scrumbling to implement VOIP like mad. AT&T is now offering both VOIP and trasitioning completely from the PSTN which is too expensive to run. GRZ is implementing protectionist policies in the Telecom sector. By the time they wake up no one will want to buy Zamtel. I believe GRZ has no reason to be in business. imagin a referee also playing. GRZ should concern itself with policy making and tax collection while leveling the playing field.
#45,There is no harm leaving Zamtel compete against other players but what is needed is bring to commercial standards (repositioning) and concession management.We have seen this happen in UK where British Telecoms is still competeing amongst so many players and has held on to the infra structure.No operator can run their business with leasing a line through BT be it either Land phone, broadband etc.So let Zamtel be a competitor in the sector not to completely sell it off.This will maximise revenue for govt as well as create jobs and act as check in the environment of business.
OROSO PLUNDERE NUMBER ONE IN SPORTS IS ZAMBIA AMATEUR
ADULTERY ASSOCITION PRESIDENT ELIAS MPONDELA, FORMER
ZAMBIA AMATEUR ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION. HE HAS 6 CCOUNTS ALONE AND ALL THE OFFICES ARE HIS. A SAINA KU
BANK ALONE.INTER COMPANY MORE GO HIS PERSONAL ACCOUNT.
IF YOU WHAT TO GET MORE ON THIS ASK THE SPORTS MINISTER ,PS AND THE NSCZ. THE GOVRNMENT KNOW ABOUT ALL
THIS VERY WELL. PLEASE ACC,DEC,PLOCE AND TASK FORCE MOVE GET THE CHAP.MOST OF OUR GIRLS HAVE BEEN STOPED TO COME FOR ATHLETICS TRAINING FOR FEER OF OUE OUR MR ADULTELY ELIAS ATI KUTI ALALA A BA I CHE.
#46 kuku, would you clarify one thing. Is BT privatised, commercialised or it is still a parastatal?
And same with British Airways and British Gas?
#46 .. First Kayata welcome back. There is no merit in keeping ZAMTEL as a parastatal. The mess outweighs the benefit. If GRZ sold ZAMTEL to day they will make millions out of the sale and still keep making triple the revenue in taxes from the telecom sector. You are still looking at GRZ as a player in business. Start looking at GRZ as a policy maker and referee on the playing field. We have a lot of people thinking in those lines thats why the telecom sector is so backward. GRZ involvement in the telecom sector is an impedment to development to the development of telecom industry. GRZ cant make sound telecom policies because they have to protect ZAMTEL before thinking of what is the future. The only way you will have sound policies in telecom is when GRZ starts governing and not competing with the very people ist governing. Each time someone makes a call to the US at $1.30c a minulte you are making people poorer. do you know what the cost of a local is in “Z”?
Formation of British Telecom
On 1 October 1981, Post Office Telecommunications was renamed British Telecom and became a state-owned corporation independent of the Post Office. In 1982 BT’s monopoly on telecommunications was broken, with the grant of a licence to Mercury Communications.
[edit] Privatisation
The privatisation took place in 1984, with the sale of more than 50% of the shares in the company (incorporated in 1984 as British Telecommunications plc) to the public in November.
The company changed its trading name to ‘BT’ on 2 April 1991. The remaining state holdings in the company were sold in 1991 and 1993 . In 1996 Peter Bonfield was appointed CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee, promising a “rollercoaster ride.”[2].
In the 1990s, BT entered the Irish telecommunications market through a joint venture with the Electricity Supply Board, the Irish state owned power provider. This venture, entitled Ocean, found its main success through the launch of Ireland’s
Kayata BT,BA and BG are plc’s
What matters in Business is good management and reinvestment plus giving service to the people at reasonable and accepted prices for the communities. If you poorly manage your business be it private or commercial it will good down. Remember the world has become very competitive due to Globalization.As long as the a government has no reserves and keep on debt servicing plus human capital being sick or hungry you can not put the economy forward. Privatisation of such companies should also be given to locals not always outsourcing. Outsourcing has its on pro and corns but it doesnt work on areas of business i.e in production we cant wait the an american farmer to produce maize for people in Zambia that is total unaccepted.
What matters in Business is good management and reinvestment plus giving service to the people at reasonable and accepted prices for the products. If you poorly manage your business be it private or commercial it will good down. Remember the world has become very competitive due to Globalization.As long as the a government has no reserves and keep on debt servicing plus human capital being sick or hungry you can not put the economy forward. Privatisation of such companies should also be given to locals not always outsourcing. Outsourcing has its on pro and corns but it doesnt work on areas of business i.e in production we cant wait the an american farmer to produce maize for people in Zambia that is total unaccepted.
#51 SAGE,Thanks.I’m a small shareholder in those 3 plc’s.During the debate of the sale of Zanaco,i suggested that i’d be happy to see Zamtel and Zesco privatised as they were a heavy burden on the resources of the govt. But from the look of debate on this blog,alot of people have not understood the role of the govt in a country.I mostly blame the govt for not educating the public on it’s role, i’m more especially embarrased with KK for not paying his legal fee’s.
Imagine, our “leaders” tell us, Europe and Western countries are developed because of our copper…
In February 1997 the shareholders of British Gas plc approved its demerger creating Centrica plc and renaming British Gas plc to BG plc.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York
#54Kayata,no one would be against privatisation but its the mode operand of doing it and the lack of serious investor policy in place.All the three British Companies mentioned above are Plc meaning the govt offloaded its shares to the public and there after what happens to who buys those shares is non of govt business.Zanaco issue the 51% could have been floated on LUSE where you and me could have gone to buy than to sale to foreigners for a melody.Chilanga, Pamodzi,Breweries are plcs so even to the remaining infra utuility structutures like(BA,BG.BT) let govt offload its weight thru LUSE and they will raise the required capital adequately and capitalise these limping entities but no looking to China to buy Zesco,or Zamtel or ZR NO!.
#53, the prime objective for privatisation in most cases is ‘profit maximisation’ and recoup enough savings that should go towards debt servicing and social spending like pay off all pension arrears,OAP improved welfare and the surplus used for one off developmental projects.And this works well in a nore rigourous faster paced implementation program where time becomes a factor to maximise returns.In our case 262 companies were sold and no savings were made sending us in awful position than we were before.So many errors were made because of greedy people involved in the sale.In selling ZCCM we made a loss of $700m through restructuring costs etc and the total sale figure was only $446m, poor planning and we still want to continue making mistakes its a shame.
#56. Point of correction the government shouldnt be thinking of raising capital from the sale of a parastatal. They should realise what the company is work at the point of sale. Holding on to companies like ZAMTEL ZESCO etc just brings about lack of sound policies. Its a fact a government can not run a business. If they hold on to these businesses its because politians are benefiting personaly at the expense of development. Thats why we have institutions like NPF or NAPSA which is nothing but a hidden form of tax. Ok look at Lusaka water and sewerage. Why should people be forced to pay LWS when there is no water running from the taps. This is what you get when you let GRZ run things. ZESCO in the 70,80,90’s was exporting power to prety much all our neighbours. Now we are importing. What does that tell you? My friends a strong private sector is the way forward. forget about the word parastatal, It shouldnt even cross our minds. Dump parastatals and let prosperity ring in our Land.
Kukk#56, You are worrying and freightening. China taking over Zesco, Zamtel what a joke. You want Zambia to be colonialised again. You know what you are talkig about. Selling out a company has many consquences the waste is elimination of decision making yyou are lobby of this privillege. Do you wang PENG PENG to start telling you when you should switch on the the lights. Zambia Breweries is an example all the rights of the company is no longer in the hands of the Zambians even the formula use to make mosi was sold along. Look my dear brother coca cola does just that only two people know the formula how the make it and they are not supposed to be at the same place. They cant board on the same plane just in case an accident happens. Before you sell out anything make sure you patent it you never know how the world economy will be looking in the next years to come.
Kuku i beg to differ. The prime objective of privatization is de regulation.Its not a fundriasing venture. Its in most case designed to have the government disinvest in a sector in order for them to make objective policies based purely on what is good for the country and not looking at their investiment. Sometimes the way fowerd means changing the course completely, which sometimes brings about temperal loses but the futer benefits out weighs the immediate impact. If the government is heavily invested in a sector they wont make the peniful decisions. Thats why the first step let the government sale its interests and then it will be object. Do you know that ZANACO at the moment floats the laws regarding wire tranfer limits. This simply becuase its the government. Get GRZ out of business. we have already gone through the most painful stage. Ofcourse i’m concerned on the modus operandi.
Govt need to reduce their stakes in Zesco and Zamtel. I propose the following structure.
Zesco: Private Investors 35% + Management rights, pension Funds 25%, Stock Shares 10%, Govt the remaining
ZAMTEL: Sell to Vodacom 45%+Management rights CEO+CFO, Govt 25%, Stock 10%, The rest to ZTE or Huawei(Chinese).
With this structure we will no longer have puppet and useless MD’s who are semi-politicians.
Zamtel in ist presnt state is non-compete. It would create more Jobs if it went into private hands. Zamtel is full of incompetent, frustrated and Expired Engineers. It is really a launching pad, or for lazy people who are waiting for pension.
#56 kuku, how do we create a serious investor situation when we have leaders like KK,Mugabe,Sata etc who think Africa belongs to Blacks only.For a serious investor to come to Zambia or Africa,there must be stability and the only people who can invest in places where there is no stability is China and arms dealers,as we have seen them in Sudan.
#60 Bro SAGE,i like capitalist and you seem to be one, it is the only philosophy that can make people work hard unlike the Humanism concepts of the KK and wamuyaya anthems.
#62 HK, as Bro SAGE has explained, Govt should have no hand in business,therefore even a 0.01% should not be allowed because that same % can have some influence and voting rights.
The Chinese are using the Western world’s money to their advantage unlike African leaders who divert the same money to the west.
The Zambian government is under increasing pressure from business and labour to increase its mineral taxes in the wake of surging copper prices on the world market but, ¬analysts say, a revision could lead to litigation.
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange have shot to record highs of about $8 000 per metric tonne — from the average of $1 200 six years ago — in what is considered the biggest base-metal bull market in 50 years, fuelled by strong demand from China and India.
But the Zambian government has continued to charge paltry mineral royalties of 0,6% — the world average is 3% — and offers lengthy tax holidays to foreign investors, resulting in poor earnings from the booming prices of its main export, copper.
Mining companies doing business in Zambia are also exempt from customs duties on imports of capital machinery and there are no restrictions on the amount of profits, dividends or royalties that can be externalised.
On a recent visit to Zambia World Bank economic adviser Paul Collier, said “government has made a tactical error in imposing a tax-free-regime on the copper industry and should quickly impose a windfall tax, so that the people of Zambia can benefit from their resources before the boom in copper prices subsidesâ€.
With reasonable mineral royalties, analysts say the country could raise enough revenue required for national development as has been the case with the world’s largest copper producer, Chile, which last year netted a record budget surplus of $8-billion from its 3% royalties.
It is still a joke to only pay 35bn in royaalties, the mines have the capability to do more than just this.