The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is increasingly turning to countries outside major food producer South Africa in search of cheaper sources of food, a spokesman said on Thursday.
The food agency this year again spent record amounts of money on the staple maize and other crops in Malawi and Mozambique, WFP spokesman Richard Lee said. Spending in Zambia is also nearing record levels.
The WFP buys the bulk of its regional supplies from South Africa, the biggest producer of wheat and maize in southern Africa.
But over the past several years it has tried to support domestic agriculture elsewhere, Lee said. A poor maize crop in South Africa has also made the country’s maize more expensive.
Analysts also say these countries could soon compete with South Africa for a share of its maize market as their governments boost farming support in order to lift agricultural production.
“We’ve already spent more money in Malawi and Mozambique this year than ever before. We’re approaching record levels in Zambia,” Lee said.
In 2002, when a food crisis prompted the WFP to scale up its operations in the region, it bought 6,500 tonnes of maize from Malawi. So far this year, purchases from that country stand at 78,000 tonnes — nearly double last year.
Over the same period, purchases from Zambia have grown to 58,000 from 12,000 tonnes and to 38,000 tonnes from 13,000 in Mozambique.
In the year to date, the U.N. body has bought about 82 percent of the 270,000 tonnes of food required for 2007, Lee said.
“It’s predominantly due to price that we’re not buying in South Africa. But also the WFP is very keen, where possible, to buy locally,” Lee said.
“Obviously, (buying locally) can speed up the process and we want to benefit local industries and small-scale farmers.”
He said this included mostly maize but also other cereals.
For the second year in a row, drought has slashed production of the maize crop in South Africa, pushing up prices of the main harvest. At the same time, the price of wheat, the other widely consumed cereal, has vaulted on global supply fears.
ZAMBIA AIRWAYS’ UNTOLD STORY
By Cliff Phiri: Saturday August 18, 2007
“Chiluba and his government liquidated Zambia Airways as a mark of style and change to undo anything and everything KK did or left.”
These are the words of former Zambia Airways financial director Timothy Simakoloyi.
Simakoloyi says the airline had enough assets of its own such that given a breather by the government it would have survived.
He says contemporary airlines like Kenya Airways, Air Zimbabwe and Air Malawi who were in similar liquidity problems survived because of political will.
He says QZ, as Zambia Airways was fondly known, was not insolvent as it had enough assets of well over US$80 million against a total debt of US$39 million.
“Those assets belonged to the Zambian people collectively which assets were dissipated at the stroke of a TV announcement. The fact is that the buck stops on former president Frederick Chiluba’s door steps and his government who wanted to undo anything and everything KK left or did,” he says.
Simakoloyi says Chiluba and his government even wanted to undo KK himself by declaring him stateless until they were reminded that their own position in power would be untenable.
“Not only did they get the mantle from him but it was he who got Zambia’s Magna Carta from Whitehall,” he says.
He accuses the Chiluba government of actively and tactically killing the airline by prevaricating to pay for their own old dues because of the thought that those were UNIP bills.
He says Chiluba and his government dried off new business from government and parastatals under the guise of economic liberalisation.
“In 1994, a group of 34 government ministers and officials going to the Paris Club meeting preferred to travel on a Thursday by BA British Airways rather than by QZ on a Friday although the meeting was scheduled for the following Monday,” he says.
He explains that the over US$20 million Chiluba gave Katebe Katoto as stated in the London Court judgment could have saved Zambia Airways.
Author: First of all, I would like to welcome you to this interview.
Answer: Thank you. I must thank The Post for deciding to profile me. I am grateful.
Q: To start with, tell me about yourself.
A: My full names are Timothy Milton Michelo Simakoloyi. I was born on July 6, 1948 of Nine Hamukumba Simakoloyi a grandson of headman Chisembwa and Esther Muchindu of Han’gandu village both of Mapanza. My father was named ‘Nine’ because he was born in 1909. As a matter of record I can’t trace any lineage apart from Mapanza. So I am essentially a total Mapanza boy.
I started school in 1956 at Mutongwa School and later moved to Kabuyu School. In 1960 I graduated to Dundwa Middle Primary School where I met the likes of Honourable Emmanuel Hachipuka and the late Festus Sinzala who was once TAZAMA managing director. In fact, Mr Sinzala was my cousin. I did my standard five and six at St Dominics Upper Primary School. Thereafter I was accepted at St Marks College and it is here where I met the likes of Henson Sendowe, the current Copperbelt Energy Corporation managing director and Dr Davis Kwendakwema who is the head of paediatrics at Ndola Central Hospital. I completed form five in 1968 with a first division. In fact, I was only the fourth pupil at St Marks to graduate with a first division since it was turned into a secondary school in the late fifties. In our group only three of us got division one, the other two being James Matale the former ZPA chief executive and Emmanuel Hachipuka. James Matale is actually the husband of Council of Churches in Zambia general secretary Susan Matale. By the way all these schools are in Mapanza in Choma.
Q: What about your family?
A: I am married to Florence and we have been together since 1980. We have four children – Mutinta is the first and she works for Zanaco as a bank manageress. Then there is Cynthia who is working in the UK. Our third child Natalie is studying medicine in China. Grace is the last born, she is studying in the UK and she is staying with her mother. Actually my wife lives in the UK. She works as a nurse in Chichester.
Q: How did you proceed after completing form five with high marks?
A: I went to UNZA in 1969 to pursue engineering but I was not there for long. I was re-directed. So in 1970 I joined Kitwe City Council in the engineering department and, among other projects, I was involved in surveying Kwacha East in Kitwe. In the same year, 1970, I was among the first group to open the Zambia Institute of Technology (ZIT). We did our first term at Luanshya Trades Training Institute and our second term at Luanshimba Secondary School in Kitwe. I left ZIT in 1971 because I was not satisfied with just ending up with a mere diploma. I thought there was no way I could be holding a diploma with the high marks I had attained at form five. So in 1971 I went to Evelyn Hone to do ACCA. However, ACCA was discontinued at Evelyn Hone and ZDA Zambia Diploma in Accountancy was introduced. In October 1972, I applied to Zambia Airways as a trainee accountant and was accepted after sitting for an aptitude test. They then sponsored me to do ZDA, which I finished in 1976 – I was among the first group of five graduates in ZDA. In fact, I was with Patrick Chisanga in the ZDA class but he left before we completed to become an MCC Member of the Central Committee.
Q: Did you go back to Zambia Airways after graduating from Evelyn Hone College or you opted for another company?
A: No… I went back to Zambia Airways to work in the finance department and in 1977 I was elevated to manager treasury. A year later in 1978 I was appointed accounting controller reporting to the financial director. In 1981, Zambia Airways sponsored a group of us to the UK to go and do ACCA. I completed my ACCA studies in 1984. Between 1977 and 1987, Zambia Airways had sponsored 17 people but only four of us managed to complete the ACCA programme. The others are Jonas Hasichimbwe, Charles Muleya and the late John Nyemba.
Q: Since you said a good number of you were sent to the UK for studies, who then was left to run the company?
A: Zambia Airways had brought in Sri Lankan accountants to fill the gap. So when we returned we gradually took over from the Sri Lankans. I was given a temporary position as accounting controller upon return. I was appointed to head the revenue department which had about 75 specialised accounting staff in sales audit, flown revenue and interline accounting in both passenger and cargo business. I was responsible for sales audit for both passenger and cargo business. I was also in charge of revenue accounting for passenger and cargo. In December 1989, I was posted to the London office as administrative manager. Here, I was basically looking after the financial functions of Zambia Airways in UK, Europe and west Africa because we had flights going to America via west Africa. We also had flights from London to Banjul (Gambian capital) in west Africa. In London, I was also overseeing the financial functions of National Air Charters and Africa Bound, a tourist company outfit capturing people intending to come to Africa predominantly Zambia. These two companies were both owned by Zambia Airways.
Towards the end of 1992 I was recalled by the then MD managing director Peter Kaoma to strengthen the finance division at headquarters. Upon my return I was made finance manager and by then financial problems at Zambia Airways were creeping in. In 1993, I became the airline’s financial director. But unfortunately the airline’s financial problems were worsening. At this stage finger-pointing had started. Later that year I was moved from being financial director to become a special assistant to the MD. The managing director by then was George Lewis. Mr Nataraj was brought in as financial director.
Q: Were you bitter after being removed from the position of financial director?
A: Not at all… That time it was not really enjoyable to be financial director because you had to move around like hell to keep the airline moving.
Q: So what were your responsibilities as special assistant to the MD?
A: As special assistant my job predominantly was to plan and moot survival strategies of the airline. Basically, to coin ways of making the airline survive. I also periodically attended board meetings on behalf of the MD.
Q: What plans did you put in place to save the airline?
A: We proposed several methodologies to government and the World Bank. Among them, firstly we proposed serious restructuring that would see the DC10 being sold and replaced with a hired B767 from Air Mozambique to operate our profitable London route. Secondly, as an alternative we would also reduce the airline into a regional airline. Thirdly, was to sell non-core assets such as Ndeke House and other residential properties. Management would then move to the technical base at the airport. We also suggested a complete change of the entire management structure to be replaced by possibly expatriate personnel whom government would trust. We also proposed to government as owners of the company to take over the foreign loan stock, which was crippling the airline to the tune of US$1.2 million per month.
Q: You have outlined the proposals you made, but were these taken up by the stakeholders?
A: No… On 4th December I decided to go to my farm in Chisamba and on my way back I stopped at a place called Mataila to have a drink. Whilst there I met someone who introduced himself as a person from BoZ Bank of Zambia and I also introduced myself as someone from Zambia Airways. As we were having a conversation, Brigadier General Miyanda then vice president came on TV and announced that: “Zambia Airways has been closed”. Just like that, imagine. Interestingly, my newly found friend immediately turned against me. He started throwing jibes at me for losing a job. This was the typical attitude of some people smarting under the perception that QZ staff were privileged and now they were aptly punished.
Q: Were you surprised with the turn of events?
A: Yes! I was surprised because we had put in place measures that could have saved the airline. The closure was not only reckless but it was really unwarranted. It was done in bad faith. Zambia Airways’ major problem was liquidity and not insolvency. The airline had enough assets of its own such that given a breather by the owners, the government of the Republic of Zambia, it would have survived just like its contemporaries Kenya Airways, Air Zimbabwe and Air Malawi who were in similar liquidity glut. QZ was not insolvent, it had enough assets of well over US$80 million against total trade creditors of US$21 million and long term loans of under US$18 million. Those assets belonged to the Zambian people, collectively, which assets were dissipated at the stroke of a TV announcement. A lot of reasons, some half-truths, others downright childish, were advanced as to what led to that unfortunate situation. The fact is that the buck stops on the doorsteps of Chiluba and his government who wanted to undo anything and everything KK Dr Kenneth Kaunda left or did.
It will be remembered that they even wanted to undo KK himself by declaring him stateless until someone reminded them that their own position in power would be untenable because not only did they get the mantle from him but it was he who got Zambia’s Magna Carta from Whitehall. So the government did not only refuse to assist the airline on a simple issue of liquidity equalisation but actively and tactically killed it off by prevaricating to pay for their own old dues, saying those were UNIP’s and then drying off new business from government and parastatals under the guise of economic liberalisation.
Liquidating the airline on account of a temporary cash problem was like dismantling a car, which has run out of gas and you sell spares. A number of intervention measures were available such as ‘A’ Revaluing government debt, some of it 10 years old, to reflect its true parity and then pay it off.
‘B’ Release the encumbrances in assets predominantly on aircrafts by taking them over. ‘C’ Provide a one-off shot in the arm and then provide a serious government driven restructuring. ‘D’ Invite an able and capable operator to takeover the airline. Unfortunately the response by government to all these was “management must find the money” as if management, who were mere employees owned the airline. Besides none of them had been in their seats longer than a few months.
Q: There were allegations that the airline was killed by travel abuse by staff. That a plane would fly to a destination with 50 per cent of the passengers enjoying a free ride. Couldn’t this have led to the liquidity problems QZ was facing?
A: Well, it’s an interesting question because most of the reasons advanced for the problems QZ was facing were actually half-truths and some outrightly untrue. They are what I would term the common pedestrian notions. The common citizen was made to believe that QZ was killed by travel abuse by staff. This is not only untrue but bizarre. If it ever existed why was it not punished or at least reported to appropriate authorities? Those are ghost stories. How many times was a passenger left and what monetary value would such a ‘bumped off’ ticket holder have? If the plane was full we wouldn’t carry members of staff. Even IATA International Air Transport Association wouldn’t allow that. IATA protects passengers. The only time you can leave a passenger in preference for staff is when you are carrying positioning crew. That is, seats would be reserved for cockpit crew because operating crew should not run out of hours so you should carry positioning crew to take the plane onward or backward. This rarely happens. People say things insidiously.
Q: Why then would you overbook when you know that you will be carrying positioning crew?
A: Because of ‘no-show’ passengers. Some people may buy tickets but ultimately not travel.
Q: There was also an assertion that QZ had too many managers. What is your comment?
A: These are common beliefs. Junior officers were given titles as managers for PR public relations purposes. People would want to deal with a ‘manager’ and not a sales rep. So we would call a sales representative in Dar es Salaam for instance, sales manager Dar es Salaam and this would not cost a cent. It was just a PR exercise. These were de facto junior officers.
Q: What about the perception that you had a huge insurmountable debt?
A: At the time of liquidation total trade creditors suppliers of goods and services amounted to US$21 million a figure, which according to the London Court judgment was given to a Zairean to purchase one aircraft. Why couldn’t that amount be used to save six aircrafts? QZ had six aircraft at the time of closure; two ATRs with an outstanding amount of US$3.8 million, two 737s, one DC10 with an outstanding US$ 14 million and one DC8. These and other assets were approximately worth US$ 80 million at the time of closure. Our predecessors had pledged 737s as additional collateral to the value of the DC10. So the 737s were also incumbent somehow. The aircrafts QZ owned where they had total equity in were over US$50 million. The airline also had real estate.
Anyway while there were all these pretensions and pretexts about lack of money to bail out the airline, the same money was quickly availed to pay staff retrenchment packages to ‘boastful’ former employees who had been turned street dwellers and no more London dwellers as the perception was.
Q: There were also allegations of poor management at QZ.
A: But who was the appointing authority? Government. If they noticed that the airline was badly run by its management, why didn’t they take remedial action?
Q: You held a senior management position at Zambia Airways. What then do you think are the real causes of the problems?
A: The real problems I will try to simplify them as external and internal. Firstly, there was dried up market. During KK’s days, all government, parastatal, quasi-government travel was on Zambia Airways. But when the new dispensation era came, they found no need to do that, if anything they avoided travelling on the national airline. Thus, in 1994 a group of 34 government ministers and officials going to the Paris Club meeting preferred to travel on a Thursday by BA British Airways rather than by QZ on a Friday although the meeting was scheduled for the following Monday.
Secondly, hyper kwacha depreciation also negatively affected the airline. 80 per cent of the airline’s income was paid for in kwacha while 80 per cent of expenditure was in forex. Between 1989 and 1994 the kwacha dropped from K25 to a dollar to K650 rendering any kind of cashflow management a redundant exercise.
Thirdly, there was also the issue of the cost of carryover debt. 40 per cent of business was from government and quasi-government institutions who would take between three to nine months to settle their dues. This did not only take its toll on the liquid working capital of the airline but due to currency vagaries I mentioned earlier, such amounts were a mere fraction of the original value.
Cut-throat competition in the airline industry in the late 1980s and 1990s is another factor. In prior years fares were arrived at multilaterally and bilaterally in IATA, Geneva based on route costings. Come late 1980s some marketing gurus, who I suspect knew nothing about the complexities of the industry, arrived on the scene suggesting to fill in unbooked space with rack-end fares. Those fares were secret and were never to be shown on the face of the ticket and never to be interlined. Then hell broke loose, the exception became the norm, the entire aircraft would be filled with ‘special’ fares and these were liberally and carelessly interlined.
This situation favoured the ‘big boys,’ such as BA, who could carry their passengers to the end of the world without sharing technically called prorating. Small ones like Air Malawi, Djibouti Air predominantly operating on domestic and short haul regional sectors then, used their dominance on such routes by requiring ticketing offices to side-collect sector full fares and so they survived that way. Mid-market operators like QZ were not so lucky, they had to compete in the open skies and were doomed. Fourthly, there was also the issue of political interference. The airline was forced to fly to unprofitable outposts in rural areas and regional capitals to serve and service political ends. Even men of stroll who had no capacity or inclination to pay were thrust on the airline to get tickets on credit.
Lastly, the nature of the airline industry is another factor. The industry is a very expensive arena to be found in. It is about the only business where one cannot match product price to its cost. You incur exactly the same cost in fuel, maintenance, insurance, etc for flying 40 passengers as you would for carrying 242 passengers. IATA year in, year out reports between five and 10 billion dollars aggregate losses incurred by member airlines. The mighty and strong have either gone or are on tenterhooks like British Caledonia, Pan AM, TWA, Delta, North West Airlines, Sabena, SAS, Olympic and Alitalia to mention but a few.
Q: You have talked about external factors. Don’t you think there are things that you at Zambia Airways could have done wrong?
A: Of course there are some internal factors as well. It is an undeniable fact that there are some things the airline could have done differently. Firstly, the liberal sales policy, the so-called local debtors. Too many people got services on credit resulting in either non-payment or delayed settlement. Secondly, there were unstructured discounted fares. Thirdly, there was also careless interlining whereby tickets were sometimes issued completely offline or heavily discounted fares were interlined resulting in small or negative net fare.
Fourthly, failure to employ a robust accounting system that would preserve the parity value of the local debt in view of the hyper depreciation of the kwacha. For example, this resulted in a K5,000 sale in 1985 when the dollar was K5 to still reflect as a K5,000 debt in 1994 when the dollar was K650. But whether or not billing in dollars would be legal or even acceptable is open to conjuncture. Fifthly, there were just too many aircraft acquisition deals that floundered after paying costly preliminary deposits and arrangement fees; famously among them were the MD11 affair, the Lufthansa issue and the B757 issue. In all these a cool US$ 9 million went with the wind.
There was also generally a wrong capital gearing. Nearly the whole capital base was loan stock and in foreign currency resulting in colossal transaction losses on settlement. This made the appearance of the Balance Sheet look terrible because of translation losses. For example, a consortium of local banks would have funded the purchase of the DC 10 by purchasing the required forex of US$ 40 million at five kwacha per US dollar from BoZ or any source. The loan would have remained in kwacha, the banks themselves would not suffer any differences in exchange as the forex would have been bought there and then.
Q: Now, with all these problems do you think QZ could still have survived?
A: Oh yes… There were some airlines. which had similar or even worse liquidity problems than us. Air Zimbabwe, Air Malawi, Kenya Airways among others were on an equal footing with us but they survived because of political will. In our case, political will was lacking. Look at BA for example. The British government wrote off 40 billion pounds by cleaning the balance sheet. Margret Thatcher realised that you cannot do away with BA as it would affect tourism. It is said that there are three million tourists in the UK on average each day. So Thatcher realised the negative economic implications of BA going under and cleaned its balance sheet to make it viable.
Q: What are your impressions on the formation of a national airline?
A: There is need for a national airline, as it will protect the foreign currency reserves of the nation. However, the government should have a golden share in such an airline… it must have a say. The biggest asset of an airline is its routes and these are controlled by government. So if government has a vested interest it would give the national airline the most profitable routes. A national airline would not only boost tourism but it would promote technology transfer.
Q: How has life been after QZ? I ask because most ex-QZ workers seem not to have recovered from the shock of losing employment with Zambia Airways even after thirteen years.
A: Well, I carried on. In fact, in March 1995 I attended an interview with the Roads Board. I was interviewed by sixteen panelists. Interestingly they took me to the sweepers, accusing me of contributing to Zambia Airways’ closure.
Q: What happened next? Did you get the job?
A: No. I didn’t. With what I had gone through during the interview at the Roads Board I got frustrated and thought I should instead do some cross-border trading. I didn’t do this for long. In 1996, I got a job as a part-time lecturer at ZCAS Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies and in 1997 George Lewis and myself won a bid to carry out a study on how to improve the profitability of SADC airlines. We were contracted by SADC airlines in Maputo. Later, in 1998 I joined the National Airports Corporation as audit services manager until I retired last year. I am now working as an independent business chartered consultant and accountant.
Q: Thirteen years on, what are the lessons learnt from the demise of Zambia Airways?
A: Firstly, I don’t understand or accept that the innocent former employees of the airline should forever carry the collective guilt of having in any measure contributed to its demise, this guilt smeared on them by the very people who massacred the airline when it was alive and vibrant. Secondly, and I hope I have put to rest some measure of the lie, people, especially government officials still refer to the bitter lesson of Zambia Airways without amplifying or even wishing to accept their collective guilt. I think the untold story has been told.
Author: Well, then thank you for according us time to have this interview.
A: Thank you.
WFP is not doing any good to the already ailing maize enterprise. How could it be looking for cheaper sources away from South Africa instead of buying maize at competitive prices? Let it be either in South Africa or Malawi or Mozambique or Zambia the prices should be competitive. Small Scale Farmers have been exploited for a very long time by brief case merchants later on FRA. There is no protectionism in maize enterprize. The profit margin is too minimal for farmers to boast about. And here now is a well renowned world wide organisation which needs to ensure that farmers are protected by paying them well for their produce but only to realise that it is also one of the exploiting agencies. What kind of humanitarian aid is WFP offering to small scale farmers in this case who make up over 90% of the farming community if they are only ready to buy maize at a cheaper price?
Thanks Ex-ZA Employee for the ZAMBIA AIRWAYS’ UNTOLD STORY. I couldn’t read it on the Post because I have never seen the need to sign and log in on the Post since it is a media newspaper which should be read without signing in. We read other media news like CNN, BBC, Times of Zambia etc without signing in. I have no problem in signing in to a discussion blog.
The QZ untold story makes interesting reading. Although Iam a lay person as far as the aviation industry is concernced, I had always believed that QZ was not beyond redemption FTJ’s gov’t had the political and moral will to save it. The decision to liquidate QZ because FTJ’s gov’t wanted to undo limping companies that KK lef was wrong and it has been costly to mother Zambia. Some of us who tried to travel back home after QZ had been liquidated have untold stories of the discomfort we experienced at Harare airport enroute to Lusaka.
Oh, how we yearn for a national airline. We need political leaders with a political will about this.
#1 Ex Zambia Airways employee
This topic touches my heart.
I remember vividly those painful days listening to people who were supposed to be enlightened giving all sorts of sadistic reasons as to why Zambia Airways was performing badly and could not be bailed out.
I remember Ronald Penza then Finance Minister, being asked by Frank Mutubila whether Govt was considering bailing out Zambia Airways.He answered that Zambia Airways was benefiting only the employees and a few rich people who regularly travelled for holidays, hence he did not see the need to bailout the the airline when he could put the money to good use by buying panadol and desks for schools in rural areas.
What he conveniently forgot was that gvt was trying to replace mining with tourism as themajor forex earner for the country due to poor performance of the latter.The entire torism industry in Zambia dependend on QZ to bring tourists from generating areas to destnations in Zambia
We really need a National Airline in Zambia.FTJ blundered by liquidating QZ which was the pride of the nation.I would imagine how much money the airline could be raking in currently with such an increase in air travel by Zambians.Our tourism could certainly be boasted with a national airline in place.I know that the government has plans on launching a national airline.Has someone got any current data about such a prospect?
#5 FTJ blundered in how he liquidated QZ but we dont need a national airline. What we need is good policy that will empower the private sector to fully exploit the airline industry. With the way Zambia is operating right now you will be having QZ full of politians and their families riding for free. Sad as the liquidation may be and how un professionally it was handled , this is not the time to look back. As a country we have go through the pain and we are begining to see some fruite of our sacrifice. We have to keep moving forward. National airline is a bad idea. Just like GRZ re creating ZCCM would be a disaster in the end. If i may ask what are the benefits to an ordinary Zambian of having a national airline?
#6.SAGE.Take time to read #1.
#7 I read this article last week, i’m suprised its news to LT. Remeber this is a story of a casulty.However, i do agree mistakes where made. But what is your basis for advocating a national airline?
SAGE, we still need a natioanal airline with 51 % in public hands and 49 % in private hands. We can’t just leave everything in private hands. Private companies are good, but their main interest is to make money and take their profits outside the country. I live in Australia and even here people are against having everything in private hands. At least many private companies here are not hungry to take their profits outside this nation unless if they are international companies. But in Zambia, most Zambians with lots of money are hungry to set up bank accounts outside the nation; & thus they deprive the nation of it’s much needed forex. There’s nothing wrong for Zambians in having bank accounts outside Zambia. For those of us who are outside, we desire to remit the little we have to back to Zambia. This is true also of the foreign inesitors in Zambia. Their aim is to take their profits outside Zm. Indeed. how much millions of forex is Zm losing from tourists because we don’t have QZ
#9 What benefit does and ordinary citizen derive from GRZ owning 51% of an airline. The beneficiaries are politicians yest the tax payer foots the bill. Each time we discus parastatals you guys always want GRZ to own 51%. To whose benefit if i may ask. Look at Zesco GRZ owns 100%, what is the benefit to the citizens Zero zoich Nada. Zesco charges citizens more than it exports the power. so who benefits from the ownership? Politicians. I have always said to an ordinary citizen it doesnt really matter who owns zesco or the airline but the quality of service. You are talking about private companies sending money outside. I said PRIVATE NOT FOREIGN. And again its GRZ through BOZ to create financial controls which would ensure maney comes back to Z. Again Tell me the benefit of a national Airline besides EMPTY PRIDE.
#8 SAGE.Some of the advatages of having a national airline apart from national pride is both the national and international appeal and it`s ability to compete with other major airlines.When I am flying out the USA,I wouldn`t think twice about which airline to use but QZ if it was still running.Statiscally,tourists are comfortable using particular national airlines of countries they`re visting verses just any other airline.Anyway I`ve got to run but I blog with you in just a few hours.
SAGE, the biggest asset an airline have is the routes.
I dont even what to talk about that ***** Kafup because everytine I do I feel like vomiting and i have confined him to the hip of rubbish.
As Zambians have grown knowledgewise and we know what we want, idiosy, corruption, incompetence, nepotism are vices which have landed us where we are. A national Airline with private sector involvement is a must. We have to optimise earning from all our assets which include, our highly sought routes. Zambia with a can become a major Transit poit surpasing South Africa.
We also need to invest into the airport Infrastrure at LUN to bring it to International Standards.
We want all Zambians who have been in influential positions to start writing books. Younger Zedians can learn a lot and avoid the same mistakes our forefathers have been making.. The collections of facts and lies would create a base upon which our future generation can learn from and chart way foward.
I congratulate Sardinis for his book which I have read over and over again to understand the Kaunda regime and what could have driven them . We need many more
#11 Chapi… When you are flying from USA to Zambia , your desiding is primarily ticket fares secondly convenience and quality of service. If these factors are missing it doesnt matter if its QZ or BA.
#12 HK whats has the routes got to do with the basis for establishing a national airline? You are still not stating the fundamental question. WHAT IS THE BENEFIT TO AN ORDINARY ZAMBIAN? Not Evryone wants to bypass SA i want to make a pit stop in JHB. You last sentense is what GRZ should be talking about bulding airports and investing technology to bring our Airports to international standards. If you suggested a national airline in 1994 may be it woulr have made sense. Now is not the time. We have learned from our mistakes and we can not afford falling in the same ditch twice.
Thanks SAGE for your reasoning which I respect. I still believe that we need a national airline. Let’s agree to dissagree. During KK’s time, Zesco was a really a blessing to all Zambians who had power in their houses. It just needs to be restructured to be a blessing to many Zambians countrywide. The private sector should be involved in proving power to. I have seen our gass and electricity power company here get into different private hands accross the state and it has become a burden to many people. The railways also got into private hands and the services have been poor. At least, the new company has been fined millions of dollars by the gov’t for it’s incompetence and it is likely to loose it’s contract when it’s current contract expires. I took a break to attend to my important needs. I am now overdue for my sleep. So, it is good night. What GRZ needs is to punish corrupt politicians who want to benefit from public utilities at the expense of the poor.
SAGE, there will always be poor people in every a nation, the difference is the degree of poverty. Even in the USA where you live, you could be one of those subsisting on the low or medium income and running in between two or more Jobs. If we were going to draw your line of thinking, the USA would not have been spending Money in Building War machinery and spend money on everyone owning a yacht instead..Kulibonesha taa. I am sure you know that,the war Machiner building is their strategic policy to always lead in this arena for their survival and advantage.
SAGE, the reason to fly to JHB should be an option not a must as it is a case now. Your sight seeing in Joberg is the same Chimpwena and Kulibonesha TAA which has landed Zed in problems..I though the USA had changed your vision.
For your info.. Zambians can afford to Fly now since new deals policies to open up routes, but we are not earning from both being carriers and route ownership.
#15 Visionary.. Never consider having electricity as a favour from Zesco. You pay for the service. in other words you by electricity from Zesco. Should it matter to a consumer who supplies the comodity? absolutelly not. What should matter to the consumer the quality of service and a competitive price for the comodity. What is obtaining in Z is there is no competition in power supply thats a local unit price for electricity is higher than the exported electricity. The same thing happens with Zam Sugar. The price of sugar in the stores is higher than the price Zam Suger sales to the EU.Why because the EU can tell Zam sugar to go to hell while the local citizens cant. GRZ can not punish corrupt polititians because GRZs middle name is corruption. The fact remains that all these Zesco,Zamtel you name it dont benefit ordinary citizens. LWS charges you for water wether you have water or not, why? What happens when the sewer at your home is full? you still have to hire a private company…
to come and draing you toilet system. Look at NPF(NAPSA) you work 20 years they pay you exactly the amount you contributed with no interest. And now you want to add a National Airline to the mess.
HK until you really look down on all the so called parastatals and realise that they are just instruments of exploitation in the name of service to the people. Any time you have a government exploiting its citizens in broad day light we have a huge fundamental problem. Do you ever wonder why anyone who assumes presidency want to keep these institutions? because they are the source of un accounted for cash that they can steal.
SAGE wasabaila sana and you have lost sight of your mother country. SAGE are you married? If yes would allow another man to spend a nite with your wife in same bed your the bedroom? Have you ever heard about having a say in something or you are taking a blind eye to this. You mean all firms in USA are warned by private individuals? My friend do abit of widening up in the wayyiu access ecomonical situation. You have repeated asked the benefits of have a national Airline with 51% shares in GRZ? Do you real understand Marketing, Statistics, Finances, Politics, economics, foreign policies, Interest, losers and winners. Who are the winners in the case of QZ liquidation? Is not the Zambian pipo who end up homeless and unemployeed. The benefits are in many dimentations starting from taxes which the GRZ transmits in other sectors like education which you are a benefinary, employment, Tourism, There are many way the pipo gain. My friend lets be focused a risk of leaving a big firm like QZ in…
private hands if the owner dies this could be the end but a GRZ owned company there is possibility of continuation. Ka FTJ misfired by thinking gettting rid what Kaunda started was good you today where the nation is because that yes the likes of Miyanda they supposed the idea because the hartrage they had in KK.
#20 EASY you probably confussed about the whole issue of ownership. Secondly i dont expect you at your level to equate a parastatal to a woman or wife. Thirdly The Zambian people have suffered alot at the hands of GRZ. GRZs policeis are not designed to protect Zambians. They Sold ZCCM because there was no more money for them to steal. They liquidated QZ because they wanted to loot the assets. So dont confuse yourself bt atlking about 200 topics in one sentence. my question is very clear “WHAT DOES A PARASTATAL ,QZ ,ZESCO,ZAMTEL” benefit an ordinary Zambian? You still cant answer that question. The USA government does not participate in the cormerce of the country. Even strategic companies like Lokeed Martin Boeng etc are privatelly owned. Learn to understand the subject and its context before you touch the keybaord. GRZ owns 100% of Zesco, what is the benefit to the people ? nothing its just a stambling block to the development of the energy sector.
Again EASy we are not talking about FTJ ,KK or LPM. We are talking about the current state of cormmerce in Z. Do we need to spend $100M on a national airline. The answer is capital NO. There is no benefit to the people both long term and shot term. May be you want to create a free airline for the politicians and their families.
#21&22 SAGE you are getting lost on the Zambian pic when were last home. Go and visit. The Problem of ZESCO has just increased because of poor planing due to the expansion of the mines with increasing power. Many homes SAGE have power in their homes. ZESCO employees thousand of Zambian across the country. I dont see it wrong investing 100 Mios if it going to creat jobs for Zambians. After all An International Airline brings revenue for the nation in terms of cash, Forex, and taxes direct in govt coffers. How doesnt BA remits to Zambia for flying from Lusaka to London? SAGE dont react with emotions be constructive we need investments that can been fit Zambians housholds an National airline is one of them.Do you how many shares does the USA has in Delta airline, Boeing, NASA, American airline, Chevorn, General Motors etc? Pilz consultant before you can just agree to everything. SAGE did you study prior to your IT Skills? Dont get disgruntled I want to get to know better.
#22 EASY … I’m having trouble getting where you are coming from. First of all I was in Z 3 years ago so i’m not out of touch. To advocate for creation of an airline there has to be a need or demand for it. I hope you understand the role of government in a national economy. I will give a simple example… FAZ is the soccer governing body in Z. Its primary functions include policy(rules), development of soccer etc. Its FAZ cannot own a team. This is primarily due to conflict of interest. The same with GRZ. Its primary function is policy making. Creating a conducive environment for both local and foreign business people to do business. GRZ has done very well in creating policy in areas where they are not directly involved into business.eg Transportation. in agriculture they are doing very well in setting up policies to enable farmers. In Telecom, we can’t move forward because GRZ has to look at the interests of Zamtel before they can make any meaningful policies. Look at how swift GRZ is at making and adjusting policies regarding the mining sector. It’s because their sole interest is to ensure fair play and make sure they eliminate all the huddles mine owners face in their operations. If ZCCM was around today you wouldn’t see any meaningful policy in the mining sector. We should be looking at getting ride off the remaining parastatals and not create new ones. There has been no polices put in place in the telecom sector for one reason. And that is how do they protect Zamtel from the inevitable collapse. Instead of looking at what can be done to bring Zamtel to a point where it can compete with privately owned companies, they are busy putting blocks in place. You hear you need $12M to setup the international gateway. All these are gimmicks designed to prevent competition. Little do they know that in not a so long future people in Zambia will have an opportunity to choose between a USA, Zambia or EU phone #. It’s not healthy for GRZ to be a participant in the business arena. If there is demand for another Airline let the private sector charter the course. GRZ should provide policy and invite private companies to start and airline. You keep talking about 51% ownership, To whose benefit? What does a Zambian on the street benefit from GRZ owning 100% of Zesco. We even pay more for electricity than people who import from us. Get over empty pride. To a Zambian it doesn’t really matter who owns Zesco. What matters is getting the electricity at a reasonable price. To a Zambian it doesn’t matter whether its QZ or BA. All that matters is can I get a ticket at a competitive price. You don’t go to the airport and ask for a ticket on BA. You look for the cheapest ticket.
#24.Sage.Was ZANACO before it was privatised of any benefit to ordinary Zambians or not?
#25 do you know of anyone who ever got a loan from Zanaco?
Could someone in the USA tell me if the US Federal Government runs or have ownership rights in any of the Airlines? Could someone tell me what sector areas the Fed has ownership in? Finally, could someone tell me why the USA has started selling out toll ways to foreign nations besides having a heavily foreign owned worth in their economy. What does the Government own? Please educate me am a Grde 9 pupil keen to learn with reflection on comparative idealogies -Capitalism vs. Socialism and how they impact us the ordinary citizens.
#26. SAGE….ALOT
SAGE, Chapi has asked you a very important question? I will make the question tief. What are the conditions one has to meet in order to get a loan from a Bank like ZANACO? SAGE this then we can discuss further. I dont Finance at an advanced level I know how international and national banks operates and their priorities. Dont mix up issues try to concentrate on one example. If your field is ICT I would prefer that you argue in those lines because it will be very benficial for all of us. I hope words like liberation of any economy means something from you. I hope you can differentiat Globalization from classic economics. Those two words play a very important rolle in the examples you have put forward here. I know farmers who have got credits from ZANACO it will be unfair to generalise that such a bank has not provided Zambians with somethÃÂng tangable gain. This decadences of our own country is hammerful we need to learn to talk and critise meaningful so that we can help the development
of our nation. We had cooperatives working together with Lima Bank which used to give farmers loans to even the poorest person but all this was destroy by one regime. We had companies like Lintco buying cotton from farmers all are gone because of a simply mindeed person. I dont want to continue mentioning names of pipo this you what happened. There is a demand of a Zambian airline which can even fly within the country to different destiantions like L-Town, Solwezi, Ndola, Shavonga, Loberto Bay, Do you that a train takes 3 days from Livingstone to Lusaka which retards business. Dont you think it can bring competition if example an Zambian airline could provide the same service at a reasonable fares.i.e K40 000 from L-Town to Lusaka and you are ther in 30 minuties.
SAGE & Grade 9, ordinary Zambians do benefit in having a majority share by GRZ in stradegic institutions like Zesco & Zanaco etc. In Australia, Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi & other car manufacturers are in private hands, but they depend on Australian government financial help to keep them from shuting down some of their plants here. Without gov’t intervention, Mitsubishi plant in Adelaide would have been closed long time ago. Ford will be closing it’s engine plant in Geelong, Victoria after being there for years. Most private companies are shifting their services to India or China etc because of cheap labour there. In the same way, most of the private companies that we have in Zambia will not be there in 50 yrs time. Where is Aglo American? We are not against competition in any industry sector. We just don’t want everything in private hands. Let’s learn from China where foreign companies don’t own more than 51%. Now, almost everything is made in China. We need a national airline.
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To start and run an airline is one thing. To close it is quite another.
Who on earth decided to do that around the busiest time of year – when all other airlines are fully booked. All passengers are stuck with little or no alternative at Xmas.
To get something achieved in Zambia was invariably a nightmare. Huge amounts of incompetent staff, except the one we needed. Secretaries never knew where their bosses were, or if and when they would be back that day to solve problems caused by themselves.
Unlike at the home base, we never had issues with the European offices in Rome, Amsterdam and London. Small, very efficient, with a few loyal, multitasking and multilingual staff, each dealing with a large number of countries.
With a similar set-up everywhere else closing could have been…
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