Zambia and China will invest $28 million to supply power to Chinese firms which set up operations in the African country’s mineral-rich Copper Belt region, a senior industry official said on Friday.
Rhodnie Sisala, managing director of state power utility Zesco, said it would provide electricity to a new copper smelter the Chinese are building in the Chambishi multi-facility economic zone (MFEZ), 420 km north of the capital Lusaka.
“The total cost of providing power supply is about $27.8 million. It is expected that the project will be completed by August 2008 to enable the smelter to commence copper processing,” Sisala said in a statement.
Investors from China will build leach and brick-making plants, and others to treat slag from the mines into finished copper. Expansion of the Chambishi copper mine, owned by China’s NFC Africa, was also in the pipeline.
The government said earlier this year that Chinese companies would also set up manufacturing plants and agricultural processing factories in the Chambishi MFEZ.
Officials say China has pledged to invest $1.2 billion in two economic zones, including one for high-technology manufacturing firms in Lusaka. Of that investment, $900 million is earmarked for Chambishi.
In July, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said he would fight political opponents trying to limit or frustrate Chinese investments in the mineral-rich southern African nation.
The main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party won parliamentary polls in the mineral-rich Copper Belt province, after its leader campaigned on an anti-China platform in 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Zambia became the first African country to experience riots over charges against Chinese firms of poor labour relations, poor safety standards and low wages paid to local miners.
In 2005, 50 workers died at BIGRMM Zambia Ltd, a Chinese-run firm after an explosion which experts said was caused by poor safety standards.
The state Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) granted BIGRMM a new licence in June to set up another plant despite resistance from families of the dead workers.
Chambishi is one of five economic zones China plans to set up across Africa as Beijing strengthens its economic partnership with the continent, which has abundant natural resources and cheap labour.
When LPM fired Sikatana, a number of us doubted the HEALTH reasons that was given. Information now circulating now in the UK justifies our earlier concerns. While LPM has the priveledge to hire and fire, true reasons must be give, if he decides to give reasons. Below is an article on why LPM fired Sikatana
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa is alleged to have been pressurised to fire his foreign minister and close ally Mundia Sikatana last week as the two were continuously clashing over the issue of Zimbabwe.
According to diplomatic sources in Lusaka, Sikatana, a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe was unhappy with the way Mwanawasa was handling the Zimbabwean crisis.
Mwanawasa sacked the foreign minister saying his health appeared to be failing but without giving concrete reason for the move.
According to the diplomatic sources, Mwanawasa who was this month elected the chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) decided to fire Sikatana as he viewed him as
has this PF blog died this soon? Where are the PF cadres all of a sudden to desert the blog like this? have they gotten some wind that MMD may have dispatched its operatives to track and purge them one by one? Or maybe they are being cowards afraid of their own shadows after realising their defaming rhetoric.After Pragmatist left, Veteran followed suite then Kuku and Ba Joze the self declared PF radical cadre who just after vowing to take any hit and heat within 12 hours he runs away. Then this desertion of the blog. Something is suspicious here but the truth could be that LT is now in the Graveyard.
I hope the bruising battle off here will not record actual life loses on the ground. May forgivess reign even in the demise of LT. I can see some People have already migrated to Zambia Online while others are on the other new Discussion forum i just discovered last week.
I blame the people behind LT for their ineptitude, partisan stand openly exhibited here. they have killed the blog.
a stumbling block to his relations with Mugabe.
“Mwanawasa decided to sacrifice Sikatana in order to maintain a good relationship with Mugabe who the former foreign rightly accuses of ruining Zimbabwe,†one of the diplomats said.
Last March, Sikatana, was the first regional senior official break the silence over the deteriorating political conditions in Zimbabwe when he Thomaz Salomao, the SADC executive secretary the region should pretend that all was well in Zimbabwe.
“We should not pretend that all is well in Zimbabwe. There is a serious problem and ostracising Zimbabwe will not help solve the problems there,†Sikatana said then.
Sikatana had made the remarks to Salamao during the latter’s visit to Zambia to organise the annual SADC summit that took place in Lusaka this month August, at which Zambia took over the community’s 12- month rotating chair.
Sikatana had said the summit should aim to help stem the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe by engaging authoritarian Zimbabwean president Mugabe and the European Union (EU) on the issue of sanctions.
‘We should engage the EU over its sanctions against Robert Mugabe. This should be on the agenda,’ he said.
Sikatana’s comments were later supported by Mwanawasa, who likened Zimbabwe to a “sinking Titanic.”
But at the SADC summit, the Zambian president was more cautious and said the “problem of Zimbabwe is not going to be solved through the press.” He also said southern African leaders were satisfied that Zimbabwe ‘s election laws were “valid.”
Mwanawasa replaced Sikatana with Tourism Minister Kabinga Pande and promoted
his deputy, Michael Kaingu, as tourism minister. – The Zimbabwean
Well, that Diplomatic report on Sikatana has some elements of truth. I think its been the policy of MMD to tread a fine line on the neighbor.That explains why all blogs and discussion forums i have visited where there is a presence of MMD propagandists, no matter how hot the Mugabe issue runs on the threads, i have never seen a single one comment.The same applies to ministers and senior MMD party officials except Sikatana. I think its a party policy to stay away from sensitive external affairs but the President himself.
This is not fair for Democracy. They are killing the oasis forum
OASIS FORUM: DOES IT REALLY EXIST?
By A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
RECENT events since the presentation to Parliament of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Bill have shown that the Oasis Forum does not speak for the people it claims to represent.
The fact that almost all the organisations and parties that are supposed to form the Forum gave separate submissions to the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs has demonstrated clearly that the Oasis Forum speaks for individuals.
Perhaps the explanation is in the genesis of the organisation and its current legal status.
The Oasis Forum is not a registered organisation under any law in Zambia.
In fact, its leaders refused to register it, claiming that principles of freedom of association allowed for unregistered pressure groups and that there was no need for registering the organisation.
This is in spite of President Mwanawasa’s advice that they seek exemption from registration under the Societies Act after he rescinded a declaration by then Minister of Home Affairs Lieutenant-General, Ronnie Shikapwasha, that the forum was illegal.
The Oasis Forum was formed by well-meaning Zambians to pressurise former President, Dr Frederick Chiluba, to abandon his bid for a third term of Office as President.
While the forum in a way contributed to stopping Dr Chiluba from going for the third term, the greatest and most effective contribution came from Zambians generally and, particularly, from senior politicians who were still in the MMD.
Those politicians were able to challenge Dr Chiluba, with the then Vice-President, General Christon Tembo, going to the extent of addressing what one would call an anti-Government Rally.
Some of these politicians were expelled or dismissed from Government and went on to form opposition political parties, such as the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) and the Heritage Party of Bigadier-General Godfrey Miyanda.
It is these politicians who played a decisive role in stopping Dr Chiluba.
In other words, Dr Chiluba faced a revolt in his own party.
The same politicians were also planning to petition for Dr Chiluba’s impeachment in Parliament, but the sitting of Parliament was deliberately delayed and the House was later dissolved to pave way for elections.
Yet the Forum unjustifiably claims exclusive merit for stopping the third term bid, and still entertain the idea that they can form Government through such activism.
They have been a powerful force, until recently when their political agenda started to wane.
Through being conceited, they have been over-doing things and are slowly losing steam.
Prominent organisation that have been associated with the Forum include the Catholic’s Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), the Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ), the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), the Non Governmental Organisations Co-ordination Council (NGOCC), Transparency International (TIZ) and some individuals who have been used literally as megaphones to propagate certain views.
Of late, however, some prominent organisations seem to have realised this and have decided to distance themselves from the forum’s obstinate stances. The Catholics recently made a statement to this effect.
Recently, the National Constitution Conference Bill was under consideration by a Parliamentary Committee, and the Report of this Committee shows that the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), the Non-Governmental Organisations Co-ordination Council (NGOCC), and others made detailed submissions in their individual institutional capacities.
Interestingly, however, the Oasis Forum also submitted as Oasis Forum. The question is, who was the Oasis Forum speaking for?
There is speculation that the Forum is no longer in existence.
It is a mere shell being used by a few individuals who are still determined to ride on past glory.
Other credible Zambians have decided to disassociate themselves silently from this arrangement, although they cannot come out in the open for fear of being publicly insulted and scandalised.
They fear they would be criticised as opportunists if they make objective statements, which some powerful forces in the NGO’s would not like.
The fear is so intense that some prominent members of the Oasis Forum have even failed to correct erroneous statements attributed to them.
In this writer’s view, such individuals are propelling the Oasis Forum.
A statement coming from the shell Oasis Forum can never be challenged by anyone for fear of being defamed.
In fact, some prominent people have been misquoted in some media outlets.
What has been the political agenda of the Oasis Forum? Certainly, there are some individuals in the forum who have Presidential ambitions for the 2011 General Elections.
To achieve their Presidential ambitions, some powerful individuals unwittingly use some member organisations of the Forum, such as the churches.
The strategy currently is to destroy all the potential candidates for President in Zambia by throwing mud at them in the hope that the mud-throwers will remain as the only credible candidates.
While there is nothing wrong with one aspiring for the Presidency, it is not right to use non-partisan organisations like churches for political ends.
Churches, NGO’s, LAZ, etc., were created for noble objects.
LAZ, in particular, belongs to all Zambian lawyers.
But it would appear that some of the decisions being attributed to LAZ are individual decisions or views by people using the law organisation to advance their political interests.
Some Presidential hopefuls aspiring for the 2011 elections think that the Forum still has a constituency from which they could tap votes.
This is why some of them do not speak out on controversial issues like the constitution, because they want to reach 2011 “cleanâ€.
What they do not know is that there are individuals in the Forum.
The unlikely alliance between the Forum and the Patriotic Front (PF) is also amazing.
However, it should be appreciated that the PF is also riding on the past glory of the Forum.
In the past, groups in the Oasis Forum found it fashionable to associate with the Forum because of the finances, which Co-operating Partners availed to them.
In fact, the Forum was very excited when President Mwanawasa and his Government chose to go for a referendum for the people of Zambia to decide on whether they wanted a Constituency Assembly.
This position meant that Donor funding was going to flow to the Forum and to some NGOs for a long time.
In fact, one of the NGOs dealing in women’s affairs was reported to have been funded huge sums of money for sensitisation programmers for the period up to 2010.
They were geared for an acrimonious and prolonged battle with the Government.
The Zambia National Constitutional Conference (NCC)) brokered by the Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID blocked these campaigns and threw the leaders into disarray.
This might explain why the NCC has been accepted by almost all the stakeholders except the Oasis Forum.
This quote is from the New York Times of 08/20/07. Just in case you missed the story, I ‘ve added a link to the story. (A friend sent me this today but with the link I cannot have it submitted).
Asked why the wages at the mine were lower than those paid by other companies, Mr. Han said that Zambian workers had limited skills and no experience with technology. By way of example, he said, a Chinese worker trying to remove a screw would use a screwdriver.
“But a Zambian worker,†he continued with a chuckle, “he use his finger.â€
Here Philbert M’s response to James and to me to the above story.
Hi James:
Thanks for the link; yes, I read the article when it first came out. I too was taken aback by the comment but then I asked myself: should I expend energy rebutting or debunking this sort of remark? I am not sure whether the Chinese person quoted was being facetious, truthful (difficult to believe), egged on by the NYTimes reporter in search of controversy, expressing some of the unfortunate stereotypes associated with Africans generally, or what. My jaw dropped when I read this. I’ve seen some similar comments attributed to some of the Chinese contractors in Angola. I’ll be charitable and say that at a minimum, it shows a lack of sophistication in public relations of some of the managers of Chinese firms operating on the continent. For arguments sake, if it were true that the average Zambian miner working for a Chinese mining firm was clueless about screwdrivers, these firms should fire their hiring managers. Zambia has deep reservoirs of experienced mining personnel. But if you want to pay subnormal/slave wages to people with no experience or those you don’t want to train, this is the sort of ridiculous result you get. I hope the Chinese Ambassador to Zambia is aware of these types of regrettable attitudes, as I hope the Zambia-China Chamber of Commerce, if it exists, is. The Zambian government should also be tuned in to such episodes. These *****ic public utterances do not lead to warm feelings among peoples nor do they help the commercial relationship.
Phil
This power project will only enable the “investors” to rape the country of it’s mineral resources at a faster and more vigorous rate. The colonialists build railways and other infra-structure for the sole purpose of milking the country. Sadly we have not moved away from that same mentality. Nobody is building infra-structure to benefit Zambians as a primary concern and this thought is not even being entertained by our very own government. Shemu shemuna!!
#2 SENIOR citizen.Are you trying to bring up petty confrontations or not?You keep refering to this blog as being in the graveyard and even vowed never to blog on it again.Are you now a malukula trying to visit the graveyard or you can`t just help it but blog with us again.Just like your name states we would hope it`s not only in word but indeed as we expect wisdom and positive advice from a SENIOR CITIZEN.Let`s remember that no one is bigger than our nation and our prime concern should be the well being of mother Zambia.Let`s not focus on petty divisions but be united as one big family and only having different ideologies.Remember that PF,MMD,UPND and any other party will cease but our great nation will still be there and for all it`s people.So let`s rise above anything petty and just continue debating objectively without any fear or favour.
#5 The OASIS Forum is a platform for discussion of issues affecting citizens. Its just like individual country men speaking out issues. How do they expect them to register as a society. Unless they say that every person who wants to discuss issues affecting the citizens should first be registered as a society, which cannot be normal. Anyway, we have to focus on the NCC now.
article on Prof. Clive Chirwa (The Post) exposed a lot of our mentality that makes us fail to progress as nation. Prof. Chirwa’s cry is not the only one that I know of but many of Zambia’s technocrats that I know of can identify themselves with the anguish of the professor. I met a highly accomplished Zambian doctor in the U.S.A. that was rubbing shoulders with Nobel recipients that he was working with and organizing various seminars in which he put them as speakers.
The man receives grants doing research from the U.S. departments and he trains U.S. PhD students! He has equipment that costs thousands of dollars. Asked as to why he left Zambia, he told me he was frustrated by the powers that may be. Fortunately, his heart is still for Zambia he yearly organizes seminars giving back to Zambia. Zambia is blessed with so many highly educated people, visit mwape.com. Our people in government should not feel threatened but allow these highly educated people to offer advice and our country can benefit from their expertise.
The man receives grants doing research from the U.S. departments and he trains U.S. PhD students! He has equipment that costs thousands of dollars. Asked as to why he left Zambia, he told me he was frustrated by the powers that may be. Fortunately, his heart is still for Zambia he yearly organizes seminars giving back to Zambia. Zambia is blessed with so many highly educated people, visit mwape dot com. (dot modified to allow posting). Our people in government should not feel threatened but allow these highly educated people to offer advice and our country can benefit from their expertise.