Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives Permanent Secretary Dr. Sam Mundia has reassured Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia workers that government will inform them of what it has done in order to address the problem of salaries and other issues affecting the workers at the plant.
And Dr Mundia has reiterated that government will not liquidate the company but will instead release K58.3 billion for recapitalization.
He explained that all the documents pertaining to the release of the money are in the hands of government.
Dr Mundia said this when he addressed scores of NCZ workers in Kafue today, who have not been paid thgeir salaries for the past four months.
He said that NCZ since1998, has never been audited and that this is one of the problems, which made government to fail to release the money to the company.
He disclosed that auditing of the books of accounts at the company is almost through and money for recapitalization will be released soon.
Dr Mundia advised workers not to lose focus by becoming unruly since government will release money for their four months salary arrears.
He said the ministry of agriculture is aware of what workers are going through including the death of some workers occurring in the company due to depression.
Dr Mundia stated that government will continue supporting NCZ because of the high demand for fertilizer on the international market, and will ensure that some progressive measures are taken to avoid mismanagement of funds.
He also dispelled allegations that he was one of the shareholders of Nyiombo Investments saying all what government was trying to do is breach the gap between Nyiombo and NCZ through the fertilizer support programme.
The permanent secretary commended the workers for their patience by waiting for government to address them.
But earlier, some workers put stones and logs of trees on the road that leads to Kafue Estates’ civic centre following information that government officials from Lusaka will not come and address them.
Other workers also attempted to block the Lusaka-Kafue road but quick action by Kafue police stopped them from doing so.
Police officers were planted all over the town so as to avert and quench out any unruly behaviour by the workers.
I have heard that one before. It is actually a statement that is pronounced annually. The only thing that changes is the person making the statement on behalf of the GRZ.
It is no secret that chronic undercapitaliztion, mismanagement and wanton greed are at the core of the problems at NCZ. In an era when the MINING and AGRICULTURAL industries are booming it is surprising to see NCZ in such ruins. The mines demand and consume large volumes of Sulphuric Acid for copper processing(a by product of the NCZ plant) and fertilizer demand is on a high yet all we get is mere lip service.
Fixing chiluba’s fast-tracked privatisation programme.Look at Maamba Collieries, same problem people go without salaries for 4 months.I guess our govt has very wrong priorities, surely how do you tackle poverty , if you cannot even pay people the money they have already worked foreven after getting fertiliser from this same company.So stuff like social grants cannot work if we cannot pay salaries.The Govt still preaches poverty reduction.
Selling companies and selling sweets at a KANTEMBA are different propositions all together. We are learning the hard way as a nation. Liquidating Zambian Airways should rank among the worst decisions ever made by anyone holding political office in this country.
when i win the euro-millions NCZ is my top priority.that thing is a goldmine with regional and international potential obviously way beyond the imagination of GRZ!!if i were GRZ..i would beg steal or borrow to recapitalize it and get international managers to run it.the dividends alone could wipe out the domestic debt arrears GRZ has in 5 years!!pray i don’t win the £95million today !!
95 million in any currency except the Zimbabwean Dollar is a lot of money.
NCZ is old, mismanaged and dilapidated. One wonders whether feasibility studies have been done to assess its viability after this recapitalisation or whether the decision is based on some political judgement.A bottomless pit or pitless bottom of taxpayers cash. Are there any raw materials (phospates deposits/sulpur) for making fertilser in Kafue or they have to be imported through Durban. What are the cost implications of importing/transporting such bulky raw materials.Is the old technology at NCZ in line/match with other industrial competitors such as SASOL of RSA.Does NCZ manage to recoup its costs from the fertiliser the make/supply to FRA etc
Ctd: We talk too much about saving parastals without applying much thought to way business is run in the rest of the word.You can nnot run a business on an endless string of handout from the investor. The investor will ask for prfit from his investment other wise he will get broke. But because the investor is GRZ, it must just continue shelling out taxpayers’ cash. That cash would better be utilised building schools, roads, bridges and decent housing.
My view is that NCZ has outlived its usefulness and is now a parasite (sorry ailing parastal). Just pay the porr workers their terminal dues and close shop. I dont see NCZ producing and being able to recoup the csts and make a profit let alone match levels of regional leaders like SASOL,cost efficentwise or capacity wise.
The same problems for more than thirty years? Or is it because every political party needs this institution to distribute fertilizer come election time?
It is a non performing institution which probably lacks a Strategic Plan and has no Annual Business Plan and therefore clearly no targets. The board and its management should be dismissed and so time to reconstitute a new board and to appoint new management.
The chilubaism era is still haunting our agriculture industry.what do you expect from an imposter Zambian?no interest of the nation at heart.Mwanawasa pliz wake up and get Sikatana back!NCZ is a very big asset four economy.
We cannot expect to be a regional breadbasket when critical infrastructure such as NCZ are allowed to rot. Chiluba and the mmd must hung by their balls for messing up our beloved nation. Zambia is now as sick as chiluba’s mind. How could we allow zilch minds to run our nation? Now we have thieves all over the place. Trust is as common as a martian on earth. To develop ZAmbia we need a culture that respects individuals, education, public and private property and fears God. We have those in office pretending to be people of God and yet steal anything in sight!