Friday, March 29, 2024

Chishimba to stage a one man protest against alleged Chinese Corruption at Statehouse

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United Progressive People (UPP) leader Saviour Chishimba
United Progressive People (UPP) leader Saviour Chishimba

The United Progressive People (UPP) Party President Saviour Chishimba has announced that he will do a one man protest tomorrow to protest against Chinese Corruption at Statehouse.

In a statement made available to the media, the UPP leader said that he will not need not need a police permit because he is not calling for a public meeting.

“I will just be alone in the land of liberties for which freedom fighters died and sacrificed all they had for. Let the police therefore be warned that this country is bigger than a compromised Police Command, ” read the statement.

Below is the dull statement

THE UPP PRESIDENT WILL DO A ONE MAN WALK-BY PROTEST AGAINST CHINESE CORRUPTION AT STATE HOUSE AS WELL AS UNDERTAKE A PROTEST AT CHINA HAINAN (Z) LTD HEAD OFFICE TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR EVICTED ZAMBIANS FROM LUBARMA MARKET

As an indigenous Zambian and leader of the United Progressive People (UPP), I will be undertaking the following protests tomorrow, Monday June 5, 2017 starting at 10:30 am:

1. 10:30 am: China Hainan (Z) Headquarters – Protest against the eviction of struggling Zambian market shop owners at Lubarma Market in Kamwala

2. 11:30 am: Civic Centre Mayor’s Parlour – Protest against the failure by Lusaka City Council to review the 65 year illegal lease of Lubarma Market to China Hainan (Z) Limited

3. 12:30 pm: State House – Protest against Chinese corruption in Zambia and hostile economic conditions under the PF regime as well as call for action against corruption

4. 1:30 pm: Lubarma Market – Mourn a female trader who died last week as a result of pressure from the hostile China Hainan, and later undertake a tour of the market shop stalls that are affected by the action of China Hainan.

From the outset, let me make it clear that I will not need a police permit because I am not calling for a public meeting. I will just be alone in the land of liberties for which freedom fighters died and sacrificed all they had for. Let the police therefore be warned that this country is bigger than a compromised Police Command.

The protest is predicated on the deeply troubling and disturbing developments that have taken place at Lubarma Market since 2001. Sadly, justice for the poor people of Zambia and marketeers does not appear to be coming from successive governments.

The evidence in our possession reveals the following:

1. On 9th August, 2001, the Lusaka City Council entered into a lease agreement with Chaina Hainan (Z) Limited in respect of the 2.7 hectares stand LUS/3502, 4563 and 4564 also known as “Lubarma Market”.

2. The lease agreement was entered into after the Full Council Meeting on 13th July 2001 under minute number C/116/07/2001.

3. Clause 6.1 of the lease agreement provides thus, “The Developer will be entitled to exclusive use and have the right to lease and occupation of all the 121 Numbers shops and parking facilities for the shop tenant i.e. the rest of the facilities on the Stand which shall only be available for use by the Developer and its Lessees but for use by no other person or party unless agreed to in writing by the Developer who shall be entitled to all rentals accruing thereto for a period of 65 years calculated from the date of the issue of the Certificate of Occupation. The Lusaka City Council ensure the Developer a peaceful possession for the above specified period without interruption.” (UNEDITED clause).

4. Clause 6.3 gives the Developer (China Hainan) the liberty to use the Market as collateral for loans during the period of the lease, which was duly signed by the mayor and town clerk for Lusaka City Council, and a Mr. Xu Zhongqing (Director) and Mr. Chen Heshu (Secretary) for China Hainan. Zambian entrepreneurs can also borrow if given the chance and one wonders how a sane government can give this privilege to a foreign “investor.””

5. The 65 year lease agreement is in clear conflict with subsection four of section four of the Markets and Bus Stations Act of the Laws of Zambia which provides thus, “Any public-private partnership entered into shall not be for a period longer than fourteen years”

6. The total investment in the project by China Hainan was US$3.5 million, but the total receipts in rentals (excluding all forms of taxes and withholding tax which is levied on market shop owners) earned so far is in excess of US$14, 333, 952 in twelve years. This means that China Hainan has not only recouped the investment, but also reaped off the close to 20 million poor people of Zambia.

7. In 2004, the National Assembly of Zambia urged the MMD Government to re-negotiate the lease agreement, but the appeal landed on corrupt and deaf ears.

8. On 28th June, 2014, the Lubarma Market lease agreement vanished, but UPP has since managed to retrieve it by the power of the Spirit of God and it is secure in our possession for further drastic action against the corrupt and crooked PF regime.

9. On 5th July, 2014 the PF Regime announced that the lease agreement was going to be re-negotiated, but this has not been done due to Chinese corruption and the PF “Working in Reverse” syndrome.

10. Twenty nine (29) of the market shops are occupied by Chinese traders, 7 Nigerians, 4 Lebanese and 5 Tanzanians, among others. This is evidence of how the Chinese have taken over ordinary market trading, which must be a preserve of Zambians.

11. China Hainan was charging rentals in dollars and during the free fall of the Kwacha against the dollar in 2013/14 traders were affected since China Hainan continued to demand payments either in dollars or Kwacha equivalent. Market shops that were rented at US$1, 000 (K3, 000) per month, for instance, were now going for K13, 900. This increase was close to 500% in rental payment. In this context, if a shop owner had paid K30, 000 as 6 months in advance this became 2 months rental under the prevailing economic conditions. During this period, Zambian market traders accrued rental debts in excess of K3 million in a very short period of time. Clearly, this is unsustainable and the Ministry of Commerce must bailout these struggling traders who have families to care for in their own country.

12. On 21st October, 2015, the Bank of Zambia issued a directive to stop dollar pricing in the country. Nonetheless, China Hainan pegged the exchange rate at K10 per dollar even when the Kwacha has over the past year appreciated to a single digit (though stage managed). This is exploitative and illegal.

13. In 2015, fifty six (56) market shop traders took the matter to court in an attempt to stop China Hainan from exploiting them.

14. On 30th June, 2016, the Lusaka High Court delivered the judgment under cause number 2015/HP/197. The judgement, which is somehow vague, but was in favour of the applicants (market traders) in terms of directing China Hainan to only apply the dollar rental policy for the period before the Bank of Zambia directive. This means that China Hainan may not apply dollar equivalent rentals – it should not even determine a fixed exchange rate. Rentals must be charged in Kwacha without making any reference to the dollar exchange rate.

15. While the judgement gives China Hainan the liberty to evict market shop traders for failure to pay arrears, due consideration should be made on the basis of the primary economic conditions which put these hard working marketeers in such a situation. The PF Government was solely responsible for running down the economy through corruption of which bogus Chinese contractors have been paymasters of corruption.

We, in the UPP, commend Hon. Vincent Mwale, the Minister of Local Government, for his efforts, earlier in the year, to speak to China Hainan on behalf of the struggling marketeers.

Shockingly, the evidence in our possession shows that Hon. Given Lubinda, the Minister of Justice, has acted as the Judas Iscariot of our time by being the lead crucifier of Zambian market shop traders. He has also acted in a manner which is contrary to the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct Act. Hon. Lubinda has aided the enforcement of the eviction of Zambian traders on whom court bailiffs pounced last week on Friday – commodities have been seized and shops closed by China Hainan. Our people have been thrown into the streets to join millions of young people who are not in employment.

UPP will be issuing a comprehensive statement on the mischief that Hon. Lubinda has committed, contrary to the provisions of the law. We are happy to note that in his own words (as per our evidence) he admitted that what he was doing (interfering in the course of justice) was illegal. He also abused his office of authority of office to have said, in his own words, that he had consulted the Solicitor General in a matter which is purely private.

China Hainan (Z) Limited has several road sector construction projects across the country and we do not expect them to show ingratitude to this country by milking blood out of the weak and poor people of Zambia whose government has kissed and gone to bed with Chinese corruption.

As progressive nationalists and revolutionary crusaders, we are enchanted and fortified to intensify the new struggle for justice in the land.

Zambia has practically become a Chinese Protectorate and the PF Regime and the immediate past MMD regime have facilitated the sale of the nation’s soul.

The struggle for independence was about land and the people of Zambia cannot claim to be independent when their own land and economy have been taken over by the Chinese through the nauseous PF corruption and bad leadership. Enough is enough!

God bless our nation!

Saviour Chishimba
UPP PRESIDENT

28 COMMENTS

    • Delusional

      This sorry excuse of a human being should embrace the Lungu era.

      The Chinese have done an amazing job there and should be exempt from prosecutions and any criticisms

      THey are gods there.

      Blacks own their own are useless – respect Chinese who are ensuring your tucking as a nation.

      Genetically blacks have less IQ compared to whites and Chinese.
      These are facts not fictions

      I hold a PhD

      Thanks

      BB2014,2016

  1. Saviour Chishimba should find what to do in life than barking like a d0g on every issue.the said lease agreement was signed in 2001.was PF then in power?
    Instead of ranting,the best Saviour Chishimba can do to ask president Edgar Lungu’s Govnt to look into this matter and see how they can help the poor Zambians trading at this market.
    Calling PF leaders corrupt on this matter is being unfair because this deal was signed by MMD leaders under FTJ Chiluba regime.our opposition parties must learn to be real in life than painting PF black even on matters which were done by previous Govnts!!

    • Its people like you that continue to look on as your resources are plundered and mismanaged even in your own back yard. This cannot happen in Europe, Asia or US. Remember this is 50 + years after independence. There can and should never be a lease of 65 years to a foreigner for any reason whatsoever.

    • Point, Njimbu. That is why upnd parades naked old poor women instead of using acceptable channels. This is the reason opposition parties in Zambia are not having an impact at the polls. Would a serious voter, even the traders at the Lubama Market, expect this clown to have any meaningful impact when he is barking up the wrong tree????

  2. China hanan was one of the companies to bankroll PF and lungu heavily during last elections…..lungu and PF are held at random by the Chinese.

  3. Chishimba needs support. He is more realistic than other parties and their leaders. He is objective and pin points issues. He is not ambiguous

  4. Good thing about him is that he has evidence to show everyone who wants to know exactly what is going on

  5. CHANDA IS BRAVE. WISH MANY MANY MORE OF US COULD STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS WITHOUT LIVE AMMO AND ALSATIONS BEING LET LOOSE ON US.

  6. I only we had 10 more Chishimbas in Zambia to pressure our corrupt govt…this is what the main opposition party should have been doing instead of wasting time!!

  7. It is sad that the Chinese are taking over our country. They have created employment for their own people in African countries. China is over populated and the country can not afford to offer employment to the population. As a result they are sending part of the population to go work in other countries. That is why you see a lot of Chinese taking jobs for the locals such selling Kapenta, rape, car wash business and many more. They have opened banks too in our countries so they can send the money back to china without problems. Our country does not benefit. Poverty is going no where in Africa. People outside Africa only think about poverty and AIDS when they look at an African. Wake UP!

    • Chishimba just obtain a police permit for protection otherwise you will be clobbered by thugs. Police mean well for you

  8. I support this Chishimba’s efforts; i have said that State House is a den of corruption and I have been vidicated; Where on earth does one give lease to such ugly structure market for 65 yrs?the Chinese are the new economic colonizers of Zambia while we just sing proud and free; but are in bondage to the Chinese for generations; wait in the next 5 to 10 yrs zambians will have no say over the Chinese bexcause of PF corruption.

  9. We shall be watching football the time you will be protesting and I wonder who will mind you because people will be glued on tv

    • …I would equally join Verve for a cold one while watching my u-20 national heroes than associate myself with a political clown & failure like Chishimba!!!!!

    • …yes, my guy!! At least you get satisfaction not mediocrity and s.t.u.p.idity by political 1mberciles like upnd and chishimba…

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