Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe has said that Government has not decided the sell of its 20% ZCCM-IH share holding. Ms Mwanakatwe said that if the decision is made it will have to go to the cabinet.
She however, said there are several companies that have offered to buy the 20% share holding of ZCCM-IH.
Speaking during the PF interactive forum in Lusaka today, Mrs Mwanakatwe also explained that the 20% is the minority sharing holding of which Zambia holds 17% and 3% is held by the French.
“We are the minority ZCCM-IH; 17%, the French 3%. As they negotiate, we sought of come together with the French who also seat on board of ZCCM-IH because they own 3%,” She said.
“We are weighing the options, should we, should we not? We have not decided to sell. If a decision to sell has to be made, I will have to go to cabinet and cabinet will make that decision.”
Mrs Mwanakatwe said First Quantum minerals (FQM) is just one of the many companies that has expressed interest to buy the shares and that government is currently weighing the offers.
“I can tell you that we have quite a few offers on the table,” She disclosed
She says this is an example that a country is attractive through the mining sector.
Meanwhile, Mrs Mwanakatwe has expressed shock and frustration at the continued propaganda by the opposition leaders that the Chinese government has taken over ZNBC, ZESCO AND KK International Airport.
Mrs Mwanakatwe who is also Lusaka Central Lawmaker said that despite the negative talk, Zambia’s economy has continued to grow at 4% adding that Zambia’s Eurobond was the best performing soverign bond on the market according Bloomberg.
Speaking, on Sunday, when she made her debut appearance on the PF interactive forum, Ms Mwanakatwe cautioned against portraying the country in bad light to the external world.
“Let’s not portray this country in bad light to the external world. Look at the Eurobond, because of all these falsehoods that we have given ZESCO to the Chinese, how dare you tell the world such a lie that we have given the Airport (KKIA) which is not even finished, that we have given it to the Chinese? How dare you tell such a lie about your own country? That we have given ZESCO to the Chinese,” wondered Mrs Mwanakatwe
“How can you tell such a lie? where was the Eurobond? 17% because of boza, falsehood!”
The finance minister also saod that government has not defaulted on any of its external debt.
“And I want to state categorically that the PF government has not and will not default on any of it external debt. we will ensure that every month when it’s time to pay the debt we will pay. when it’s time to pay the Eurobond bond we will pay”
She stated categorically that even in an event of a default it was impossible for any lender to take over the state assets because they were not offered as collateral.
“You will find that when people talk about ZESCO being taken by the Chinese, they cannot because we have a sovereign guarantee which we have put on a special purpose vehicle, outside of ZESCO. So ZESCO has not been collateralized at all. In this special purpose vehicle we have given a sovereign guarantee. The same for ZNBC, the for KKIA)international Airport.
Ms Mwanakatwe urged all well meaning Zambians to speak well of opportunities that in the country.
“Zambia’s bond is the best performing bond now according to Reuters and Bloomberg. For me, that is confidence that this economy is heading in the right direction. I urge all well meaning Zambians to speak well of opportunities that in our country
Ms Mwanakatwe disclosed that government will not be complacent with the economy growing at 4% adding that her ministry is aiming for 8 or 9%.
You meant to say “…not yet decided…” ?
Talking too much in weekend. Those 17% story is passed, fyalipita. She always do this in weekends, is it under influence of alcohol?
Weekend is to catch up with love, stay with family, visit your old mother etc.
What is there to decide? So it’s all true these foooools will agree to sell out.
Time to increase our stake and not sell our stake as ZCCH-IH especially that we have 50 years left on these assets.
So, first we increase our stake and then we close tax revenue loopholes as well. We actually get more from tax revenue than we do from dividends.
After that start opening new mines solely owned by ZCCM-IH and hire more people. We still have gold, cobalt, copper, nickel, platinum and uranium reserves that not exploited yet.
Let’s roll …
Increase he says …really laughable JUNIOR…increase with what? Stones? They are contemplating selling because they are broke … Daydreaming about exploration when they are selling rights to foreigners.
Carry on day-dreaming to the docile masses!!
@Jay Jay, dude your are one persmistic individual to ever ‘trolled’ on LT. Come on man; lighten up. The person you are callingJr. has said something more sensible than you. These are UNSOLICITED offers and the Minister says they are looking at PROS and CONS of such a deal. So how else did you want Govt to approach such an issue?
You ask: “….increase with what? Look, QFM owes ZCCM-IH about 1.4 billion dollars (the case is still in court in London) and they are looking to off-load that dedt through this unsolicited buy-out offer. So it is possible for ZCCM-IH to convert that debt into shares and then drop the case in London. And 1.4 billion dollars (even just a fraction of that) can buy a lot of shares. That’s one avenue for the Govt right there. There is, of course, other…
Continue…..
avenues Govt can use if they so wish. Even certain tax obligations by FQM can be converted into shares if Govt wanted to. I am no expert in this but I am sure if Govt wanted to increase it’s shareholding in any of these mines they can do it!
The problem you have is to think that there must be a pot of money sitting in some bank account somewhere for ZCCM-IH to be able to buy more shares in FQM…..which is totally a wrong way to think about business transactions of this nature.
Ba Yambayamba … this is 2019. Have you seen me respond to Gay Gay or Spooked this year? No need to answer these low libido, low IQ, low class, low self-esteem, low everything guys.
It’s time to move into stealth mode and just appear later.
Natotela mukwai kanabesa!!!
yambayamba its not the govt that wants to buy more shares in FQM its FQM that wants to buy the govt shares in ZCCM_IH thats my understanding.
dirty BR BAMBA JR
Look at this idyooote rolling in his own sh.it as usual…..
The crap he spews never stops…..
I am well meaning and a patriot, but even I am having difficulty in learning we only hold 17% because. 3 % was shaved off to the French. Struggling badly that as you deny trying to sell you now inform us that a cabinet decision will be made ‘if,’ you decide to sell. I thank we desperately need you to engage the citizens on their mines.
We need a referendum to ‘instruct,’ the government on what we want. WE WANT BIGGER CONTROLLING SHARES OF UP YO 51% IN ALL OUR MINES. AND TELLJNG YOU THE TRUTH , MAAM, HON MWANAKTWE WE ARE FED UP!!!! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH OUR MINES?
I don’t know if any Zambian administration has ever been given the mandate to sell our mines to the extent we are now minority shareholders of our mines, reduced to begging for tax increments by way of benefitting us.
This is monkeys.
Madam Minister of Finance, negative talk is exacerbated by your own government for failing to tell us the truth about ZNBC and ZESCO; you do not even know the exact extent we have borrowed from the Chinese: the external debt has riven from US$8.3 billion to US$9.7 billion in 13 months on account of ‘disbursement of money on contracted projects’; what is our exact debt and what’s in for the Chinese in these loans? By the way, whenever there is a rumour about ZESCO takeover, you don’t use the likes of Sunday and Antonio to deny. You must have established authorities answerable to parliament to explain.
iwe ka Margie tu much fwaka, don’t get frustrated! Zambians are now vigilant about their public resources. You have bankrupt the economy to the extent you can’t fund salaries in most of the government quasi-departments. People going without salaries, how do you expect them to survive. and ka Margie is boasting …ati economy is superfluously trajon ride @4%. Ba pompwe with dead conscience, and you expect to win 2021. We will deal with you ba maKaka!
A cabinet made of inept leaders cannot be entrusted with making such an important decision on behalf of the country. It is such a decision that needs to go to a referendum of the leadership is acting in the interest of the country. I too am surprised to hear government only owns 17% of ZCCM -IM. I was under the impression ZCCM-IM was solely owned by Zambia and that ZCCM-IM, in turn, owned shares in the various Zambian mines such as KCM, Mopani etc. We need information about the structure ownership of ZCCM-IM and the rest of the mines to be more widely available so as to hold this government that sales everything accountable
@blabla, if we had credible opposition, that’s what they would be saying! But nope, they are all in it when it comes to our mines. The wealth is being put into capitalist hands for rich elite Zambia who know what holding a share in amine company is.
Something needs to happen about the state of things in our mines. Citizen action that lets them know we want the wealth for our kids and future.
Since she became Minister of Finance, it has all been about negative sentiment, negative sentiment, negative sentiment. Now, get over it Minister and begin to work.
The whole truth is not being told here. Govt owns 17% directly through the MOF but in total they own and control ZCCH-IH through IDC 60+% and NAPSA 15%. So the real grand plan is to sell of the 17% and still maintain through the SOEs.
So this statement by Mwanakatwe does not reflect the true picture …..
“Mrs Mwanakatwe also explained that the 20% is the minority sharing holding of which Zambia holds 17% and 3% is held by the French. We are the minority ZCCM-IH; 17%, the French 3%. As they negotiate, we sought of come together with the French who also seat on board of ZCCM-IH because they own 3%,”
You are confusing yourself…its like a dog trying to bite its tail.
What is so confusing about telling you that govt owns ZCCM-IH through IDC and NAPSA by over 90%?
“….So ZESCO has not been collateralized at all. In this special purpose vehicle we have given a sovereign guarantee. The same for ZNBC, the for KKIA)international Airport….”
There you have it,… yes .. by special purpose vehicle , like ZNBC where we only own the name ZNBC , but every other revenue stream like mast rentals, carriage fees on the ZNBC multiplex, set top box sales is owned by the Chinese.
Now the truth about ZESCO is comming out the famous PF
” special purpose vehicle ”
where Zambia only owns the trade mark names , but revenue streams belong to the Chinese….
Can they buy back the 3% from the French. Then increase Zambia’s share to 30% held by ZCCM. It is time Zambia and Africa shave off Europe.
GRZ should present on forums standardised information about shareholding in ZCCM and the corporate structure of its parastatals. UPNDead and those who thrive on negatives are using the information gaps to spin lies. Minority shares are a class of shares among many types in ZCCM IH.
It doesn’t mean that if you own a few of them you own little of a company. Old ZCCM had Class A and Class B shares both of which added to 100%. Through IDC, Govt owns most of ZCCM. They should spin off those minority shares like they did in Lumwana and make money. This will bring in more investors while GRZ still controls ZCCM through Golden share and IDC shares. Trading shares makes money. Dividends are penury.
PF and UPND, your politics sucks! Four percent (4%) is not growth to be happy with! It also amazes me how we celebrate bondage as performing well. We have borrowed too much and now we have surrender almost half of what we collect in taxes to the Eurobond Shilocks! Nothing remains to adequately fund University Education and donor driven Health system. Lecturers have to beg for their late salaries and students from humble backgrounds have to be Yorked with student loan debt to have a University Education! Most University graduates are unemployed and doing menial jobs. This causes disillusionment and erodes the value of University Education! Zambia is a paradox of a rich country with poor citizens! We can do better if we learn to live within our means as a small population of less than 20…
What has upnd got to do with the rotten corrupt rule of PF politics ??
Best performing sovereign bond on the international market my foot? Where did she get this misinformation? Either she was hallucinating or she was nursing a serious hangover. Madam, please we beg. if you have nothing tangible to say, keep quite, tondolo musuma. Its you and your gang who went and borrowed like there was no tomorrow and today you want to blame innocent people? We have said that don’t sale those shares in ZCCMIH and you still want to play to the gallery by floating your ill conceived motive? Maybe you have already accepted, what has this cabinet rejected? Clueless cannons.
Bloomberg and Reuters reported this information a week or so ago. Where have you been living lately, under a rock?
The shares are already gone it’s only time we are waiting for now.When this Govt make such announcements just know there are going to do it.Look at Mr Nkandu Luo and the Meal allowances issue. First announcement, then meetings like they have changed there mind and are now reasonable. when there is silence, like things are fine then Kaboom, the decision is final. So this sale will definitely go. There too many issues the govt has to solve this year, such as Euro bond, pay ZESCO debt, Local and international contractor etc. So when there is a bit of silence over the sale. Then Kaboom the shares are gone.
As usual most comments are coming from a position of ignorance. Check 7.0 on clarification of the shareholding structure of ZCCM-IH which shows that GRZ is actually the majority shareholder. The 17% refers only to the shareholding directly owned through MOF. Lets do a bit of research before we make our comments so that we have a more meaningful debate!
MADAM, MWANAKATWE KALUBA MARGARET I WOULD WISH TO BE IN BED WITH U. YOUR EYES LOOK TOO SEXY AND YOUR LIPS NI VALENTINES