Former Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji has said he never earned his wealth through a ministerial position.
Mr. Malanji has further declared that he was still a Kwacha Member of Parliament.
He is currently battling corruption and money laundering cases after being arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).
Late last year, Mr. Malanji was charged for alleged corruption activities which happened between January 1st, 2021, and August 31, 2021.
DEC in March, 2022, further arrested Mr. Malanji for money laundering activities involving K10 million and US 700,000 Dollars.
Speaking during the burial of Patriotic Front (PF) Kitwe District Secretary Lungo Kawaya in Kitwe on Thursday, Mr. Malanji said he has been doing business for many years.
He revealed that before becoming minister he had $4,000,000 turnover through his companies.
Mr. Malanji started his remarks by paying tribute to Mr. Kawaya before highlighting his cases.
“I have lost a friend. I have lost a brother. I have lost a cousin. I have lost all relationships that you would consider valid in this person we are burying today. It will be very painful today to go and rub his number in my phone. He is somebody I spoke to everyday. My wife at times would even ask namulanda na ba Lungo? I religiously spoke to him every evening. He displayed courage. He displayed courage as he rendered that service to the people. He is somebody who had organisational ability, you give him an hour to organize the programme he would do that. So he meritoriously rose to the portfolio that he was serving until his death. What I would urge those that have remained behind, the family members, the friends is now to look at what we are going to do with those that he has left. Na mwelupwa bonse mwebeshile mukulosha filya fine twishile efyo tuye. This man has left young children and these children will need to continue their education,” Mr. Malanji said.
He saluted people that have been sending him solidarity messages.
“Ba munyinane epo nshilapwisha ndefway ukutasha imwe bonse mwe bantumina words of solidarity. (My brothers and sisters before I end let me thank people that have been sending words of solidarity. You only see true friends when you are in trouble.).Pantu umuntu ngalepita mu mafya elyo afwaya ukwishiba abanakwe ni banani. But one thing I can assure you ba munyinane pantu ku Lusaka twaya mukutandala tatwaba nga bambi ama ministers abali ku Lusaka nakale. Ine ndi mwina kopala , batila inshiku shalingenye umwana na nina. Mu ma 1992, 1993 mwebakalamba mwe bali pano mwalemona ngamulefuma ku Riverside (Township in Kitwe) nangu ku Nakonde bana mutekenya mwalekwela ni JM Bus Services. Lelo nasanguka umupina? Elyo nshilaba Minister ba munyinane, tekweba ati tufwile lyonse ngacakutila naukwata ka ngwee waisa mukwimba kuli bonse ati iyoo ine ninkwata K2, ine ninkwata K4. Ilyo nshilaba Minister, nali minister mu 2018. Three years past 2017, 2016, 2015. Turnover yandi yali ni Four Million Dollars ($4,000, 000) mu ma company yandi.Bank taibepa ilyo tukafika panshita ya kuya ku chilye tukaya na ma pepala ati bwana ndembululeni,” he said.
Mr. Malanji continued: “Elders present here will recall that around 1992, 1993 people used to board JM Bus Services in Riverside, Nakonde but today I have become poor? Before I became Minister, turnover in my companies was $4,000,000. Banks do not lie when time comes to present evidence in court we will go with proof.”
Mr. Malanji further assured the people of Kwacha Constituency that he will one day return to work with them like before.
Mr Malanji is challenging High Court judge Kazimbe Chenda’s decision to annul his election on grounds that he does not have a Grade 12 certificate.
Losing Kwacha parliamentary candidate Charles Mulenga has asked the Constitutional Court to dismiss incumbent Mr. Malanji’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to nullify his election because the plea allegedly lacks merit.
“Ba munyinane I had to come and mourn with you because I am still a Member of Parliament. We have a temporary set back but I can assure you that we shall come and work together like before. Ukwafwana twaleyafwana tukalayafwana fimo fine. Mwalishiba efyo icipingo citila, help your neigbour as you would love others to help you. Nshatale ndeka ba munyinane nangu ni ino ine inshita mulamona bana mutekenya balapita pantu ilyo mwaleya muku voter mwaebele ati tulevotela Malanji pakutila tukalebomba nankwe. (You voted for me so that we can work together).Mwe bana mayo mwebali pano bushe elyo muya ku market nga namusenda saladi (Cooking oil), bushe saladi ilalanda ati ine ndi wa mutengo nshapone? Tali nimwe mwebeshiba ati ii saladi nsendele ya mutengo nshifwile uku ponya?Akape takacenjela uucenjela mwine wa kape,” Mr. Malanji said as some mourners cheered him.
Yes……..but looks like you went into GRZ to steal………
Now that you no longer have access to power or the influence it brings, let us see if you can buy two choppers again. I am guessing not.
Of course, you did not. Just let Zambia know how you earned it.
So funerals are now becoming political and wealthy campaigns or rallies?
I think this is dishonoring the deceased. Ba PF ma politics fye everywhere !!! Why tell the mourners about your bloody wealthy, tell the courts dam.n !!!
O.M.G., how can people sink so low and allow this kind of bvlsh!t from Davies Mwila and Malanji? This is no respect for the dead at its peak !! I am sorry, this need to stop, this people must be stonned. period.
Just shut up ! You took 40 years trying to complete G12, which you have not even completed.
Really laughable …here another one attempting to use a funeral to cleanse himself I mean this guy had a Diplomatic Passport and was using Presidential Jet 9J-ONE like his taxis flying to and from Ankara. Malanji where would you have got $1000000 cash befor you were in govt? You court is near you will have time to testify and be cross-examined. I bet you even the Turkish tanker carrying arms that was detained flyiung the Zambian Flag must be connected to these chaps.
Dr Chilufya will say the same thing but look at how many companies he has registered and check when he registered them …same with this guy Helicopter Malanji
Aww..I do feel for politicians. They do often get it wrong! It’s almost impossible to prove innocence after the event if you didn’t take the necessary precautions. The only indisputable way to prove the source of your wealth, is to unreservedly declare all your property, money in bank accounts etcetera, before you take up a government post. Otherwise, your wealth will always be subject to suspicion; especially in Zambia where the majority of people are poor. Wealth should be relative to what you do, unless of course you inherited it! Even then, if your parents suddenly become wealthy after serving in government, your inheritance is unsound, therefore subject to the same suspicions.
#plant a tree please.
Only poor f00Iish immigrants like tarino will find it impossible for a fellow African to earn millions from businesses. Upnd diasporans are one of the most backward monkeys I have ever come across. You went abroad thinking zambia is poor. Let me tell you, there are many of us making millions from hard work and businesses. There is opportunity in this country if you are not lazy to run away to a whlte mans land to make it. Come back we employ you and make you millionaires. F00Iish asylum seekers
You might have been rich but you were still greedy enough to inflate the cost of the purchase price of zambian embassy in turkey so that you could steal the excess with your colleagues.
It is a pity *****s like Kaisa Zulu equate stealing and corruption to “ hard work “.
#4 ….. general KANENE
Did HH not use the funeral of a ministers who lost his wife to tell the world that he has never supported homosexually. Do you think that it was the right place for the president to pronounce LGBT issues? Why bring such subject at someone funeral when all the family needs is words of comfort. Please lets stop being hypocrites, blindful and hateful. What is good for HH is good for Malanja. …………… “ President Hichilema was speaking during the Church Service of Attorney General, Mulilo Kabesha’s Wife Rachael at the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka.” ………………..
Yes you did. You even stole from your former partner, Baldwin Nkumbula’s widow. Your sins will find you out.
1. If Malanja stole money, then let him face prosecution. That said in Zambia we have a very bad poor mindset and limiting beliefs that one cannot make a $1m in six months, 1 year by just doing genuine business locally, neighbouring nations or overseas business.
2. I bought Half an Acre Plot. Then another 2 X Five Acre plots in 2002 from (MDC) – Meanwood Development Corporation in Ibex Hill for a total of $25,000. This was a project which was launched by (MDC) in partnership with Barclays Bank London/UK for high-cost houses. Today my 10 Acre Plots are worth about $2.5 Million and I have not even built anything on the 10 Acres. I just used my half an acre to build my house. The value of land in Lusaka goes up every single minute of the day. Zambia has single-mothers who are millionaires. They started selling bringing beans from Mbala and Fish from Siavonga using buses. Today these women are driving nice cars, built good houses and sending children in UK for School. Making money is a mindset, having an open mind, taking risks and…
Malanji stole and must face the law. He had so much impunity in throwing cash around calling himself BONANZA. I am proud of our Former Southern Province Minister Edify Hamukale who received an award from ZPPA for having zero, Corruption and Zero audit queries FOR FOUR CONSECUTIVE YEARS . . If ZPPA can reward honest ministers like that, then DEC, ACC and the police should also rearward thieves like Malanji with Proper jail sentences. Malanji you chartered a plane to fly cash from the Zambian Embassy in Turkey to Zambia and shared with your fellow untouchables’ and even bought two helicopters which i feel should be donated to flying Doctor Services . Ukuyumfwa ba grade 10 ba malanji
#10 -@Mutafela Mulife,
In my oppinion, there is a BIG difference, between HH and what Malanji/Davies has done,
HH was making a point, and that was, I quote “….urged ZAMBIANS to refrain from giving attention to things that do not matter but focus on unity.” and the LGBT issue is of national interest and NOT personal. While Malanji/Davies were publicizing personal issues/satisfaction on poor mourners.
And that the reason, I did not raise a concern in case of HH. Again, what Malanji/Davies did is not good.
If you claim we stole, then provide the evidence ans take it to court. This is why you keep embarrassing the state in court with f00Iish cases that are being dismissed
Lets not be hypocritical as Zambians. Everyone has the right to defend themselves anywhere, especially if your name is being put in disrepute that your voters must know the truth. As for making $1 million dollars in a year, I concur with @ Independent Observer. There are Zambians all over the world making that much money even in a month legally if you know what you are doing. It’s no big deal. The problem is we have too many poverty stricken people who thinks this is not possible just because they are going through issues or have never made such monies before. Jealous is what’s killing most of the Zambians. Ask professor Clive Chirwa how much he makes in a month for his consultancy as an engineering scientist. Lets not be this shallow minded and vengeance oriented you all.
Just go court and explain man. We will believe the judges when they make that pronouncement.
Mu Zambia ma jealous too much. Some people think wealth only belong to them. Anyone can be wealthy.
True Kopalas, particularly those from Kitwe, know that Malanji had a lot of money even before he joined PF. If some of the non-Kopala UPND praise-singing mafontinis think he stole, baleloba ilya uma. Let them drag him to court and make fools of themselves.
Zennia – Only the current Speaker of Parliament has declared her assets fully voluntarily…all the other Politicans are scared to do it. If HH7 was serious about fighting corruption he should have pushed through this lifestyle audit in Parliament, before his ministers start eating alot.
Fair enough Malanji, can you publish your bank statements, company accounts and tax returns returns to back up your statements.
You don’t just pay cash for an aircraft and expect not to raise suspicion.
A genuine business or individual will lease high value assets. In fact it’s business sense to lease and then invest your cash elsewhere.
Austin Mbozi of UNZA wrote on 10th March 2022 as follows:
Fifth, President HH, with personal wealth estimates of US $389 million, loses nothing by refunding. As a private citizen he global-travelled with his wife and family members. And with his CV as former president he will for life receive State support while his businesses are to expand because of this very CV. We admire HH because he earned his wealth from pure hard work. Nobody respects properties, even honestly earned, from political jobs like the property of Cornelius Mweetwa, Bowman Lusambo, Amos Chanda, Edith Nawakwi or Edgar Lungu. We respect politicians who serve diligently like Edify Hamukale.
Sixth, refunding will prove he listens to opposition leaders so that Zambians do not re-vote for PF thief-thief-thugs like they…
Every rich politician claims to be rich before they joined politics.
Why do they fail business after
Leaving ministerial jobs?
@Moto, they fail afterwards because in Zambia we aspire to destroy anyone who affiliates themselves to a party that’s no longer in power. We destroy them because we also want to be like them.
You say you have evidence, but you refuse to show it. Like that Stup!d KZ, who is hiding in Belmarsh area in London (and refuses to return since the election loss) can’t present proof of earnings and now turns around the case! YOU have to present proof of earnings, NOT the other way around!
No corruption the onus is on the f00I alleging someone is a thief to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is such. You must be a very tribal ignorant sausage
UK Independent Observer: congratulations on your wealth, but you are missing the point. It is not about Zambians being rich, it is about politicians using the power of their offices to enrich themselves. On the other hand you maybe a paper millionaire, in 20 years your land value has increased a 100 times, on paper, what practical person with hard earned money is going to spend $2.5million to buy 10 acres in Zambia? It is not Beverly Hills, or Bel Air and yet many Zambians do have this inflated sense of easy money. Maybe you will have some Chinese lined up to buy and some shopping mall developers. Did you even question where and how Meanwood got the land? In the Kaunda days, land was free.