A scam has been unearthed at Dangote Cement in Masaiti district where supply of raw materials especially gypsum is being quoted in dollars.
ZANIS reports that Dangote Cement Chief Financial Officer, Bright Tembo said this during the company’s presentation to Copperbelt Province Minister, Japhen Mwakalombe when he visited the plant.
Mr. Tembo said the situation has necessitated the increase in cement price in the country.
And Mr. Mwakalombe has warned that such suppliers will be visited by the law and that necessary action will be taken.
He said government is concerned with the recently continued increasing prices of cement on the market, describing the situation as sabotage to the country’s infrastructural development.
The Minister said the current prices of the commodity also defeats efforts to reduce on the housing deficit the country is faced with.
He warned suppliers and other businesses with such a trend to stop immediately and ensure that they trade in the local currency, adding that few individuals should not take advantage of the prevailing situation and exploit others.
The minister, however, added that government will continue creating an enabling environment which the private sector should use to for their businesses to thrive but it should not be used as a loophole for economic sabotage.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tembo reiterated that the closure of Chambishi Metals has deprived a reasonably priced source of gypsum which is now being sourced from South Africa, Namibia among other distant local sources.
He regretted that suppliers of raw materials such as gypsum among others have resorted to quoting their prices in dollars.
He said efforts to open Chambishi metals be expedited so that the challenges being faced by the cement manufacturing companies can be mitigated.
“Mr. Tembo reiterated that the closure of Chambishi Metals has deprived a reasonably priced source of gypsum which is now being sourced from South Africa, Namibia among other distant local sources.” Does this mean that South African and Namibian suppliers can be paid in Kwacha?
Uko while you busy calling HH names, we slowly going the Zimbabwe route. Pretty soon everything is going to be quoted in Dollars. How long are you going to force people to qoute in the useless kwacha
Mr.President can u sort out this problem.Please mitigate the price of cement.It’s too much bakateka.Let us also manage the dolla.Baketeka you can win next year as long as you manage the kwacha.Stop the kwacha from depreciating.Twapapata do somem magic to stop the kwacha from depreciating.Everything is going up due to dollas.indians increase prices everyday coz of dolla.BOZ and Ministry finance work together.Help the president.
The able minister is looking into this. We understand how sensitive issues of cement are in our economy. Let us give the minister time to engage all relevant stakeholders and I promise we will get to the bottom of this. We are government and it is our job to fix such issues. Thank you
For those who have being hailing Privatization, which essentially was shifting the means of production from the Zambian people to foreign hands. This is clearly essentially crippling capacity of the country to develop as the wheels of production are at the mercy of the foreigners who can wake up and decide to shut down.
We privatized the key institutions that had a means of production. Essentially we we abdicated the means of production to foreign hands
This is what happens when you elect chaps who don’t understand the difference between Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy and how the two work!
Let cement hit K200 maybe our dull voters may understand that experimenting with leadership can be dangerous and expensive! Muzatulula Manzi!
My understanding from this article is that Gypsum is being imported. How then do you expect it to be quoted in kwacha?
It is unfair to call this a scam.
Fix economy please bena KZ and your Kateka, dollar is causing issues prices are going up, it’s like zimzim we are heading, do something sensible that will give you votes if this continues ni out come next year.
Don’t blame cement manufacturers.Blame Zambian
Economy for depreciating kwacha to dollar.Every product
Manufactured is dependant on
Rate of dollar.
If that intro is correct then you should write another that goes:
A scam has been unearthed in Zambia where houses especially in Lusaka are being quoted in dollars.
Yes Zambians always sell houses in dollars and noone talks. Is it because the sellers are PF members in government?
This has nothing to do with privatization. The Kwacha has no breaks – that’s the issue. The people who should focus on managing that have formed a queue to get a chance to denounce HH on ZNBC. When are they going to run the country?
Can someone stop this nonsense of quoting Zambian services and goods in foreign currency. It undermines our own. Those wishing to quote their prices in US dollars must be told to go and trade or do their business in US period.