A 48 year old South African man has allegedly committed suicide in a hotel room in Kabwe District of Central Province for unknown reasons.

Central Province Commissioner of Police, Chola Katanga, has confirmed the incident to ZANIS in an interview and identified the deceased as Goosen Martin, a holder of passport number A05939131.

Mr Katanga said his body was discovered by one of the house keepers hanging on an in built wardrobe in room 216 around 15:40 hours yesterday.

He said Tuskers Hotel Manager Daniel Mweetwa, of 51 Ghana Avenue in Kabwe District reported the matter to the police.

“Received a report from Daniel Mweetwa aged 51 of 51 Ghana Avenue, Kabwe, a Hotel Manager by occupation to the effect that around 15: 40 hours of 21/12/20 his house keeper discovered the body of a white South African male person hanging on an in built wardrobe in room number 216,” he said.

Mr Katanga said police visited the scene and observed that the body was completely naked with cuts on his right arm and a hand bag rope was used to hang himself.

He explained that after a thorough investigation was done on his belongings, a note declaring himself to have committed suicide and a whatsapp line to inform his relatives was found.

“A thorough check on his belongings was done and found a note declaring himself to have committed suicide and also a passport bearing his details as M/Goosen Martin aged 48 a South African by Nationality, the holder of Passport A05939131 and left a whatsapp line to inform his relatives,” Mr Katanga said.

The body of the decased has sonce been deposited in the mortuary waiting for possible identification of the body and postmortem.

And Mr Katanga said the son to the deceased called from South Africa to find out about the father’s death after he was told about his demise by the fiancé only identified as Susan.

He said the son revealed that the deceased has not been in contact with the family and relatives in South Africa for the past one.

He stated that the deceased son indicated that the family was unable to make arrangements to travel due to COVID-19 but that further discussions will be done through Susan.

Minister for Housing and Infrastructure Development Vincent Mwale has revealed that the government has released a total of US $73.7m towards the completion of the Kazungula bridge project with a balance of US $8.7m which will be paid before the end of this year.

The announcement comes after reports started circulating purporting that the Zambian Government had failed to pay its dues and would not honour the outstanding amount owed to the contractor.

According to the minister, an amount of US $82.3m has already been certified on the project of which US $73.7m has already been disbursed and the balance of US $8.7m whose certificates were received by the paying agent, National Road Fund Agency, will be paid before year end.

This is within the 56 days allowed for settlement of certified Interim Payment Certificates.

“I would like to put it on record that the assertions currently being circulated via social media, purporting that the Zambian Government has failed to pay its dues and will not honour the outstanding amount owed to the Contractor, are not correct. It is worth mentioning that the payment of the retention amount on the part of the Zambian Government is contractual and shall be met. As such, Ministry of Finance through the National Road Fund Agency is working towards the settling of the Interim Payment Certificate (IPC) before the end of the year,” he said.

He further added that, it should be noted that a balance on the contract in the sum of US $4.7m remains to be certified and issued to the Zambian Government.

The Kazungula Bridge project is a multi-national project in the North-South Corridor and is part of an infrastructure improvement programme that covers the whole corridor.

The project includes a bridge linking Botswana and Zambia over the Zambezi River to replace the existing ferry, and a one-stop border facility at Kazungula.

The government says its plans to set put up basic social amenities in Kasenseli area of Mwinilunga district of Northwestern province.

Northwestern province Permanent Secretary Willies Mangimela says this is because facilities such as those for health and sanitation infrastructure are important to avoid disease outbreaks which may arise due to the population increase.

He said during a courtesy call on Chief Chibwika recently that the population in the area has increased hence the need to put up such facilities.

Mr Mangimela said the government will not allow a situation that happened in Lumwana with regards to lack of settlement planning to happen in Kasenseli.

“We should not allow that mistake of Lumwana mine to happen here in Kasenseli, you have seen how they have built your royal highness, it is terrible, so we want to put things straight and the government is ready to do that, ” he said.

The Permanent Secretary revealed that he has directed Mwinilunga town council to collaborate with the traditional leadership in the area to ensure that Kasenseli does not turn into an unplanned settlement.

Following the discovery of gold deposits in the area a number of local and foreign small scale miners rushed to area to illegally explore the precious mineral.

However ,government last year declared gold as a strategic reserve and suspended all activities at Kasenseli gold mine following a cabinet decision.

Meanwhile, chief Chibwika asked the Permanent Secretary to look into the compensation of displaced farmers which he said has taken long.

The traditional leader further appealed to government to guide on whether people can continue farming in areas which have prospecting licences.

“Is it right to stop people from conducting their daily farming activities even in areas which just have prospecting licences? Because my people have been stopped from accessing their fields” the chief said.

He said for two years his subjects have not been able to cultivate because they have been stopped from accessing their fields located in areas with prospecting licences by prospecting licence holders.