Chief Sinazongwe of the Tonga people in the district explained that an agreement was signed in October, 2017 in which the mine was supposed to compensate the affected families to enable them relocate but this has not been done up to date.

The chief was speaking when he and the local leadership visited the affected area.

He expressed disappointment that despite various stakeholders having engaged the mine management over the agreement, the pact has not been honoured.

“When the agreement was made, people agreed to move if compensated. It has been four months now and the mine has not followed the agreement,” the traditional leader said.

And the affected families have appealed to government to immediately come to their aid.

Catherine Siabweene, whose family is currently sleeping in a tent, narrated that the underground mine tunnels left in the area are forming cracks which are extending to the to surface, thereby affecting houses.

“My family had to move out of our house as we could hear the ground shake as the cracks grew bigger. The tent we are now sleeping in is uncomfortable when it rains,” She lamented.

Meanwhile, the local authority in the district has called on the mine to prioritise the safety of human lives.

Sinazongwe District Council Secretary Herbert Ng’andu urged management to emulate other investors in the district such as Maamba Collieries regarding mine safety guidelines compliance.

“This is a ticking time bomb requiring urgent attention,” Mr. Ng’andu said.

Sinazongwe District Commissioner Protacial Mulenga has since issued a 14-day ultimatum for the mine to compensate the affected families or risk being closed.

“We do not want anyone entrusted with such a responsibility to dent the image of government. We want all investors to ensure that the communities in the areas they operate are protected,” he stressed.

And Column Coal Mine Safety Manager, Elvis Ng’andu was at pains to explain why the affected families have not been compensated up to date.

Mr. Ng’andu instead referred all queries to the Column Coal Mine headquarters in Lusaka.

Southern Province Health Director Jelita Chiyonga has bemoaned the misuse of mosquito nets by various communities across the province.

Ms Chiyonga says several communities have continued to use mosquito nets for catching fish and fencing gardens thereby frustrating government efforts to eliminate malaria.

Speaking when Southern Province Permanent Secretary Mwaangala Liomba visited Choma general Hospital to farmiliarize himself with the operations of the health institution yesterday, Ms Chiyonga informed the PS of the Ministry’s efforts to combat Preventable diseases such as Malaria and HIV.

“As a Ministry we have embarked on the distribution of mosquito nets to canter for household in the province, unfortunately some beneficiaries in rural areas use these nets for other purposes”, she said.

She said this challenge is common in Namwala, Gwembe, Sinanzongwe and Siavonga where fishing activities are high leading to increased malaria cases in those districts.

Ms Chiyonga also said Maternal mortality is slightly high with the province having recorded about 72 maternal deaths in the year 2017.

She said maternal death is high because most expectant mothers report late for antenatal.

Ms Chiyonga said the ministry is carrying various sensitization activities to encourage pregnant women report for antenatal within 16 weeks of pregnancy.

She further highlighted that failure to report early for antenatal also contributes to mother to child transmission of HIV.

And Southern Province Permanent Secretary Mwaangala Liomba used this interaction to urge the medical practitioners in the province to maintain high levels of confidentiality with patient’s information.

Mr Liomba said with the mandatory HIV testing for every patient vising any health facility, there is need for medical staff to keep the test results confidential.

He said confidentiality is key in health ethics to which the medical practitioners swore to keep as they deal with patients.

Global Super Model (GSM) has launched the cancer themed super model pageantry dubbed “Surviving into the Future”.

Global Super Model President Naomi Banda disclosed that her organization is working with the Cancer Hospital to help sensitize and alleviate the high levels of cancer in the country.

Speaking during the launch held at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka yesterday, Ms. Banda said the cancer awareness project, is a plan that will open people’s minds about cancer.

She said models from different countries will arrive in the country and take part in the cancer awareness project.

Ms. Banda added that the models who will arrive in the country on the 27th of April, this year, will be part of a tour that will go around the cancer hospital to make some donations.

Meanwhile, UTH Chief Hospital Administrator Chiko Chindumba said 250 new cancer cases are recorded every year at the cancer hospital.

Ms. Chindumba noted that the number of cancer patients has risen because of the awareness project taking place country-wide.

She made clear that cancer is a deadly disease that kills more people than any other disease and must be taken seriously once symptoms are seen.

Ms. Chindumba however, urged the general public to visit the hospital if any indicators of cancer are seen because the earlier it is treated the better.

“I resign as president of the republic with immediate effect,” he said, “even though I disagree with the decision of the leadership of my organisation … I have always been a disciplined member of the organisation.

“I have…come to the decision to resign as the president of the republic with immediate effect,” Zuma told reporters at the Union Buildings on Wednesday night.

Zuma’s time as president has been marked by controversy, ranging from his relationship with the controversial Gupta family, dropped charges of corruption and his acquittal on a charge of rape, to the upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.

He broke his silence on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since discussions to oust him started in a televised live interview with SABC.

The ANC caucus met on Wednesday morning on the outcomes of a meeting of the party’s national executive committee (NEC). ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile told the media afterward that they had given Zuma until Wednesday to resign. If not, the ANC would proceed with a motion of no confidence against him on Thursday to legally force him to resign according to the Constitution, he said.

ANC secretary general Ace Magashule and his deputy Jessie Duarte delivered Zuma’s recall letter to the presidential guesthouse on Tuesday morning.

Zuma’s much-anticipated resignation comes after the party’s highest decision-making body, the national executive committee (NEC), decided after a marathon meeting into the early hours of Tuesday morning that he should go.

The ANC called the urgent meeting following ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa’s direct talks with Zuma. An emergency NEC meeting, that was meant to happen last Wednesday, was cancelled by Ramaphosa after his Tuesday meeting with Zuma.

Ramaphosa replaced Zuma as leader of the ANC at its elective conference in December.

On Tuesday last week, Parliament’s presiding officers postponed Thursday’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) amid fears that it might descend into chaos.

“We wish to assure fellow South Africans and everyone affected by this decision that these actions are being taken in the best interests of Parliament and the country,” National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete announced at the time

Morgan Tsvangirai, a former labour leader and prime minister of Zimbabwe died on Wednesday night. He was 65.

Elias Mudzuri, the vice president of Mr. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, confirmed the death. The cause was colon cancer, for which Mr. Tsvangirai had been hospitalized in South Africa for months.

He died less than three months after his longtime nemesis, Robert Mugabe, was ousted by the military last November as part of a struggle within the governing party, ZANU-PF.

For almost 20 years, Mr. Tsvangirai headed the Movement for Democratic Change, a party founded in 1999 to capitalize on the growing unpopularity of the autocratic Mr. Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe from its independence in 1980.

Tsvangirai was one of the first big-name politicians to stand up to now ousted Robert Mugabe. He dominated the fractured opposition in Zimbabwe until his death.

He first ran for president in 2002, before shocking the political establishment by winning the first round of the now controversial 2008 election. The violence that followed this vote led to the creation of a government of national unity. Tsvangirai served as Prime Minister in this government.

It is unclear who will succeed him as president of the MDC-T and the MDC Alliance

Even as he fell ill with cancer, however, Mr. Tsvangirai failed to groom a successor, and he has left behind a fractured party with no obvious leader to challenge the current President Mr. Mnangagwa in the elections expected this year.

The High Court siting in Mansa has sentenced a 49 year old man of Chamalawa Village of Chief Mabumba in Mansa to 15 years with hard labour for manslaughter.

Before High Court Judge Mary Mulanda was Alick Malama who pleaded guilty to one count of Manslaughter contrary to section 199 of the penal code chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia.

This was in a matter committed to the High Court for trial by the subordinate court of the first class for the Mansa District.

Facts before the courts where that, the accused did cause the death of his wife Mable Mulumbe who he brutally beat up and fled when he visited her at Mundolo Village on 17 September 2017. It was then than Mulumbe was later taken to her mother’s house in same area by concerned community Members where her wounds were nursed until she died three days later.

In mitigation the accused pleaded with the court to be lenient as he was a first offender and that he did not waste the time of the court in the matter.

But in passing judgment Judge Mulanda said she heard all that the accused said in mitigation but sentenced the accused to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.

MINISTER of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection Lloyd Kaziya has directed Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company (KWSC) to obtain a court order to demolish a clinic built on top of a water pipe in Ndola’s Hillcrest ward.

The clinic, which is already operational, was built three years ago from Ndola Central constituency development fund.

Speaking to journalists in Ndola, Mr. Kaziya directed KWSC to demolish all other structures built on water and sewer networks.

“Despite the facility being government property constructed using constituency development fund, it was misplaced and a new place to erect another one must be sought.

I have no apologies that we will demolish it because I want to show political will in this matter…I do not want to promote illegality and we also do not want to be in distress to look for money to redirect the networks,” Mr. Kaziya said.

Efforts to get a comment from Ndola Central member of Parliament Emmanuel Mulenga failed by press time as his phone went unanswered.

The Minister has since asked Ndola City Council (NCC) to secure another location where the clinic would be built.

Mr. Kaziya warned that people must keep away from such facilities to avoid disturbing the networks.

He said indiscriminate allocation of plots by local authorities had promoted encroachment on water and sewer networks countrywide.

Mr. Kaziya urged councils to learn from the many challenges the utility companies faced in areas where people had encroached on the utility networks.

And KWSC director of engineering Bernard Phiri said the utility company was concerned over some Ndola residents’ continued encroachment on its facilities.

Mr. Phiri said the encroachment covered a wide range on the banks of Kafubu River and from 21 of its well fields in Minsundu area.

He said if left unattended to, the situation would result in contamination of the company’s water sources.