North-western Province Minister Richard Kapita has expressed great concern over the alleged poor environmental conditions at Jifumpa underground copper mine in Kasempa district.

Mr. Kapita was displeased with the manner the mine is disposing off effluent from the mine. The effluent has caused physical environmental pollution in the area.

He said when he visited the mine following numerous complaints from members of the public on the mine’s alleged none compliance to environmental and safety rules.

Mr. Kapita said he will summon the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) to explain why the agency has allowed the mine to continue operating in such poor environmental conditions.

He said Jifumpa mine management should also explain why certain things and conditions that are supposed to safeguard employees are not in place.

He was accompanied by Kasempa Member of Parliament (MP) Brenda Tambatamba and members of the provincial and district joint operations committee.

Meanwhile, Ms. Tambatamba commended the minister for visiting the mine saying such an initiative will help address most concerns which local people have been raising in the past two years.

She said there is no amount of wealth from the mine that can be worth the lives of the workers and the host communities.

Ms. Tambatamba alleged that the mine was not complying with the mining act in terms of environmental management, safety management, labour conditions and corporate social responsibility.

She said she will invite ZEMA safety department and the Minister of Mines to visit the area so that critical issues are addressed.

The MP said there was need to ensure that the mine operators are made to account on managing the environment, labour conditions and the safety of workers.

Ms. Tambatamba assured to work with government to ensure that the mine operators comply with the law by having social, safety and environmental management plans in place.

Jifumpa mine is operated by Luida, a Kitwe based Chinese company with a workforce of 250 Zambians and about 40 foreign nationals.

Police have stormed Saint Mathias Mulumba Catholic Church in Lusaka’s BAULENI demanding that the Sunday Mass is halted and congregants disperse and the cholera epidemic continues to spread around the country.

Police also dispersed Kabwata St Paul’s UCZ Congregants and some teargas was used to resisting congregants.

This is in response to government’s directive that gatherings of any nature are avoided following the outbreak of cholera that has greatly affected the country’s capital city, Lusaka.

In Rufunsa district three suspected cholera cases have been reported forcing the local council to embark on a massive sensitization exercise and cleaning of the surroundings.

Rufunsa Town Council Chairman Bartholomew Kalambalala yesterday told traders that there were three suspected cholera cases at Chinyunyu health centre.

Mr. Kalambalala therefore led a team of soldiers to supervise a cleaning exercise at Mpanshya market and later held a sensitization meeting at Chimusanya market.

He said government was working tirelessly to fight the disease and has since called on the local people to maintain high standards of hygiene so that cholera does not spread to other areas.

He said being in the most affected province, Rufunsa needed to join hands with government in combating the disease.

Mr. Kalambalala added that maintaining cleanliness should not just be in this period of cholera but should be an ongoing thing as it will help government in combating a lot of other diseases.

He has since commended the Zambia Army in the area for partnering with the council in supervising the cleaning of market areas.

Meanwhile, Rufunsa District Commissioner, Judith Chama has called for an urgent meeting with all stakeholders in the district to find a way of supplementing government efforts in preventing cholera from spreading to other areas.

In Siavonga, District Commissioner (DC) has called on churches in the area to improve sanitation and their surroundings so as to avoid the spread of cholera.

Mr. Lovemore Kanyama, who today inspected churches, bemoaned that sanitation in some of the premises is poor.

Among the churches he inspected together with some security officers included the Salvation Army, New Apostolic, Bread of Life and the Shepard Ministries.

Mr. Kanyama urged churches whose surroundings are unclean to improve saying they would not be allowed to congregate next week if the sanitary conditions remain the same.

He has meanwhile encouraged the churches whose surroundings are clean to continue maintaining the good hygiene standards.

The DC said the state and council police, including health inspectors will continue monitoring and inspecting bars, markets and other public places.

He pointed out that the district is working hard to avoid the outbreak of cholera.

“I therefore urge the community to coordinate with the law enforcement agency,” Mr. Kanyama said.

Presidential Spokesperson, Mr Amos Chanda has anounced that a team of specialists from Israel has arrived in the Country to help with the Presidential initiative of dealing with the cholera problem which involves medium to long term interventions in high density populations.

Speaking when he addressed the press during the daily cholera emergency response meeting and briefings at Ndeke House this morning, Mr Chanda revealed that the main intervention from the specialists from israel would be the deployment of high technology to deal with water purification and treatment, with the overal objective being to deal with cholera in a comprehensive manner.

” This team comprises water Engineers and Epidemiologists. They are 5 of them . I gave them a brief and surrendered them to the Minister of Health. They have held briefings and gone on the ground to conduct tests and gather information about the epidemic. This evening, I will be taking them to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of water so that he links them up with the technical staff at the Ministry,” Mr Chanda said.

And Mr Chanda stated that the technology and the treatment was meant to eliminate if possible, completely the bacteria that causes cholera.

“So this will be short term, Medium term and in the long term will provide technical advise and support that will help the government combat this problem. The technical advise will also include interventions for medium and long term to address sanitation problems especially in high density population areas, focusing on the areas where the epidemic is most serious,” he said.

And Mr Chanda clarified that this was not a government to government arrangement but a response to the Presidential initiative.

” Later on, it might become government to government. But for now,it is an initiative of sheba medical centre and Zambia boarder company, the owners of Kasumba Lesa Boarder post as a contribution to the broader response. This is just one major response and support coming from partners Sheba Medical centre, Zambia Boarder company and the Presidential initiative,” Mr Chanda clarified.

Home Affairs minister Stephen Kampyongo says the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba has left him surprised because, despite being best friends in Cabinet, he never confided in him about his decision.

And Kampyongo says leaders are not expected to point out problems and then run away from them, adding that he would like to know the extent of the greed among government leaders which Kalaba was refering to.

Meanwhile, Kampyongo says there will be need for PF to hold an INDABA to address the issues which have been pointed out by critics.

Speaking when he featured on Hot FM’s Hot Seat program, Thursday, Kampyongo said Kalaba always consulted him on several issues, but kept him in the dark over his move to resign.

“It (Kalaba’s resignation) is a difficult one because you are talking about a person who was not just a colleague in cabinet, this is a brother to me, a comrade. A man I have known prior to politics. His decision [to resign] I would assume is a personal one. He has exercised his democratic rights on what he should do at any given time. I will respect his decision. Like I have said he has been a brother to me and we have worked very well with him. We talk, consult each other but on this one, he didn’t give me a privilege, we didn’t discuss it. So I will respect his decision. I may not understand fully the reasons that he has cited and in what context because we are people’s representatives and people of Zambia are very intelligent now. If you say you are greedy, to what extent? And that’s why I’m saying I can’t understand,” Kampyongo.

The Home Affairs Minister said he would not run away from problems but be part of the solution.

“On the other issue of corruption; of course I must say that we are all concerned when we see the Auditor Generals report coming out and issues of misapplication of funds that are cited in the report. It’s a concern not only to the Head of State but to all of us. But what do you do? For me my decision will be not to run away from the problem but to be part of the solution,” said Kampyongo.

“On PF ministers leaving; it’s not unusual in a democracy to see people leave. You may recall that before, we had GBM leaving and a few others. We had my dear brother Miles [Sampa] leaving, today we are back together as one family. I think this is normal. We have seen people resign from other political parties and move to other political parties, it’s normal. What is important is to allow people to exercise their democratic rights and decide where to be at any given time. As a party we are not going to shy away we are going to ensure that we deal with issues as they are pointed out. Because that’s what leadership is all about. It’s not about saying here is a challenge and you shy away and run away from the challenge, no. It’s not by being defensive but looking at matters as they are pointed out and then deal with them.”

Eastern province has recorded thirteen cases of cholera with one death.

Eastern Province Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo pronounced the outbreak of the epidemic in the region during the Provincial cholera Epidemic preparedness meeting yesterday.

Mr Kasolo disclosed that so far four cases have been confirmed in Lundazi and Sinda districts.

Following the pronouncement by the head of State, His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu that defence forces should join in the fight against cholera outbreak, the province has lined up a number of activities to address the problem.

Mr Kasolo cited some of the measures as the closure of all legal and illegal markets who will fail to meet hygiene standards, the banning of street vending to enable cleaning, garbage collection and unblocking of drainages.

He said no large gatherings of more than five people including church programs, weddings, music concerts, funerals and bars should take place without clearance by Ministry of health and local authorities.

He has further urged the district epidemic committees to be meeting and feeding information to provincial epidemic preparedness committee which shall be meeting on daily basis at 9 hours.

He further instructed health and local authorities to station Environmental health technicians at all main bus stops to educate and screen for diarrhoea and vomiting.

He has called on all members of the public to participate in the cleaning up of premises and to maintain personal hygiene, adding that the buying of food from streets be avoided.

The province has since set up a financial committee to help raise resources for the operations to curb the epidemic, and each government and private department has been urged to do a massive clean up exercise on Monday 8th January.

The Monze District Epidemic Preparedness committee has unanimously resolved to remove all street vendors trading along all the roads in the District in a bid to prevent cholera outbreak.

The committee has since given all street vendors a one day ultimatum to vacant the streets and relocate to trading places in the two main markets.

During an emergency meeting held at the council chamber yesterday, Monze District Commissioner Cyprian Hamanyanga said the District had to follow the directive by the Provincial Minister to remove all street vendors in the streets

Mr Hamanyanga, also said the committee will close unsanitary restaurants, and bars as some of the measures to prevent the cholera outbreak that have broken out in some towns of the Province.

Council Secretary Mr. Frank Kalenga said all the street vendors would be allocated trading places in the two main markets where there was proper sanitation and also urged all Monze residents to cooperates as the disease was of grave concern to everyone.

Mr. Kalenga also said no compensation would be made to those whose goods would be destroyed in the process of demolition of stands as the directive was clear for everyone to be removed from the streets to pave way for cleaning exercise.

He observed that number of traders allegedly ‘running’ away from Lusaka because of the cholera outbreak there have invaded Monze predisposing the District to the disease adding that action was required urgently to removal all traders from the streets as per provincial administration directive.

Southern Province, has only recorded one case of cholera which also originated from a Chibolya resident in Lusaka.

Meanwhile, The District Health Office in Choma in Southern Province has identified Njase Clinic as a Cholera Centre in case of an outbreak of the disease.

This was disclosed by District Health director Callistus Kayunga.

Dr Kayunga was speaking during a cholera preparedness committee meeting in Choma held at Choma municipal council today.

The District Health office has since deployed health inspectors to inspect all public facilities to ensure they meet the required hygiene standards in a bid to prevent cholera.

Dr Kayunga has warned that any facility that will be found wanting will be closed down.

“We will inspect all facilities that maybe at risk, including Police cells. Those found wanting will be closed down.” He stressed.

Meanwhile Choma police service officer in charge Vincent Mwenda has appealed to the District Medical Office and other well-wishers to provide disinfectants for cells in order to protect suspects from cholera.

Mr. Mwenda added that the law enforcers are ready to partner with other security wings to ensure street vendors relocate to designated trading areas in order to prevent the disease.

On Thursday, the council made a public announcement to street vendors to vacate the streets.

“We are ready to team up with ZNS and the council during this exercise. We are however requesting for Chlorine so that we can disinfect our cells.” Mr Mwenda said.

On Friday morning, most vendors had vacated but were back on the streets by noon.

The Zambia National Service has so far provided equipment to be used in clearing garbage around the central business area of the district.

And the local authority has pledged to deploy council Police in various parts of the urban district for continued surveillance.

And -Chikankata District in Southern Province has headed President Edgar Lungu’s directive to ensure that all local authorities and the nation at large exercise maximum hygiene standards to prevent people from contracting the deadly Cholera disease.

And Chikankata District has started cleaning trading centers such as Turn Pike, Tamanaga and Kabanana Markets in a bid to prevent the outbreak of cholera.

ZANIS reports that District Head of Technicians Christopher Muwowo said the vigorous exercise of cleaning Markets started yesterday by making sure that all trading areas and markets are cleaned up using graders.

Mr Muwowo said the exercise will go on until all the trading places in Chikankata district are cleaned to the satisfaction of the local authority to prevent the outbreak of the deadly disease in then District.

He has also called on marketers at all markets to exercise maximum hygiene standards at the trading places especially in restaurants and other public places were business transactions are going on.

And speaking earlier, Wezi Kaziya an environmentalist praised President Lungu for banning street vending in the Capital City of Lusaka.

Mr Kaziya said the move by government to strictly enforce statutory instrument (SI) 78 will help greatly to contain the Cholera situation in the Capital city.

He said Cholera is a dangerous disease which if not properly handled, is able to kill a lot of people within a short period of time.

Hungry Lion has committed to work closely with Government to mitigate the cholera situation in Lusaka and avoid further infections.

Hungry Lion Country Manager Busu Mpepo says the aim of all businesses should be to assist the government to stop the momentum and spread of the outbreak.

Mr. Mpepo has confirmed that only 3 out of the 30 Hungry Lions in the country were temporarily shut-down for disinfection and sanitization but should be trading soon again.

He further says none of the other outlets have been affected, but as an extra precaution, Hungry Lion has sent all employees for food handlers tests and certification, even though they have previously been certified.

Mr. Mpepo says to avoid bacteria entering its outlets in Lusaka, employees are being equipped with hand sanitizers at the staff and customer entrances as well as informing both customers and employees on cholera prevention and treatment.

This is contained in a statement issued to ZNBC News in Lusaka.

Meanwhile, Vice President Inonge Wina has commended the team of Ministers spearheading the fight against Cholera for putting up good interventions to contain the disease.

Mrs. Wina said that a lot of lives would have been lost if it was not for President Edgar Lungu’s directive to defence forces to clean the city.

The Vice President was speaking when she inspected works at a temporary land where traders from Soweto’s BH market will be relocated soon.

And Mrs. Wina has warned Lusaka residents to take the Cholera outbreak with serious hygiene practices, saying that the epidemic should not be taken lightly because it has continued to claim lives following its outbreak in October last year.

Mrs. Wina has further assured Government’s commitment to address the current outbreak of the Cholera.

President Edgar Lungu has donated a Toyota Landcruiser and 93 bicycles to Sesheke district with support from cooperating partners to help in the fight against human trafficking and for social protection activities.

The vehicle and bicycles were handed over to the district committee against human trafficking and social welfare community based volunteers by Minister of Community Development and Social Services Emerine Kabanshi in Sesheke.

Mrs. Kabanshi says there has been an increase in the number of cases of human trafficking in Sesheke district of both Zambians and other nationalities with one thousand cases intercepted at Katima Mulilo Border post every year.

The minister who also launched the communication strategy on mixed migration says majority of the victims are children who are trafficked to neighbouring countries for labour, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.

Mrs. Kabanshi says government is putting up more intervention measures to curb the vice and mitigate some of the challenges communities are faced including reintegration of repatriated victims.

And the United Nations International Organisation for Migration -IOM- has praised Zambia for taking the lead in Southern Africa in fighting human trafficking.

IOM Chief of Mission in Zambia Marianne Lane says her organization will step up efforts to help Zambia provide shelter for rescued victims of human trafficking.

Meanwhile, Sesheke Member of Parliament Frank Kufwakwandi from the UPND has praised the government for its efforts to tackle human trafficking and other social challenges.

Police in Zambezi have revoked the permit for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) consultative meeting for fear of the spread of cholera.

According to the permit, the consultative meeting was scheduled to take place on Sunday in Zambezi.

North Western commissioner of police Auxensio Daka confirmed the development in a statement made available to the Daily Nation.

Mr Daka said as per regulation to avoid the spread of the pandemic, a permit has been revoked because the meeting will include people from other provinces affected.

“Yes, we have revoked the permit because the meeting would include people from outside the province. So, we cannot allow. Besides, it won’t be a small meeting of maybe five people but a big gathering, so we cannot take chances,” Mr Daka said.

He stated that the meeting will only to take off when the situation is under control.

Meanwhile, Patriotic Front provincial information and publicity secretary Dr Tom Mushinge has called for concerted efforts in the prevention of the occurrence of the pandemic.

Dr Mushinge said local authorities, health personnel and all stakeholders should take a leading role preventing the spread of the disease by cleaning market places, bus stations and other public places.

“We should not wait until we have an outbreak of the disease to act as the consequences might be severe and fatal to all of us,” he said.

He urge health authorities to put up measures of screening people entering the province as a way of preventing the spread of the Vibrio Cholera Virus from other towns.