THE High Commission of Zambia in South Africa has expressed concern over reports that some Zambians living in South Africa were on asylum seeker permits.

Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, His Excellency Mr. Emmanuel Mwamba has said that it was inconceivable that there could be any Zambian living outside the country on account of not being safe in Zambia.

Mr. Mwamba pointed out that permits for asylum seekers were granted to people from countries that were at war or were facing various forms of instability that did not make it conducive for human habitation.

“Zambia has never been at war with itself or with another country. Zambia has been a peaceful country from the time we gained independence. Even the times we needed to change leadership, we have done so without significant physical conflict to scare away anyone. In fact it is Zambia that has been receiving refugees all these years because the country has been found to be one of the most peaceful countries in the world,” Mr. Mwamba said.

“It is therefore strange to hear of Zambians living in South Africa on permits that are meant for asylum seekers. I wonder what reasons they give to authorities when they go to apply for these permits.”
The High Commissioner said Zambians should be proud of their country and be wary of what they did or how they conducted themselves so that they did not portray a negative image of the country.

Mr. Mwamba was commenting in the wake of reports that foreign nationals, including Zambians, living in South Africa on asylum seeker permits were being arrested by authorities when they went to renew their documents.
He said the High Commission planned to start negotiations with South Africa for a special permit status for Zambians owing to historical relations between the two countries.

And African Diaspora Forum (ADF) project coordinator, Nkanyezi Ndlovu confirmed that foreign nationals from various countries were being arrested each time they went to the South African Home Affairs offices to renew their documents.

Mr. Ndlovu said the arrests intensified in the last three weeks when ADF would receive reports of as many as 200 nationals being arrested in a period of three days.

He said renewal of documents went on smoothly before this and that the only problem had been the short extensions that they used to get.

“These arrests seem to have intensified over the last three weeks. We are receiving over 200 reports of arrests in two to three days through our hotline. There are also a lot of other cases that we learn about through other avenues. So there are a lot more of our people that have been arrested while others have already been deported,” Mr. Ndlovu said.

A man in Chililabombwe on the Copperbelt has hacked his 48-year-old wife to death with an axe.

Police said the man axed his wife several times on the neck, almost beheading her.

Copperbelt Province commissioner of police Charity Katanga named the victim as Peggy Zugi of Chimfunshi and the suspect as Elias Mwansa, 47.

Mrs Katanga said the murder happened on February 17, 2017 between 08:00 hours and 09:00 hours during a quarrel between the two.

“We have an incident in Chililabombwe, where a woman has been axed to death by her husband. The husband axed her several times on the neck and her head is almost disjoined from the rest of the body,” Mrs Katanga said.

She said Mwansa and his wife had been quarrelling over the suspect’s conduct, whom she accused of trying to rape his daughter on several occasions.

Mrs Katanga said the quarrel erupted when Ms Zugi wanted to leave her husband, which resulted in her brutal death.

She said Mwansa is on the run and that police have launched a manhunt for him.

Meanwhile, police yesterday impounded a truck carrying 600 bags of mealie-meal on the Ndola-Mufulira road.

Mrs Katanga said a police mobile unit intercepted the truck on Friday around 17:00 hours between Mwekela and Pina.

She said it is suspected that the mealie-meal was destined for the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

MINISTER of Higher Education Nkandu Luo has dissolved the boards of directors at the newly created Mukuba, Kwame Nkrumah and Chalimbana universities.

The Copperbelt University (CBU) will now manage the affairs of Mukuba University in Kitwe; Chalimbana University in Lusaka will be under the management of the University of Zambia (UNZA), while Mulungushi University will oversee the activities at Kwame Nkrumah University in Kabwe.

Professor Luo said the boards in the newly created universities have been dissolved to allow people with wider experience to manage them as they grow into fully fledged higher learning institutions.

“The way we grow universities is for them to be managed by the existing old universities which have wider experience. This is the reason why we have dissolved the boards in our new universities and placed them under the existing ones for them to grow fast,” she said.

Prof Luo said this in Kitwe yesterday when she paid a courtesy call on Kitwe mayor Christopher Kangómbe and Kitwe district commissioner Binwell Mpundu at Kitwe City Council.

She said the boards in the three public universities will oversee the development of the three newly created universities, where government is building massive infrastructure.

Prof Luo also said Government will soon appoint a new board for Mulungushi University, which was recently dissolved because it had served two terms.

Prof Luo also said Government is in the process of creating a database to capture all the students that have benefited from its bursary schemes before launching the student loan scheme.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Felix Mutati has dissolved the board of directors for the Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS).

Mr Mutati has also dissolved the National Savings and Credit Bank Natsave board.

Both boards were dissolved with effect from end of business on Friday February 17, 2017.
This is contained in a statement released by Ministry of Finance public relations officer Chileshe Kandeta yesterday.

Mr Kandeta said Mr Mutati thanked the former members of both boards for their diligence, stewardship, skills and hard work during the period of service.

Natsave and ZNBS are both statutory institutions under the Ministry of Finance.

Mr Kandeta said Mr Mutati would soon announce the composition of the new boards.

ZAMBIAN judge Lombe Chibesakunda and her bench have started hearing a case involving the government of Malawi and a telecommunication company, Malawi Mobile Limited (MML), at the COMESA Court of Justice (CCJ) in Khartoum, Sudan.

According to a statement, the matter before the Appellate Division of the CCJ is an appeal filed by the government of Malawi challenging a ruling made in 2015 by the Court of First Instance stating that the regional court has jurisdiction to hear the case.

In 2005, MML sued the Malawian government and its agency the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) for revoking its licence on the grounds that the company had failed to fulfil its obligations under an agreement entered between the parties in 2002.

Under the said agreement, the MML was required to roll out public mobile radio telephone services in the country for a period of 15 years.

The case was heard in the Commercial division of the High Court of Malawi. In its judgment, the High Court ruled in favour of MML in respect of loss of profit amounting to K653.7 million (US$66,850.000) plus costs of the suit. However, the government and MACRA successfully appealed in the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal which set aside the judgment of the High Court. This led the MML to seek redress in the CCJ.

Under Article 26 of the COMESA Treaty, the CCJ has jurisdiction to hear a reference from a legal or natural person resident in a Member State concerning the legality of any act, regulation, directive or decision of the COMESA Council or of a Member State on the grounds of unlawfulness or infringement of Treaty provisions.

Such reference can only be made where local remedies in the national courts or tribunals have been exhausted.

After the CCJ admitted the Reference of the case, the government filed an application seeking the dismissal of the said Reference on the grounds that the regional court does not have jurisdiction to entertain it.

The government maintained that the alleged act, the subject of the Reference, did not fall within Article 26 of the COMESA Treaty.

The Appellate Bench comprises Lady Justice Chibesakunda (Zambia) who is also the Judge President, Justice Abdalla Elamin Elbashir (Sudan), Justice Michael Mtambo (Malawi), Justice David Chan Kan Cheong (Mauritius) and Justice Wael Rady (Egypt).

HIGH COMMISSION CONCERNED ABOUT ZAMBIANS LIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA ON ASYLUM PERMITS

The  High Commission of Zambia in South Africa has expressed concern over reports that some Zambians living in South Africa were on asylum seeker permits.

In a press statement to Lusaka Times,  by the Press Secretary Nicky Shabolyo ,  Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa Mr. Emmanuel Mwamba has said that it was inconceivable that there could be any Zambian living outside the country on account of not being safe in Zambia.

Mr. Mwamba pointed out that permits for asylum seekers were granted to people from countries that were at war or were facing various forms of instability that did not make it conducive for human habitation.

“Zambia has never been at war with itself or with another country. Zambia has been a peaceful country from the time we gained independence. Even the times we needed to change leadership, we have done so without significant physical conflict to scare away anyone. In fact it is Zambia that has been receiving refugees all these years because the country has been found to be one of the most peaceful countries in the world,” Mr. Mwamba said.

“It is therefore strange to hear of Zambians living in South Africa on permits that are meant for asylum seekers. I wonder what reasons they give to authorities when they go to apply for these permits.”

The High Commissioner said Zambians should be proud of their country and be wary of what they did or how they conducted themselves so that they did not portray a negative image of the country.

Mr. Mwamba was commenting in the wake of reports that foreign nationals, including Zambians, living in South Africa on asylum seeker permits were being arrested by authorities when they went to renew their documents.

He said the High Commission planned to start negotiations with South Africa for a special permit status for Zambians owing to historical relations between the two countries.

And African Diaspora Forum (ADF) project coordinator, Nkanyezi Ndlovu confirmed that foreign nationals from various countries were being arrested each time they went to the South African Home Affairs offices to renew their documents.

Mr. Ndlovu said the arrests intensified in the last three weeks when ADF would receive reports of as many as 200 nationals being arrested in a period of three days.

He said renewal of documents went on smoothly before this and that the only problem had been the short extensions that they used to get.

 

“These arrests seem to have intensified over the last three weeks. We are receiving over 200 reports of arrests in two to three days through our hotline. There are also a lot of other cases that we learn about through other avenues. So there are a lot more of our people that have been arrested while others have already been deported,” Mr. Ndlovu said.

Paramount Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni speaking People in Chipata district in
Eastern Province has declared this weekend’s Nc’wala Traditional Ceremony
to take place at Mtenguleni main arena that it will go on.
And President Edgar Lungu is  expected grace the Nc’wala ceremony
under the theme ‘Unity and Tolerance’.

The Paramount Chief said at the last preparatory meeting held at
Laweni in Chipata that although he was involved in a road
accident he was physically fit to preside over the ceremony.

“I am now okay and Nc’wala ceremony is going on as planned and nothing
will stop it,” he said.

The Chief said he was happy that President Lungu was coming to grace
the annual traditional ceremony.

He said the Head of State was also coming to declare Chipata as a city
before reaching the climax of the ceremony.

“I will shift from Ephendukeni palace to here (Laweni) and on Friday
will be witnessing the event in which Chipata will become a city. I
have been crying that Chipata should become a city and now the
administration of President Lungu is going to respond on Friday and
what can stop Feni to become a district,” he said.
Apart from President Lungu, others whom the Ngoni chief has invited
include all chiefs from Eastern Province and other parts of the
country.
The paramount chief further commended the government for various
developmental projects it was taking in various parts of the province.
He said the current administration was working for Zambians through different developmental projects.
Chief Mpezeni said there was need for the people to thank President
Lungu because of what he was doing to uplift the living standards of
the people.
Speaking at the same meeting, Chipata District Commissioner Kalunga
Zulu said the government was grateful that the Ngoni people have
continued to preserve their cultural heritage through Nc’wala
Ceremony.

Former Informational and Broadcasting Services Minister Chishimba Kambwili has denied ever having ambitions to stand in 2021 as the PF presidential candidate.

Dr. Kambwili says it is total confusion for him to start talking about contesting the 2021 presidential elections barely a few months in the ruling PF’s five years mandate.

In an interview with QTV News Dr. Kambwili states that as things are he still belongs to the ruling PF which he notes has a mandate to govern Zambia from the year 2016 to 2021.

Dr. Kambwili says he will therefore be unreasonable to start thinking of the future as to whether he can stand or not in 2021 when his future now is being a Member of Parliament.

He has admitted that he is enjoying his position as a back bencher Roan PF MP, a position he claims is much better than being a Minister.

Dr. Kambwili notes that from his experience he has actually come to the realization that being a Minister is one of the most temporal jobs in the world which one can never expect to keep for a life time.

He says as MP however, he knows that no one will remove him from representing the people Roan Constituency.

Parliament is scheduled to resume sittings this week on Tuesday for a session that will last an estimated five weeks.

Government chief whip Richard Musukwa has told ZNBC news that during the session, government is expected to push forward over ten bills in the House among them the Constituency Development Fund -CDF- bill.

And Mr. Musukwa says President Edgar Lungu is next month planned to address the House on various national issues.

He says the Head of State will among other things highlight the trajectory of the set development plans by the PF government.

Mr Musukwa has announced that Parliament has also extended the Vice President’s question time from 30 to 45 minutes to accord enough time for members of Parliament.

He said MPs will also be allowed to use the their tablets and access internet for quality debates and as part of modernisation.

State House says there is no need for Cabinet to approve any Bill on Access to Information which is being requested to be part of Zambia’s laws.

The President’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda has wondered how many times does Cabinet have to approve the same legislation.

Mt. Chanda has reminded the opposition political parties and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that Cabinet approved the legislation on Access to Information as provided for in the Bill of Rights.

In an interview with QTV News Mr. Chanda states that had the Bill of Rights therefore adopted through a referendum last year Access to Information would have been part of Zambia’s Constitution.

Mr. Chanda does not understand why the opposition and CSOs are now advocating for the Access to information Bill when they defeated its adoption through last year’s national referendum.

He is challenging them to tell the nation why they want President Edgar Lungu to push for the enactment of a legislation that requires a referendum.

Mr. Chanda says the opposition and CSOs should understand and come to terms that the Republican President cannot change the Constitution arbitrary.