Over twenty Members of Parliament today visited the Kariba Dam to have a first hand sense of the load shedding problem that has engulfed the country.

Siavonga District Commissioner Lovemore Kanyama has told QFM News via telephone that the MPs were from the PF, MMD and UPND.

Mr. Kanyama says the MPs were accompanied by some officials from ZESCO and Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) and Energy and Water Development Minister Christopher Yaluma.

Mr. Kanyama is hopeful that the MPs will help government and other stakeholders in educating the people about what is causing load shedding in the country.

He says now that the MPs have seen for themselves the low water levels in the Kariba Dam, it will be easier for them to communicate the messages to their people.

The Siavonga District Commissioner has since urged opposition political leaders and other concerned stakeholders to visit the power generation sites so that they too get to sense of the load shedding problem.

In what has been one of the longest running business disputes in Zambia, the family of Antonio Ventriglia secured an important legal victory this week against the former Chairman of Finance Bank Rajan Mahtani, whom they accuse of illegally attempting to steal a majority shareholding in Zambezi Portland Cement Ltd.

Judge Justine Chashi of the High Court of Ndola has ruled to dismiss a request for an injunction from Mahtani seeking to restrain the Ventriglias from acting as shareholders of Zambezi Portland Cement. After reviewing the evidence, Judge Chashi ruled that Mahtani was unable to demonstrate any basis for such an injunction, and further took Mahtani’s lawyers to task after they filed arguments claiming that the court had not reviewed the entirety of the evidence, remarking that this conduct was “demeaning to the authority of the court and interference in the administration of justice, hence the need for the plaintiff (Mr. Mahtani) to be restrained.”

This ruling follows earlier legal victories, including a ruling this past May from Judge William Mweemba of the Lusaka High Court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Mahtani in view of the facts that the Ventriglias are the true owners of Zambezi Portland Cement.

Management for Zambezi Portland Cement said that the ruling was a positive step forward:

“We welcome the court’s ruling on this matter, and we hope that the broader business community can continue to benefit from a return to rule of law and judicial independence in Zambia. Mahtani has acted in a clear criminal fashion with regard to our company, using his influence with the state to steal from successful businesses. For many years, the true owners of Zambezi Portland Cement have suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from the corporate raid and theft by the once-powerful Mr. Mahtani, and we are hoping to put those days behind us,” according to a statement issued by Zambezi Portland Cement management.

The dispute over the ownership of Zambezi Portland Cement also dovetails with a recent criminal case against Mr. Mahtani. On June 2, he was placed under arrest by the Zambian Police on two counts of forgery relating to the alleged falsification of share transfer certificates of shares in the company.

“To date, Mr. Mahtani has failed to produce the original signed copies of the share transfer certificates. He has failed to produce them, because they do not exist, because he never paid for the shares. As such, the fact is that the ownership of the company firmly remains with the Antonio Ventriglia and Manuela Sebastiani,” according to the statement from management.

Mr. Mahtani was also previously found with a case to answer and put on his defence for forging the signature of the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Zambia in 2011, but the prosecution was dimissed under controversial circumstances after the government of President Michael Sata was elected. The suspended Director of Public Prosecutions, Mutembo Nchito, is currently facing investigation by an anti-corruption tribunal for alleging receiving a bribe in the form of debt forgiveness of $4.2 million from Mr. Mahtani in exchange for dismissing the case.

Zambezi Portland Cement Ltd. remains in full operation following the resumption of control by the true owners on April 7, producing high quality cement products at competitive prices from its plant in Ndola, Zambia. The company welcomes questions from media and citizens at [email protected].

THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved US$243 million loan for the rehabilitation of the Chinsali-Nakonde Road.

AfDB officer in charge for Zambia Philip Boahen said his bank will provide US$193 million and a US$50 million loan from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF).

This will support the rehabilitation of the Chinsali –Nakonde Road.

“The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a US$193 million loan and a US$ 50-million loan from AGTF, to support the rehabilitation of the Chinsali-Nakonde road, a section of the North-South Corridor in Zambia, connecting Tanzania,” Mr Boahen said.

The project aims to improve road transport infrastructure and services as well as reduce transport costs between northern Zambia and southern Tanzania.

Mr Boahen said this in Lusaka yesterday.

He said it was also expected to provide efficient, cost-effective and fully integrated transport infrastructure and operations that addresses the needs of users and promotes socio-economic development.

“This will comprise the reconstruction of the 210 kilometre road between Chinsali and Nakonde. The bank will also provide institutional support and capacity building and resettlement and compensation,” he explained.

Mr Boahen said the civil works component also covers social infrastructure that includes the rehabilitation of 50 kilometers of feeder roads, construction of truck stops/ rest station at three locations to improve road safety and stimulate local trading opportunities.

The project also includes sensitization on HIV/AIDS and environmental protection, as well as road safety; training opportunities for youth and women in road maintenance; and technical assistance to support specific aspects in the road sub-sector in Zambia, such as the operationalisation of the road maintenance strategy.

The Chinsali-Nakonde road is a strategic national and regional road link that forms a section of both the North-South Corridor, which traverses eight countries and the Trans-Africa Highway (Cape to Cairo).

The road section connects northern Zambia to Tanzania, and provides connectivity and access to the sea for landlocked Zambia. It links the port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to the Copper-belt in Southern Democratic Republic of Congo and Northern Zambia.

It also connects the Copperbelt to the southern ports of South Africa.

The present degraded condition of the road, which was constructed in the 1970s, is an impediment to national and regional mobility.

Mr Boahen said the rehabilitation of the road was aligned with the Government’s 2014-2016 mid-term expenditure framework and the 2013-2016 revised Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP), as well as the 2030 national long term vision.

He said it was also consistent with the first pillar of the economic diversification through infrastructure development of the revised country strategy paper as well as the objectives of the bank’s 2013-2022 Strategy.

With a total cost estimated at US$255.76 million, the AfDB and AGTF loans represent 75.5 per cent and 19.5 per cent of the costs, respectively.

Mr Boahen said the Zambian Government was expected to provide the remaining five per cent which translate into US$12.76 million in the form of counterpart funding.

LCCI president Miles Daka said he was saddened with the riots and disruption of business saying their concerns could only be resolved through dialogue to reach an amicable consensus and not stone throwing.

In a press statement released in Livingstone yesterday, Mr Daka said the increase in fuel pump prince and adjustment in road taxi rate was not new to the business community but rioting was alien and medieval way of handling policy matters.

“Active engagement with the Government is key in ironing such challenges. Government should equally use this situation as a barometer of measurement against the background of not involving key stakeholders in formulating certain policies.

“The riots and broking of roads lead to disruption of business and ultimate losses coupled with losses arising from load shedding,” he said.
Mr Daka said Livingstone, which was Zambia’s tourist city, was a very sensitive arena to have riots and protests.

“This will scare away potential and worthy tourists. Regular and perpetual tourists normally have a phobia against seeing riots as in most cases are targeted by terror groups in other countries.

Police should arrest and prosecute people involved in these to the full extent of the law while the Government should also increase funding for the police in certain areas like Livingstone to have special intelligence monitoring and curling such acts on time by the police,” Mr Daka said. .

He appealed to the aggrieved parties to seek alternative avenues of addressing the matters before them.

On Wednesday, the Police in Livingstone rounded up 54 taxi drivers and other vendors who were protesting over increased fuel prices and other statutory fees.

Taxi drivers were protesting over increased fuel prices, other hiked fees charged by the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) as well as increased cases of them being impounded by traffic police officers

“We have arrested 54 people and they are all in custody. As of now (14:00 hours), the screening process has not yet started.

“Some people will be released after the screening process. The police were just picking anyone found among protesting taxi drivers in the Central Business District of Livingstone,” Southern Province Commissioner Mary Chikwanda said through her deputy Bonnie Kapeso.

Some newspaper vendors selling newspapers were also rounded up and taken into police custody

Several banks, shops and other business houses operating in the Central Business District of Livingstone, including Spar, were closed and workers abandoned the town centre as protesting taxi drivers scampered in all directions after the police started unleashing teargases.

Taxi drivers, who resolved not to carry passengers yesterday, closed the main Musi-oa-tunya Road leading to Victoria Falls with stones as well as drums and logs while burning tyres, thereby prompting the police to use teargases to disperse them.