International Trade Economist Trevor Simumba has proposed that Zambians should start boycotting South African goods every Friday in the wake of the xenophobic attacks.

Mr Simumba said staging rolling boycotts every Friday would send a strong signal to South African that Zambians would not tolerate xenophobia.

He said Zambians should deliberately abandon all South African goods as a way of forcing the South African authorities to clamp down on xenophobia.
Mr Simumba was speaking when he featured on Radio Christian Voice’s ChatBack radio programme on Monday.

‘I was supposed to attend an investment conference in South Africa this week and i was required to pay R3, 000 but i have since called because of the nonsense going on in that country. Why should i be giving away my money to these South Africans who are not even grateful for all the sacrifices we made for them?’

‘For me i have since decided not to fly South African Airways anymore, i have adopted Rwanda if i want to go into Jobourg,’ he said.

He added, ‘For me what is happening in South Africa is unacceptable and the whole of Africa must raise its voice and condemn xenophobia. It is symptomatic of a failure of leadership we see across Africa because generally Africa is suffering from myopic leadership.’

Mr Simumba dismissed the notion that Zambia cannot do without South African products saying the truth is that South Africa equally depends on Zambia for its trade.

‘Yes it is true that Zambia depends on South Africa for its imports, sea route and even air transport. Infact when you go to these chain stores, majority of consumables are products in South Africa but again South Africa depends on Zambia for its economy,’ he said.

Mr Simumba said Zambians should start consuming more locally produced goods as a way of waning themselves from the dependency on South Africa.

‘If you like shopping in Joburg, try going to Dubai or Nairobi, if you like Jam produced in South Africa, try Rivonia Jam made in Zambia, that way you will be promoting local products and helping to grow the economy,’ he said.

He also condemned the leaders of the SADC grouping of failing to implement protocols on free movement of the people in the region.

‘The biggest culprit has to be South Africa. These people are so arrogant, just from the airport, the immigration officials are so arrogant and they treat you with inferiority. How can a country that depends so much on travel and tourism behave like that towards foreigners?’

THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) says mobile voter registration will start on August 17 and end on October 16 this year in preparation for the 2016 tripartite elections.

ECZ public relations manager Cris Akufuna said preparations for the mobile voter registration are progressing well and the commission is ready to kick-start the exercise.

Mr Akufuna said in an interview yesterday that ECZ has started putting in place all logistics and assured that the exercise will be conducted in a free and conducive atmosphere.

“We are asking all those who have either lost or misplaced their voters’ cards to take advantage of this exercise so that they also take part in voting for the leaders of their choice in 2016.

“This exercise is important and will be conducted at designated voter registration centres and civic centres across the country,” he said.

Mr Akufuna appealed to citizens, who have reached the age of 18 and above, to register as voters when ECZ starts the voter registration exercise
Mr Akufuna said the process of registering voters is of supreme importance to the country and it is important for people to take the exercise seriously.

He also appealed to political parties to start sensitising their members on the importance of the exercise and to register so that they can participate in next year’s general elections.

Mr Akufuna said during the voter registration exercise, ECZ will register new voters, remove the deceased persons from the register and replace destroyed or lost voters’ cards.

He said the exercise will also involve transferring of voters on application from one polling station to the other.

PRESIDENT Lungu has sent messages of condolences to the families of two former deputy ministers, Celestino Chibamba and Enock Chikamba who died in Lusaka last week.

Special assistant to the President for press and public relations Amos Chanda said in a statement yesterday that President Lungu regrets the passing away of Major Chibamba who died on Friday at Lusaka’s Fairview Hospital after a heart attack.

Mr Chanda said Maj Chibamba’s death robs the country of one of the country’s pioneers of multiparty democracy.

The late former minister served as MMD Shiwang’andu member of Parliament from 1991 to 2001 and later under PF from 2006 to 2011.

Maj Chibamba also served as deputy minister in the ministries of Defence, Works and Supply, and Energy and Water Development.

He also said that the late Mr Chikamba served in the MMD administration as minister and diplomat.

“The President said the nation will greatly miss the two leaders for their invaluable contributions they made to the development of the country,” he said.

And President Lungu has mourned the death of Alice Njovu, wife of UPND vice-president political affairs Canisius Banda.

Mrs Banda died of heart attack at the University Teaching Hospital on Saturday.

President Lungu has since encouraged the bereaved families to put their faith in God because only His will is certain and not people’s plans.

“We are all on this earth as passengers towards this destination of death. When and how it comes is matter of God’s timing and only he holds our fate. We must, therefore, take comfort that he alone is the ultimate comforter,” President Lungu said.

LUSAKA businessman Brebner Changala has said that it is a lie for the Post Newspaper to say that he was used to frame charges against the Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito.

Mr Changala said this in a statement released.

According to the post Newspaper, Mr Changala in an interview revealed that his name was being used falsely and that he told the Acting Attorney General Abraham Mwansa to drop the charge that Mutembo planted drugs on him because it was a lie.

He said he would be happy if the tribunal would clear the suspended DPP so that he goes back to his job because he was a fighter of corruption.

“The issue of DPP Mutembo Nchito planting drugs on Brebner Changala came as a surprise to me and to many because I am not the complainant,” Changala said according to the post Newspaper.

The paper went on to say that Mr Changala said that he was shocked to hear that there were witnesses who were willing to testify in his favour. “Although it has never been written elsewhere, anywhere behind the scenes, I fought very hard that if I am not shown the witnesses, I will not cooperate and that charge has to be dropped,” Changala said.

Below is the full statement released and signed by Mr Changala

Government has reassured the public that the welfare of Zambian nationals living in, and travelling to South Africa remains top priority during this period.

Addressing the Press at State House today, Acting Chief government Spokesperson Vincent Mwale told journalists that the Zambian Mission in Pretoria has continued to closely monitor the situation in that country.

Mr. Mwale who is also Youth and Sport Minister said to date no Zambian national living in South Africa has been reported to have been a victim of the unfortunate attacks.

He assured the public that government, will continue to maintain high vigil on the state of affairs in South Africa which he says is a matter of great concern to all members of the SADC region, and the continent as a whole.

Mr. Mwale said President Lungu has continued to consult Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in his capacity as Chairperson of both SADC and AU as well as the leadership of South Africa.

He said Zambia is confident that the intervention under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma will soon bring the attacks to an end.

Mr. Mwale said all Zambians living in South Africa have been reminded to exercise caution in their daily activities and to continue to avoid those areas that are affected by xenophobic attacks.

ATTEMPTS by embattled Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mutembo Nchito to scandalize and boycott the Annel Silungwe will not help him escape from being investigated for his alleged abuse of authority of office and incompetence, National Restoration Party (NAREP) president Elias Chipimo has said.

Mr Chipimo said President Lungu constituted the tribunal to investigate alleged professional misconduct by Mr Nchito and that it would be a course of irresponsibility on the part of the suspended DPP if he chose the path of boycotting its proceedings because the hearing would continue even in his absence.

Mr Chipimo said it was not for Mr Nchito to demand the resignation of some of the members of the tribunal on account of not liking them or unfounded fears of partiality because the tribunal members had been sworn in and had already commenced executing their mandate.

He told the Daily Nation that Mr Nchito would be sending the wrong message as an officer of the court by walking out of the tribunal because of unfounded fears of biasness by some members of the tribunal he had had brushes with.

He said Mr Nchito had the right to go court if he did not like the composition of the tribunal instead of embarking on a course of scandalizing individual members of the tribunal with the aim of frustrating its proceedings so that it could fail to execute its mandate.

Mr Chipimo said boycotting the tribunal would not halt its proceedings and that the tribunal would receive evidence from the witnesses and make recommendations to the appointing authority.

“Mutembo Nchito has been given the opportunity to be heard and scandalizing and boycotting the tribunal proceedings will not help him exonerate himself from the many allegations he is facing. As an officer of the court, he will be sending the wrong message and the tribunal will continue with its proceedings if he chooses not to be heard. It will be an irresponsible course of action for Mr Nchito to walk out of the tribunal. The tribunal must be allowed to fully execute its mandate and if Mr Nchito will not be happy with the outcome, he reserves the right to challenge the recommendations in the courts of law,” Mr Chipimo said.

Mr Chipimo said suggestions that the tribunal should be suspended so that Mr Nchito should be dragged to court and only be brought after he has been tried and convicted by the court were legally not attainable because the DPP was still enjoying his immunity from prosecution on decisions he had made.

He said no one can take the DPP to court to challenge him on decisions had been making in his course of duties and that the tribunal was the only course of removing him from office.

He explained that at the stage the tribunal had reached, its members would not be allowed to resign unless there was an extremely good and compelling reason; the proceedings would have to continue to its logical conclusion.

And some opposition parties have demanded that if Nchito remained bigheaded and obstinate the President should postpone the Tribunal and invoke Article 57 of the constitution that will allow the acting DPP to prefer criminal charges of abuse of authority as provided for under Article 139 (10) of the constitution.

“In court charges will be very clear and the process will be in the open as required by Nchito himself. At the end of the trial the tribunal will have an even easier task since all the evidence would have been heard.” Zambia Direct Democracy Movement official Mary Mvula has said.

“We cannot have one man hold the whole country to ransom because of ill conceived ideas, when the law is very clear.” She said.

And former transport and communications deputy minister Alfred Ndhlovu has said Mr Nchito would be arrested and prosecuted for criminal attempt to walk out of the tribunal proceedings in protest against former Chief Justices Mathew Ngulube and Ernest Sakala who are the members of the tribunal.

Mr Ndhlovu said Mr Nchito should know that the only person with immunity from prosecution was the President and that if the DPP was going to exhibit insolence and boycott the tribunal, he would easily be arrested and prosecuted.

He said the Annel Silungwe Tribunal was the best because it was being chaired by the country’s first black Zambian Chief Justice taking over from James John Skinner after independence.

Mr Ndhlovu said the Annel Silungwe Tribunal was the finest with members who succeeded each other as the country’s Chief Justices and it was unacceptable for Mr Nchito to discredit and scandalize the inquiry.

“Justices Silungwe, Ngulube and Sakala are the brains and we cannot have a burdened man like Mr Nchito cast aspersions on them.

And let him know that if he is going to attempt to walk away from the tribunal, he will have to be arrested and prosecuted.

He must know that the only person in the land enjoying immunity from prosecution is the President and Mr Nchito who had been the advocate of stripping former presidents of their immunity is not going to ecape jail,” Mr Ndhlovu said.

CIVIL servants behind leaking of classified documents should be punished because it is criminal for anyone to give away classified Government letters to unauthorized people, former Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) president Joyce Nonde Simukoko has charged.

She said civil servants in the habit of leaking classified Government documents should stop the dangerous trend which undermines the security of the nation

Mrs. Nonde Simukoko was commenting on the leaked letter the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director General Roswin Wandi wrote to President Edgar Lungu over corruption allegations leveled against his political advisor Kaizer Zulu.

She said it was criminal to leak Government documents and people behind such subversive acts should be probed and brought to book.

Mrs. Nonde Simukoko said Zambians were no longer safe looking at how the institutions entrusted with the security of the country were in the forefront of destroying the system by leaking letters and Government documents to outsiders.

“What is happening is frightening because it undermines the office of the President and that of the security system of the country. People should not think that such leakages are aimed at fixing President Lungu. They are aimed at destroying the country because the people will not have confidence in the system, they will not trust the ACC, the police and other security institutions in the country,” she said.

Mrs. Nonde Simukoko said there was need to tighten the loop holes, adding that Government should institute investigations and bring to book people behind the scheme.

She said the route the country has taken was dangerous as it undresses the country to foreign elements.

“Some people do it for money, they sell the information and that is why I am saying there is need for Government to critically scrutinize these people before appointing them to certain offices. If this trend is not arrested it will cause problems for this country. It is a bad habit which all well-meaning Zambians should not support,” said Mrs. Nonde Simukoko.

She said it was criminal for anyone to be found with classified or confidential documents which included letters, adding that it was high time the people of Zambia respected the office of the President and the individual holding the office.

Mrs. Nonde Simukoko said the people of Zambia were uncomfortable under the current leadership in the security wing who have shown signs of weakness in the manner they were handling issues of leaked documents.