The Zambian Kwacha has broken new ground after it was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Friday as one of the three African currencies in which investors, as well as importers and exporters will now be able to protect themselves against currency fluctuations in the three countries.
The listing of the Kwacha, together with the Kenyan Shilling and the Nigerian Naira, was launched at a ceremony held at the JSE in Johannesburg.

The JSE officially started trading in the three currencies at 09.00 am immediately after representatives from the three countries took part in celebrating the trade opening bell.

This development means that market participants wherever they may be around the world are guaranteed a future price for a specific commodity.

Zambia’s Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa, Joe Kaunda who represented Zambia at trade opening bell occasion, has described the launch as a momentous occasion especially that it was happening barely three weeks before Zambia celebrates her Independence Golden Jubilee.

Mr. Kaunda says the development is a milestone and confirmed the confidence that the international markets had in Zambia’s economy and its leadership.

And JSE General Manager for Capital Markets, Warren Geers says the day has marked a ground-breaking initiative in that the JSE had finally managed to launch the African currency listing after having worked on the idea for two years.

Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Brian Tembo, who was also in attendance, hailed JSE for the initiative and disclosed that LuSE that LuSE Is working on introducing such measures through collaboration with the South African stock exchange.

Meanwhile Barclays Bank vice-president for Sub-Saharan African Trading, Lourens Harmse notes that the economic growth rates for Zambia, Kenya and Nigeria were among the highest in the world and signs were that the trend would continue for years to come as investment into Africa continued.

Head for Tradition Futures, Mr. Andrew Gillespie said it was a ground-breaking development to have a transparent, independent and well-regulated platform from which to mitigate or assume foreign exchange risk in the three African countries.

The JSE had partnered with Barclays Africa and specialist brokers, Tradition Futures, in working on this initiative.

This is contained in statement released to Qfm News Press Secretary at the Zambia mission in South Africa Nicky Shabolyo.

Forum for Democracy and Development FDD president Edith Nawakwi has described as unfortunate the extreme position taken by Sports Minister on the issue of student sponsorship.

Speaking interview Ms. Nawakwi noted that the issue of education is an emergency and should be treated with the agency it deserves and that it was unfortunate for people in government like Mr. Kambwili to be saying that it is not government’s job to educate children in the country.

Ms. Nawakwi wondered who should educate the children if government did not do so as there is no one else who will educate the children apart from the government itself.

She further condemned the ill timing of Mr. Kambwili’s statement which she noted that does not give confidence to the young people in the country especially those striving to improve their lives through acquiring a good education.

“It is very unfortunate that we should have some of our colleagues in government like Mr. Kambwili taking an extreme position and if u recall the demise of Musanka Mukwamba and the timing of Mr Kambwili’s statement its exactly the same time.

“There is no one else who is responsible for educating our children apart from the government, yes there are parents who are able to pay for children and they should be identified and asked to foot the bill.”

Ms. Nawakwi accused the bursaries committee of being corrupt saying we have all been faced with corruption of bursaries committee when a child with 11 points is left out while someone with 27 points is give a bursary.

And the opposition leader says people accusing government of corruption are justified in their accusations as government has continued pumping money in building roads as opposed to the social sectors of country because there is no way of siphoning back the money to private pockets.

“This why we are saying this government is corrupt because there is money for roads and I have been reflecting on why we have so much money for roads.

I believe that if you provide scholarships there is no way of siphoning money back to private pockets but if you give contracts to the Chinese the Minister has already said that the Chinese are busy tempting every Minister with parcels with cash and you can’t do that with bursaries committee you may corrupt some with a small amount and you may be given a bursary but the bulk of the money is going into road construction and building of sky scrapers in the middle of nowhere because this an open tap for ministers siphon money through contracts,” Ms. Nawakwi said.

She added: “this not even an allegation Minister Chikwanda has clearly laid everything bear that his ministers are as corrupt as dirty and I think this should stop. I don’t why they are treating people like this, people are hungry, there is no education, no health and transport is expensive this is really hopeless and I feel so saddened with the demise of my daughter here.”

Ms. Nawakwi was among the scores of mourners who attended the burial of Musanka Mukwamba a first year student at the University of Zambia who committed suicide after she was denied a bursary by the bursaries committee.

Mukwamba is said to have taken poison stunning the university community. The issue of bursaries has taken centre stage after only 2, 600 of the 6, 000 admitted in the first year for the 2014/15 academic year were awarded the privilege.

LOCAL Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ) president Mulenga Sata has urged councils across Zambia to promote a clean and green environment to enable the local authorities become attractive.

Mr Sata said there was need for councils to plant more trees and use solid waste to generate sustainable energy for street lightening and other projects.

He was speaking in Livingstone yesterday in an interview at Chrismar Hotel at the closing of the 58th LGAZ annual conference and 11th Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL).

The five-day conference was held under the theme “50 years of Local Government, Treasuring the past, reflecting the present, shaping the future.”

“We need to plant more trees. For instance, the land is almost bare and brown if you fly over Lusaka. We also need to use solid waste to generate power as well as keep our cities clean and embrace sustainable energy whether energy saving bulbs or solar energy,” Mr Sata said.

[pullquote]We need to plant more trees. For instance, the land is almost bare and brown if you fly over Lusaka.[/pullquote]

Mr Sata, who was chairing the LGAZ conference for the first time since he was elected as president, said there was need for councils to move away from total dependence on ZESCO power saying there was a lot of room for sustainable energy in the country.

The Lusaka City Council Mayor said the lifespan of solar batteries was much longer while the cost was also low.

Mr Sata also said councils were currently repositioning themselves for the implementation of the decentralisation policy as more responsibilities that would come along.

“As councils, we can do much better in terms of enhancing service delivery than what we are doing now.

In Kafue, they collected revenue from the quarry which is a challenge in other councils. Markets are on paper but the revenue doesn’t tally.

Meanwhile, Mr Sata has called for the localisation of the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) operations.

“It will be important to localise the operations of LGSC so that councils that have human resource capacity can take charge of own recruitment.

For Lusaka City Council, anything from a cashier upwards is employed by LGSC and we have over 2, 000 workers and this becomes a challenge for the Commission to manage these workers,” Mr Sata said.

He said LGAZ did not want an adversarial relationship with LGSC but wanted a collaborative relationship with the Commission and the Ministry of Local Government and Housing.

Mr Sata said there was an urgent need to fight corruption and other mal-practices in councils across the country.

“As councils, we have not represented ourselves very well and we are trying to tighten our loopholes.

In Copperbelt Province, a councillor was suspended for engaging in illegal land dealings and we want this discipline to continue,” Mr Sata said.

VICE-PRESIDENT Guy Scott has maintained that mealie meal prices will go down as soon as the maize purchasing exercise is completed.

Responding to a question by Nalikwanda MMD MP Geoffrey Lungwangwa in Parliament, Dr Scott said mealie meal prices in Zambia were not as high as they were being portrayed by some opposition members of Parliament.

Professor Lungwangwa had sought to find out what the Government was doing about mealie meal prices that had gone up as high as K90 in some parts of the country.

But Dr Scott said the Government did a survey with the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections (JCTR) and established that mealie meal prices in most parts of Zambia were below K70.

The Vice-President urged MPs to ensure factual information was brought to the House at all times. This was during the Vice-President’s question and answer session.

Dr Scott also informed the House that seven heads of State and Government were scheduled to attend this years’ Golden Jubilee celebrations in Zambia.

He was responding to a question from PF Bwacha MP Sydney Mushanga who wanted to know which dignitaries would attend the Golden Jubilee celebrations this month.

On the Constitution, Dr Scott told the House that Justice Minister Edgar Lungu had continued to dialogue with stakeholders on the way forward over the Constitution.

Kabwata PF MP Given Lubinda sought to know what was holding back the cleaning up of Lusaka city despite the issue having been resolved more than three years ago.

Dr Scott said it was sad that there were some people in some parts of Government who were not performing their duties and instead were used to a culture of attending ‘workshops’.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Mkhondo Lungu has asked Foreign Affairs
Minister Harry Kalaba to give a ministerial statement on what transpired at the United Nations General Assembly to the House by Wednesday next week.

This followed a point of order raised by Chadiza MMD MP Allan Mbewe who wanted to find out if Mr Kalaba was in order to remain silent after returning from the General Assembly.

The House also heard that Times of Zambia workers were owed K8,945, 618.71 in salary arrears as at August, 2014.

Information and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Poniso Njeulu said this in response to a question by Chipili PF MP Davies Mwila who wanted to know how much money Times of Zambia workers were owed as at August 2014.

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has asked Minister of Finance Alexander Chikwanda to take the Value Added Tax (VAT) matter for mining firms to cabinet.

ZCTU Secretary General Roy Mwaba said this is in order to allow the President and other Ministers to debate on it and come up with a concrete decision on behalf of all Zambians.

Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda has come under fire from some sections of society over the Value Added Tax (VAT) general administration rule number 18 which requires government to refund tax to exporters that include mining companies.

Valued Added Tax rule no. 18 has been in existence since 1997 with the intention of making Zambian exports competitive through VAT refunds on exports.

Mr. Mwaba told ZANIS in an exclusive interview in Lusaka today that the trade union has been hesitant to comment on the matter which has attracted comments from members of the public from various sectors because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He said after studying the matter, the trade union feels the issue should be taken to a full cabinet meeting presided over by the President so that the Minister of Finance is not blamed for either paying or not paying the refunds to the mining companies.

Mr. Mwaba, who could not show whether he supports or opposes the idea to refund the mining companies, observed that the matter has potential to create unemployment in the mining industry if not handled well.

This VAT refund involves about US$600 million and mines are said to be planning to lay off over 20,000 workers once government refuses to refund them the VAT.

Meanwhile the Zambia Private Sector Alliance (ZPSA) recently stressed that the VAT rule 18 clause does not only affect the mining companies but all exporters regardless of the sector.

ZPSA chairman Geoffrey Sakulanda stated that the clause that requires exporters to submit import certificates from destination countries in order to claim VAT refunds help in the expansion of businesses and further in the creation jobs for Zambians.