Government has threatened to shut down all lodges across the country that are operating below the required standards.

Minister of Tourism and Arts Sylvia Masebo said some lodges were not fit to be operating as such.

Mrs. Masebo explained to ZANIS in a telephone interview in Lusaka today that government was also aware that some lodges operated as brothels.

She said brothel business was illegal in Zambia and should therefore be discouraged at all levels.

She further said turning lodges into brothels painted a bad picture of the country’s hospitality industry.

Mrs. Masebo said government, through her ministry which is a regulator of the industry, shall not condone all those intending to venture into the hospitality sector to run lodges as brothels.

She said Zambians should value the business of operating lodges because it promotes economic development through job creation in the country.

She also stated that as Zambia prepares to co-host the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference in August this year with neighbouring Zimbabwe, lodge owners should ensure that their premises were well maintained and were meeting the required standards of the government.

Mrs. Masebo said Zambians should understand that the conference was a huge event that would market Zambia as a tourist destination in Africa and the whole world.

She said owners of lodges should continue maintaining their facilities and operate legally even after the conference.

Mrs. Masebo reiterated her confidence that the country would successfully co-host the UNWTO with Zimbabwe in August this year.

She noted that despite some challenges, government was making steady progress in ensuring that the conference is successful.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Masebo said art helps in contributing towards the promotion of the tourism sector in the country.

She pointed out that government was therefore ensuring that the tourism and art sectors were diversified in the country.

Mrs. Masebo has since called on all stakeholders countrywide to help support the tourism and arts sector in order to build them.

Zambia will co-host the UNWTO conference with neighbouring Zimbabwe in August this year.

ZANIS

Police on the Copperbelt have been urged to be on high alert against unscrupulous individuals and business houses who are smuggling mealie- meal at night to unknown destinations.

In addition, Antelope Milling Limited Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Efstathiou says his company was producing 7000 by 25kg bags of breakfast meal and 3000 by 25kg bags of roller meal.

Copperbelt Province Minister Mwenye Musenge says police in the area should be on high alert and arrest any unscrupulous businesspersons and individuals found wanting in the smuggling escapades.

ZANIS reports from Luanshya that the minister said this in an interview after a business meeting with management of Antelope Milling Company.

He said he has received reports alleging that some unscrupulous individuals are involved in a racket where mealie is been bought in large quantities from outlets and then transported in the night possibly to border areas where the commodity is fetching a higher price.

Mr. Musenge wondered why trucks loaded with mealie meal meant for ordinary Zambians are been allowed by police at checkpoints to pass without inquiring. He said the province had 7 check points and it was unthinkable that police could just be watching truck loads of mealie meal crossing.

He said there was need for everyone in the province to work together in resolving the problem hence the reason his office is meeting millers to get down to bottom of the problem.

He said whilst his office has already agreed with district commissioners and miller to be limiting the number of bags one can buy to two bags, more has to be down so that situation is normalized.

And speaking earlier in the meeting, Antelope Milling Limited Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Efstathiou says his company was producing 7000 by 25kg bags of breakfast meal and 3000 by 25kg bags of roller meal.

He said as far as his company, the company was managing to supply the commodity to all its 55 outlet depots on the Copperbelt.

Mr. Efstathiou assured the minister that the company was working closely with the local leadership so that it can find a lasting solution to problem of the seemingly shortage.

He said management had since resolved to direct all its supplies of mealie meal to Luanshya as it had enough stocks.

ZANIS

The Patriotic Front in Luanshya says the continued overpricing of mealie meal and shortage of the commodity on the Copperbelt will seriously affect its popularity in the province if left unchecked.

Luanshya PF District Political Secretary Alex Simponda says it was for the same problem of mealie meal that led to the downfall of the former President Kenneth Kaunda and UNIP then in the 90s.

ZANIS reports that Mr Simponda said this in Luanshya yesterday when Provincial Minister Mwenye Musenge visited Antelope Milling Company and held a meeting with management over the matter.

Mr. Simponda called on the company to work with the government of the day by assisting it in ensuring that mealie meal is made available in the right quantities and on time so that people do not cue up and wait for too long.

He charged that despite the company claiming that it was delivering mealie meal in the local townships of Luanshya, reports had reached the party that some unscrupulous individuals were buying the commodity in large quantities from the company’s outlets and hoard the commodity to create an artificial shortage to later at a higher price.

And Luanshya Mayor Nathan Bwalya said the problem of mealie has not spared the town as mealie meal was not readily available in most shops and that most bags been sold were 10kg breakfast bags which also quickly run out.

Mr. Bwalya also said some shop outlets after buying the mealie meal in bulk were reloading the same commodity in the night and then transport to unknown destination.

He said there is need to vigilantly monitor the movement of the meal from the milling so that ordinary residents of Luanshya buy the bags cheaply at the official price of KR50.00 per 25kg breakfast mealie meal.

Meanwhile, Kitwe City , the hub of the Copperbelt province has again been hit with a shortage of mealie-meal.

The commodity is scarce and is fetching about KR65 and above in most retail shops.

Meanwhile mealie- meal traders have complained that they are forced to sell the commodity at over KR 50, because they were buying it at KR50 from retailers.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe today, traders who did not disclose their identity for fear of being blacklisted by millers said they were not able to buy mealie-meal in bulk from the millers because the millers were not willing to wholesale the Commodity at KR47 due to high production costs.

The traders appealed to government to ensure that Millers start to wholesale mealie-meal so that they can also comply with the Presidential directive on the mealie-meal price.

This is the second time Kitwe is being hit by Mealie-meal shortage within a spell of about two months but the shortage of Mealie- Meal has persisted in various parts of the country of late.

Copperbelt Province Minister Mwenya Musenge who yesterday toured Mpongwe and Chat Milling Companies appealed to the two Millers to ensure that they sell the commodity at KR47 to retailers so that they can in turn comply with the presidential directives of selling the commodity at KR 50.

Mr Musenge also urged the Milling Companies to ensure that they do not sell more than two bags of mealie-meal to one person to ensure that every one is able to buy.

The minister has further appealed to the millers to first satisfy the local demand for mealie-meal before they can export the commodity.

Mr Musenge further called for the establishment of a list of reliable retailers who should be supplied with mealie-meal so that consumers are not exploited by unscrupulous retailers.

ZANIS