The Commission of Inquiry instituted by President Michael Sata to probe among other issues the $98 million dollars deal and the sale of ZAMTEL by the previous government today heard that the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) expects to raise over 200 million United States (US) Dollars from its 98 million US Dollar investment in the redevelopment of Society House in the next 20 years.

NAPSA Director General Stanley Phiri says the authority remains committed to improving the benefits of pensioners in the country hence the decision to invest in the redevelopment of Society House and Central Arcade.

Mr. Phiri said this in Lusaka today when he appeared before the Commission sitting at the Mulungushi International Conference Center.

He explained that the investment was conceived on a concession basis saying NAPSA would build, operate and transfer Society House to the Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) after the concession period of 20 years.

He said NAPSA would recover the $98 million dollar investment in 12 years and operate Society House for an additional eight years to raise interest before handing it back to ZNBS.

Mr. Phiri noted that ZNBS who are the owners of Society House would be getting a monthly concession fee of 3.5 percent during the 20 year concession period.

Earlier, ZNBS Managing Director Noriana Muneku told the commission that the concession agreement between NAPSA and ZNBS was to lease out Society House to NAPSA for 20 years during which NAPSA would redevelop the property, manage and collect rentals during the concession period.

Ms. Muneku added that at the end of the concession period NAPSA would hand back the developed assets after ZNBS pays an exit fee which was at the remaining useful economic value of the developed property.

She noted that NAPSA would operate the project assets for the entire concession period in order to recover all the money invested with a profit.

She clarified that there was no loan from NAPSA to ZNBS that would warrant direct funding to ZNBS saying NAPSA was financing the implementation of the project directly to Zambezi Consortium engaged to develop the project.

The redevelopment of Society House was aimed at developing an innovative and comprehensive commercial facility housing a 4 star Hotel, office space, shopping complex and a 1, 068 capacity automated car park.

ZANIS

President Michael Sata has instructed the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Emmanuel Chenda to meet all stakeholders in the wheat industry to prevent the hike in bread price.

President Sata says plans to hike the price of bread by K500 are unjustified.

“The plans to increase the price of bread will largely hurt the poor. The poor consumer bears the blunt of such hikes which are not justified.” The President says.

President Sata says his government will do everything possible to curb exploitation and maintain the price of bread, even if it means authorizing the importation of wheat into the country.

“We, therefore urge all stakeholders in the wheat value chain to exhaust consultations amongst themselves before taking positions that could undermine consumer interest and that of the industry itself in the long-run.” The president advises.

Mr Sata says government will not be blackmailed by any stakeholder in the food chain of essential commodities.

Government is currently in dialogue with the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) and the Bakers Association of Zambia regarding measures meant to eliminate unnecessary cost elements so that the wheat industry becomes more competitive.

The President expects the bakers association and wheat farmers to reach a reasonable consensus that does not only serve their interests, but more importantly, the consumer.

This is contained in a statement released to ZNBC News by the President’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations George Chellah.

ZNBC

The Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia has called on Government to ensure that salary negotiations for Public Service workers were finished before the national budget is presented to Parliament so that necessary adjustments to the document could be made to ensure that employees were awarded better conditions of service.

The union has also vowed that it would not accepted salary increments based on percentages because the method was unfair as it only benefited a few officers in the top most salary scales who also got several other incentives such as better housing allowances and fuel allowances among others.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe over the weekend, Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia president Davy Chiyobe said the union was already in touch with Government and had presented their demands.

Mr Chiyobe said the Union was looking forward to a situation where the lowest paid Public Service Workers took home at least K3.5 million. He observed that the Public Service employees have been subjected to poor conditions of service for a long time and that during negotiations, they always got raw deals.

Mr Chiyobe said the Union would this time be firm and ensure that they negotiated for better conditions of service for the workers. He further called on Government to instantly begin negotiation meetings and ensure that they completed before the national budget was presented to Parliament so that necessary adjustments could be made.

Mr Chiyobe urged Government to take seriously the need to improve conditions of service for Public Service workers because its policy on the fight against corruption could only be implemented by well cared for employees.

Meanwhile, Mr Chiyobe said Public Service workers have rejected the proposed extension on retirement age. Mr Chiyobe said if Government wanted to extend the retirement age from 55 to 65 years, it should maintain the 55 retirement age and make 65 optional while making Civil Servants eligible to get their pension after serving for 20 years.

And the Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA) President Muyunda Ililonga said Government being the largest employer should lead by example to private employers in the way it remunerated its workers.

Mr Ililonga also observed that it was only a motivated work force that would effectively implement the new Government’s policies especially those on corruption and improved service delivery.

ZANIS/

CHINESE Ambassador to Zambia Zhou Yuxiao says most Chinese companies follow local labour laws and pay their employees better salaries than some Zambian companies in a major twist of events as labour tensions at companies owned by Chinese business houses escalate.

“Most of them (Chinese employers), maybe about 90 percent, observe the Zambian laws including those on tax and import and export. And we pay better salaries to local staff than some Zambian companies,” he said.

Mr Zhou said this through his political officer at the embassy Wang Hongyu in Lusaka yesterday.

He was commenting on remarks attributed to him in media reports on Monday that Chinese companies follow labour laws and pay their workers better than some Zambian companies.

This comes in light of the work stoppages in different parts of the country recently involving different companies, including Chinese-owned, over poor conditions of service.

But some Zambians working for Chinese companies or shops in Lusaka’s Kamwala area dismissed the envoy’s claims of better perks saying they remain “under-paid” and sometimes overworked or plainly abused by their Chinese supervisors.

One worker who sought anonymity said in the company of his colleagues: “These people are difficult. They used to pay us between K150,000 and K200,000 per month. After President Michael Sata’s directive to review the minimum wage, they have on their own increased the salaries to between K300,000 and K500,00 despite the huge profits we make for them per day.”

Meanwhile, the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it is happy that its affiliates have embarked on an all-out campaign to recruit new members.
ZCTU president Leonard Hikaumba said in an interview yesterday the congress has so far received good reports from two of the affiliates.

“The recruitments are going well, already we have received impressive reports from the Hotel and Catering Workers Union and the National Union for Commercial and Industrial Workers,” Mr Hikaumba said.

He recently appealed to the affiliates to take advantage of the favourable environment Government has created to capture unionised workers who do not have union representation.

Mr Hikaumba said the recruitment campaign is gaining momentum.

He said workers should not fear at all to join trade unions because the law will protect them. “We’re urging those workers who may face victimisation by employers to report to us or the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sport and Gender,” he said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]