Former Finance bank chairman, Rajani Mahtani has been sued by his former legal counsel, Zahedah Essah.

Ms. Essah, who is also former legal counsel for Mahtani group of companies and finance bank, has also sued the Post Newspapers and two of its journalists.

Ms. Essah is suing for defamation of character over an article published in the post newspaper, January 28 2011 edition, titled DEC arrests, charges Mahtani with forgery.

In her statement of claim filed in the high court, Ms. Essah claims that the four jointly caused to be published the said article, which contained defamatory words, which have caused immense damage to her reputation and considerable distress to her and her family.

Ms. Essah claims that the article, alleging that she was offered immunity from prosecution, was false and was published with malice.

She says she was not pressurized or threatened or under duress when she signed an affidavit against Dr. Mahtani.

Ms. Essah, however, says she voluntarily went to the authorities to tell them the truth of the happenings in the Mahtani group of companies, finance bank and the wrong doings of Dr. Mahtani before November and December 2010.

She also claimed that all the anonymous sources quoted in the story attributed to Dr. Mahtani, are in fact Dr Mahtani himelf as it is he who drafted the initial story and he caused the two post Newspapers journalists, Chibabula Silwamba and Mwala Kalaluka, to use their bylines on the said article.

Ms. Essah has also explained that the post newspapers and the two journalists never bothered to verify the story or get her side of the story.

She is since claiming damages and an unqualified withdrawal of the allegations leveled against her.
[ MUVI ]

THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has opposed the re-introduction of windfall taxes in the mines, as doing so will stifle the growth of the industry in Zambia in the medium and long term.

ZRA commissioner general Wisdom Nhekairo said this in Lusaka yesterday when he appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Estimates chaired by Bweengwa Member of Parliament (MP) Highvie Hamududu.

“Objectively it is not good to impose taxes which risk suffocating the mining industry. Thus the re-introduction of the windfall tax on sales has the potential to stifle the growth of Zambia’s mining sector,” Mr Nhekairo said.

He said increasing taxes when other countries were not changing their tax systems would make Zambia uncompetitive in the area.

Mr Nhekairo said removal of windfall tax on sales would not necessarily lead to loss of Government revenue as the variable tax still captured any windfall gain that could arise in the mining sector.

“A fundamental economic argument is that low taxation is one of the key determinants for attracting foreign investment and, as such, relatively higher taxes especially in the form of windfall taxes on sales may be a major disincentive to long-term investment,” Mr Nhekairo said.

To inspire investment, Zambia needed a policy that was certain and stable with reduced risks to long-term investment decisions.

“Shifting policies within a short period of time may not inspire continued investments.

“The momentum with the current investment inflows into the mining sector need to be maintained as it has desirable forward and backward linkages such as employment creation and a guaranteed revenue stream,” he said.

He said windfall taxation of sales posed a threat on the profit realisation of some mines and could lead them to spending less on workers in terms of salaries through lessened Pay as You Earn (PAYE) to the Government.

“Moreover, variable profit taxation, by it being based on profit taxation, is administratively consistent with the current practices within ZRA.

“This notion of taxing super profits is currently applied in the financial sector and will be applied to the telecommunications sector as announced in the 2011 Budget,” he submitted.

Mr Nhekairo also said administratively, mining taxation was an immense challenge to even the most developed tax authorities.

The commission had since established a dedicated mining tax unit to ensure efficient and effective taxation of the mining sector.

Mr Nhekairo said there was need for continued support, both financially and materially, to enable the tax authority to keep pace with the complexities associated with mining taxation such as tax avoidance by mining firms.

[Times of Zambia]

Political Activist Dante Saunders has observed that the problems that have rocked the UPND/PF pact are being caused by the party members at lower organs.

Mr. Saunders says from the meetings that he held with both UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema and PF’s Michael Sata, it is clear that the two opposition leaders are still interested in the Pact and that all the wrangles in the pact were being caused by the leadership at lower organs.

The veteran politician says it is evident that some members of the two parties in the Pact are scared of losing their positions in their respective parties once the Pact leader is announced hence the misunderstandings.

Mr. Saunders noted that there is need for all the leaders in the two opposition political parties to reach a compromise and ensure that whatever decision they make is for the benefit of the nation.

Mr. Saunders added that there is need for the political leaders to prioritize the interests of the entire nation before their personal interests.

Meanwhile, Mr. Saunders has urged all the political parties to consider empowering the youths in their parties instead of using them to ignite violence during elections.

Mr. Saunders suggested that each political party should reserve at least 30 percent of their parliamentary adoptions for the younger generation.

He says this will help in grooming the youths for future political responsibilities.
[ QFM ]

The United Party for National Development (UPND) has intensified campaigns for party leader Hakainde Hichilema as presidential candidate in this year’s elections in a campaign strategy dubbed ‘HH 2011 Formula’.

Meanwhile, sources in UPND and pact partners, the Patriotic Front (PF) have hinted to the Times of Zambia that the two parties have spent millions of Kwacha to print campaign T-shirts and chitenge materials bearing portraits and symbols of the individual party leaders.

[pullquote]“Even if we are in the pact we still remain as individual parties until such a time that the pact candidate is chosen. There is nothing wrong with any of us campaigning,” he said.
[/pullquote]
UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said in Lusaka yesterday that the opposition party had intensified its campaigns.

“In fact we are calling on all our supporters to go flat out and spread the good news of HH 2011. This is the year we have been waiting for, so we are intensifying our campaigns for Mr Hichilema,” he said.

Mr Mweetwa said there was nothing wrong with the UPND campaigning for Mr Hichilema because there was no pact candidate in place.

“Even if we are in the pact we still remain as individual parties until such a time that the pact candidate is chosen. There is nothing wrong with any of us campaigning,” he said.

Yesterday, the HH campaign team for 2011 was seen on Lusaka’s Cairo Road in a convoy of motor vehicles led by a Mitsubishi Pajero which had speakers mounted on it playing campaign jingles for the UPND leader.

Sources in UPND and PF confirmed that the two leaders had printed campaign materials.

The UPND source revealed that Mr Hichilema had since paid for the chitenge and T-shirts that were being printed in South Africa while the PF had some of their materials already printed and were being stocked at a house in Kabulonga in Lusaka.

The two parties that entered into a pact in June 2009 have failed to agree on, among other issues, a common economic and governance agenda for the country.

Last month, the UPND gave the PF a one-month ultimatum for the two parties to harmonise their manifestos with a view to come up with a common economic agenda but the PF has to date not responded.

The UPND has gone on to accuse the pact partners of being elusive and insincere.
Meanwhile, UPND youths on the Copperbelt have warned Zambians against voting for PF president Michael Sata and his members of Parliament (MPs) because they are allegedly violent.

UPND national youth spokesperson Ronald Manenga advised the electorate against voting for leaders such as Mr Sata and Roan Constituency MP Chishimba Kambwili because they had no respect for anyone.

Mr Manenga said in an interview in Kitwe that the PF leadership exhibited unacceptable behaviour and wondered how they could govern the country with such kind of behaviour.

He said he did not expect Mr Kambwili as an MP to use vulgar language against UPND members.

“We wonder what kind of government PF would be because all of them, starting from their leader to the MPs have vulgar language and beat up women.

“We will make sure Mr Sata does not go to State House because the PF behaviour is unacceptable,” he said.

Mr Manenga said the UPND on the Copperbelt would never support Mr Sata and his members, and accused them of resorting to insulting UPND members.

Efforts to get a comment from PF proved futile.

Last week, PF spokesperson Given Lubinda said he would not respond to queries from Times reporters.

[ Times of Zambia ]

Police in Kitwe have arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of a small-scale tomato farmer last week.

Shadrek Mukosha 29 and Robert Ngonga are suspected to have beaten the farmer to death, after a quarrel over his tomatoes.

Copperbelt Police Chief Martin Malama has named the farmer as Pascal Malaika 27 of Kakolo Farm Block in Kitwe.

Dr. Malama told ZNBC in Kitwe that the farmer sustained internal injuries from fists by the two suspects.

He said the cause of the fight between the farmer and the suspect has not yet been established.

But Dr. Malama said that it appears the two suspects wanted some tomatoes from the farmer, and when the deceased refused to give them some, they beat him up.

The body of the farmer is in the Kitwe Central Hospital mortuary while the two suspects are in custody at the Kitwe Central Police Station.
[ ZNBC ]

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) secretary general Wynter Kabimba has been named as being among those that benefited from plots at the piece of land where the PF-dominated Lusaka City Council (LCC) has shared plots without advertising them to the public in breach of the 1985 Land Act.

The PF has claimed that the plots were allocated to councillors and members of Parliament but Mr Kabimba, who is not a councillor at LCC, received an offer letter for plot number 915 in Lilayi.

According to a letter dated January 12, 2011 authored by council acting director for legal services Mumbi Chocho, Mr Kabimba was informed that the offer was temporary but the permanent one would be given to him in due course.

But in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Kabimba said his 15-acre plot in Lusaka West was re-entered and he decided to apply for a replacement and was given the Lilayi land.

He said the plots were not exclusively for councillors and members of Parliament but any other person was free to apply.

Asked how he knew about the plots since they were not advertised, Mr Kabimba said he applied to the commissioner of Lands.

The PF council was last month exposed over its dealings in the land administration after 45 councillors, council high ranking officials and members of Parliament allocated themselves plots.

Mandevu Constituency MP Jean Kapata and her Kanyama counterpart Gerry Chanda, also from PF, are the other councilors that received offer letters for plots and the December minutes on the subject confirmed that the two had been allocated plots.

The Land Act prescribes that all plots numbering above 100 must be advertised to residents to promote transparency in the allocation of plots and only allows councillors to receive plots if they are available during their tenure of office.

Following the revelations, Local Government and Housing Minister Brian Chituwo has suspended the council for 90 days and appointed the Copperbelt Local Government administrator Solomon Sakala to run the affairs of the council.

“The provisional offer is valid until a formal offer issued by the Lilayi Housing bearing the stand number with conditions for development,” Ms Chocho wrote in the letter.

[pullquote]“We therefore consider these allegations as malicious and cheap aimed at gaining political mileage. One would have thought TIZ was a credible non-partisan institution which should not get embroiled in mudslinging,” Mr Mwaliteta said.[/pullquote]

The letter is referenced number mm/ck.
“I am pleased to issue you a provisional offer of the above-mentioned stand at the Lilayi Housing Project as agreed between the LCC and Lilayi Housing,” the letter reads in part.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has since launched investigations against the council and officials recently entered the office of the mayor, which is being occupied by Mr Sakala to seek details on plots.

Dr Chituwo, LCC public relations manager Chanda Makanta and Mr Sakala all declined to comment, saying it would not be prudent to discuss a matter that was under investigations.

Mr Kabimba is on record calling for the reinstatement of the LCC, whose suspension he said was meant to weaken the PF in Lusaka and had even written to Dr Chituwo on the matter.

And Kafue District Council has challenged Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) to prove its allegations that the local authority awarded land to its councillors without following the laid down procedure.

Council chairperson Obvious Mwaliteta said in a statement obtained by the Times in Lusaka on Thursday that as an agent of the Ministry of Lands, the council adhered to all procedures when allocating land to any citizen who qualified for it.

Mr Mwaliteta said the council had in the past recommended allocation of land to various applicants who at one time included some councilors who applied as citizens.

Last week TIZ reported the alleged illegal allocation of land at Kafue District Council to the Anti-Corruption Commission.

“It is very unfortunate that TIZ made these allegations without even bothering to verify facts with the council before lodging a formal complaint to the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Local Government Minister, as a council we strongly refute the allegations and challenge TIZ to prove the allegations against the MMD-dominated council,” he said.

He said the council minutes were available for TIZ and members of the public to scrutinise on request. “This land was advertised in the public media and was open to everybody.

The number of plots was 450, and as of now less than half has been taken up and the rest are still available to anybody who would like to acquire them.

“We therefore consider these allegations as malicious and cheap aimed at gaining political mileage. One would have thought TIZ was a credible non-partisan institution which should not get embroiled in mudslinging,” Mr Mwaliteta said.

[Times of Zambia]