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Police in Kabwe have arrested three men who allegedly caused commotion when one of them attempted to shoot a callboy.
Central province police commanding officer Simon Mpande told ZANIS today that the three men, include a police officer, a Zambia Air Force officer and a civilian are currently detained in police custody.
Mr. Mpande said all the three men come from Lusaka.
He named the men as Robison Phiri, Kennedy Fulilwa a ZAF officer and another one only identified as Fulilwa.
He said the three men claimed to have gone to Kabwe to attend a funeral.
Mr. Mpande said the men were driving a Toyota Corolla registration number ABJ 8556, which is also detained at Kasanda police station.
He said during the struggle, one of the three men fired at a callboy but missed him.
He explained that the bullet that was fired from a pistol sunk into the ground.
The pistol that was used and four rounds of ammunitions have since been confiscated from the men.
And an eyewitness, who wrestled with the armed man, told ZANIS that the suspects said they were driving back to Lusaka and wanted a fourth person who would be a passenger in their vehicle.
He said the men failed to convince any one to travel with them, prompting them to pull a passenger from one minibus that was loading at the station near the railway crossing in Kabwe.
The eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said callboys resisted the action and advised the three men to find a passenger elsewhere because the woman they wanted had already boarded a bus.
He said this caused a strong argument which made one of the three men to pull a pistol and threatened to shoot a callboy who in defense held the hands of the man with a pistol.
He narrated that other callboys joined in the struggle and overpowered the man with a pistol after pressing his private parts.
The other two suspects were also apprehended before they could speed off the bus station.
Commotion reigned at the bus station during the wrestling to restrain the armed man from opening fire until police arrived at the scene and arrested the three men.
Former Kabwe District Commissioner Paul Chaikatisha, who called the police during the scuffle, commended the callboys and other citizens for the courage to challenge the armed men.
A 24-year old woman in Kawambwa is laying unconscious in the district hospital after she was allegedly attacked and raped.
A source at Kawambwa police station and a hospital medical officer, Chota Chishimba confirmed the incident to ZANIS in Kawambwa yesterday.
The police source and Dr. Chishimba named the woman as Cecilia Musonda of Chikobe village in sub-chief Kabanda in chief Mushota’s area.
Dr. Chishimba has described the condition of Mrs. Musonda as stable.
The anonymous police source said the woman is suspected to have been raped because there were some marks of struggle at a scene.
Emeldah Chabala, 40, who is a mother in-law to the victim, explained to ZANIS that the incident happened on Monday afternoon when the woman went to harvest cassava.
Mrs. Chabala said Mrs. Musonda told her husband, John Chileshe 31, of the same village that she had gone to get cassava tubers from their field while he (Chileshe) went to work at his friend’s field called “iciima”, a system where three or more people come together and help one another in cultivating.
Mrs. Chabala explained that when, her son, Chileshe returned home, he did not find his wife and asked his children if their mother had come back from the cassava field.
She said upon learning that his wife was still away, Chileshe became worried mobilized his fellow villagers to go and look for Musonda in the cassava field.
Mrs. Chabala said the victim was found lying unconscious in the grass with her underwear tied around her mouth.
She said Mrs. Musonda also had bruises on her head and neck and a cut on the right ear.
And a check by ZANIS at the hospital’s female ward yesterday revealed that Mrs. Musonda could neither talk nor eat.
Luapula Province Police commanding officer, Auxensio Mbewe could not be reached for a comment.
Police in the area have since arrested Martin Mwape 29 to assist with investigations in connection to the matter.
The Zambia United Local Authorities Workers Union (ZULAWU) in Mazabuka says the K 359 million grant given to the council as compensation for scrapping off crop levy is inadequate compared to hundreds of millions of Kwacha the council used to collect.
ZULAWU branch chairperson, Crinco Mushiba explained to ZANIS in Mazabuka today that government should consider sourcing for the deficit to pay the local authority if it was to sustain its operations.
Mr. Mushiba said it was unfair for the government to abolish crop levy when it cannot release enough grants to compensate the council.
He said the abolition should have been targeted at small scale farmers and not commercial farmers who are benefiting a lot from crops.
He noted that the council’s as service delivery and payment of salaries to its workers will now be difficult.
Mr. Mushiba said Mazabuka municipal council owes retirees, statutory bodies such as Local Authority Superannuation Fund (LASF) and National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) billions of Kwacha through unremitted statutory obligations.
He said unless government revisits the abolition of crop levy, the operations in most local authorities who depended so much on crop levy will ground to a halt.
Mr. Mushiba also lamented that it was unfair for the government not to listen to the ZULAWU national leadership’s concerns over the abolition of the crop levy.
MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya says she has earned her positions in government through hard work.
Ms Siliya who is also Education Minister said she has been in the party for a long time and that she had added value to it.
She was responding to a question that she is untouchable in President Rupiah Banda’s government. This was when she featured on Zambezi FM, a local radio station in Livingstone over the weekend.
Ms. Siliya noted that people had become opinion makers, a vice which the MMD fought. She said she was a hard worker who managed to get votes in the Eastern province when she ran for parliamentary elections.
Ms. Siliya pointed out that she was first appointed as a Deputy Minister by late President Levy Mwanawasa.
”Political space should be filled with issues and not what people think about me,” she said.
She said her job as MMD Spokesperson was not to sell herself but the party brand.
And reacting to a question that some chiefs in the province had branded the MMD a violent party following some threats by some MMD cadres to gang rape opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) leader Edith Nawakwi, Ms Siliya described the statements as unfortunate.
”That statement is unfortunate that is why I have said space should be filled with issues. Every party has a following and when we insult leaders we forget that there are people who support them passionately,” she said.
And commenting on whether the expulsion of Livingstone MMD Constituency Chairman Capt John Mwamulima still stood since he had rejected it, Ms Siliya said there must be discipline in the party since the MMD had been in existence for a very long time.
She said that there was no political problem within the MMD adding that there was also no insurmountable problem in the party but that discipline must prevail.
Ms. Siliya observed that President Rupiah Banda believed in dialogue and that what the people of Zambia wanted to see from the party was development. She also said at the moment, government was concerned with the implementation of its programmes.
She said the President was concerned about implementation because when the election time comes, the MMD would be able to point at the programmes that it had implemented.
”We have a plan and we know where we are going,” she said.
Justice Florence Lenganga has expressed concern over deplorable conditions in which inmates are living in the country. She said that there is an urgent need to improve prison conditions country-wide.
Justice Lenganga expressed her concern during the ceremonial opening of criminal sessions for Eastern Province at Chipata High Court yesterday
“This address would be incomplete if I fail to mention the deteriorating conditions of our prisons, both in terms of infrastructure in most provinces, the quality of food, lack of beddings, and in some cases non-availability of water, such that sometimes inmates have to walk long distances to fetch water and not forgetting the congestion of most of the prisons,” she said.
She also noted that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and Legal Aid Board had serious manpower problems. She revealed that there was only one legal aid counsel servicing the Eastern jurisdiction.
She said as a consequence of the manpower crisis, even home sessions which normally take four weeks have been affected, adding that sometimes the advocates handling these sessions and the session justice come from outside the station and were under immense pressure.
“Turning to the judiciary there has been a serious shortage of manpower in terms of judges and magistrates in all the provinces and some stations only have one judge or magistrate,” She said.
Justice Lengalenga also revealed that the police and the prison services have not played their roles effectively and efficiently in the criminal justice system because of lack of transport. She said if remandees and witnesses could not be brought to court because of lack of transport, it became exceedingly difficult for the court to discharge its functions and dispose of the cases quickly which in the end brought congestion in prisons.
And Eastern Province Minister, Isaac Banda, said government was putting in place measures to decongest and make prisons more habitable.
Mr Banda said that government was putting up measures to improve prisons infrastructure and create more accommodation.
“Government is aware that due to population increase which has consequently given rise to the crime rate and other related social economic vices, the prisons infrastructure today accommodates more or less double the number they were initially designed for,” he added.
He said government was also aware that just like at the prisons, the current court infrastructures do not have holding cells that separate juvenile offenders from adult prisoners.
Mr Banda noted that government, through the Prisons Service, had also introduced the parole facility which begins this year.He said names of the inmates who were to go on parole have already been submitted to the parole board for further action.
“This is a facility where inmates who have served three quarters of their sentence will be released to join their families and they will be monitored from time to time,” Mr Banda said.
He said government was also working hard to ensure that adequate transport was given to the Prisons Service.
Meanwhile, Eastern Regional Commanding Officer for Zambia Prison service, Sainani Manda, said there were 1,445 inmates in the province.
Mr Manda also complained of transport problems in prisons.
More than 600 members of the UNIP revival Forum from seven Districts of Northern Province have defected to the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) citing poor leadership in their party.
UNIP revival forum provincial secretary Thompson Nyirenda confirmed the development in a statement released to ZANIS in Kasama today.
Mr. Nyirenda, who led other defectors, said the UNIP revival forum members who resigned where from Chinsali, Chilubi, Isoka, Kasama, Mpika, Mporokoso and Luwingu Districts.
He claimed that UNIP has lost support in the province due to poor mobilization.
Mr. Nyirenda, who was flanked by provincial Information and Publicity secretary Francis Mulenga, said the former UNIP members have lost confidence in their party hence their decision to defect to the PF.
He charged that the UNIP top leadership has continued to hold-on to power illegally despite the expiry of their legal mandate in 2005.
Mr. Nyirenda accused the current leadership of the former ruling party of not being sincere in its dealings because it has failed to call for a General Conference to elect new office bearers ahead of the 2011 general elections.
He also alleged the sale of UNIP assets was done illegally and out of selfishness because the sold property was still viable.
And Northern Province Patriotic Front provincial chairman Fredrick Chisanga has welcomed the UNIP defectors to his party.
Mr. Chisanga commended the defectors for joining the PF and urged them to contribute towards the strengthening of the party in the province.
He further revealed that the PF has already started mobilizing members at grass-root level in readiness for the 2011 tripartite elections.
ZANIS
Councillors in Sinazongwe district have expressed disappointment at the just ended mobile National registration Card (NRC) exercise in which two wards and several polling stations were left out.
Nangombe ward Councillor Robson Sialukowa told ZANIS that the registration officers informed him that they would come to his area but skipped his ward and went to other areas in the district.
He said all the three polling stations that include Nangombe basic School, Siazwela middle Basic and Mwalede were left out.
Mr. Sialukowa said the people in his area have been saddened with the development and were heaping all the blame on him.
And Sinazongwe ward Councilor Abraham Moonga said the whole ward was left out and the officers gave the excuse that the ward was near the registration office.
Meanwhile Mwezhya ward Councilor Bernard Sianyambwe has said two highly populated polling stations in his ward were left out of the exercise.
He said the registration officers assured him that they would go to the area after completing areas that were hard to reach during the rainy season but have not been there since then.
Mr. Sianyambwe has appealed to the officers to go back to the two areas and other wards that have been left out to ensure that all the people were catered for in the exercise.
FORMER Republican president Frederick Chiluba has said he is not shaken by threats on his life and will continue mingling with whoever he wishes.
Dr Chiluba said threats on his life will not deter him from meeting people from various communities despite the attempts to petrol bomb the Bank of Zambia guest house where he was residing and his wife’s farm at Fatima in Ndola.
Dr Chiluba was speaking through his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba yesterday, following a suspected petrol bomb that caused fire to one of the sheds at the BOZ guest house and his wife’s farm where the bomb caused damage to the chicken run.
“We received a report from a Patriotic Front (PF) member who was part of the meeting that plotted to petrol bomb the Bank of Zambia guest house and Mrs Regina Chiluba’s farm in Fatima area a day before the incident happened,” Mr Mwamba explained.
Mr Mwamba said according to that individual, the meeting also planned to organise PF party cadres to barricade and start booing Dr Chiluba wherever he went during his private visit to the Copperbelt.
The bottle, which contained petrol and sand aimed at Dr Chiluba, fell near the gate, 500 metres away from where Dr Chiluba was.
Mr Mwamba said Dr Chiluba was not in any way affected by the threats from the opposition and he felt that there was no need to beef up the security personnel assigned to guard him.
Mr Mwamba said Dr Chiluba would not stop meeting people who call on him or petition him on any matter of public or national interest.
“Some people find his position as former president as good as that of the sitting president and they keep on asking him to advise or intervene on a number of issues they would like to convey to the president,” he said.
Mr Mwamba appealed to political parties to educate their members that there was no place for thuggery in Zambia.
He said Dr Chiluba felt that Zambia had a credible Ministry of Home Affairs and the security wings which would see to it that those suspected to be behind the petrol bombs thrown on the lawn at the BOZ guest house and the roof of the chicken run at his wife’s farm in Fatima area, were brought to book.
Mr Mwamba said Dr Chiluba once lived under constant threats on his life for years during the UNIP era and he was not afraid of the people who wanted to curtail his freedom of expression and movement.
“Under the UNIP rule, Dr Chiluba lived for 20 years under threat and he will continue to lead a normal life because Zambia is democracy and he will enjoy his freedom of association and movement,” he said.[quote]
When contacted for a comment, PF Ndola District chairperson Rebby Chanda denied that his party was behind the petrol bomb thrown at the BOZ guest house and at Mrs Chiluba’s farm.
“It is not true that the PF leadership in Ndola met and plotted to attack Dr Chiluba, if there are any suspects, let the police and other State security wings carry out their investigations professionally,” Mr Chanda said.
Coppertbelt Police chief Antonneil Mutentwa could not be reached for a comment but police sources said the matter was already being investigated.
Police spokesperson Bonny Kapeso said although police have instituted investigations into the matter, they were still awaiting a detailed report from the Copperbelt Police command.
He said that police headquarters were by 17:30 hours still awaiting a full report.
THE Government has said the country has not violated the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights by allowing the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) to adopt a clause that requires a presidential candidate to be a holder of a university degree because it is the citizens themselves that demanded that their presidents be degree holders to articulate issues intelligently.
Chief Government Spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha said the citizens were well represented in the NCC and that the decisions made by the conference were a reflection of what the people of Zambia wanted.
Gen Shikapwasha was reacting to Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata who yesterday said that Zambia had violated the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights by allowing the NCC to adopt a clause that requires a presidential candidate to be a holder of a university degree.
“Zambia has not violated any charter because it is the Zambian people that want the presidential candidate to be a degree holder and so whatever Mr Sata is talking about has no substance,” Gen Shikapwasha said.
He said that by the NCC recommending that a presidential candidate should be a degree holder, it was merely stating that whoever wanted to aspire for the office should be an enlightened person.
Gen Shikapwasha compared the person seeking the office of presidency to an individual looking for a job either in the private or public sector.
“There is no such a thing as violation of the charter in as far as qualifications are concerned, otherwise people would not have been getting jobs.
If you are looking for a job and the employers are saying you should have a degree there is no way you can say no.
In this case, the Zambian people who are the employers are saying they want a degree holder to aspire for presidency,” Gen Shikapwasha said.
Similarly, Gen Shikapwasha said it would be illogical for any Christian to claim that he would go to heaven if such an individual has not come to know Jesus.
Gen Shikapwasha said that for as long as anybody that claims to be a Christian does not know Jesus, such an individual would not go to heaven.
Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Sata said Zambia had violated the charter to which it was a signatory under the African Union (AU). He said the nation had violated Article 13 of the charter. “Zambia has violated the African charter which allows for the various forms of freedom.[quote]
In the past 45 years, we fought against the white minority to rule so that the majority can rule but now we are going back to the situation where the minority should again rule. The country has violated Article 13 of the charter,” Mr Sata said.
Article 13 of the charter states that every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the Government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law.
Mr Sata argued that by restricting the position of presidency to a degree holder, Zambia was now allowing the minority to rule.
Meanwhile, Lusaka lawyer Christopher Mundia has supported the degree requirement for a presidential candidate saying the move was not in any way discriminatory.
Reacting to the NCC’s adoption of an article that requires a presidential candidate to have a minimum qualification of a first degree, Mr Mundia said that the article was important.
He said by adopting the article, the NCC acted in line with the aspirations of the Zambian people because the world had become complicated and ill-qualified persons could not articulate development issues.
He said in the era of a global village, there was need for enlightened leaders because the days of the blind leading the blind were long gone.
Zambia had seen positive sustenance of the economy because of enlightened leadership of late president Levy Mwanawasa and the continued leadership of President Rupiah Banda who was not only a degree holder but an experienced economist.
He said the degree requirement for a president entrenched the wishes of the Zambian people and that it was interesting to hear that some aspiring candidates felt that the clause was targeted at them.
On the 50 per cent plus one clause, Mr Mundia said it was unnecessary as it would be expensive in the event that a re-run was to be conducted.
He explained that next year, 2.5 million people were expected to vote when the population was about 12 million and issues of legitimacy could not arise and therefore, the simple majority should be the best.
Zambia national soccer team head coach Herve Renard
Zambia Voluntary Soccer Fan Associations (ZAVOSOFA) Patron, Peter Makembo says reports linking Zambia National Team Head Coach Herve Renard with the Super Eagles of Nigerian for a coaching job is disturbing.
Makembo says it is immoral for Renard to be showing interest in coaching the West African football giants when he still has a contract with with the Chipolopolo Boys running up to May, 2010.
Makembo told ZANIS sports in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that Renard should wait until his contract expires before he can decides on which move to take.
He said the termination of the contact with Zambia will be blow to himself because Zambia gave him enough chance to prove his capability which resulted in a fair performance of the Zambia National Soccer team at the just Africa Confederation (AFCON) Cup tournament in Angola.[quote]
He said Zambia has been tolerant and groomed him to be at the level where he has reached, for even other teams to start admiring him.
Makembo said Zambia and Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) should however not force to stay if he doesn’t want to so that he sees how other teams will treat him if he fails to deliver.
“Renard is better off staying here because we the fans have been patient with him, he has been groomed by Zambia and we have supported him and we have given him enough chance.
” It will be a big blow to him if he decides to leave this country for another because some fans will not tolerate him” Makembo said.
He said soccer fans will accept anything that Renard will decides on his future with Zambia adding that moreover that there are good coaches in Zambia who can take on the position.
Local media reports say that Renard had a meeting with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) with a view to have the French coach to guide the Super eagles to the 2010 world cup in South Africa in June.
It also quoted Renard as having been excited with the move and urged the NFF to speed up their interest saying other African teams are also interested in signing him.
Zambia’s largest mineworkers’ union said on Monday it had agreed on wage increases with some of the country’s top mining firms, averting possible strikes by workers that would have dented output.
Mining unions in Zambia, Africa’s leading copper producer, last month threatened to go on strike if mining companies did not give members pay increases above the country’s inflation rate, which slowed to 9.6 percent year-on-year in January.
Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) general secretary Oswell Munyenyembe said his union had agreed to a 22 percent pay rise with Lumwana Mining Company, a subsidiary of Equinox Minerals.
“We had very good negotiations with Lumwana,” he told Reuters.
Lumwana, which Equinox says is Africa’s largest open pit mine, produced 109,413 tonnes of copper in 2009 and plans to raise output to 135,000 tonnes this year, according to company projections.
Munyenyembe said Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), a unit of Glencore International AG of Switzerland, whose assets include the Mufulira mine, smelter and refinery, Nkana mines concentrator and cobalt plant, had agreed to award its workers a 10.5 percent pay rise.
“We hope that these pay increases will inspire our members to work hard and increase productivity so that together we can move the economy forward,” he said.
Munyenyembe said negotiations with Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), which is owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, were continuing.
“We are likely to make progress this week during another round of negotiations with KCM,” he said without giving details on how far the two parties had gone in the talks.
Other foreign mining companies operating in Zambia include Canada’s First Quantum Minerals, Equinox Minerals and Metorex of South Africa.
Blind dancing…An unidentified man spotted on the dance floor enjoying Zambian Music at Hollywood night club in Lusaka
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Christopher Katongo and Dennis Banda going to receive their new ranks after being promoted in the Army for good performance at the African cup of nations games. This was at the army headquarters in Lusaka
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Christopher Katongo receiving his new ranks in Lusaka
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Progressive Development Movement director Jackson addressing a press briefing in Lusaka
The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has procured traffic lights signal equipment worth K648 million for Kitwe City Council (KCC).
RTSA Director, Freddie Mwalusaka, said in Kitwe today during the handover ceremony of the equipment to KCC that the procurement of the traffic lights is an initiative meant to address the increased flow of traffic in the city and minimize road traffic accidents.
Mr Mwalusaka observed that there is an increase in the number of vehicles on the road in Kitwe which does not correspond to the infrastructure, adding that the situation has resulted in over burdening of scarce road resources.
He said their were 307,000 motor vehicles in the country by December last year compared to 183, 000 in 2006.
Speaking earlier, RTSA Chairperson, Winston Mwandila, said the motorization rate and road traffic accidents being experienced in urban towns have become a major concern.
Mr Mwandila said according to the road safety assessment carried out by RTSA last year in Kitwe, the traffic light signals are too inadequate to manage the growing motor traffic in the city.
He said it was this desperate situation which compelled the agency to source the traffic signal equipment.
Mr Mwandila said there is need that appropriate traffic management schemes are employed to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in cities where human and vehicle population are growing at a faster rate than the road infrastructure.
Mr Mwandila also appealed to road users and the general public to ensure that the road signals were safeguarded and protected so that they could be utilized over their full design life.
Receiving the equipment, Kitwe Mayor, Stephen Chipungu, said the installation of the traffic signal lights will compliment the road rehabilitation exercise to be done by the Japanese International Development Agency (JICA).
Former Defense Minister Ben Mwila has alleged that allowing Patriotic Front President to become republican president will be allowing Zambia to experience civil war.
Mr Mwila who is also National Democratic Focus president alleges that Zambians will be making a grave mistake by voting for Mr Sata to be republican president saying he will be abrogating the constitution with impunity which is not in the best interest of the Zambian people.
He said Mr Sata is not fit to lead the country adding that he is only fit to lead Patriotic Front.
And United Party for National Development (UPND) President Hakainde Hichilema said today that the PF/UPND Pact will not be coerced into choosing its presidential candidate for 2011 elections.
Speaking this morning on JOY FM’s The Platform Programme, Mr Hichilema said the PF/UPND Pact has taken a decision not to preoccupy itself with the presidency at the moment.
He said what they are preoccupied with is ensuring that there is unity in the membership of the two political parties. He accused the MMD of trying to stir trouble in the UPND/PF Pact by suggesting that particular tribes have their preferred candidates for the Pact’s 2011 presidential candidate.
Mr Hichilema said the PF/UPND Pact has nothing to do with tribe as is being portrayed by the ruling party. He wondered why the MMD is concerned about the PACT’s presidential candidate when they have been spelling doom for the PACT.
Mr Hichilema said the MMD are irked because they know that the exit doors are widening and time is running out for them.
The opposition Patriotic Front (PF) says the PF/UPND pact is not shaken by the defection of more than 20 of its members to the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in Lusaka’s Munali constituency.
PF Spokesperson Given Lubinda told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the pact is not shaken because there are more people who are willing to join them.
Mr. Lubinda said members defecting from the pact to join the MMD would regret their decision in 2011 claiming that the PF/UPND pact will emerge victorious in the general elections.
He said those who are leaving the party for the MMD do not realize that the PF/UPND pact was the rightful party with a vision.
More than 20 members of the opposition PF/UPND pact on Saturday left their parties to join the ruling MMD while over 80 more are said to have indicated their intentions to leave their parties and join the MMD.
