Zambians should appreciate Chinese investors as they have resolved to continue operating mines and maintaining their workforce amid threats of retrenchment by others in the sector, Mines and Minerals Development Minister, Maxwell Mwale, has said.

Mr Mwale said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that people should stop demonising the Chinese investors because they were doing a lot to help maintain stability in the country.

He said despite the prevailing global economic conditions which had adversely affected the local industries, the Chinese investors were resolved to continue operating without resorting to the reduction of the workforce.

“People should stop demonising the Chinese investors. They should observe that at all mines which are being run by the Chinese, there are no reductions of employees as opposed to others,” he said.

Mr Mwale said while big economies like the United States of America were running to China for bailout of their operations, some Zambians were busy “insulting” Chinese investors.

He said the Chinese investors had, for instance, re-capitalised and continued running the Chambishi Copper Mine in Kalulushi, which had been on care and maintenance for 14 years.

He said Zambia needed to attract investors like those from China who already had the money because it would be almost impossible for a company to borrow huge amounts such as US$600 million.

Mr Mwale said while others like Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) wanted to place some of the mines under the care-and-maintenance system, the Chinese had continued operating.

He said the Government would not allow further offloading of miners from employment as it had a duty to ensure socio-economic stability in the country.

Mr Mwale said the move by MCM to place some of its mining units in Kitwe and Mufulira under the care-and-maintenance arrangement would result in the loss of up to 20,000 jobs considering even the people employed by contractors.

He reiterated his challenge to the MCM and any other investors who would not want to continue operating some of the mining plants to voluntarily surrender them to the Government.

He said the precedent to voluntarily surrender the mines when an investor felt like not continuing had already been set when Anglo-American Corporation (AAC) did so with the Konkola Copper Mines about seven years ago.

On the Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM), Mr Mwale said there were a lot of investors who were interested in running the mine as soon as the current negotiations between the Government and LCM management were over.

He said the Government would, however, ensure that it selected the most suitable investors to run the mines to avoid a repeat of what was currently happening.
He said the people of Luanshya had suffered enough.

“As you know, this is not the first time that the people of Luanshya are going through this situation,” he said.

And LCM management has dismissed reports that the mine in Luanshya has been stripped of its assets and is flooded.

LCM chief executive officer, Derek Webbstock, said in a Press statement that management of LCM was saddened by reports of asset stripping and flooding of the mine.

Mr Webbstock assured the nation that the mine would not be flooded or be stripped of its assets.

Mr Webbstock said it was the intention of management to ensure that the care-and-maintenance process protected the assets of LCM and allowed for efficient resumption of operations at an appropriate time.

The statement further says management had retained 227 security staff, 123 hospital staff, 36 Luanshya Trust School staff, 10 staff at Luanshya Craft School and 67 were directly at the main mine operations.
[Times of Zambia]

growing roses for export for the last 14 years.

But now the speed of the global downturn is forcing them to give up the business, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of workers and their dependents.

The sudden collapse of the prices paid for roses in Europe, due to diminishing demand and oversupply, has made their business uneconomic.

And they are being forced to sell their farm as they can no longer keep up their loan payments to Barclays Bank, which is demanding immediate repayment.

” It’s a sad day,” says Angelique Elsinga as she walks round her farm with its eight giant greenhouses – which produced 40 million roses for export last year.

“It’s cheaper for us to destroy the roses now than send them to Europe.”

They are shutting off the irrigation pipes in seven of those greenhouses, growing only for the local market and switching some of their production to vegetables.

“We had to shut down production during the two weeks before Christmas, something we had never done before,” said Watze Elsinga.

“And just before Valentine’s Day, our suppliers told us not to send any more roses – their warehouses were full.”

“We have never seen such low prices.”

Social gains

For the Elsingas, who came to Zambia from the Netherlands 14 years ago, the farm was a social enterprise as well as a business.

They have constructed housing for their workers, and built a community centre and a school for 600 children on the premises.

And they have provided year-round employment for nearly 200 workers.

Now they will have to lay off all the workers at the rose farm, with only a few finding employment in the vegetable business which they hope to continue at another location.

Difficult conditions

According to Luke Mbewe, chief executive of the Zambia Export Growers Association (Zega), flower exporters in Zambia face more difficult conditions than their rivals in other African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Flower exporters are dependent on a secure supply chain, with the fresh flowers kept refrigerated and disease-free as they are moved quickly from the farm to markets in Europe within 48 hours.

But in Zambia, transport costs are higher, because of the higher cost of petrol and jet fuel that has to be imported into this land-locked country.

And the lack of a substantial scheduled air freight service has meant that they have had to charter flights to take their flowers to market.

They have also faced problems with electricity supply, with Zambia’s government-owned electricity company Zesco introducing rolling power cuts throughout the country over the past year.

The sharp drop in the value of the Zambian currency has raised the cost of fertilisers, fuel and other farm inputs.

Mr Mbewe says he knows of a number of other farms that have gone out of production, and he now fears for the future of the industry.

Economic hopes

Zambia remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with more than 60% of the population living on less than $2 a day.

Now its prospects for economic growth have been dented by the decline in the world price of copper, which makes up 90% of the country’s exports and provides thousands of jobs.

Zambia’s President, Rupiah Banda, says that the way for Zambia to cope with the global recession is by diversification, moving away from dependence on copper.

But the problems of the flower industry show how difficult this could be.
[BBC NEWS]

rights, as one of the subjects to be taught in primary and secondary schools.

He said this will help young people to understand and appreciate issues of human rights.

President Rupiah Banda also said government will soon table a bill in parliament that seeks to address the problem of gender based violence.

Mr. Banda has urged stakeholders to support the proposed piece of legislation that will help curb violence against women in the country.

The President announced this in Lusaka on Sunday when he officiated at celebrations, marking this year’s International Women’s Day.

Earlier, Gender Minister, Sara Sayifwanda, said government welcomed suggestions from all stake holders in safeguarding the rights of women.

International Women’s day was celebrated world wide on March 8.

In Zambia, activities were held in various parts of the country to mark the day.
[ZNBC]

THE imprisonment of prominent people in the country has helped to boost investor-confidence in the Zambian legal system, visiting Japanese envoy, George Hara has said.

Mr Hara, who is a representative of Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Microalgae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM), said the recent convictions of high-profile individuals indicated that Zambia’s legal system could be trusted.

Speaking in an interview in Lusaka at the weekend, Mr Hara said very few countries either developed or developing could do what Zambia had done.
Mr Hara said the investment climate in Zambia was conducive.

He said the country had huge mineral deposits such as copper, cobalt and emeralds among others, which should be fully utilised.

Meanwhile, Mr Hara has expressed interest to invest in the growing of human and animal food supplements, known as spirulina, in Zambia.

He said once approval was granted by the ministries of Heath and Agriculture and Cooperatives, experts from IIMSAM would come to the country to facilitate the growing of spirulina especially among small-scale farmers.

Mr Hara said besides being consumed in Zambia, spirulina could also be exported to markets in Japan, the European Union and the US where the commodity was on high demand.

He said spirulina had high protein content and was a strategic food product to alleviate malnutrition.
[Times of Zambia]