By Nkonkomalimba Kafunda

After Zambia held tripartite polls in August 2021, the country ushered in a new government led by President Hakainde Hichilema dubbed the new dawn administration .ending ten years of inept Patriotic Front rule that had left the country debt ridden, bankrupt, lawless and polarized.

As a result, the United Party for National Development inherited a country gripped by serious economic challenges which had led to our people going through severe hardships. The economic problems have been excecated by the effects of Corona Virus induced shut downs which limited economic activity. The war in Ukraine has further caused economic upheaval as pries of fuel and food have soared owing to supply chain constraints resulting from the conflict.

Against this back drop, the new administration has managed to control inflation, reduce and stabilize the Kwacha exchange rate against major convertible currencies, decentralized resource allocation through enhanced CDF, created employment in education and heath, among others. Additionally, increased Foreign Direct Investment due to restored investor confidence has seen FQM investing over US$1.2 billion in existing mining projects as well as a US$250 million investment in setting up the biggest Nickel mine in Africa.

Other notable succusses of the past one year include, but are not limited to, making the Zambian kwacha the world’s second-best performing currency and Africa’s 6th most powerful currency

The country has also led the way in restructuring the developing world’s humongous indebtedness to China. Over the last few months China has co-chaired Zambia’s debt committee with France, bringing the Asian giant to the common debt management framework for the first time. .

On August 22, China announced debt forgiveness for 16 African countries without giving details. Zambia having been the restructuring trail blazer is no doubt a major beneficiary.

However, the cost of living crisis is overshadowing most of these advances, the major reason being there has been little, if any, tickle down effect felt by the populace . Prices of basic commodities among them mealie meal, sugar, transport, shelter remain high and mostly unaffordable as poverty levels show no significant signs of abetting. Social protection, though, has, to some extent, been streamlined to benefit the most vulnerable.

The scarcity of money, though an essential quality of any serious currency, has hit hard. Government in it’s quest to pay only genuine suppliers of goods and services through a prolonged audit and verification process has, in effect, bankrupted many businesses, particularly small and medium sized suppliers ones. . While the problem of ‘air suppliers’ was real and pandemic level rampant under the PF, after a year the chaff should have been judiciously separated from the wheat. This is a major system failure as it has negatively effected the health sector, for instance, where supplier mistrust is causing erratic availability of drugs in health institutions.

Macro economic stability has been further enhanced by the enacting of the Bank of Zambia Amendment Act no 15 of 2022, that, among other things, secures the tenue of the Governor and the two deputies, positions prone to political manipulation as evidenced in the recent past.

In the area of law reform, strides have been made to repeal and amend the archaic Public Order Act though citizens continue to be held in remand without sight of trial as laws, mostly unfairly and maliciously enacted, continue to be used punitively against suspects who may or may not be guilty. Generally, though, accused persons are not being detained unnecessarily and trek to court from the comfort of their homes. This is a great improvement though more can be done to in terms of wide accessibility across suspects’ social economic status.

Many beneficiaries of these normalized bail and bond conditions are suspects of economic crimes known in common parlance as plunderers of national resources, who are as varied as they are numerous. The corruption fight which has suffered significant set backs in the past seems to have picked up momentum after the appointment and ratification of new board and Director General, though we are yet to see successful prosecutions subsequent to the much heralded arrests.

On the political front, alliance partner Kelvin Bwalya Fube (KBF) has formed his own party. Its impact, if any, is yet to be seen, suffice to say KBF campaigned extensively and quite effectively for HH, featuring on radio stations countrywide with very compelling pro Bally arguments. Should this ‘defection’ be a cause for concern? The jury is still out.

In mining, the impasse at Konkola Copper Mines continues raising doubts of the veracity of achieving the lofty 3 million tons of annual copper production target Revelations of the callous extravagance of the former provisional liquidator have not helped matters. Additionally, it is yet to be seen if tax breaks gifted to mining companies in the current budget have yielded the desired investment levels leading to higher production and resultant future taxes.

On a more positive note, planned value addition of Congolese and Zambian minerals through robust manufacturing before export has been roundly welcome as long overdue.

The notoriously volatile fuel prices have made the transport sector unpredictable, the multiplier effect being that prices of goods continue to fluctuate against the flow of reduced inflation.

Even though major policy pronouncements meant to increase efficiency such as giving inputs directly to farmers rather than cooperatives have been made, the agriculture input supply chain appears to have been severely disrupted to an extent that as August comes to an end there is no clear indication as to when inputs will be in the country or where they are coming from. This is, surely, a cause for serious concern for future national food security.

All in all, the administration has fared well under difficult circumstances. The upcoming by elections in Kabushi and Kwacha , nonetheless, will be important litmus tests as to whether urban domiciled Zambians are willing to give more opportunity to the UPND and Bally to fix what was almost irreparably broken or vote in protest against the high cost of living, equally astronomical unemployment and stratospheric poverty..

One year into transition, it would be unfortunate if what was being commemorated was the departure of the Patriotic Front rather than a celebration of the arrival of the United Party for National Development.

By Fred M’membe President of the Socialist Party

We have consistently and repeatedly talked about President Hakainde Hichilema as a continuation of the businessmen and politicians who colonised, exploited, brutalised and dehumanised us for decades. His admiration for Cecil Rhodes and the Oppenheimers has inspired him to follow their corrupt path of combining business with political leadership at the highest possible levels. Cecil John Rhodes was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.

Like Mr Hichilema, who is the 7th President of the Republic of Zambia, Rhodes was the 7th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, and was in office from July 17, 1890, until January 12, 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his British South Africa Company colonised the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895. The son of a vicar, Rhodes was born at Netteswell House, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire. As a sickly child, he was sent to South Africa by his family when he was 17 years old in the hope that the climate might improve his health. He entered the diamond trade at Kimberley in 1871 when he was 18, and, thanks to funding from Rothschild & Co, began to systematically buy out and consolidate diamond mines. Over the next two decades, he gained near-complete domination of the world diamond market, forming a massive monopoly. His diamond company, De Beers, formed in 1888, still retains its prominence into the 21st century under Anglo and the Oppenheimers.

Rhodes entered the Cape Parliament at the age of 27 in 1881, and in 1890, he became Prime Minister. During his time as Prime Minister, Rhodes used his political power to expropriate land from black Africans through the Glen Grey Act, while also tripling the wealth requirement for voting under the Franchise and Ballot Act, effectively barring black people from taking part in elections. After overseeing the formation of Rhodesia during the early 1890s, he was forced to resign in 1896 after the disastrous Jameson Raid, an unauthorised attack on Paul Kruger’s South African Republic (or Transvaal). Kruger was Rhodes’s main business competitor.

Rhodes’s career never recovered; his heart was weak, and after years of poor health he died in 1902. He was buried in what is now Zimbabwe – his grave has been a controversial site.

Rhodes’s racial views are a subject of scrutiny and debate. He believed the natives of the Cape to have existed in a state of barbarism.

Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, (born May 22, 1880, Friedberg, Hesse-Nassau, Germany – died November 25, 1957, Johannesburg, South Africa) was an industrialist, financier, and one of the most successful leaders in the mining industry in South Africa and Rhodesia.

Oppenheimer became a junior clerk at the age of 16 with Dunkelsbuhler & Company, London diamond brokers. In 1902 he moved to Kimberley, South Africa, where he served as a Dunkelsbuhler’s representative. In 1917, with considerable backing from the financier J.P. Morgan, he formed the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Ltd, to exploit the east Witwatersrand goldfield. Two years later he formed Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa Ltd (reformed as the Namdeb Diamond Corporation in 1994). This diamond-prospecting corporation was so successful that he gained control of De Beers Consolidated Mines, which once dominated the world diamond market, and in 1930 he established The Diamond Corporation Ltd.

In 1929, Oppenheimer formed the Rhodesian Anglo American Corporation to exploit the rich copper deposits in Northern Rhodesia. His last project was the pioneering of new goldfields in the Orange Free State, South Africa. Oppenheimer served as mayor of Kimberley from 1912 to 1915 and was a member of the Union of South Africa Parliament from 1924 to 1938. Oppenheimer used his positions as mayor and member of parliament to expand and consolidate his business empire. He was involved in a number of controversies; including price fixing, antitrust behaviour, and an allegation of failing to release industrial diamonds for the United States war effort during World War II.

Mr Hichilema, in a new time and new way, is following in the footsteps of Rhodes and Oppenheimer by using his political position of President of the Republic of Zambia to expand and consolidate his business empire. But we all know that using political office to advance personal or associates’ business interests amounts to grand corruption.

Following this path of businessman/politician, Mr Hichilema may turn out to be the most corrupt President of our country. It is not a secret that Mr Hichilema’s businesses, like those of Rhodes and Oppenheimer, are doing business with the government he controls and directs. This is a very primitive, crude form of insider dealings. Mr Hichilema is without shame or restraint directing government business to businesses he is associated with or is in one way or another gaining a benefit from.

Today, civil servants are in a very serious and painful debt trap that is benefiting their political leaders, who are connected to Bayport and other companies that are mercilessly exploiting them. And because of this, attempts at debt swaps to bail out civil servants have been frustrated or reversed. Today, civil servants are forced into medical insurance schemes with Madison, whose books they are acquiring. There is no doubt that the key leadership of this government is also associated with companies getting government tenders to supply fertilisers.

They are really following in the footsteps of Rhodes and Oppenheimer, who ruled and did business with the governments they controlled and directed. But whereas Rhodes and Oppenheimer got away with it, Mr Hichilema and his league will find it very difficult to do so, no matter what schemes of concealment of business interests they deploy. Times have changed. The Zambian people will certainly demand the highest levels of transparency and accountability of Mr Hichilema’s business dealings.