Zambia has called an emergency meeting of the 14-member SADC regional bloc on Saturday to discuss Zimbabwe’s post-election impasse, President Levy Mwanawasa said on Wednesday.

Mwanasa, who chairs the Southern African Development Community, said the crisis required a concerted effort by all southern African countries to find a solution. It was the first move by Zimbabwe’s neighbours to intervene after the March 29 elections. The presidential result is still not known.
[Reuters]

The National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) has welcomed Konkola Copper Mine (KCM)’s acceptance to abide by the new tax regime introduced by government.

In a Press Statement issued to ZANIS in Kitwe today, NUMAW National Secretary, Goodwill Kaluba said the commitment pledged by KCM to abide by the provisions of the new tax regime was a demonstration of good corporate citizenship which must be emulated by other mining investors.

Mr. Kaluba said observing and respecting laws of a country was a milestone in fostering development and promoting integrity and respect for human rights.

He added that government’s move to introduce the new tax regime for mining companies was aimed at making local people benefit from their natural resources such as copper and other minerals.

Mr. Kaluba noted that the current record of high copper prices on the international market should have a positive benefits on the local people

He disclosed that his union would remain committed to supporting government’s well intended move to adjust corporate tax from 31 per cent to 47 per cent.

Mr. Kaluba said the new tax regime would cushion the tax burdens which miners have been enduring in the past.

He said the new tax regime would assist government in speeding up development works on the Copperbelt province, especially in turning Kitwe-Chingola road into a dual carriage way.

The Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO) has denied allegations by the Millers Association of Zambia that the production levels of mealie meal and other bakery products has gone down due to the persistent load shedding by the power company.

ZESCO Director of Customer Services, Teddie Mwale said the claims by the millers is not justified as the utility company only cuts off power from manufacturing companies from 05:30- 09:00 hours adding that the given time can not affect the production line.

Mr. Mwale said this in Lusaka today during a press briefing.

He explained that ZESCO held a meeting with the Zambia Association of Manufactures where it was agreed that the electricity company should be cutting off power in the morning to reduce the chances of affecting production.

And Mr. Mwale says recent claims by some people that their electrical appliances and houses have been destroyed by ZESCO’s power load shedding are not justified.

Mr. Mwale denied the claims saying most houses have naked and loose wire installations made of telephone wires.

He has since advised consumers to engage qualified electricians for power connections to avoid damage to property.

The Millers Association recently attributed the shortage of mealie meal and other bakery products to power load shedding by ZESCO.

The shortage of mealie meal in most parts of the country has seen an upward rise in prices.
ENDS/ZANIS/YK/GK….PIX.

[Headline corrected]
The Zimbabwe High Court on Tuesday ruled that the application by the opposition for the release of presidential poll results was urgent, and immediately started hearing submissions from both sides.

The country’s biggest opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) filed an urgent application in the High Court on Friday, seeking a court order compelling the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release the results of the March 29 presidential elections.

Lawyers for the ZEC had however, initially argued that the High Court had no jurisdiction over the case, which was dismissed by Justice Tendai Uchena.

The lawyers then argued that the case was not urgent, prompting Tuesday’s ruling.

After the ruling, Uchena immediately called on both sides to make submissions in the case.

MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama, who presented first, told the court that the MDC had a ‘legitimate expectation and clear right to have the results announced’.

He said all matters relating to the harmonised polls were supposed to be treated as urgent in terms of the Electoral Act.

“Results of all polls must have been in ZEC’s possession on or before March 30 2008,” he said, adding that collation and verification should not have been difficult.

“If the respondents (ZEC) have any other process they are carrying out, 10 days after the poll, then I submit that they failed to act in terms of the Electoral Act which requires them to act urgently”.

Agreeing that there was no provision providing for a specific time in which the results had to be announced, Muchadehama, however said there was no reason why the presidential poll results had not been announced yet results for the council, House of Assembly and senatorial elections held on the same day had been made public.

“Even if there is no specific provision providing a time period, within which the presidential polls ought to be announced, I submit that the totality of the circumstances of the case is that the respondents (ZEC) have failed to act in a reasonable time and because it has failed to act, must be ordered to act,” he said.

He said ZEC was an administrative body that was answerable to the courts.

He said ZEC should not audit the results or re-count the votes as this could only be done after a winner had been announced, provided that a re-count had been requested for 48 hours after the announcement.
“If that is what they are doing (re-counting) they are acting ultra vies the Electoral Act,” Muchadehama said.

He said there was no logic for parties to challenge results that had not yet been announced.

In his arguments, ZEC lawyer, George Chikumbirike dismissed the MDC’s application as invalid, and a political statement.

“How can anyone in all seriousness expect a court order that there be announcements of presidential results within four hours of an order being made,” he said.

He said the applicant’s (MDC) lawyers had also erred as they presented their application to the courts in a wrong format.

Based on this technicality, he said the application could be dismissed.

Chikumbirike also dismissed allegations that the commission was deliberately delaying the announcement of the results, saying there were steps that had to be followed.

The defence continues with its arguments on Wednesday.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Mansa has expressed worry at the low condom usage as a contraceptive among couples in the district.

UNFPA Team Leader Pascal Salimu said people in the area were not usually using condoms as a family planning contraceptive.

Mr. Salimu said there was need for heightened sensitisation about the importance of using condoms as a family planning too and not only for HIV/AIDS prevention.

He said this during a tour of four Rural Health Centres (RHCs) whose objective was to familiarise himself with Reproductive Health issues in Mansa recently.

He has since urged people in the district to also use condoms in family planning.

He said the condom was an effective contraceptive which should be widely used because it even reduced risks of contraction of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) such as HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Salimu observed that many people in the area were shunning using condoms as a family planning contraceptive even after they prescribed at the RHC.

“Women shunned using condoms in family planning and opted for nothing when Safe Plan and other contraceptives were not available at the RHC,” he observed.

Meanwhile Mr. Salimu has called on the traditional leader to assist in reducing and avoiding teenage pregnancies and early marriages in their chiefdoms.

He said unwanted pregnancies and early marriages among young people were a hindrance to girl child education.

And a traditional ruler in Mansa has threatened to punish parents who would marry off their daughters at tender ages.

Chief Mabumba of the Ushi people in Mansa said he would punish parents found condoning teenage pregnancies and early marriages in his chiefdom.

The traditional leader said this yesterday when a UNFPA team visited him at his palace on the agency’s reproductive health familiarisation program.

The UNFPA project, which was recently launched in Mansa and Nchelenge districts, is aimed at improving the health standards of women and children through three components namely, reproductive health, gender and population development.

The programme would deal with issues of adolescent and sexual reproductive health and emergency child care, which includes HIV/AIDS prevention.

Government is still awaiting for response from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) so as to give a go ahead for Prospective Uranium Mining in the country.

Mines Deputy Minister Maxwell Mwale said IAEA is still scrutinizing the guidelines that the Zambian government had sent on the mining of uranium in the country.

He stressed the commencement of uranium production by prospective uranium miners would only start after government receives a response from the Agency.

Mr. Mwale told ZANIS in an interview that it was illegal for prospective uranium miners to commence production as government was still working on a mechanism to regulate the mining of the mineral.

The Deputy Minister pointed out that the move taken by the Zambian government to send the guidelines to the Agency was aimed at protecting the Zambian communities from the effects of uranium.

Following the recent discovery of Uranium, there has been concerns that Zambia lacked capacity to control uranium mining in terms of storage, safety, security and transportation on the mineral.

ALBIDON Mining-Zambia Limited has confirmed the presence of high-grade uranium mineralisation at its Njame east project near Chirundu.

When giving an update on the pre-feasibility studies early this year, Albidon Zambia stated that uranium resources at the Chirundu joint venture with African Energy Resources had increased by 25 percent to about 4,120 metric tonnes.

Albidon indicated that the first uranium production was expected by the end of 2009.

However, Mines and Minerals Development Minister Dr Kalombo Mwansa had also in a related development warned that it was illegal to commence production in Zambia by prospective uranium miners as government was still developing guidelines in the mining of the mineral.

Dr Mwansa said the government had devised guidelines to regulate the mining of uranium in the country , which had been sent to the Agency.

Albidon Mining has become the third company to discover uranium deposits after Equinox Minerals discovered uranium deposits at its Lumwana copper project in North Western Province and has since embarked on a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS), whose outcome would decide the way forward.

The other company is Omega Corp Limited, whose uranium exploration operations in the Siavonga area have reached advanced stages, with company managing director Mathew Yates stating that metallurgical discoveries had resulted in new areas of uranium mineralisation at its Kariba Uranium Project (KUP).

And Senior Chief Chipepo of the Tonga people in Southern Province had in a separate interview urged government to devise an effective and efficient mechanism that will help the country regulate international guildlines in the mining of uranium in an effort to protect the people of Zambia.

Chief Chipepo advised government to take extra remedial measures that would guide prospecting Uranium Miners to be prospecting and mining the mineral with caution so as to protect the local people from the effects of the uranium mineral.

He pointed out that there is need for the Zambian government to develop an effective and efficient framework before the commencement of uranium in the country.

The traditional ruler’s concern comes in the wake of the confirmed presence of the high-grade Uranium mineral contents in the Southern Province of Zambia.

GOVERNMENT says it will look into the controversy surrounding the proposed
construction of Legacy Hotels in Livingstone.

Southern Province minister Daniel Munkombwe said government will not allow competing interests to sabotage other developers.

He said this when he paid a courtesy call on Senior Chief Mukuni of the Toka-Leya in Kazungula today.

Mr Munkombwe said it was worrying to note that earlier developers in the tourist capital are making it difficult for others to invest.

”Government will not allow competing interests to sabotage others that will come up. It is a source of worry to us that those who came early into the tourism fraternity are trying to frustrate new ones,” he said.

Mr Munkombwe said it was only fair that the National Heritage and Conservation Commission (NHCC) and the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) realise that the more hotels are built, the better for the economy of Livingstone and the country as a whole.

He said he would liaise with the relevant ministries on the need for expansion and to create more hotel bed capacity before the 2010 world cup to be hosted by South Africa.

Speaking earlier, Chief Mukuni said Livingstone required more hotels to be built before the 2010 world cup.

Senior Chief Mukuni said the construction of Legacy Hotels in Livingstone would help boost the country’s economy.

The traditional leader said it is important for government to intervene in the matter because the hotel was still awaiting policy direction from the National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC) and the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA).

Chief Mukuni wondered why David Livingstone hotel has been allowed to be constructed a hotel in the same locality while Legacy has been stopped.