The Zambian government has clarified that delays to deliver the maize purchased by Zimbabwe has been caused by logistical challenges.

Chief Government Spokesperson Michael Mulongoti says fumigation of maize and the Banking payments are some of the logistical challenges that are delaying the Zambian government from delivering maize to Zimbabwe.

Mr. Mulongoti was responding to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who yesterday at a campaign rally expressed concern about delays by the Zambian government in delivering the commodity to that country.

Mr. Mulongoti, who is also Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that government was actively looking into the matter.

He said the Zambian government would remain committed to meeting its contractual obligations with other countries.

Yesterday at a campaign rally, President Mugabe expressed concern about delays by the Zambian government to export maize to that country.

Mr. Mugabe told about 8,000 party supporters during a campaign rally in Mahusekwa, a rural settlement about 70 kilometres South of the Capital Harare that the country was in dire need of maize as the country was faced with an emergency of food crisis.

The Zimbabwean Leader stated that his government has sought permission from the Zambian government to send people to load the maize into trucks because of the delays by the Zambian government in exporting the commodity to that country.

He said his government has already paid for 150, 000 metric tonnes of maize to the Zambian government.

The Chinese managers of Zambia’s Chambishi Copper Smelter (CCS) agreed on Thursday to reinstate 500 workers who had been sacked, their union said.

“They have assured us that everybody will get back to work and we hope normal operations will resume on Monday,” National Union of Mining and Allied Workers (Numaw) general secretary Albert Mando told Reuters.

“We will then start our salary negotiations again.”

CCS employees went on strike and rioted on Tuesday over pay and work conditions, injuring a Chinese manager and a Zambian.

The incident highlighted tensions between Zambian workers and Chinese managers in the mining industry.

Chambishi Copper Smelter is the first of 50 Chinese companies that plan to invest over $800 million in a tax free zone in Zambia within the next five years, Zambian officials said.

The growing presence of Chinese firms in Zambia has prompted an anti-Chinese backlash in some parts of the country, with the main opposition party accusing Mwanawasa of allowing the Asian newcomers to exploit workers.

Earlier , the Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) asked Chambishi Copper Smelter to reconsider its decision to fire 500 workers, for riotus behaviour.

The FFTUZ also appealed to government to immediately intervene in the matter.

FFTUZ National Executive Secretary, Lyson Mando, said in a statement to ZNBC news that government should help the two parties, resolve the matter amicably.

Mr. Mando also called for the release of seven workers detained by police, in connection with the riot at Chambeshi Smelter – Tuesday.

He said there is an urgent need for the union and management at the smelter to resume negotiations to resolve a number of concerns raised by the workers.

However, Mr. Mando has warned that his union will not condone unruly behavior from its members.

On Tuesday, Zambian workers at Chambeshi Smelter fought with their Chinese colleagues, in an incident sparked by demands for better conditions of service

The International Narcotic Control Board annual report for last year has cited Zambia as one of the largest producer of Cannabis in Southern Africa.

Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) Acting Commissioner, Peter Chingaipe has disclosed.

Mr. Chingaipe said South Africa, Botwana and Swaziland are some of the countries found to be producing canabis at a large scale.

The DEC chief was speaking at the launch of international narcotic control board report for 2007 in Lusaka.

United Nations Systems Zambia Information Officer Mikie Mwamba was concerned at the misuse of phamaceutical products which contain Narcotic and psychotropic drug substances.

Sacked Chambeshi Smelter Copper Mine workers will not be protected because they did not follow procedure in airing their grievances.

Copperbelt Permanent Secretary, Jennifer Musonda said the workers at Chambeshi Smelter should blame themselves for the action taken by management to dismiss them.

Mrs. Musonda said the government will not protect unruly behaviour by workers especially where they over look dialogue and grievance procedures.

She told ZNBC news that the behaviour of the workers was uncalled for in a country which is in a hurry to develop.

Mrs. Musonda said it was wrong for the workers to resort to violence when management was ready to meet with their union leaders.

The Permanent Secretary said the workers might have genuine complaints but the course of action, they took was counter productive and should not be supported.

She said police will remain at the plant to provide security while the Chinese nationals continue with construction work at the plant.

Chambeshi Copper Smelter dismissed all the 500 unionised employees who went on strike recently over poor conditions of service.

The Zambian workers also fought with their Chinese workmates.

President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday said his government had paid for more than 400 tonnes of maize from Zambia and Malawi but blamed Lusaka’s “lack of urgency” for slowing down efforts to fight off hunger.

Addressing a campaign rally of about 6 000 supporters at Mahusekwa rural business centre, about 90km south-east of Harare, Mugabe said his government would dispatch a team of officials to Zambia to assist authorities there to speed up delivery of maize. “We are trying (to provide food) but our maize is still across the Zambezi (river between Zambia and Zimbabwe),” Mugabe said. “It seems they have no sense of urgency. They are working as if everything is normal.

We have talked to the Zambian government and they have agreed to be assisted so we are sending our team there. We have set up an emergency team because of the high level of hunger,” he said. Mugabe – who urged the villagers not to vote for former finance minister Simba Makoni because he was a “man of no principles” – said the government paid for 150 000 tonnes of maize from Zambia, 300 000 tonnes from Malawi and a “few thousand” tonnes from South Africa.

Zimbabwe, also in the grip of its worst ever economic crisis, has battled severe food shortages for the past eight years after Mugabe’s controversial land reforms displaced established white commercial farmers and replaced them with either incompetent or inadequately funded black peasant farmers.

A joint crop assessment report by the agriculture ministry and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) released this week says Zimbabwe could face another grain shortfall this year because if a shortage of seed and fertilizers that affected the cropping season. International relief agencies say up to four million Zimbabweans or a quarter of the country’s 12 million people require food aid between now and the next harvest in about a month’s time.

Mugabe said his government sympathised with the people’s worsening plight telling the rural voters who have been loyal to his party not to be swayed by Makoni, who rebelled to challenge the veteran leader in the March 29 presidential poll. “If you vote for him (Makoni) you are lost, this is the truth. You do not have to join a man of no principles,” said Mugabe, who mocked his challenger as a dreamer who thinks he could just wake up as the new president of the country.

Mugabe, who could clock more than three decades in office if he is re-elected for another five-year term, denied responsibility for Zimbabwe’s economic crisis and instead blamed a profiteering business community of unjustifiably hiking prices to worsen the misery of consumers.

Zimbabwe is in the grip of an acute economic recession critics blame on mismanagement by Mugabe and seen in the world’s highest inflation rate of more than 100 000 percent, 80 percent unemployment and shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency. However, analysts say an unfair playing field guarantees Mugabe victory at the polls. The 84-year old Mugabe has promised a landslide victory against Makoni and main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.