President Levy Mwanawasa says the Constitutional Conference would have no legislative power to make or alter a new Constitution.

Mr Mwanawasa said this when he explained to party officials during a meeting in Livingstone on the difference between the Conference and the Constituent Assembly.

This is contained in a Statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today by Special
Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, John Musukuma.

Mr Mwanawasa said the process to amend the current constitution  through the
constituent assembly  would be long and very costly to the nation and fail to
achieve the desired result.

He further said legislating for a Constitutional Conference which would have no
power to make or alter the Constitution but pass its resolutions to Parliament for
enactment, is simple and less time consuming.

Mr Mwanawasa said because all the Members of Parliament would be members of the
Constitutional Conference, there is a high probability that Members of Parliament
would vote to legislate whatever the Constitutional Conference adopted.

He stressed that the method was inexpensive, less acrimonious and would make it
possible for Parliament to legislate those provisions which were  not contentious
and defer those that require the holding of a Referendum.

”It is possible for an agreement to be made on almost 80% of the document.  At the
end of the day except for this explaination,  there was no difference between a
Constituent Assembly and Constitutional Conference. You can call it what you want
‘Constituent Assembly, Constitutional Conference, Convention, National Indaba, it is
all an exercise in semantics”, Mr Mwanawasa said

Zambia, a former recipient of food aid, has given the U.N World Food Programme (WFP) 10,000 tonnes of white maize to feed orphans and people living with AIDS, a senior aid official said on Thursday.

WFP country manager for Zambia, David Stevenson, said the government donation would be used to help feed hungry people in Zambia where the aid agency requires an additional $10 million to feed Zambians affected by floods in the last rainy season.

“It is the first time Zambia has done so (donating food) and it’s a tremendous gesture in many ways that shows we are collaborating well with Zambia in meeting the needs of hungry people,” Stevenson said.

He added assessments were underway in Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland on food requirements, and part of the Zambian donation could go to help feed hungry people elsewhere in Africa.

“The priority for distributing this food will be within Zambia because we have 600,000 people requiring food aid while the donation can only feed 550,000 people for three months,” Stevenson told Reuters.

Officials say thousands of Zambians and Malawians still face food shortages despite maize surpluses in the two nations in the 2006/07 season.

In June, Zambian Agriculture Minister Ben Kapita said the country’s 2006/07 maize output declined 4.4 percent to 1.36 million tonnes compared with output for 2005/06 due to floods which destroyed the crop in 41 of the country’s 72 districts.

Kapita said Zambia would keep 250,000 tonnes of maize in strategic reserves in addition to the surplus of 160,000 tonnes the previous year.

The government last week authorised traders to export 200,000 tonnes of maize to Namibia and the democratic Republic of Congo.

In Zambia, where one in every five adults aged 14 to 49 years either lives with AIDS or is infected with HIV, people especially in rural areas are unable to feed themselves because they either spend too much time nursing relatives suffering from AIDS or are too sick to grow their own food, officials say.

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it strongly supports calls opposing Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) Strategic Partner Vendata from acquiring an additional 28.4 percent shares in the Mining Company.

ZCTU Deputy Secretary General Ian Mkandawire said giving Vendata any additional shares in the company above the 51 percent which it currently had, would deny Zambian’s a chance to effectively partcipate in the managment of the Zambian economy.

Mr Mkandawire said Government must instead float the 28.4 percent shares to the Zambian people as a way of empowering local people to actively participate in the managment of local resources.

Mr. Mkandawire in a statement to ZANIS in Kitwe today said the concept of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission would only be beneficial to the Country if Zambians were allowed to take up economic opportunities such as taking over the 28.4 percent shareholding in KCM currently being held by the Zambia Copper Investiment Holdings (ZCIH).

He said government was aware of a number of controversies surrounding the mining industry particularly as regards the various agreements which had attracted calls for revision.

He added that Government should not bring about controversy by allowing Vendata to acquire further shareholding in KCM at the expense of indigenious Zambians.

He said his union was concerned over lack of social responsibility by current Mine owners which needed to be addressed adequately by off-loading some shares to
Zambians for direct attention towards the improvement of communities in which these mining companies are situated.

Mr Mkandawire said his union stands strongly opposed to any further acquisation of shares by Vendata in KCM and that Government should give serious consideration to the matter.

Meanwhile, Zambia’s total finished copper output will hit 1.2 million tonnes in 2009, against a previous forecast that said the country would produce 1 million tonnes in 2011, a senior industry official said.

Tim Henderson, the Chief Executive Officer of Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), said production of copper would rise faster than expected because the life of the vast copper and cobalt mines had risen due to exploration and modern mining technologies.

“Copper Production has increased from 257,000 tonnes in 2000 to over 500,000 tonnes in 2006 (and is) projected to reach 1.2 million tones by 2009,” Henderson said late on Tuesday.

President Levy Mwanawasa said in April the country was set to double its annual copper output to 1 million tonnes by 2011 following discovery of new reserves.

Henderson, who was speaking in Livingstone, 480km south of Lusaka at a Zambia economic and business forum, said the southern African country would have to invest in infrastructure such as roads and energy to handle larger volumes of copper.

“Zambia is not the only country working hard to attract FDI (foreign direct investment) in mining… we should therefore not relax. Privatisation has been a great success and boosted the economy through huge investments and job creation,” he added.

Zambia’s state run copper mines were privatised starting in 1998 when Chinese investors purchased the Chambishi Copper mine.

Henderson also said Mopani had in principle agreed to renegotiate development agreements with the government, which plans to raise mineral royalties to 3.0 percent from 0.6 percent and corporate tax to 30 percent from 25 percent.

“In principle, mining companies are willing to renegotiate the agreements. Any future change in the rate of mineral royalties should be linked to copper prices,” Henderson said.

Henderson was giving Mopani’s stand on impending increases in taxes for the mining firms for the first time after Konkola Copper mines, Zambia’s largest copper producer, said in June it was willing to pay the higher taxes.

Some foreign mine owners said the taxes would be too high.

Mopani, which operates the Nkana mine, Mufurila copper mines and the Mufulira Smelter is the country’s second largest copper producer. MCM is a joint venture of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals and Glencore International AG of Switzerland.

Mwanawasa has been pushing for greater foreign investment, including Chinese, in the country’s copperbelt region in a bid to modernise ageing mines and raise exploration and production.

 President Levy Mwanawasa has sent  a message of condolences to former first republican president Dr.Kenneth Kaunda on the death of his grandson Zunda Banda who passed away in Harare, Zimbabwe.

This is contained in a statement signed by President Mwanawasa’s special assistant
for press and public relations John Musukuma and made available to ZANIS this
evening.

In his message President Mwanawawsa said:  “I have learnt with a deep sense of shock
of the untimely death of your dear grandson, Zunda Banda, son to James and Musata.
On behalf of the Government, the people of Zambia and indeed my own behalf, please
accept our deepest sympathies on this tragic loss.

“As you endure this sad and difficult times, please accept my deepest and heartfelt
condolences . The loss of a youthful life so close to one is deverseting, but as you
mourn your dearest grandson, be assured that James and Musata indeed, yourself and
madam Kaunda and your entire family will be in our prayers as we commit you all to
the Lord’s providence,” he said.

“Kindly convey these sympathies to Mr. and Mrs. Banda,” he added.

Celtel Star Search finalist, Levins Mwanza ,was last Sunday arrested in Lusaka for failing to pay K50,000 for a taxi that he hired.

Driver of a Hyundai Accent Registration ABD 6493, Zondiwe Kajane told ZANIS in a
telephone interview that Levins, who was in the company of a woman booked the taxi
around midnight on Sunday.

“He wanted to be driven to Matero from Kabwata, we first went to club Zone in
Emmasdale where the woman left, then to New Londe Matero where I requested for the
money but the star refused, saying the money was in Barrastone where he lives,” he
said.

Kajane said he refused to take Levins to Barrastone as he was in a drunken state and
there was no guarantee that he would pay once they reached his place.

He stated that he was forced to take the star to Salima Police post in Matero where
he was arrested and was only released yesterday after his manager only known as
Truman surrendered his cell phone as surety that Levins would pay the taxi fare.

Zondiwe revealed that Levins only managed to pay K40,000 yesterday.

And when contacted for comment Levins’ manager, Truman, who sounded defensive,  said the allegations were not true.

And Levins who is also known for his ‘Nalema’ hit, could not be reached for comment.

Inspector General of Police, Ephraim Mateyo, has with immediate effect directed police officers to desist from chasing motorists who commit traffic offenses.

Mr Mateyo has however instructed the police officers to take note of the registration and fleet numbers of mini bus or any other vechicle and circulate the details to other officers.

He said this in a press statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today by Police
spokespserson, Bonny Kapeso.

Mr Mateyo’s directive comes in the wake of yesterday’s incident in which a traffic
officer who was allegedly chasing a mini-bus driver for a traffic offense, resulted
into an accident which almost sparked off a riot in town.

He noted that the law requires that 14 days be given to motorists who disobey
traffic rules to report themselves to any nearest police station, failure to which
they would be arrested.

Mr Mateyo noted that officers should be proffessional,considerate and polite when
dealing with members of the public while upholding the law firmly and fairly.

He has since regretted the death of an innocent person during yesterday’s near riot,
adding that the victim might have not even been involved in the confusion.

Mr Mateyo has assured the nation that measures will be put in place to avoid a
recurrence of yesterday’s incident, adding that only credible officers will be retained to perform traffic duties.