Zambia Weekly
In this issue
In this issue
If in doubt, ask a crowd! 1 tion gathering – especially during crises – in Zambia
A sector worth mentioning 2
Sweden still making noise over Zambia 2 by the World Bank.
Quotes 2 The workshop, the first of its kind in Zambia, was
KCM to list in London - and Lusaka 3
Chinese gunslingers avoid prosecution 3 Zambia.
Riot in Garden Compound 4 Devoted crowdsourcers argue that people on the
Advert: How you look is how you feel 4
Less corruption in Zambia? 5 sourcing as it allows its user to write and edit entries for its online encyclopaedia) crowdsourc-
This week’s controversy: Chiluba 6
Football: Childish problem solving 7
Editor’s note
This season, Zambia has produced
2,795,483 tonnes of maize – an unprec-
edented bumper harvest. It has been hailed
as a major step towards food security,
although critics believe the latter is a matter
of better distribution rather than higher
production. The national food balance sheet
for 2010/11 indicates that Zambia needs
1.3 million tonnes for human consump-
tion and 230,000 tonnes for industrial use.
This leaves Zambia with a surplus of 1.27
million tonnes of maize – not including the
stocks from last year. But what are we going
to do with 1.27 million tonnes? Export it?
Unlikely! After all, the rest of Southern Af-
rica has also reaped well, since rain does not
respect borders. We also have the problem
that the Food Reserve Agency is buying the
maize – so far it has bought 873,779 tonnes
– at a price far above market price, which
makes it rather difficult to sell on. Surely,
the bumper harvest should not be used to
subsidise the rest of the region? Anyway,
this is all speculation based on speculative
figures. The figure of 2,795,483 tonnes of
maize is based on forecasts obtained – be-
fore the harvest – primarily with the help of
questionnaires. This week, the government
was urged to ascertain the actual quantity
of maize in Zambia. It was suggested that
farmers, millers and traders should be com-
pelled to declare their maize stocks. Easier
said than done, but it would make it a lot
easier for the government to determine how
much maize is needed where. Voila, food
security without having to produce expen-
sive, surplus maize!
Week 46, Volume 1, Issue 29, 19 November 2010
If in doubt, ask a crowd!
Crowdsourcing should play a bigger role in informa-
(Times 12). This is the conclusion of a recently held
Crowd-Sourcing Information Workshop, organised
part of a pilot programme that explores the use
of crowdsourcing in climate change adaptation in
ground often know better than the socalled experts
what they need where and when. According to Wikipedia (in itself a good example of crowd-
ing is the task of outsourcing tasks to an undefined crowd of people through an open call.
One successful example of crowdsourcing is the Ushahidi platform; a crowd feeding tool
that was founded during the 2007 election violence in Kenya – Ushahidi means testimony in
Swahili – to enable communities to report into the platform by web submission, SMS, Twitter
or email. Ushahidi has since generated interest in more than 30 countries and 60 projects are
being run from electoral monitoring in Burundi to violence reporting in the Congo – and it
was used by the World Bank to collect information from Haitian earthquake victims.
Crowdsourcing was also used by BP during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico. BP prompted the public for ideas on how to stem the flow of oil after its own solu-
tions had failed. It received thousands of suggestions. And the Canadian mining company
Goldcorp used crowdsourcing to turn around its financial woes when it was unable to find
gold on its land in northern Ontario. It put all its geological data online, asked for help on
where the gold was located and put up 500,000 US dollars in prize money. Eventually it
found 3 billion US dollars worth of gold and Goldcorp became one of Canada’s biggest min-
ing companies (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8788780.stm).
Crowdsourcing is usually available at little cost, as people are willing to share their ideas for
free, especially because crowdsourcing projects are often anonymous – which represents the
other side of the coin: How to avoid drowning in silly, unethical or lobbying suggestions. This
is one of the reasons why crowdsourcing has become unpopular with some people like – sur-
prisingly –Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
“The problem with the term is the notion of a crowd - this amorphous crowd has no individ-
ual perspective. There’s value in mass participation but where possible the people need some
expertise,” Wales said to the BBC.
Nevertheless, crowdsourcing can be a very valuable tool, and the workshop in Zambia was
received with a lot of enthusiasm. “This workshop is an eye-opener. I have learnt a lot on
crowdsourcing tools which I intend to use in my ministry, which is spread all over Zambia,”
said chief fisheries officer at the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Harris Phiri.
Electricity: Zambia has been linked to Namibia
The new Caprivi Link Interconnector, which links the electricity grids of Zambia and
Namibia, has been commissioned (Times/Daily Mail 13). President Rupiah Banda
and his counterparts Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe,
and Seretse Khama Ian Khama of Botswana took part in the ceremony. Banda said the
interconnector is important because it has opened an alternative north-south power
highway to the one going through Zimbabwe in the Southern African Power Pool
(SAPP). Furthermore, it will facilitate the exchanges of power between Zambia and
Namibia during emergencies.
The best of the Zambian media 1
 Zambia Weekly News

Manufacturing: A sector worth mentioning Quotes

Zambia has attracted investments worth 3.4 billion US dol-

“
lars from January to October 2010 – exceeding the 3 billion
We want [president] Rupiah, [vice-
US dollars target for the whole year. As a result, 25,704 jobs
president] George Kunda and [works
have been created, explained Minister of Commerce, Trade
and supply minister] Mike Mulongoti to
and Industry, Felix Mutati – of which the manufacturing
know that they will not get away with
sector accounted for 13,786 jobs (Times/Daily Mail 12).
what they are doing. The PF in govern-
He attributed the development to the improved investment ment will reinstate section 37 of the
climate and stability in major macroeconomic indicators ACC Act in our laws and ensure that no
arising from prudent economic management and business public officer is allowed to enjoy prop-

”
reforms – after all Zambia’s economy emerged as one of the best performers during the global erty that they cannot explain.
financial crisis. And the government intends to “continue to provide a favourable investment
PF president Michael Sata on the con-
environment by continuing to reduce the cost of doing business”, said Mutati (Times 17).
troversial abuse of office clause – section
In order to sustain growth and development achieved over the past decade, government will 37 (Post 12).
soon launch the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP) with a focus on strengthening

“
and widening the manufacturing sector. The aim is to add value to Zambia’s natural resources.
Almost 46 percent of the diplomatic
The major challenge in the manufacturing sector is the high cost of doing business, which the service is not professional. There is no
government wants to address with “vigorous business and licensing reforms”. problem with the president appointing
a few of his political cronies but a situ-
Despite the challenges, new manufacturing companies have set up base in Zambia, including
ation where such a high percentage is
Varun Beverages (Pepsi), Universal Mining and Chemical Industries Limited, MM Mobile,

”
unprofessional is unacceptable.
El Sewedy Limited and MM Integrated Steel Mills Limited. And a number of established
manufacturing companies such as Zambia Sugar plc and Zamanita Limited have expanded UPND MP David Matongo (Post 13).
their production capacities.
Other projects in the pipeline include a 400 million US dollars cement plant to be built by
Dangote industries of Zambia. “ If you have married a lady and you are
making her suffer, forget about promo-
tion. You should look after your wives

Sweden is still making noise over Zambia and children because a man who has
a stable home is also able to perform
highly at work and they are more pro-

”
Sweden is demanding more accountability of its aid – all due to Zambia. The acting direc- ductive.
tor general of Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Charlotte Petri
Gornitzka, who has just visited Zambia, said that Zambia should not look at Sweden as a Zambia National Service commandant
troublemaker for questioning the financial irregularities at the Ministry of Health but rather Major General Anthony Yeta on spouse
as a critical and supportive friend: “It’s our conviction that if we don’t put corruption issues abuse to ZNS officers (Sunday Post).
on the table, poor people will suffer in the long run,” she said (Post 15). Her predecessor,

“
Anders Nordström, was fired in June with particular reference to Zambia’s corruption record.
At the end of the day, we as govern-
Now, Sweden has decided not to pledge 85 million US dollars for 2011 to the Global Fund
ment leaders will come and go, but
for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria following concerns of financial misappropriation in
Zambia remains, and whatever we do
Zambia, Cameroon, Mauritania and Mali. Zambia stood for about 13 of the 25 million US
we must ensure that we keep the inter-
dollars misapplied funds. Nordström, who is now Sweden’s AIDS ambassador, said “[t]here is

”
est of Zambians.
a certain pattern here and we would like to see how the Global Fund is handling these cases”.
Sweden had since demanded to be paid back before considering the resumption of funding Tourism minister Catherine Namugala
(The Lancet in the Post 18). urging Zambians to demand account-
ability from their leaders (Post 18).

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Zambia Weekly
used to accuse Sata of funding Fr Bwa-
lya’s Red Card Campaign against the
MMD government (Post 18).

The best of the Zambian media 2

 Zambia Weekly Business
KCM to list in London – and Lusaka
Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) is about to become the first min-
ing company in Zambia to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
KCM advisory group representative Patrick Chisanga described the
occasion as a “proud moment” (Daily Mail 18) and the government
said it was “delighted”. “[T]his landmark transaction highlights the
role of Zambia as the leading African copper producer and one of
the world’s premier mining destinations,” minister of finance and
national planning, Situmbeko Musokotwane, said (Times 17). The
owner of KCM, Vedanta Resources plc, intends to list its Zambian
mine through a holding company called Konkola Resources plc. Once
the London listing is completed – where shares will be offered to
institutional investors only – Vedanta will pursue a listing of shares
on the Lusaka Stock Exchange and allocate shares to employees. The
Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) and National Union of
Miners and Allied Workers said it would empower many Zambians:
“The company has now opened up to the public. It will be obliged to
publicise its operations, and it will create a sense of ownership among
its workers, said MUZ president Rayford Mbulu. KCM intends to
use the proceeds of its global offer – expected to exceed 1.1 billion US
dollars – to fund its capital expenditure programme, repay loans from
and liabilities to Konkola Resources’ existing shareholders and for
general corporate purposes.
BP becomes Puma
BP Africa Limited has sold its
75.0000002 percent shareholding
of BP Zambia plc to Puma En-
ergy (Ireland) Holdings Limited
(Post/Daily Mail 16). The whole
deal, which is worth 296 million
US dollars, also includes the sale
of 100 percent of BP’s operations
in Botswana and Namibia and 50 percent of operations in Malawi
and Tanzania.
Puma Energy (Ireland) Holdings Limited is a wholly-owned sub-
sidiary of Swiss-based Puma Energy International B.V., which is a
subsidiary of Trafigura Beheer B.V. Trafigura is the world’s third-larg-
est independent oil trader – and it does come with a history. Earlier
this year, Trafigura was found guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste
from Amsterdam to Ivory Coast, where more than 10 people died and
thousands got sick. The company was also linked to the Oil-for-food
Iraq scandal (Post 15).
The sale in each country is subject to regulatory approvals and it
is expected that the sale of BP Botswana would be the first to be
completed in 2010 with the other countries following suit in 2011.
The deal does not include BP’s refining and marketing businesses in
Mozambique and South Africa. BP is cash-strapped especially con-
sidering that estimates of expenditure for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill
have been revised to 40 billion US dollars.
Puma Energy chairman Pierre Eladari said the deal marked a signifi-
cant milestone in the growth of the company’s business, positioning
Puma Energy as one of the largest independent downstream compa-
nies operating and investing in the region today. Puma Energy’s joint
venture partner, Sonangol, Angola’s state-owned petroleum company,
will take a 10 percent stake in the acquired businesses.
News in brief
Citizens to receive more empowerment
The Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC)
will “soon” be reviewed to “improve its performance and ser-
vice”, said Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Felix
Mutati. The CEEC assists local entrepreneurs with loans, men-
torship and capacity building. Since it was launched in Novem-
ber 2008, the CEEC has approved 515 projects, of which 362
have been funded at a total cost of 121 billion kwacha. Projects
include Kauba and Luwaka vegetable farms of north-western
province which employ 50 people, Kechas General Dealers
that manufacture corrugated iron sheets in central province (27
jobs), Jazz Company of Lusaka that makes engineering equip-
ment (16 jobs) and the Western Cashew industries which are
expected to create 205 jobs.
The - important - fight about digital standards
The switch from analogue to digital broadcasting in the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) is being
held up by arguments over which standard to use. The South-
ern African Digital Broadcasting Association (SADIBA)
strongly recommends adopting Digital Video Broadcasting
(DVB-T and possibly DVB-T2), while Brazil and Japan are
pushing for Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB),
a Japanese standard. MultiChoice Africa head of regulatory
affairs, Mgqibelo Gasela, said Japan was putting pressure on
SADC countries like Zambia, whose state-owned ZNBC
already has received broadcasting facilities based on ISDB.
All countries are supposed to move to digital broadcasting by
2015 in line with guidelines from the International Telecom-
munication Union, an UN agency which regulates information
and communication technology. Gasela appealed to ministers
meeting in Lusaka on 24 November 2010 to make the right
decision which “puts SADC forward” rather than succumbing
to pressure from Japan which, he said, would hurt technological
growth in the region (Post 15).
Chinese gunslingers not to be prosecuted
The two Chinese managers who shot and wounded 13 work-
ers at the Collum Coal Mine will not be prosecuted. All the
13 workers have chosen to instead receive compensation of
between 20 and 45 million kwacha. The mine has also increased
the minimum basic monthly salary from the statutory 286,000
kwacha to 450,000 kwacha and introduced food, housing and
transport allowances (Times 18). The 13 miners were wounded
during a protest for improved working conditions.
This week’s figures
When the mines were bought by the current owners, the copper
prices stood at around 1,500 US dollars per tonne. Today the
prices exceed 8,500 US dollars (Andrew Sardanis in Post 12).
The best of the Zambian media 3
 Zambia Weekly News

Riot in Garden Compound

Garden Compound turned into a battleground on Friday 12 Novem- police post is demolished “we are still going to police that area”.
ber after word went around that a local resident had died in the hold-
The government asked the police to provide a report on the death
ing cells at the community police post – allegedly after being beaten
of the detainee because “death should not be allowed in cells”, said
by the police (Times/Post 13).
Minister of Home Affairs, Mkhondo Lungu (Times 16). He did
The mourning of the man’s relatives outside the police post attracted however urge residents to not take the law into their own hands as
the attention of several residents, and when the police failed to give there “were several institutions and offices available for people who
a satisfactory explanation to what had led to the death of the de- have complaints”.
tainee, the residents rioted. They blocked Katima Mulilo Road with
logs, threw stones and other objects at the police, who eventually
had to retreat after running out of teargas. The residents then looted, Fines are paid with sex
demolished and set ablaze the police post – along with several private
vehicles parked outside. Police officers across the country demand sex from women
Lusaka division commanding officer Greenwell Ng’uni later said the nabbed for loitering if they fail to raise the admission of guilt
detained man had not died in custody (Daily Mail 13) – but that he fine. Reacting to complaints from residents in Garden Com-
was battered by an angry mob and had died in hospital (Sunday Post). pound, home affairs deputy minister Gaston Sichilima said
The man was arrested – with the help of residents – for loitering the reports had been difficult to investigate because the victims
previous night (Sunday Mail). “are not usually helpful”. The ministry, however, has asked for a
thorough investigation, and “if these reports are proved, we shall
Inspector-General of Police Francis Kabonde called the riot “shame- take action against the police officers,” he said (Post 14/15).
ful” and that all those involved will be identified, arrested and charged
with arson. Kabonde also assured the public that whether or not the

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The best of the Zambian media 4

 Zambia Weekly International Ratings

Less corruption in Zambia? News in brief

Zambia’s anti-corruption rating has im-
proved according to the Millennium Chal-
lenge Corporation (MCC) in Washington
(Daily Mail 17). 12,000 wrong NRCs
The recently released MCC scorecards for The Electoral Commission of Zambia
2011 show that Zambia’s control of cor- (ECZ) has had to neutralise about
ruption has improved – slightly – from a 12,000 national registration cards
score of 0.30 in 2010 to a score of 0.27 in (NRCs), which did not conform to the
2011, giving the country a percentile ranking standard format of six digits, forward-
amongst low-income countries of 77 percent slash, two digits, forward-slash and one
in 2011 compared to 74 percent in 2010 (0 percent is worst, 50 percent is the median and 100 digit in the end. Election body director
percent is best). Danny Kalale said the commission has
had to change all the affected NRC
The MCC evaluate a total of 17 policy indicators in three categories: ruling justly (6 indica- numbers to 111111/11/1 on the mobile
tors), investing in people (5 indicators) and economic freedom (6 indicators). It uses the 17 registration kits during the current
indicators to determine eligibility for its assistance programme. mobile registration of voters to facilitate
Zambian Ambassador to the USA, Sheila Siwela, expressed happiness with the progress, but the upgrade of the 2006 register of vot-
she forgot to mention that out of the 17 indicators, Zambia improved its score for 6 indicators, ers database. Kakale assured the public
worsened it for 9 and remained on the same score for 1. The last indicator had no data. that the original NRC numbers have
been maintained on the database at the
The MCC is an independent foreign aid agency that was created by the US Congress in 2004. ECZ’s head office. The affected voters
It provides large-scale grants to fund country-led solutions for poverty-reduction – but only to are being traced to correct their NRC
countries committed to good governance, economic freedom and investments in their citizens. numbers. Minister of Home Affairs
In 2006, Zambia initiated its MCC threshold programme to facilitate eligibility for MCC Mkhondo Lungu said government will
compact funding, which it qualified for in December 2008, when, for the first time, its indica- investigate how 12,000 voters came to
tor for control of corruption and at least half of the indicators in all three categories exceeded have wrong NRCs (Daily Mail 12/16).
the median of all low-income countries for the first time.
Last month, Transparency International released its Corruption Perception Index 2010, which Autonomous prosecution
ranked Zambia as 101 out of 178 countries on corruption. The country had maintained its
2009 score of 3 out of 10, and President of Transparency International Zambia, Reuben Li- The government plans – in due course
fuka, called the results “a pointer to the fact that little has been done” (Post 27 October). – to transform the Directorate of Public
Prosecutions (DPP) in the Ministry
of Justice into an autonomous body
to be called the National Prosecutions
A citizens budget would improve this index! Authority. Vice-President and Minister
of Justice, George Kunda, said the aim
This week, the International Budget Partnership released its Open Budget Index (OBI) 2010
is to uphold good governance principles
– which provides the only independent, comparative, regular measure of budget transparency
and practices in Zambia. The DPP will
and accountability around the world. Zambia’s 2010 OBI score is 36 out of 100, which is
be transformed as part of the minis-
significantly worse than most countries in Southern Africa. The poor score indicates that the
try’s new strategic plan that has been
government provides the public with minimal information on its budget and financial activities
developed to guide its activities over the
assessed in the OBI, the report reads in part (Daily Mail 16). One of the two Zambian OBI
next five years. The DPP is responsible
researchers, the executive director of the Economic Association of Zambia, Alexander Chil-
for all public and criminal prosecution as
eshe, suggested the government should start publishing a citizens budget to make the national
provided in Article 58 of the constitu-
budget accessible to the public, as the yellow book, which contains all the budget information,
tion (Times 13).
is too technical for laymen and difficult to acquire (Post 15). The OBI is produced every two
years by independent experts. This year’s report reveals that 74 of the 94 countries assessed
failed to meet basic standards of transparency and accountability with national budgets. The
International Budget Partnership cooperates with civil society around the world to use budget
analysis and advocacy as a tool to improve effective governance and reduce poverty.
www.internationalbudget.org/what-we-do/open-budget-survey
This week’s figure
Since 2008, the government has
Everybody - almost - have been counted built 4,050 classrooms to create
school places for 161,080 pupils
The 2010 National Census of Population and Housing closed on 16 November. Acting (Minister of Education, Dora
director of the Central Statistical Office, John Kalumbi, said the exercise had been successful, Siliya in Times 13).
although some areas are yet to be fully covered, he explained, especially in towns. These areas
will be counted before the end of November (Times 17).

The best of the Zambian media 5

 Zambia Weekly This week’s controversy

Charge Chiluba for money laundering? News in brief

The Patriotic Front (PF) has given the Drug En-
forcement Commission (DEC) 14 days to institute
investigations against Frederick Chiluba for money
laundering or face legal proceedings in the High Banda in Brazil
Court. President Rupiah Banda has been on a
In a letter dated 15 November 2010, PF secretary four-day reciprocal visit to Brazil at the
general Wynter Kabimba stated that “this is a case invitation of Brazilian President Luiz
appropriate for investigation and consequently pros- Inacio Lula da Silva, who visited Zambia
ecution in the interest of the Republic of Zambia in July (Daily Mail 15). Banda held talks
and its people” (Post 16). Kabimba refers to last with da Silva, signed a few agreements,
week’s case of UK lawyer Bimal Thaker who had his practicing license revoked because of the opened the Zambia-Brazil Business Fo-
way his law firm handled Zambia’s money under the reign of Chiluba. rum in Sao Paolo – urging Brazilian busi-
nesses to follow in the footsteps of mining
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in the UK said Thaker “had been grossly reckless” by per- giant Vale to invest in Zambia, and visited
mitting substantial sums of money passing into and out of the account of his client (Zambia) Dedini, the largest bio-fuel equipment
when the payments “had clearly not been in any way connected with any legal work” but “bore producing company in the world (Daily
the hallmarks of money laundering”. Mail 15/17/18 and Times 17).
The DEC said it would not institute investigations because the alleged crime was commit-
ted before the enactment of the Prohibition and Prevention of the Money Laundering Act
No 14 of 2001. DEC public relations manager John Nyawali explained that article 18 of the
constitution did not allow prosecution of an individual for an act which did not constitute an
offence at the time it was alleged to have been committed (Times/Daily Mail 18).
But PF spokesperson Given Lubinda said the investigations could still be instituted under the
Penal Code.
The last time Chiluba occupied the limelight was in August, when High Court judge Evans
Hamaundu set aside an application by the state to register a London High Court judgement
in which Chiluba and seven others were found guilty of defrauding the Zambian government
of about USD 46 million. This effectively bars Zambia from pursuing assets owned by the
accused – in Zambia.

More activities at Vic Falls

Chiluba’s right hand man arrested Visitors to the Victoria Falls will now
be able to select from an even larger
Emmanuel Mwamba, the busy spokesperson of former president Frederick Chiluba, has been range of adventure activities. The Min-
detained by police for contempt of court. Last week, Supreme Court judge Gregory Phiri, istry of Tourism, through the National
sitting as High Court judge, ordered authorities to investigate and trace the author of two Heritage Conservation Commission and
“contemptuous and scandalous” articles on the Zambian Watchdog website commenting on the Zambia Tourism Board, wants to
the ongoing Mathew Mohan murder trial (Post/Times 18). The defence lawyer for Matthew introduce new tourism products above the
Mohan had applied to court that the blog-based articles were prejudicial to court proceed- falls. The Minister of Tourism, Catherine
ings (Daily Mail 16). Mathew Mohan, the managing director of Inktech, is together with Namugala, stated that the future suc-
Idris Patel and Shabir Patel charged with the murder of Cyclone Hardware Director, Sajid cess of tourism depends on the ability to
Mohammed Itowala. Managing editor of the Post, Amos Malupenga, had in a letter accused develop more tourism products at some
Mwamba of being the author of the articles (Post 16) – but Mwamba denied the accusation. of the country’s natural resources. The
new activities – which only will be offered
during the dry season – include breakfast,
lunch and candle/moonlit dinners on the
lip of the falls, guided walks, rock climb-
MMD national secretary in road accident ing, geological research and guided tours
of the gorges (Post 12).
MMD national secretary and MP, Katele Kalumba, has been involved in a road acci-
dent in Kashikishi in the Luapula province (Daily Mail/Post 15). Kalumba was initially
admitted to a hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from where he was
evacuated to the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka. Kalumba’s Pajero overturned
as he was trying to avoid a pothole. He sustained a ruptured bladder and lost a lot of
blood – but his condition is stable (Times 17).

The best of the Zambian media 6

 Zambia Weekly Football
Childish problem solving?
Zesco United has won the 2010
Super Division after being award-
ed three points by the Football
Association of Zambia (FAZ)
for an – un-played – encounter
against City of Lusaka (Daily
Mail 15).
The trouble started in the end of
September, when four members
of FAZ’s executive committee
resigned. The Kalusha Bwalya-led
committee then co-opted four
new members, but since the beginning of November, several clubs
have boycotted games to push the FAZ to call for an emergency
council meeting to legitimise the new committee as the five originally
elected members could not constitute a quorum.
This week, Zambia Premier League (ZPL) chairman Kephas Ka-
tongo said that Super Division team would call off their boycott – if
FAZ would nullify all disciplinary matters, as some teams have been
docked point for boycotted games (Daily Mail 13), but FAZ said it
“could not bend rules” (Times 13) – and pointed out that the ZPL is
not a member of FAZ.
FIFA has reiterated that the co-option of the four members into FAZ
was done in accordance with the association’s constitution (Daily
Mail 12), but the Sports Council of Zambia maintained that the
committee dissolved itself with the resignation of the four executive
members (Sunday Mail).
Last week, the executive committee bowed to demands. The emer-
gency council meeting was scheduled for 27 November 2010. This
week, a group of members set up another council meeting – on 26
November 2010 – upon submitting a petition signed by the required
two-third majority of FAZ’s members (Times 12). “It would be illogi-
cal for the people that have convincingly argued that the executive is
illegal to attend that [FAZ] meeting,” explained FAZ life member
Luxon Kazabu (Post 12).
But FAZ general secretary George Kasengele said the meeting
planned for 27 November would go on as planned as the meeting
called by the petitioners had no blessings of FAZ (Times 12). A few
days later, however, Kasengele said FAZ would consider the validity
of the meeting on 26 November (Sunday Mail).
Katongo said it was “very clear” that the Kalusha administration did
not want to dialogue and the ZPL together with other petitioners
would chart the way forward at the emergency council meeting set for
26 November (Times 17).
This week’s figure
The Food Reserve Agency has so far bought 873,779
tonnes of the 2009/10 bumper maize harvest of 2.8 million
tonnes (Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Eu-
starckio Kazonga in Times 16).
Titbit News
Car chase(r) ends up in river
A man plunged his – appropriately named – Toyota Chaser
into the Kafubu River in Ndola during a car chase with an-
other man in the early hours of 11 November. Morgan Mwalu-
kanga of Matero Township in Lusaka veered off to the left of
the bridge on Dag Hammerskjoeld Drive in Itawa, while his
opponent, Azwell Sonjolo of Chifubu Township in Ndola, who
was driving a Toyota Corolla, ended up “rested on the pave-
ment of the river” to the right of the bridge (Times 12). Both
men survived – with injuries – and have been charged with
dangerous driving. Eye witnesses said that one of the men was
in town when the other man started pursuing him. The two
men then started chasing each other in their cars. The police
said the dispute that led to the car chase was unclear.
Priest arrested for drug trafficking
A joint team of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC)
and Zambia Police in Lusaka has arrested a priest at the New
Apostolic Church for drug trafficking. Godfrey Kahuma
Chifunda, was arrested after he was found with four bags of
dry cannabis weighing over 80 kilograms. DEC spokesperson
John Nyawali said the DEC was saddened by the development.
On Christmas Eve last year, another apostolic priest was ar-
rested for cultivating about a tonne of cannabis near the church
premise (Post 12).
Stray lion with a taste for goats
A stray lion has left people in Kapilamikwa area in Lufwan-
yama District “gripped with fear” after it has killed 11 goats –
so far. The lion, which is expected to have come from the Kafue
National Park, is being pursued by officers from the Zambia
Wildlife Authority (ZAWA). Lufwanyama District Commis-
sioner Miniver Mutesa said people were concerned that it was
taking long for the officers to find the beast. “[P]eople want to
go and cultivate their fields, but they can’t because they fear to
be killed by the stray lion,” she said (Times 16).
Zambia Weekly
Week 46, Volume 1, Issue 29, 19 November 2010
Zambia Weekly is a free e-zine that extracts the news you really need
to know about. It provides an effortless way of keeping up-to-date with
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