TAZARA WORKERS STRIKE ENTERS DAY TWO

The tanzania-zambia railway line company (tazara) workers strike has entered day two in kapiri mponshi were workers have refused to return to work demanding for the removal of tazara managing director akashambatwa mbikusita lewanika and the regional director of the company with immediate effect.

The workers have also refused to return to work demanding a salary increment of 2million kwacha across the board despite the company’s under performance under the current management which the workers wants to remove out of office.

Tazara workers union kapiri mponshi branch acting chairperson joachim mulenga says the workers will only return to work after management comply with their demands.

Mr mulenga who was speaking in an interview with radio phoenix in kapiri mponshi says the workers are also demanding for the removal of the senior human resources officer who they have said is incompetent in his excursion of the company duties.

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ZAMBIA ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERES ASKS NEW GOVERNMENT TO RELOOK AT THE DEAD TEXTILE INDUSTRY QUICKLY AS ONE WAY TO CREATING JOBS

the zambia association of manufacturers (zam) has called on the new government of president michael sata to provide incentives to local companies in the textile sector to help improve and uplift the standard of the industry which is almost dead.
zam chairperson chance kabaghe says if the new government wants to create new jobs as per its policy, there is need to offer incentives which will allow local companies to set up companies to start manufacturing products which have good quality and can be sold internationally.
mr. kabaghe has stated that the government should allow for local investors to import technology at cheap prices and lower taxes like it has promised so that they can revamp the industry.
speaking in an interview with radio phoenix, mr. kabaghe says currently the industry is non functional with the closure of mulungushi and kafue textiles which used to produce products and could be found in the local market.
meanwhile mr. kabaghe has declared that the country’s manufacturing sector will perform accordingly once the new government implements its policies properly.
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ZAMBIA ELECTS NEW SPEAKER AND HIS DEPUTY

judge patrick matibin has been elected as the new speaker of zambia's national assembly after he scooped the seat with one vote this morning beating the opposition endorsed candidate upnd vice president richard kapita.

meanwhile the house has elected mmd’s lundazi member of parliament mkhondo lungu has the deputy speaker of the national assembly and chasefu fdd member of parliament chifumu banda as the deputy chairperson for the committee of the whole house.

judge matibin polled 78 votes aganst upnd’s vice president richard kapita’s 77votes.

judge matibin takes over from amusa mwanamwambwa who has retired and mr. mkondo lungu takes over from mutale nalunmango who was deputy speaker until the dissolution of parliament.

meanwhile president michael sata has sworn in the newly elected speaker of the national assembly judge patrick matibini with his deputy mkhondo lungu.

speaking at the swearing in ceremony in lusaka today president sata thanked the opposition parties for uniting for a good common cause.

he also called for the judicial reforms if justice has to go to the people in the country who need it most.

president sata advised the newly elected leaders to exhibit impartiality in their duties.

he says the success of any governments depends on how vigorous the parliament members and leaders are in their duties.

president sata has further observed that the gap between parliament workers and the judiciary is wide and needs to be closed up
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SATA DIRECTS JUSTICE MINISTER TO INSTITUTE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SALE OF FINANCE BANK, ZAMTEL, 98BILLION NAPSA DEAL AS HE DISSOLVES ERB BOARD

president michael sata has directed  justice minister sebastian zulu to immediately institute an enquiry into the sale of zamtel, finance bank and the 98 billion napsa deal.

and president michael sata has with immediate effect dissolved the board of the energy regulation board and appointed  wynter kabimba to head the commission which will carry out an enquiry into the alleged corruption in the  purchase and sell of fuel on the market.

making the pronouncements at state house today after swearing in the vice president, cabinet  and deputy ministers ,president sata said  there has been corruption allegation which have been leveled against the purchase and sell of fuel in the country which is supposed to have a reduction of at least 3 to 500 kwacha.

he has further directed that mr kabimba` s commission should come up with  a report within 30days from today.

the president has also directed the minister of justice to help the police recover all the properties which belong to zambians especially vehicles which entered duty free under the nose of the zambia revenue authority.

he says there is need to bring sanity at zra and ensure that things which are for zambians  be returned to zambians.

and president sata has also directed the new minister of labour, sport and gender fackson shamenda to revise the minimum wage of all employees in the country from the current 450 000kwacha which he said is contributing  to the increase in poverty levels.

president sata has also directed that there shall be nothing which shall be exported out of the country without the certification of the bank of zambia to avoid illegal sale of various commodities.

meanwhile  after swearing ministers and their deputies, president sata  admitted  that he made a mistake by exceeding the number of mps and has since  withdrawn the appointment of   willie nsanda and his deputy.

the president also says he could not swear in the new minister for the new muchinga province because it has not been gazzetted and ratified by parliament.

amongst those sworn in are home affairs minister kennedy, defence minister geoffrey bwalya mwamba, vice president guy scot, justice minister sebastian zulu, chishimba kambwili for foreign affairs, emmanuel chenda for agriculture and cooperatives and livestock, fackson shamenda for youth, sports, gender and labour ministry and robert sichinga for commerce, trade and industry.

others sworn in are wilbur simusaa for mines and minerals, given lubinda for information, broadcasting and tourism, professor nkandu luo for local government, early education and environmental protection and edgar lung as deputy minister on the office of the vise president amongst others.

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FNB ZAMBIA LIMITED TO INJECT APPROXIMATELY 200BILLION KWACHA IN FIANCNE BANK ZAMBIA LIMITED IN THE NEXT 2YEARS FOR BANK UPGRADE

First national bank Zambia limited under the parent of first rand south Africa which recently took over 96percent of finance bank Zambia limited at a cost price of 27billion kwacha plans to spend approximately 200billion kwacha over the next 2 years to  integrate the bank and upgrade the branches.

in order to take on the selected assets of finance bank, as well as its 34 branches and 16 agencies, bank will need to inject more capital into fnb Zambia to also upgrade the banks agency, atm networks, and roll out new products and services.

fnb Zambia limited chief executive officer, sarel van zyl says the bank is very positive about the market prospects of Zambia especially with the combination of the footprint of finance bank with the new and innovative products and customer service channels such as online banking and cell phone banking of fnb.

The fnb Zambia limited chief executive officer says currently the bank has 6 branches and 20 atms but has approval from the board to open another 2 branches before December of this year and install another 15 atms over the short term.

He has pointed out that the projects have already commenced to meet the deadline and the banks original business plan is to open at least 3 branches per annum until we have branch representation in all 9 provinces in Zambia.

Mr. van zyl has stated that the bank believes that it will be able to contribute towards the vision of the bank of Zambia (boz), which is to take banking to the under- and un-banked communities of Zambia.

and Mr. van zyl has noted that good, healthy competition helps banks to be creative in finding the best solutions for customer needs adding that  fnb has been operating in south Africa for more than 170 years, and has operations in 7 other countries outside of south Africa.

He says the bank has a wealth of experience in banking in Africa, and is well positioned to enrich the banking sector in Zambia with a new level of competitiveness and service delivery that will benefit Zambians and Zambia as a whole.

meanwhile Mr. van zyl gas disclosed that  fnb Zambia has offered all staff members of finance bank employment at substantially the same or better terms as what they currently enjoy and the details of the offer is currently being discussed with the union, where after we will be in a position to share the details with all stakeholders. 

He has stressed that the size of the workforce will be determined by the size of the business at any given time and fNB has proven capacity planning models, which are used to determine staff structures and numbers.

Mr. van zyl who was responding to a press query from radio phoenix, says at the moment FNB’S attention is to grow the business aggressively over the next few years, and as the bank reaches the growth targets, its requirements for staff will be adjusted accordingly
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SADC NGO'S URGES SADC LEADERS TO ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

southern african development community (sadc) and non governmental organizations have charged that the uprising political tension in the north of africa should make sadc leaders to act in accordance with the will of the people and has dictated by their country constitution.

speaking during a one day electoral commission forum of sadc countries in lusaka today, sadc-ngo representative francois butedi says the north uprising is a signal that leaders must ensure they provide people driven leadership based on good principles.

mr. butedi has stated that the sadc-ngo’s are committed to implementing the values and principle foundation of democracy on all the sadc countries to ensure that peace continue prevailing in the region.

the sadc-ngo’s have called on the sadc leaders to respect the choice and will of the people each time there are elections so that peace is preserved and the economic strides they have made can continue to flourishing.

meanwhile mr. butedi says zambia must continue being the beckon of peace and ensure that the coming elections are free, peace and fair and no one to complain but accept the outcome.

speaking at the same venue electoral commission forum of sadc delegation leader dr fako likoti says 9 teams from the region will be deployed to all the provinces in a bid to identify areas that need improvement.

dr likoti says the ecf-sadc team is only interested in strengthening the electoral process in zambia and other member countries in the region and not who loses or wins.

he says the 9 teams are coming from angola, botswana, democratic republic of congo, lesotho, mozambique, namibia, south africa and zimbabwe aims at.

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ZCTU CHALLENGES ALL LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ELECTIONS OBSERVERS TO GIVE ELECTION MONITORING REPORTS AFTER THE ELECTIONS BASED ON TRANSPARENCY AND RESPECT TO THE COUNTRY’S EXISTING LAWS

the zambia congress of trade union (zctu) has challenged all the local and international elections observers to give election monitoring reports after the elections based on transparency and respect to the country’s existing laws.

speaking during a press briefing in lusaka today zctu general secretary roy mwaba says the election monitors and observers must not forget that zambia is an independent country even though it depends on its neighbours and other cooperating partners as well.

mr. mwaba has stated that the international and local observers and monitors must take note of what has been happening since the campaign period was opened, during and after the elections to give credible reports unlike in certain instances where they have given reports which cause anarchy.

the zctu general secretary has pointed out that the election monitors and observers must not in any way interfere in the democratic process of the country.

meanwhile the labour movement says the next government which will form government after the 20^th of this month must seriously look at various ways of strengthening the labour laws in the country to ensure that workers rights are protected at all cost especially for those working for foreign investors.

mr. mwaba says the new government must address the thorny issues of casualization, corruption, accountability, weak labour legislation and widen the tax base adding that zambians are tired of empty promises during electioneering especially on job creation.

he says the incoming government must also put in place appropriate macro-economic policies which will ensure speedy transformation of the economy and create quality and sustainable employment.

meanwhile the labour movement has further called on all employers to release their employees on tuesday which is the 20^th of september to allow them to go and vote for their preferred candidates.

mr. mwaba noted that there are some foreign workers on elections day who do not allow their employees to cast their votes and this will not be tolerated especially those working for foreign companies which have invested in the country.

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