Mobs of enthusiastic fans descend on her every time she is spotted on the busy streets of Lusaka; many shake hands with her while a good number fall over each other to merely catch a glimpse of their overnight national heroine. At home, in a little-developed settlement east of the Zambian capital, boxer Esther Phiri has to remain indoors much of the time to avoid crowds.
On a typical weekday in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, a group of women sits chatting under the shade of a tree a few metres away from a long, winding queue of 20-litre plastic containers and buckets. At the head of the queue, a barefooted boy pulls a half-cut container with a rope from a handmade well and pours the water into one container after the other.
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/ 9 February 2007
China’s recent pledge to pump millions of dollars into copper-rich Zambia has turned the spotlight on the quality of jobs and investment offered by the erstwhile investors in the Southern African country. On his two-day stop in Zambia recently, Chinese President Hu Jintao launched an “Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone” to be based in the mineral rich Copperbelt region.
The pending take-over of Zambian branches of South African supermarket chain store Shoprite by Brait Private Equity may take longer than planned following the start of court proceedings against the company. Brait Private Equity, another South African investor, bought Shoprite stores at a cost of R13,2-billion late last year.
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/ 16 October 2006
Zambia’s mining companies, which have, until now, been treated to several tax rebates, may no longer have it so easy after the government’s upcoming review of agreements and plans to raise the mineral royalty tax from the current 0,6% to about 2,5%. Finance Minister Ng’andu Magande, who is also chair of the committee reviewing development agreements for mining firms, said: "The main point is that as the prices of copper and other metals continue to boom on the world market."
Zambia’s President Levy Mwanawasa this week returned to office after winning the controversial September 28 general election, but there is ongoing controversy over the transparency of the election. Mwanawasa won with 42% of the 2,5-million votes cast while his closest rival, Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front (PF), polled 29% and the United Democratic Alliance’s Hakainde Hichilema walked away a close third, with 26%.
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/ 29 September 2006
Zambians turned out in large numbers to vote in the country’s fourth multiparty general elections since Kenneth Kaunda was defeated at the polls in 1991. Long queues formed outside polling stations in the capital, Lusaka, as early as 5am, although polls only opened at 6am. People waited anxiously but patiently to cast their votes for the president, members of Parliament and local government representatives.