Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is nearing a deal with the opposition to end a political crisis in his country after South Africa tried to broker an agreement, a document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday indicated. A confidential report due to be presented to leaders of the Southern Africa Development Community says ”progress” has been made in talks.
The Zambian government has reiterated its warning to civic groups to drop their plans to stage violent protests during next week’s meeting of regional leaders. The government said in a statement that it had received reports that the groups were planning to hold protests during the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 27th summit.
Zambian immigration authorities are struggling to cope with a sudden upsurge in Zimbabweans crossing the border to shop for basic products as the economic crisis in their home country bites deeper and its coming wheat harvest is expected to be the worst in years.
Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba may stand trial for corruption by video link due to ill health, a spokesperson for the ex-leader said on Friday. Chiluba, who is due to travel to South Africa for medical treatment, has been told by a Zambian court to return home by August 13 to resume his protracted trial the next day, a spokesperson said.
Zambia’s civil- and trade-union coalition on Wednesday threatened to picket a regional summit next month in Lusaka in protest over the political impasse in their country. The coalition said that it wants the summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) next month to discuss the country’s political impasse on the constitution-making process.
Zambia has banned the use of an imported HIV/Aids drug that was recently recalled in Europe due to contamination and might seek compensation from the company that manufactures it. Viracept was withdrawn in Europe after drugmaker Roche Holding AG said it had identified a chemical impurity in the product.
Zambian doctors have ordered the ailing ex-president Frederick Chiluba sent to South Africa for treatment after his heart condition deteriorated, a Chiluba spokesperson said on Tuesday. Emmanuel Mwamba said Chiluba would be flown to South Africa after local doctors said he needed immediate specialist treatment.
Riot police in Zambia arrested 49 students from the country’s biggest university in Lusaka who attempted to stage street protests against poor sanitation at their campus, police said on Thursday. ”Police arrested 15 female students and 34 males from the University of Zambia,” police spokesperson Chrispin Kapela said.
Zambia’s former president, Frederick Chiluba, has been ordered to pay back -million allegedly stolen while in office in what has been called a landmark strike against official corruption in Africa. Zambia lodged the civil case in the British court in hopes of recovering properties allegedly purchased with stolen funds.
A stampede in Zambia killed 12 soccer fans and injured many others after a match between the home team and Congo Brazaville late on Saturday. Copperbelt police chief Antonnell Mutentwa told Reuters 46 soccer fans were injured and admitted in hospital in the copper mining town bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Zambian government announced on Friday that a much-trumpeted Aids cure that a local businessman claimed to have discovered has been found to be a pesticide used to clean swimming pools. Tetrasil, a drug which is being promoted by a newspaper proprietor, is a pesticide that was used as a disinfectant, said a government specialist in Aids drugs.
A Zambian court ordered former president Frederick Chiluba on Thursday to stand trial on corruption charges, rejecting his lawyers’ arguments that he was too ill to be prosecuted. ”I am of the view that we should proceed with this matter to help all the other parties involved,” magistrate Jones Chinyama said in a ruling issued in Lusaka.
South Africa’s recent ban on imported second-hand cars driving on South African roads is beginning to hurt the Zambian economy, which has traditionally depended on motor vehicle imports for a portion of its tax revenue. After a protracted two-year legal battle in which clearing and shipping agents challenged the 2005 ban of used cars from using the roads, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Pietermaritzburg last month upheld the ban.
Zambia’s corruption-tainted former president Frederick Chiluba collapsed on Thursday and has been admitted to hospital, his spokesperson said. Chiluba, who is suffering from an acute cardiac complication, collapsed at his house in the morning, Emmanuel Mwamba said.
A British judge on Friday ordered former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba and 19 others to pay back -million they stole from the Southern African country’s Treasury. Judge Peter Smith, speaking live via satellite link from London, said he ordered that Chiluba and his associates must pay 85% of the stolen funds to Zambian authorities within 14 days.
A South African national has been arrested in Zambia for allegedly insulting and making disparaging remarks about President Levy Mwanawasa to fellow miners, an official said on Monday. Brandon Childs (22) was arrested last week after some Zambians he was working with at the Mopani Copper Mines reported him to the police for allegedly defaming the president.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa reshuffled his Cabinet on Monday, sacking his health minister and promoting several junior ministers. Health minister Angela Cifire was fired and replaced by science and technology minister Brian Chituwo, said presidential spokesperson John Musukuma.
The Zambian government has sold its largest state-run commercial bank to Rabobank of The Netherlands in a deal worth more than -million, a minister announced on Friday. Rabobank has taken over the management of the Zambia National Commercial Bank with immediate effect.
Zambian Vice-President Rupiah Banda has said that political instability and chronic poverty in some Southern African countries make them fertile ground for terrorist recruitment. Without referring to specific countries, Banda spoke of the threat of the al-Qaeda terrorist network gaining a foothold in neighbouring countries.
Aids patients in Zambia are abandoning their life-prolonging drugs in exchange for bogus cures that have hit the market in recent weeks. The Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/Aids said it has received reports that some of its members were stopping the use of antiretroviral drugs for fake cures being promoted in the media.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has sacked his junior Lands Minister, a close ally, in a corruption crackdown aimed at stopping illegal allocation of housing plots, a presidential aide said on Monday. Deputy Lands Minister Moses Muteteka, was sacked over allegations of illegal allocation of housing plots.
Malawi has denied Zambia’s main opposition leader Michael Sata entry into the country and deported him, a Zambian immigration official said on Friday. Immigration Department spokesperson Mulako Mbangweta said Sata, leader of the opposition Patriotic Front, was deported from Malawi late on Thursday.
Zambia has started mass demolition of illegal houses in the capital, Lusaka, in a move to end corruption in the distribution of land plots, a police spokesperson said on Saturday. Bonny Kapeso said police moved in to raze houses in an exercise that started late on Friday night and ended in the early hours of Saturday.
The Zambian government announced plans on Thursday to demolish illegal settlements throughout the country, an action expected to leave several thousands of people homeless. President Levy Mwanawasa’s Cabinet endorsed the plan to destroy illegal informal settlements that have mushroomed in urban areas recently.
Zambia broke the regional silence on Tuesday over the deteriorating political conditions in Zimbabwe, telling its counterparts in the Southern African Development Community to stop pretending ”all is well in Zimbabwe”. Zimbabweans, who are already jumping the border into South Africa in droves, are now also flooding into Zambia seeking food.
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/ 4 February 2007
Chinese President Hu Jintao unveiled a package of investment and debt relief as he brought his Africa tour to Zambia, a visit clouded by tensions and high security amid anti-Chinese sentiment. A planned trip to a Chinese-run copper mine in the north was cancelled after reports of demonstrations being planned.
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/ 12 January 2007
About 3 000 Zambians turned up on Friday for a demonstration against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for proposing tax reforms to the government, which are widely seen as biting for the poor. The demonstrators, mainly from the country’s largest opposition Patriotic Front, marched from the city centre to the Ministry of Finance.
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/ 10 January 2007
A South African firm said on Wednesday it would go ahead with plans to build two luxury hotels on the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls after the government rejected their other proposals in the national game park. Legacy Holdings said it would redesign its -million project in order to accommodate concerns raised by the government and environmental groups.
Zambia is in the midst of record economic growth but political squabbles and the Southern African nation’s failure to tackle endemic poverty have taken off some of the sheen, analysts say. Multimillion-dollar contracts are pouring in, but most Zambians are preoccupied with the political jousting between President Levy Mwanawasa and main opposition leader Michael Sata.
Zambia on Friday said it would invite tenders from oil firms to prospect for new petroleum and gas fields found in the country’s north-west, adding that the successful bidders would be named soon. Mines Minister Kalombo Mwansa said the areas where the oil and gas reserves were discovered last year had been demarcated so that private firms could bid for specific blocks.
A Chinese firm running Zambia’s largest textile company has temporarily shut it down and placed about 700 workers on forced unpaid leave following massive losses, management said. Che Ming, a managing director, said the Zambia China Mulungushi Textiles, which has been having problems paying wages to its workers, had been closed to allow the company to source a capital injection.
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/ 19 December 2006
Zambia, normally one of Africa’s most stable countries, is facing unprecedented turbulence as opposition leader Michael Sata turns up the heat on the government only weeks after losing a general election. With tens of thousands of followers attending rallies of Sata, also known as "King Cobra", observers fear it is only a matter of time before simmering tensions boil over.