President Michael Sata says cabinet will decide whether to reverse the sale of Zamtel to Libya’s Lap Green following the Commission of Inquiry’s report which has revealed that the transaction was fraudulent.
Minister of Justice Sebastian Zulu, who headed the Commission, this morning presented the report to the President and during the presentation stated that findings of his investigations revealed irregularities in the transaction.
Zulu said the technical committee of the commission has established that the sale of Zamtel by the Zambia Development Agency was hasty and that Lap Green failed to satisfy at least three of the procurement requirements and that it was shocking that they were awarded the bid.
He also reported that RP Capital, the firm that was engaged to evaluate the assets of Zamtel, was illegally appointed to do the work and that it irregularly undervalued the assets of the country’s biggest telecommunication company.
“We have established that ZDA hastily engaged RP Capital and they did this under duress. The firm then went on and carried out an incompetent and misleading valuation,”
Zulu reported. “They claimed that Zamtel was valued at US$38 million when it had a book value of US$81 million. The (MMD) government endorsed the sale of Zamtel at a cabinet meeting held on 23, July, 2009 against an incompetent valuation.”
He also disclosed that negotiations for the sale were not done independently by ZDA and that the government directed ZESCO to authorize the use of its optic fiber network by Lap Green.
“The managing director of ZESCO was even threatened with dismissal if he refused to sign for the use of the optic fiber,” Zulu said.
In response, President Sata told Zulu to write a cabinet memo and to make a formal report to cabinet.
“Cabinet will decide whether to reverse the sale or not,” President Sata said.
He also directed Zulu’s Commission of Inquiry to extend its investigation to the National Airport’s radar system, which was procured irregularly.
The President also announced that the government was “hunting for money hidden in the neighborhood” by the previous government.
90 Days at work, smart move sir!
You fool looks like u a dreaming Banda & Sons all the time… majelasi yaza mipaya u *****s
What about the findings on Finance Bank /:)
That OGRE RBish has a lot to answer for.
Please arrest Dora after she has paid back what she owes us!
Smart and quick move but Im still not happy about the sidelining of EFZ and SDA on the constitutional team, can a commission of inquiry be put in place to find out why. The report should be done in 24hours
Huge bums is in trouble now!
Yakosa dora siliti
sata and lies, they are like phone and simcard. tell me, why have you not fired the guys at ZDA for being unprofessional? why didn’t the MD for zesco resign on moral ground? is the phrase ‘under duress’ understood?
That’s the best news coming to our ears sir. We want all the money stolen and starshed in the neighbourhood back to us. Congratulations Minister of Justice my former landlord in Petauke.
waiting for next move,cabinet members be brave in your debate on this issue and come up with a collective agreement,one way is to increase govt shares to 51%
Could be an expensive thing this reversal!
Will the new onwe accept 49% ownership?
Will Zamtel be better off as a parastatal?
mayo!!
I can proudly congratulate u sir on this matter. well done.
What are the recommendations from the Term, follow the recommendations so that we can move forward.
Mr. Zulu and Mr. Chikwanda seems to be working. Where is Shamenda mwebantu? pipo are waiting for the minimum wage.
Its true where is this man. I hope this man can come up with something tangible before the year end. Zambian workers have suffered for a long time and times are very hard. To survive in this economy one has to do a small business (kantemba) to survive. There should be a meaningful wage so that people can concentrate fully on their jobs. Surely it cannot take for ever to come up with a minimum wage.
DORA THE ZAMBIAN BIG BUM MOMA IS AT THE VERGE OF BEING ARRESTED, IYEEEEEE IMWEEEEE
Frankly, i never expected anything different from this ‘Fraudulent Commission of Enquiry). It was highly prejudicial as the president had already pronounced the sale fraudulent. What’s there to be excited about you Pathetic Fools. Monkeys are looking for reasons to blame MMD for their failures. This time, “YOU ARE GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT) not “INNOCENT TILL PROVEN GUILTY) Circus!!!
@Kafupi wacine…… Who are you calling pathetic fools? your father never raised you well, ***** lern to respect peoples views, waba ici tole nga Banda.
In France, you presumed guilty until proven innocent. May be we can go by this
continue being hatefull and calling us monkys.. mean while we are rullling you humans..FYI we are also busy grooming another monkey to rule after sata.. besides all, we are the majority 40% of zambian population inaddtion, unlike you, we the bemba people are untied, accomodating..
sata . . .chibwi no plan
Report fails to point at specific wrong doer resorts to non specific term like ‘under duress’, ‘hasty’ etc and by the way what are the 3 ‘procurement requirements’ that were not met by LAP green?
Have you read the report? Where did you find it? Obviously, you are commenting prematurely. Be patient!
What, have you read the report or you are merely referring to the press release. The report should have the details. The report is more extensive and may comprise more than 50 pages. Please try to think outside the box.
commission of inquiry yativuta within 90 days…we wait.
Cheeeeeeee Cheeeeee Cheeeeeee!!!!!! Oh sorry Mwamukolo!!!!!! Mumwatoooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Noahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take me to the other side please
We just have to reposses zamtel period, Libyan *****s did not respect our laws so why shud we care, let them recover their cash from Dora Matako and Bogoni Bamba
I CANT IMAGINE BUMS BUMS IN PRISON! BA CHISUSU BAZAMENYA
#16 Kafupi,
You are right on the money. This commission of Inquiry headed by the accuser, a PF cadre, and same with the one on ERB, is a disgrace and despicable. How can the accuser take the accused to court and be the judge. This is so laughable and a pure joke. Did any sensible person expect the findings to be different. This is a joke.
As Mushota, would say, please pass the puke bucket please. Disgusting and waste of tax payer’s money.
What goes round comes round Sata must reverse the sale and let Rupiah and this team of thieves pay back their criminal Libians.
Further bonse aba kukawa pakufwaya ukwibila ichalo ca zm.
plz use your big head to think not to shit
How much has the Zulu commission spent?
Let the govt act wisely here, the sale must be revoked and the Libyans forfeit the money they invested because of the corruption involved during the sale process. This is gonna be a lessons to those who think they can steal from the poor Zambians and get away with it. We are even wasting time here, the govt must revoke the sale with immediate effect and start firing those thieves out of ZAMTEL!
If this was headed by an independent body, I would have respected its findings. This commission was headed by people who spent the whole of last year saying the sale of ZAMTEL was irregular and you expected them to now turn around and say anything contrary? You got to be kidding.
My question is why did you bother to constitute a commission when you already knew the outcome. Why not just reverse the sale, the same way you did for finance back and deal with the fall out. This is the waste of Tax payers’s money by setting up these commissions with per-determined outcome. And you call that justice.
Shame on you Mr Sata with Your kaponyas. You are wrong here and you should know that. Disband all these useless commissions and go ahead and reverse everything we did, including ZANACO
Let us be factual, we understand why you support everything RB and his cronies did but please try to be more considerate and not just argue for the sake of licking! Have you forgotten how even those chaps like Kavindele who supported RB condemned the sale of ZAMTEL, it had a value of over 3 billion US dollars and yet it was sold at a giveaway price of 257 million US dollars. Don’t you think it was unreasonable? Procedure has to be followed to reverse all the mess committed by those you lick did.
hey my man can’t remember you complaining about the NCC. which wasted people money on a useless exercise. now you have the guts to conderm an action meant to safegaurd peoples public assets as a waste of taxpayers money. let those that stole from the zambian people dance the music period
This is an amazing response given that even a panel of judges that was appointed and led to Hon. Siliya being removed as Minister of Transport found her wanting on a few issues. It was determined then that RP Capital was engaged irregularly and yet they were allowed to continue with the process and you do not see anything wrong in that action despite your so called “PF Kaponyas” having been against from the get go?
WE TOLD DORA FINGERS WOULD BURN OVER ZAMTEL.SHE REFUSED TO LISTEN.SHE INSTEAD LISTENED TO TATE MPUNDU WHO CLAIMED SHE WAS SMARTER THAN US.NOW LETS SEE WHOSE LAUGHING.
ANYWAY WE NEED SOME BY ELECTIONS SO WE CAN TOP UP IN PARLIAMENT.I FEEL SORRY FOR DORA.THERE WAS TOO MUCH OUTCRY OVER ZAMTEL.BUT HER AND RB WERE THE FIRST AND LAST.
Bootfimofimo. More like the RB governemnt aquiting Don Chi Chi!
Toot toot toot!
let him fire the high court judges together with the chief justice and make cadre sebastian zulu the new cj. these lies coming from sata are pathetic
You are misusing the word ANALYSIS. Change your name.
Revoke the transaction immediately!!!!!!!!!
Abaume babamwena kuchito,make sure within 90days, 90people who stole our money must be jailed. we are suffering because of this *****s, send them to jail bwanamukubwa.
YESSSSSS walasa ngapakebo,abaume baume.
you fiMMD you are fools.how can you sell something that is security to the nation.MMDs kolokombwas mpumbafu losers.
MMD Chief Bootlicker ! dont take it personal, the government is just fighting corruption.
well done the committee. this is pretty quick. why is it difficult to objectively analyze what is said than politicking always especially from the so called political cadres? for example we didn’t know that ZAMTEL book value was $83m yet it was valued and sold at $38m. isn’t this amazing and all peace loving Zambians? bloggers, let us be patriotic Zambian rather than patriotic cadres.
In all honesty how can you value an established Telecoms firm at between $38- $80m this is just laughable, this is a very lucrative sector and today’s billionaires have invested in this sector one-way or another. What’s even more annoying is that some bloggers here still don’t see any irregularities in this sale.
Iam with MMD Chief Bootlicker on this one.Old Seba cant bite the finger of his appointing authority and get away with it,Seba’s findings were expected as King Cobra had already labelled the sale fraudulent.No rocket science required here.
Ok looks like I need to educate some PF cadres here. Please note that there is a difference between value and price. And value is always debatable and not easy to unlock and price is spot and that is the point of exchange. And not that price is NOT always equal to value and it can be less or more and it is the market that determines the price and not necessary the value.
That is why you get people called value Investors like Warren Buffet. They only buy a company if the price is lower than the value. The price is determined by Mr Market, or the price the market is willing to pay. ZAMTEL had 5 bidders including Telkom and they all thought ZAMTEL was expensive. Only LAP Green thought price was fair. You can value you ALL you want. Mr. Market will have final say.
Shallow research brother man. i wish you would know the figures of what the other bidders and their technical and economical proposals had.I pity your one sided think. You are too booky.!
I disagree with you that Mr Market has the final say. If it becomes obvious that you will be ripped off why go ahead and agree to sell when you have the option of pulling out and wait till something better comes up. No wonder you screwed up the country and MCS will get you.
Follow the money trial….cant go wrong!
Reverse the bloody thing…after all Libya is not even interested!
You can value your skills at 200 billion dollars, frankly the world does not give a damn. Real value of your skills is determined by the willingness an employer is willing to pay in exchange for your skills. Your valuation does not matter.
Today most world class companies are cheaply priced with multiples in single digits and there is nothing wrong with that. It is normal. That is why we have the world bargain. In 1990s before dot com bubble companies where highly priced in relation to value with multiples in hundreds, and that was just the market and yet people paid for such ridiculous prices to buy firms.
Learn to understand market forces. Price is just a number and has nothing to do with value.
Dont you ever give up! Yaba.
Bootfimofimo I remember you giving all sorts of reasons as to why the sale of Finance Bank was properly done and all. What did we get, FNB saying they were not going to put up a fight.
Here we are with valuation of ZAMTEL. You are still coming up with more drivel! Despite the reasons given, you still don`t get it. Bwana we know what went on in MMD government. One would buy anything for two bob! Just wait there is more to come.
Its all hearsay, and who valued Zamtel that was making losses at $83m ? its tough to believe unless evidence is given, just like i did not believe it should have been sold so cheaply or at least not to Lap Green without showing us the reasons. Mutati said we were not smart enough to know the transaction, please let him explain or why wasn’t he called to the commission? And we have to remember that the $38m was for 75% of Zamtel, is this being taken into account?
Setting the Record Straight
====================
1) MMD lost the elections and we are not in power and have moved on
2) Commissions of Inquiry being setup are a waste of money and have a pre-dertermined mandate
3) All commissions have no objectivity because they are led by the accuser who is being a judge and this is a joke to any justice system in the world.
4) PF government should go ahead and reverse whatever they want to reverse without wasting money on unnecessary commissions
5) PF government should go ahead and arrest all MMD so called thieves and take them to court without wasting money on useless commissions of Inquiry
6) MMD is ready to defend anything we did in our impartial courts led by competent judges.
That is my stand. Where is the evil in that?
I can’t agree with you more! This finding was already announced the very day the president constituted the commission. The president told the nation that he was constituting a commission of inquiry to look into the fraudulent sale of Zamtel, one doesn’t even have to ask what finding his appointees would come up with apart from that it was fraudulent.
#26 MMD Chief Bootlicker
I wish to differ with you on this one. The sale of Zamtel was very fraudulent as the Commission has found. I was so shocked to listen to Mukela Muyunda (Former Zamtel MD), Clement Kasonde (Former Union Secretary-General), Chisuse (Former Human Resource Director and many others when they submitted to the Commission of how they were tricked into signing documents by RB and Dora Chisusu. To tell you the truth, these were the people who were so much in support of the sale and talked vehemently on the benefits of the so called “Privitisation of Zamtel” (i wont be surprised if i hear that they got some kick backs), but time came for them to say nothing but the truth.The commission has just based its findings on the submissions and not a preconceived half-truths.
Are commssions supposed to undermine supreme court decisions. NTC in Libya is counting its asstes worldwide. Go ahead and reverse this one. This same Sebastian is on the technical committee to set up our constitution and yet he has no professional stance. I feel sorry for the ZMK300billion being spent on it as the outcome will have no respect and hence later reversed.
Well lets hope that after rescinding the sale, the company is not sold to one of the president’s friends or cronies.
Let them rescind the sale and watch other potential investors put Zambia on the black list.
#14 you are very right where is Mr. Shamenda mwbantu. what happening.
……Value…..Price …okay the way the ZESCO fibre network cost $30m so how do you price Zamtel??
This is really good Mr president Sir!! We need to know wat happened in the sale of our own Telecommunications company.This organisation (Zamtel) has all the infrastructure but has NO management for it to run effeiciently.Let whoevert was involved in this scandal pay back or be jailed period!! We need transparency in all these things!!
#44 am not here to convince you against your convictions or your Chief Kaponya’s convictions. I can’t do that.
All am saying is go ahead and reverse all you want. Stop paying Sebastian Zulu to sit in some room and find the obvious. Stop wasting paper by paying Sebastian Zulu write the obvious on it. Save the trees please. As far as you are concerned this deal was fraudulent , so why waste time and money paying somebody to tell you the obvious. Come on where is the sense in that?
ERB Commision, you know the outcome
ZAMTEL Commision you know the outcome
Mongu Commision , you know the outcome
ZNBS Commsion you know the out come
ZRA Commission you know the out come
And Yes the
Constitution Commission you know the outcome
Waste of time and money
Enough rubbish from you mate
@37.Shallow research brother man. i wish you would know the figures of what the other bidders and their technical and economical proposals had.I pity your one sided think. You are too booky.!
and Bunga Bunga;you have been quite.keep on educating fellow citizens.And finally,try refining your handle now that B/sconi no longer.
Bootfimofimo. I talked about FBZ which you defended like a Lioness defending her cubs. Yes that was reversed without FNB putting up a fight.
I have never seen an accused giving evidence against himself. Like I said, just wait, there is more to come.
@#52Peanuthead. The name Bunga Bunga is actually a mock name! I laughed when the ***** was trying to find excuses for it. I am gald he is gone and I hope he is sent to jail but then again we know all about Italy. He is friends with those Mafis so who is going to touch him?
Thanks Bunga, lets keep their heads ringing. i think we got bunches of illiterates here.Our duty i foresee is huge here. we need to educate them.
@ 51 would it shame with the kind of statement? Re- read the presidential directive as who shall decide. are you a witch to decide on what cabinet would decide? I am sick and tired of your immature and so booky analysis.grow up and learn to research widely.
@ 51 what shame with your statement. Re- read the presidential directive as who shall decide. are you a witch to decide on what cabinet would decide? I am sick and tired of your immature and so booky analysis.grow up and learn to research widely.
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Zamtel was running on ancient Technology that needed a complete overhaul or a blood transfusion to meet the 21 Century standards. So the value that Lap Green paid was debatable
LAP Green was the only bidder among the others willing to pay and guaranteed injecting a hefty investment capital in Zamtel while others bidders came to make a quick $Dollar
LAP Green has so far committed to invest in $125 Million, of which they have already poured millions into the IT Infrastructure of Zamtel, paid the retirees, and cleared unpaid taxes to GRZ bring Zamtel afloat.
Sata is again failing to distinguish between (i) Market Value & (ii) Investment Capital that investors can pump into a company
Cont…
Why are all MMD cadres so blooming shallow! Is the solution to an under valued transaction due to corruption like ZAMTEL, have to end all the time in a reversal of the transaction? The PF government will deal with this one in a very transparent manner such as allowing the government to increase its share holding in the company again or float the relinguished shares from the under valuation for public trading in the company. This was our company and we built it if it had to be sold to avoid government (RB & DORAs’) inteference, then it should have been done transparently and accountably. All I hear from some big mouths is, we will lose investor confidence by demanding transparency! What warped logic is this? Dora will go back to court, this time without RB to shield her!
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Take for instance; Finance Bank was sold for $5 Million because it had so much
Toxic Waste in excess of hundreds of million $ dollars, which lead to the value of $5 million.
The LAP Green was signed off while Finance was not.
(i) Who will reimburse the capital that Lap Green has so far invested into Zamtel.
(ii) What about compensation for botching up future forecast earning for LAP Green if Sata grabs back Zamtel
Again, when everything comes out, Sata will be embarrassed and score his own goal. Zulu has not done his homework. Its all politics.
Oh please Bootfimofimo don`t think Zambians are fools for goodness` sake. How much was wasted on the NCC?
Shut up! You are a very selfish person. I hope God punishes you and soon. Trust me you will remember these words one day. We wasted a lot of money the constitution which you are still refering to now. Did you guys even feel any guilt about it? NO! If you guys had followed the procedure would be yes wasting time about ZAMTEL? William Harrington tried and tried. What did we get? Squeeky bum time asked to resign by your president for a month only to be given another position after one month yes one month despite the Tribunal saying there was something wrong.
Are you RB`s son by any chance? God you have no heart!
@56-INDEPENDENT OBSEVER, what shame my brother. you dont do your research .Dont read one book and think you have gotten it right. just one tip for you: when submitting a proposal there is always a technical and economical proposal. i will not dwell much on it, but will give you another hint on how much UNITEL Angola was ready to inject into Zamtel. mind you, UNITEL angola uses Brazil exchange for their tele.Its unfortunate i cant release figures unitel was ready to inject, but its extra and above what lap green offered. Research widely my brother.
This is what we want hear ,corruption must go, plunderers must be brought to book , if only more of this can be done definetly zambia can more forward thaks pf please clean our nation
Yes the tribunal found Dora wrong but saved her on technicality which we know was political to save the incumbent and the commission has found the same so is it politics that the two bodies find the sale wrong?? maybe the debate should be what is the most productive way forward??
Sale was best thing to have ever happened. Honestly you can not think of revrse deal
Useless gvt!!Useless commissions!undoing what the former did js to enrich themselves and some bloggers are cheering!pathetic!
…infact the fiber cost $48m!!
So…some of you guys are saying we stop investigations bcoz its a share wasting of time and resources,is this really true?MMD chief boot fimo fimo !! Dont you think the money being spent is very very little compared to the monies involved?I always say let us try to be realistic!! Whether its a share wasting of time/resources ,people must be investigated for the country to move forwad or else we will always lagging behind and always saying forgive them!! Forgive them when they were even warned b4 their actions.Let these people who were involved be investigated and you are part of this,Am sorry you need to pay back or go in prison period!
@51
I have no polite words to describe annoying people like you best I keep ‘em to myself…in your case everything this gov’t does it’s a case of “damned if you do and damned if you don’t”. You talk of Lap Green as if its some established prudent investment gov’t body; the Libyans are going to pay a very heavy price for Ghadiffi’s poor investment decisions worldwide.
Fortunately for them they have oil and will recover in no time but the people of Zambia will forever be two steps behind in mobile phone technology due to such fraudulent transactions. If the ZAMTEL was backed by a proper outfit I can guarantee you that the likes of Airtel & Co would pull the socks and offer services second to none. (CON’D)
Chisusu in trouble!
At times let’s be objective on the comment thread, you don’t need an independent commission from London to tell you this transaction stinks to the very core. C’mon I know this industry very well & $38m is chump change, it wouldn’t even cover the assets of ZAMTEL, take into account the limitless lucrative future potential…don’t come on here and cheat people as if you were privy to the bid submissions. What is Ghadiffi’s Lap Green bringing to the table that a major Telecom firm can’t?
Chi.su.su in trouble
Tell us what we did not know!! Dora is as guilty as sin itself and she only got away with it by doing blow-jobs and some hanky punky, we all know that. Thats why she came back into Cabinet faster than you could say “what the fcuk!!!” Every Dog, sorry Dora has its day and hers is just getting nearer and nearer.
Guys, this is positive news. let the sata led GOVT grab Zamtel. it belongs to zambians. Dora, ***** wapya baisa!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS CASE HAS U-TURN WRITTEN ALL OVER IT , MARK MY WORDS
To all my fellow MMD lovers. Don’t lose sleep over this but prepare to laugh your lungs out in a few weeks time. This case has U-TURN written all over it. In fact this one has a V-TURN actually. Zamtel is far better to day and everybody knows that, unless you don’t live in Zambia. Mobile subscriber numbers are now almost matching those of the rivals MTN and AIRTEL and Guy Scott and Alex Chikwanda will tell Sata to just forget about it and V-Turn and all the PF bloggers will sing their new found cry of we have been betrayed. Just watch this space.
MMD Chief Bootlicker, I can’t but admire your robust support and defence of your evil MMD party even where evidence is there for all to see. I wish you could think hard and reflect on the plight of the young people who can’t get jobs and the majority of Zambians who go without a decent meal because of the greed, thieving and abuse of state funds by your MMD. Why are you so much against the invetigations the GRZ is conducting?
Some MMD bloggers here are like rodents who occupy the Kitchen ceiling and seem unimpressed with the new house owner who has just moved who has impeccable hygiene standards!!
#74 Distant Drums
You seem stuck in the past. Read my postings before you expose the low level of your analytical skills. Am not against investigations. Do all investigations you want till Jesus returns and who am I to stop you. What am against is being accuser and judge at the same time. It does not make sense. It is a waste of time and money. What is so complicated about that?
So you want MMD to investigate itself????
#51 Chief Bootlicker
I now understand how your gave yourself such a name. Iam sure you have a big head with little substance. Frankly, you need it examined at a proper institution along Great East road. I rest my case.
61 # Peanuthead
Keeping impressing yourself with the books you are reading. Nothing wrong with that!
I have all the figures for the all the bidders and what each specific company wanted to bring to Zamtel in terms of Technology and Business model
It was in my best interest to have this info as I have invested into Telecom operator Econet Wireless, the company behind SEACOM & Sat3 under Sea Cables running from South Africa through Zambia to the Congo (Thus replicated into Indian Ocean )
My advice to you is to never judge the book by its cover, ‘cause even a destitute person can give you advise at any given day. Keep posting your comments!!!
Quite interesting about what you are talking about. i would only wish you knew facts from hearsay and edited evaluation reports.I participated in UNITEL bid preparations for your information.for reasons not to be posted here ( with respect to confidentiality),i would suggest you should keep your eyes very wide open and as i have mentioned earlier.Do not be too booky- this means when you read try to analyse and compare readers opinions against facts. thanks
Iwe **** MMD Chief Bootlicker, don’t parade here like you are “mr. anal-ytical ” you’re just a very dull chap no sooner the embassy finds out who you are, we will smoke you out..you’ll be out on the streets with Ronnie and Dora!!
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There is nothing wrong with Sata commissioning investigation. It’s the twisted process that he is using without getting all the facts. Zulu has not cast all the facts but has been busy engineering facts to play to the gallery
If anyone in MMD stole the money during Zamtel sales then surely let them face justice without fear. This will end up like other U-Turns so far.
Alright bloggers, calm down now. So what is teh way forward now, nationalise Zamtel? Make it a parastatal company again like Zesco?
Zamtel was run down by politicians. Just lok at how Zesco is made to do dirty work. Whether Zamtel was undervalued or overvalued, the was still a case for it to be sold. There were valid reasons for that. Let us not forget that.
One way is for GRZ to get more shares in compensation but not a controlling share. Politicians’ fingers will mess it up again.
If there is criminal evidence regarding the Zamtel sale, let the culprits be tried in a competent court of law. Any reversal of the sale should take into account possible lengthy and costly litigation. Cobra needs to consult widely before he makes more embarrassing blunders! As for Sebastian Zulu, that prick killed UNIP for $50K so he has no moral authority to call others corrupt!
I suspect Cabinet will leave Zamtel alone to avoid costly litigation. However they may persue Dora Siliya and RB for political mileage and to “fight corruption” to please donors.
#75 Maxwell,
I like your analogue and I’m sure it will give some of the MMD ‘high level analytical experts’ some wisdom.
.
You cannot sell a loss making company at a market value of the sector. Zamtel was a loss making company ever since mobile technology came to Zambia.
To often we see Multi-billion Dollar companies being sold for $1 Dollar ( $1.00) in western nations due to lack of growth or failing to make profits continuously
Rupert Murdoch (News Corporation ) bought MYSPACE for $580 Million, only to be sold for $35 Million Dollars a few years later.
To any un-informative or lay-person it did not make any sense to sell MYSAPCE for $35m, if you look at the value of GOOGLE & FACEBOOK which are both in hundreds billions of Market Capitalisation.
We must all understand factors that determine the significance & values of an operating company..
Let the truth come out from Zamtel sell…
86# Error – I meant:
“ Too often we see Multi-billion Dollar companies…. “
@86
How can you type utter drivel like that with a straight face how can you compare a social networking site like Myspace which is in the cloud to a brick and mortar telecommunication company like Zamtel with assets with tangible foreseeable growth. Myspace and Facebook revenue stream is from advertising based on number of active profiles, the rest is just hot air especially in the case of Facebook which is prepping itself for IPO.
Obviously its was insane and stupid to sale our own telecommunication company in bad faith, what was needed to be done was just to restructure the all operating system of Zamtel to meet the global standards of telecommunication companies, like Verizon, at&t, Vodafone, t mobile etc. Does this mean Zambian are so dull to fail to run their own companies? e.g zambianairways failed etc, and now each time you listen to QFM you hear commercials about Kenyan airways giving information about their new office in Lusaka. Now the question is when are we going to see a commercial on TV or Radio talking about our own companies operating in Zambia as Zambian owned companies? unlike selling everything to clap investors.
There is one “chief” here seeing no logic in commissions but he saw logic in dressing trees at the expense of poor Zambians. Get to court if you are sure of what you are saying.
Zamtel was a drain on the tax payer period. If you were all so patriotic about the company, then why were you not putting up with it’s lousy service instead of using the services of other companies? I see another court case on the part of Lap Green and RP against the govt of Zambia. If the company is re-nationalised, it will be filled to the brim with Bembas and you can kiss goodbye to Zambia’s reputation as a safe destination for FDI.
88 Jay Jay
You have missed the point. Read my comments above yet again.
The analogy or quest I made is not making comparison between one sector of the business to another but what determines how a company is valued or its Market Capitalisation
Mind you investors are mostly interested how much money they can make from any company they invest into. Besides, the parent company for LAP Green has also invested in other companies that deals in just providing Services
Every business is all about making money, whether its TECHNOLOGY, SERVICES, MANUFACTURING, ADVERTISING etc…
Cont..
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When you take your money to a Hedge- fund or Pension Scheme, the Fund Managers invest it in any company that they see can bring yields or profits both in Short & Long. You don’t care how they make the money for you.
Its about buying and selling and looking at what the markets says is on demand.
If you understand these principles, I guarantee you – that you will make money in your lifetime from investing.
Cont..
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Talking about Telecom Giants, the Dot-Com age saw a lot listed Telecom companies and IPO’s that one would never have thought they could go down.
In the UK –
A) Vodafone Telecom is worth about £ 88 Billion and is trading at £1.83 Per/Share
B) Telecom Plus is worth £514 Million and its trading at £7.36 Per/Share
In theory, one would expect Vodafone being a giant have its share price higher than Telecom Plus. But NO, its about the performance and yields for investors.
Cont..
Once again, the question is what makes an operating company get DE-VALUED or OVER-VALUED.
Zamtel was a loss making company which was demising slowly due to heavy debt and lack of growth. The company was slow to jump in to the Mobile Market.
Can you imagine if Zamtel had captured the mobile market with Cutting Edge Technology before all these foreign companies came into Zambia????????
One good thing, the actual amount paid for this company was more than US$257m and they have invested alot in the company infrastructure. My beloved President should watch his decision on Zamtel, otherwise he will threaten future investments.
INDEPENDENT OBSERVER –
You research is incomplete on the LAP Green transaction and whilst I respect your comments, I think without disrespect you are perfectly doing them well but more of a desk study than field study.
1.
A search at ZRA shows that LAP Green DID NOT offset any tax arrears and instead GRZ paid ZRA over K550bn (Over US$120m) and called these are Tax Shares – something like that.
2. An extract from ministerial statement shows that LAP Green had a proposal of 70% redundancy with a budget of US$97.7m and they did a 100% redundancy at the same cost.
(CONTD)
3. Former Zamtel employees were never paid their gratuity and a search at Industrial Relations Court shows that LAP Green lost the case and they have to pay, now New ZAMTEL (LAP Green) has being asking GRZ to settle this on their behalf.
4. A search at ZDA shows that UNITEL of Angola had better Working Capital (Over $400m) commitment as compared to LAP Green. Thus your comment of commitment long term funds is wrong.
5. The total sale according to a ministerial statement was US$257 and the distribution was as follows:-
a. $97.7m – Retrenchments
b. $32.7m – Chinese Loans
c. $20m – Pension Arrears
d. $42.6m – Government Proceeds (Gross Profit)
e. $64m – Equity Investment
(CONTD)
6. A search at ZESCO shows that the inclusion of ZESCO’s fibre into ZAMTEL’s assets which were never valued was in bad faith and if there was a loss in revenue ZESCO would have to pay ZAMTEL, meanwhile ZESCO would continue to invest further in this infrastructure and not own it.
7. Another search at ZICTA and Ministry of Communications shows that this deal caused the country to change some statutes to suit LAP Green. E.g. Government gave away 3G licenses, gave away International Gateway, blocked 4th GSM license. This in effect cause revenue loss for government and the question is will ZAMTEL fill in the gaps. (CONTD)
8. A check with Ministry of Defense showed that ZAMTEL used to run a closed user group network for the security wins and LAP Green came and just switched it off and now all their traffic is via normal routes as that of yours and mine.
Whilst the reverse is obvious but it must be done with caution and the following could be the approach.
– Outsource management to independent private sector for a period of time as government creates confidence in investor confidence
– Re-privatise ZAMTEL through transparent tender and processes with majority being Zambian Consortium and Strategic Equity Partners from outside as the case of CEC
– Introduce downstream liberalisation so that private sector SME can resale last mile services to the general public.
We cant wet to see the action for the sale of Zamtel
Good evening
#82 Ice Road has a point. Now that the commission has brought forward what Zambians need to know about the sale of Zamtel, the government must tackle the culprits, work out the next plan and move on.
I believe that the conditions that led to the malfunctioning of the company (some of which #82 has already outlined) are still looming and this means that we are still faced with the same problems we had when Zamtel was still in Zambia’s hands. The future of the telecommunications sector will become even harder to determine the longer this case drags on.
Is that how you always greet people in Germany?? Come to England greeting people like that they will think you are crazy and reply with; what’s so good about it!!
From the sample of corrupt practices that leaders in the former regime are alleged to have engaged in, we should expect to witness the expose of mother of all corruption. Chiluba’s corruption in 10 years will look like a child’s play when compared to RB’s corruption in three years.
The truth shall set us free.
The truth shal set us free.
The composition and the haste with which this commissions work was to be carried out(30 days) left little room that they would come out with a different conclusion.
This fool Seb Saizi Zulu maybe can now finish that building opposite ZESCO in Petauke on slab level for 30 years. .. . . its worth THE BOOTLICKING….
SATA HAS NO BALLS TO REVERSE THIS SALE.
Prosecutor, judge, jury and decider…..Seb has to be paid a lot to combine all the roles.
NEXT should be a Commission of Inquiry on the sale of Zain to Airtel, more so the raw deal that was given to the Zambian shareholders when Zain controlling shareholders made three times the investment while the locals got literally less than their IPO back, factoring in inflation and what the money could have earned had it been kept locked in a fixed deposit account
It boggles my common sense to believe that Mr Sata is serviour of Zambia and common suffering people are made to believe it by selfish PF suppoters. Accuser, jurry and judge, justice according to Sata. Yes, we need corruption to be rooted or reduced in our country, but Sata would be the last person to rid it. To begin with he has appointed corrupt people in his appointments, left over corrupt people left over by MMD are jubilating, how because they know that they too are off the hook(Kapoko, Katele Kalumba, Regina, Chungu the fugitive etc). Mr Sata himself was supposed to be prosecuted for corrupt practices by Chiluba when the then VP late Mwanawasa demanded so(Chiluba the thief shilded him) led to his resignation. The question is can Mr Sata play “Saint”?
@102
Is that how you always greet people in Germany?? Come to England greeting people like that they will think you are a pretentious fraud and 8/10 will always reply with; “what’s so good about it”!!
Is this news……why?
The President also announced that the government was “hunting for money hidden in the neighborhood” by the previous government.
independent observer read few facts summary from investigator general and kindly read through my comments to your assumptions.
Zuku is a PF cadre,there he can not head a credible commission of inquiry
Please rev. the Sale. SATA at work
Bane.. Dora’s case was disposed of in the supreme court. Now I am not a lawyer but as far as I know there is no appeal after the supreme court. Maybe to a kangaroo court. I am just saying
WHAT do You Expect fROM cOMMISSIONS HEADED BY PF CADRES?
Reverse the sale and recall the workers that were retrenched
Mukudya Mweka Daady – MMD, your doings are coming back to haunt your a$$es! Bloody baffoons! Infact where is senior citizen these days??
Good approach, Mr. President, let Cabinet make collective decisions on such sensitive issues, not your own decress!!!
The good part of President M C S is that he gives his officers deadline. That makes people to work hard and save money. Zamtel deal was sour from the word go. This is the way go. Conrats President M C S
This has been one of the most stupid commissions of inquiry ever seen in Zambia. The accuser investigating, prosecuting and judging all at the same time.
Gives a new meaning to the word PRE judice.
SATA should not waste time to reposses,why have a second thought,anything fraudulent is fraudulent,no two ways about it.I could have much loved if the team of commissioners were experts from outside the country than the cadres. As it is there is no credibility to these commissioners because they are pre-conceived.
If you want to divorce your husband & head a team to establish the facts you will definitely find many grounds to support your prefered position. But observers would probably doubt your findings becoz you are an interested party. same here, true or right PF have shot themselves on this one. 10yrs from now PF cadres will be hunted down for abuse of authority, mark my words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And this ladies and gentlemen is why we need to spread out the president’s power — spread it out to the judiciary and the parliament; giving each specific powers. For example, let the parliament (a representation of the people via MPs) decide the direction of public monies, i.e. let them handle the sale/acquisition of public institutions and have the president sign off. This ensures that there will be no finger-pointing when governments change.
Let the judiciary appoint the Chief Justice and control the Anti Corruption Commission, etc
Caution should be taken on the way forward. Cabinet should not make a decision that will end up with Government paying alot of money to Lap green. Aside that I think Zamtel is now operating more efficiently than before. Maybe Lap green’s shares should be reduced to equal the consideration they paid.
RB AND DORA HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT YOUR FAMILIES AND DORA’S ALONE. THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE WERE JUST DIEING IN HOSPITALS. WHEN YOU ARE IN POWER PLEASE EXCIRSE JUSTICE OR HUMAINTY TO YOUR PEOPLE. IF YOU WORK SINCERELY GOD WILL BLESS YOU MORE AND INCREASE MORE DAYS IN YOUR LIFE. GO SATA WITH YOUR PEOPLE SERVE THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE FAITHFULLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
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Zambian Labour Laws are beyond pathetic…
Q. Why should people be temporal workers in a Private/State company?
Ba Sata why are you taking long to look into the plight of the people who voted you into power?
Zesco, Zamtel, KCM, Zaffico, Zambia Revenue Authority ….