The Patriotic Front in Luanshya says the continued overpricing of mealie meal and shortage of the commodity on the Copperbelt will seriously affect its popularity in the province if left unchecked.
Luanshya PF District Political Secretary Alex Simponda says it was for the same problem of mealie meal that led to the downfall of the former President Kenneth Kaunda and UNIP then in the 90s.
ZANIS reports that Mr Simponda said this in Luanshya yesterday when Provincial Minister Mwenye Musenge visited Antelope Milling Company and held a meeting with management over the matter.
Mr. Simponda called on the company to work with the government of the day by assisting it in ensuring that mealie meal is made available in the right quantities and on time so that people do not cue up and wait for too long.
He charged that despite the company claiming that it was delivering mealie meal in the local townships of Luanshya, reports had reached the party that some unscrupulous individuals were buying the commodity in large quantities from the company’s outlets and hoard the commodity to create an artificial shortage to later at a higher price.
And Luanshya Mayor Nathan Bwalya said the problem of mealie has not spared the town as mealie meal was not readily available in most shops and that most bags been sold were 10kg breakfast bags which also quickly run out.
Mr. Bwalya also said some shop outlets after buying the mealie meal in bulk were reloading the same commodity in the night and then transport to unknown destination.
He said there is need to vigilantly monitor the movement of the meal from the milling so that ordinary residents of Luanshya buy the bags cheaply at the official price of KR50.00 per 25kg breakfast mealie meal.
Meanwhile, Kitwe City , the hub of the Copperbelt province has again been hit with a shortage of mealie-meal.
The commodity is scarce and is fetching about KR65 and above in most retail shops.
Meanwhile mealie- meal traders have complained that they are forced to sell the commodity at over KR 50, because they were buying it at KR50 from retailers.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe today, traders who did not disclose their identity for fear of being blacklisted by millers said they were not able to buy mealie-meal in bulk from the millers because the millers were not willing to wholesale the Commodity at KR47 due to high production costs.
The traders appealed to government to ensure that Millers start to wholesale mealie-meal so that they can also comply with the Presidential directive on the mealie-meal price.
This is the second time Kitwe is being hit by Mealie-meal shortage within a spell of about two months but the shortage of Mealie- Meal has persisted in various parts of the country of late.
Copperbelt Province Minister Mwenya Musenge who yesterday toured Mpongwe and Chat Milling Companies appealed to the two Millers to ensure that they sell the commodity at KR47 to retailers so that they can in turn comply with the presidential directives of selling the commodity at KR 50.
Mr Musenge also urged the Milling Companies to ensure that they do not sell more than two bags of mealie-meal to one person to ensure that every one is able to buy.
The minister has further appealed to the millers to first satisfy the local demand for mealie-meal before they can export the commodity.
Mr Musenge further called for the establishment of a list of reliable retailers who should be supplied with mealie-meal so that consumers are not exploited by unscrupulous retailers.
ZANIS
If MMD did not leave the bumper harvest maize, where would you be copperbelt people?
Donot worry about people on the copperbelt, they will eat when the president recovers and is fit enough to give orders to millers! but if he dies the wait will be very, very long if not infinity
Am enjoying the shortage and the many problems we are facing bcoz Copperbelt thought Sata would make Zambia a paradise. Let the drama continue coz u aint seen the worst yet.
Where in Lusaka can you buy a 25kg bag for KR50?
Let PF close down all Shoprite’s and Spar shops.
Ndate Simponda batilli lika lipalile. Mina ba PF amuzibi ku zamaisa mubuso. Esi ni Mueteleli wa teng ki mukuli. Lifasi la Zambia la tshwa tala kachenu. Linjoko likeni mwa masimu.
VERY GOOD GUYS IN CB,SATA HAS NO VISION FOR THIS COUNTRY NO MATTER HOW YOU WILL BRAND HIM HE STILL REMAINS THE SATA OF THE 90s,HE CANT CHANGE
this is an opportunity to make money in agriculture, we all know that congolese are lazy pipo, why not take advantage of this opportunity banange?
Thats dangerous talk…lol
Rationing, price control, food queues……. remind me – which centuary are we in? WOW!
PF has brought back the black market , we are in business again. Like they say Ba mataba are not feeding the nation.
PF will learn the hard way, that presidential directives are useless when people are hungry . You can give as many directives as you like and people are silently replying ” DONT KUBEBA”
Eat bread, cake, tute, nentoyo, forget this mealie meal, its a heart breaker
Great the poor who voted for Sata are the most hit and more misery on the way for them. As for us not in PF we have become used not to benefit from politics of cheat. We plan our sustenance and have nothing to do with shortages of PF govt. We await to witness more misery in Zambia while PF ministers share their benefits from Sata. Lets see how far they will go with unplanned governance. While out here, help my relatives who dont do PF.
Dontchi Kubeba Wilalila Ashi….. Eat your tribe now mofos. You had the opportunity to vote in somebody credible who has better understanding of the world economics but you chose a mere politician whose slogans blinded you. VIVA PF. And where is the foool? He is enjoying in statehouse and hasn’t even visited the CB to thank you for your blind vote. These *****ts are busy trying to settle old debts instead of delivering on what they promised. Ati pamaka, more like pamatako.
Eat your tribe now you foolss. Try adding alot of salt on it. It might taste better, copperbelt idoitss. Looks like your Sata has pulled a Dontchi Kubeba on you.. Has he even been to the CB to thank you maggots?
Someone please tell me what is really causing that. Coz I still see maize in our depots.
Virginia, If I am Olympic Milling (for example) and Govt forces me to sell my mealie meal at Kr47 or Kr50 yet my production cost per bag is also in the same range what do you expect me to do??? I may either slow down production to avoid losses or use my maize to make animal feeds which I know are not under price control.
On the other hand if there was no price control and I know that there is a shortage in Luanshya then I will maximise production (allow my men overtime) and ferry my mealie meal to such areas. Once the commodity floods the market then I will be forced to reduce the price for it to sell. As the situation is Govt involvement is causing all these shortages or simply put we have very wrong people in Govt. It will be too late when the masses realise this but “DON’T…
but “DON’T KUBEBA” or is it “DON’T KUTINA”.
PF’s priority is creating and rigging bye-elections and not the well being of the citizens……….
Shame on all PF cadres because we are now running our country backwards
The PF must just admit that they have failed to provide for the country. It is mere speculation to think that traders are reloading the commodity in the night and taking it to unknown destinations. This is sheer stupidity on the part of government to keep on avoiding facing the challenge head-on. There is gross mismanagement of the economy, and the sooner the PF admits and accepts this, the better for Zambia.
Dont Kubeba Aishiiii! Yes they never told you that Sata and his minions are an incompetent and loud mouthed empty headed rogue bunch! You aint seen the worst yet! Musokotwane, Fundanga , Mutati, Lovejoy Malambo etc….we miss you!
We didn’t know they were going to change this early bane…..this is March and we are experiencing this shortage, what will be happening in August, September????
what do you expect..the ukwaintes had no plan to rule..
SICK SATA IS HAUNTING ZAMBIANS.
zambians rise against this monster
SATA AND HIS PF GOVERNMENT WILL CAUSE UNNECESSARY DEATHS DUE TO HUNGER THIS YEAR IN ZAMBIA. SATA IS A NON-PLANNER. SATA HAS LOST WHAT MADE HIM POPULAR SOME YEARS BACK. HE IS NO LONGER THE SATA YOU KNEW THOSE DAYS. THIS GUY IS FINISHED.
No maize meal for Nsima? Eat cake.
Hello you Bembamanics out there, come in the open and defend your tribal economics! So is it HH and the “dull” Tongas that have caused the shortage? Kiiiki kiikiki! Reminds me of the 70s when KK wanted to “empower” this tribe by encouraging them to stop this primitive action of Chitemene that was eating away our forests. Government loaned them oxen to cultivate with and dairy cows for milk to sell. Within 6 months the animals were “kaputi”. The Bembas had eaten all of them for “munani”. When HH multiples his animals, he’s dull? Huh Bembamanics?