Several Shoprite and Pick N Pay outlets in Lusaka have started limiting the number of mealie meal bags each customer can buy from their stores.
In notices placed at most of the outlets in Lusaka, the chain stores say each person can only buy one 25Kg bag as a result of the biting shortage of the commodity.
Sources at Shoprite Twin Palm indicated that management decided to place caps on mealie meal purchases because of dwindling stocks in the store.
They said most of the milling companies that supply mealie meal to the store are slowing running out of Maize.
A check at Woodlands Pick N Pay also found a similar notice placed on the mealie meal shelves.
Customers that attempted to ignore the notice and turned up with more than one bag at the till were asked to return the other bags.
Till operators interviewed said management has given them strict instructions not to process more than one 25Kg bag of mealie meal per transaction.
They said the measure is aimed at allowing more customers to purchase the commodity as fears keep mounting that mealie meal may completely run out in a couple of weeks.
Now what has Given Lubinda have to say about this. He says he has plenty of Maize, why is this happening if he has plenty. The lairs will be exposed.
HH has big shares in Shoprite. This measure by him to prove a point that there is shortage of maize is very unnecessary.
Why is HH so determined to bring panic to the point if forcing the management at shoprite to the such measures.
This is F**LIST.
We Zambians easily adapt. Just like we have adapted to 12 hours load shedding and to the fuel crisis and the weak kwacha and to the cholera pandemic, we are going to adapt to this Lubinda maize crisis. We can easily stop eating Nshima and substitute with Cassava and buns. These challenges bane are global. Everywhere people are now having maize shortages and there is no mealie meal. Even in America, people there even stop eating Maize, they now eat pasta, cassava and rice.
Its tough! So, stop complaining. Meantime, efintu!
xFacor
You are twisted in your thinking. Sober up!
Elyolwanya lwati na pwetetetetetetetetetetetetetetete!!!
Na dualcitizenship yanshi nkese mukutanamina eyo shachitapo mu sate yrs naikala kwa benamyandi!!
MMM THIS GOVT WILL NOW KILL US. CANT LUNGU JUST RESIGN ON MORAL GROUND?
Because Lungu won’t deal with him, too frightened by West intervention!
This is what Zambians voted for, now Let them suffer. How do you force someone to be the head of state who publicly confessed has got no vision apart from that of the dead. Difficault times are yet to come now face it there you are.
no no no! the reason might that people in the opposition have a lot of money and buying in bulk so that they starve panga carrying PF cadres
HH and his……
DESPERATION.
DESPERATION.
DESPERATION.
DESPERATION.
DESPERATION.
This is happing Zambia?! Sad.
UNIP Reloaded!
OK, so a family of five can buy five bags from the same shop, provided they have separate amounts each.
Please, understand basic economics. There is a high demand for mealie meal within Zambia and the Southern African region resulting from poor rainfall and crop failure. It is this demand for a scarce commodity that is pushing up the price of mealie meal and leading to smuggling across borders.
According to the PF Mouthpiece, Zambia Daily Mail, UPND supporters are the ones who have caused this ‘artificial’ shortage. Hilarious!!
kikikikiki funny hilarious always blaming a party that is not in power and cannot control the sale of maize to surrounding countries, shame on you ba PF
If HH can run the economy from the opposition, then he is the man to properly lead the country. That’s why
#ChagwaMustFall
Thats OK. Why should you buy 10 bags at once as if you taking it for sale? The max no a family of 10 can consume per month is 3 bags which can be bougght at intervals. no problem here. The problem is with those greedy Zambians who are saling the comodity in Congo, Zim and Malawi. Unfortunately Zambia is feeding 3 countries. UPND cadres please dont politize this. It has nothing to do with PF. Even if HH was to take over the problem will be there. People in the region are suffering. Zambia is now the bread basket.
exactly my thoughts…
The problem with PF is lying to the public that we have enough to feed us when truth is that there isn’t. That is the reality on the ground in case you need to be directed to the yawning bare truth.
Well spoken.Theres plenty of mealie meal here at PnPay Makeni and in 10kg packs. You mean it’s only mealie meal when packed 25 kg? Ba upnd mwayilasha!
Munkombwe please, spare us, it is PF cadres buying in bulk to sell at their stands and to repack pamelas.
the question that begs an answer is why put up restrictions now when we have never had such restrictions from the major retail outlets…
On 11th March, Lubinda said and I quote “Mr Lubinda says the country has enough maize but some politicians are misinforming people especially in rural areas.”
If we have enough maize why the shortage? Can someone call Lubinda to clarify why. Its the same Lubinda who made ECL look foolish or rather embarrassed him buy saying we had enough maize and Zambia was not going to import Maize. Its another “Chimbwili” but in a different format.
PF what do you think?
We have sufficient maize stocks and this situation will definitely normalize. We know these cheap tactics being played by Hichilema’s gang of economic saboteurs. This ethnic mercenary has engaged the same South African xenophobes to cause confusion in the Western Province calling for Barotse nonsense. Spending so much money shipping weaponry into Western Province, very evil person Hakainde. This small devil is indeed Lucifer in the flesh. Cast this Houtu demon (HH) back to Rwanda.
So you are agreeing that HH can change things; why not try him since he has proven already that he can single handedly influence things? Interesting that EL only affects violence while HH the economy.
Ntaulu you have decampaigned your diaper-SHIITING Under 5. If he’s capable of affecting the economy, he should do it in a positive way, not conniving with the South African investors to squeeze Zambian stomachs. So your tactics of causing harm to the common man so that your impact can be felt are very cheap. But anyway, this is the (HH) Hadolf Hitler we know, an evil cretin. Why not try him? Because he can’t win, lack of national appeal. I dont’ want to waste my vote on a useless minion
Mulimbwa fye imwe you ka f@ggot so we expect this nonsense from you.
Taking drugs affects your reasoning…becarefull…
@Mr Kudos: Hunger knows no tribe or political affiliation, therefore hunger issues must receive maximum attention from you and those taking the lead. If there is enough maize in Zambia, let there be enough Meali meal in the shops to stabilise the prices. HH is not in charge of FRA or in charge of all the Milling Companies, (including the newly installed Solar Milling Plants,) in the country, how then does he cause the shortages?
As regards your claim of HH shipping weaponry into Western province, please urgently report this issue to the Security wings in Zambia, we do not want civil war in our beloved country.
For those of us who are politically neutral, at times we get confused when we hear/ read accusing statements on HH. Is HH indirectly governing the affairs of Zambia for him to…
Mr Kudos
You certainly have exposed your lack of understanding by your shallow analysis to my earlier posting. Good luck to your levels of comprehension my friend because the wise have understood what I meant.
Kudos you should be on your way to the neighbouring country your ancestors hailed from. So you are indirectly saying HH is ruling this country to have control over mealie meal. We have the likes of Given Lubinda who has assured the nation of ample maize in the country to assure us of the real issue of the shortage of our staple food.
Did you forget to take your medication?
unip tym we want change lungu has failled
If surely the UPND is causing the shortage of mealie meal in the country, then it only tells one thing that UPND is so powerful that the PF thugs have completely failed to find a solution to avoid the shortages.
The truth is, lack of leadership by the PF thugs, secondly corruption is stinking in all PF structures. They smuggled the maize and now their foolishness is exposed….
If surely the UPND is causing the shortage of mealie meal in the country, then it only tells one thing that UPND is so powerful that the PF thugs have completely failed to find a solution to avoid the shortages.
The truth is, lack of leadership by the PF thugs, secondly corruption is stinking in all PF structures. They smuggled the maize and now their lack if brains is exposed….
One would think that with BoZ printing the useless Kwacha around the clock, that PF would outbid HH and GBM for mealie meal. Better still, flood the market with cheap mealie meal so that those who are trying to corner the maize market are left with expensive maize. That’s a sure way of bankrupting your enemy! Or are PFools too dull to understand what I am saying?
#ChagwaMustFall
Good move, I like that again and again. Look you fellaz in Zambia should begin to be patrotic. I do support the move taken by these supermarkets. Okay we Zambians can be a little bit naive and so uncaring. Listen Smuggling of essential goods – mealie meal included started as way back as the 70s. Yeah! KK had a hard time controlling the vice because the borders into the DRC especially, happens to be very porous. If you ECL and your team want to remain in power secure our borders. Ensure that personnel atthe border points are sober and restrict the crossing of umunga, Ufa or mealie meal with heavy guarding. BE MINDFUL, this is an election year as such temptation to keeping your eyes off this very important issue are extremely high.
Good move ba govt…pf plus ecl is equal to my vote and every one at home
Zambia is no exception because four million people in Zimbabwe are in need of food aid to deal with a devastating drought wrought by the El Nino weather pattern. MDC claims that food aid is being distributed on a party lines which is being denied. El Nino is a periodic weather event, occurring every 7 to 8 years, caused by the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean which results in disruption to weather patterns across the world, exacerbating droughts in some areas and increasing the risk of flooding in others. Rainfall has plummeted across Southern Africa, with areas of Zimbabwe, South Africa and several other countries experiencing their driest rainfall seasons in the last 35 years, according to the United Nations World Food Program.
Yeah, you`re indeed retired engineer.
Retarded Senior Engineer, for your own info, South Africa has not had powercuts since August last year and they are not forecasting any going forward. So, there goes your global nonsense. Don’t blame your bad neighbourhood for your misery. Zambia does not need to compete with Zimbabwe or Malawi for the worst management of national resources. How come you dimwits do not remember that Botswana and Namibia are also next door and yet they do not have these catastrophic experiences that you wallow in?
#ChagwaMustFall
Imwe ba Pf, just .go by what HH tells you. You can win a few people in the remaining months otherwise pf will exit with 15%. HH is the man for Zambia at the moment.
Yes insala pa Congo to much. Bamambala tabalima. Kindly keep your eyes at the Milling companies on the copperbelt. I repeat watch the Milling companies on the C/belt. Chaps don’t care; they load bags of mealie meal destination DRC in the night. Ba nkusa ba government border security personnel needs to be sensitized if anything kindly send the soldiers to border points specifically to check truckers as they gain entry into the DRC. Secondly, iwe ECL and your team make sure that aba bankusa ba GBM na HH stop game playing kuli Maize meal. It is very serious. Cage all these losers wanting to play dirty politics in the name of whatever it takes. You know that this period is a trick one. ECL and team you also stop playing the game of unreasonable offloading of Corn for political mileage.
Those Cbelt milling companies are PF sponsors. Exporting or smuggling the maize is their pay off from PF. That’s why Lubinda tolerates them.
#ChagwaMustFall
What are the symptoms of failed government in any country?
Load shedding I can stomach but bunga shortage NO!!! Never in my wildest dream did I see this, and where is ex father to give us a solution please!?
Jonas Shakafuswa, where are you. Tell your Zesco that power has gone again at 19hrs in your consituency. Load shedding whole day and now darkness again. I phoned your Zesco and as usual they have given me their casual answer, it has tripped. Daily daily daily Zesco. You are spoiling the name of the President.
This article published a photo of the notices, but looks like it says different to what stated in print. Where is, the message about suppliers? There is no way a retailer can speak on behalf of a supplier.
Indeed Zani muone/Kabangwe all in darkness like every day. With the usual answer it has tripped from Zesco.
The good thing is if it’s true HH is behind this then eventually epode will riot and the gov’t will gave to declare emergency rule and cancel the elections until the food situation rightness itself. Why should we spend so much on elections thus year, when Elle are as hungry as UPNDers say! UND is Just cutting off its nose to spite it’s face, let’s see where that takes UPND.
Finally iwe ECL ne Team lyobe. Kudos in advance. I know you will win the forthcoming election. Bushe those caucuses MUNDIA SIKATANA na LPM oro Levy Patrick Mwanawasa elo na the living Magande never left papers on how they did it. Was the venture cost inhibiting? I mean they showed the formula, the magic, trick of of the game. WINTER MAIZE kaili. Was the project a flop or a Win. I mean guys, come on guys; we can do this. So on your first year of your next term ECL, kindly revisit, if anything, refine LPM and Mundia formula. GROW THE DAMN WINTER MAIZE imwe!Politics politics lyonsefye? Get a life! No wonder MCS and LPM made up in the last days of the later. They must be hoomies in heaven or Hell, May their souls rest in Peace. I rest my case 😉
Latest: PF has unearthed a scam in which UPND cadres, disguised as citizens, are buying fuel in bulk, sometimes full tank! In order to create an articial fuel shortage.
That explains it! I have also noticed some UPND cadres overusing power at their posh homes and businesses, each one using 100MW and depriving everybody else! That’s why we have powercuts.
Are Zambians that stoopid? Really,
#ChagwaMustFall
“HH has shares in Shoprite and Pick n Pay. He is conspiring with both shops to embarrass PF” ~ Chishimba Kambwili & Frank Bwalya
Comment:Lusaka province has 5 districts which are chilanga,kafue,chongwe,luangwa and lusaka district and out da 3 districts voted massively 4 UPND kafue,chongwe and chilanga and luangwa & lusaka district voted 4 PF from da simple analysis one can tell dat LSK province z now a UPND strong hold and if u have seen da ECZ report LSK province and southern province are da highest registered provinces in da 2016 August elections HH has already won dis election without a doubt PF will whacked in da first round without even goin 4 a re-run dat da PF are cravin For and 2 make matters worse their will be an addition of da january 2015 rigged votes which were stolen from HH especially in lusaka.Viva HH
If mealie meal is running out, it means demand is high. The solution is to supply more to match the demand and not to restrict buying.
the IDEA is not that we are running out of maize stock but that there are people out there who are buying mealimeal in bulk and exporting to other countries like malawi and zimbabwe, its a fact we cant run away from that our neiboring countries are dying of hunger….in this case therefore, to deal with people like HH and GBM with bad intentions for this country…….WE HAVE ENOUGH STOCKS….. moreover its soon going to be harvesting season and we are still expecting some good harvest….so wea is this madness of saying we have no maize coming from…its only with people who ARE HAPPY WEN THEY HEAR THE COUNTRY IS FACING CHANLLANGES FOR THEIR POLITICAL GAIN…..but zambians we are above this
UNICEF is appealing for donations because 30000 children are suffering from malnutrition in Zimbabwe. Zambia is likely to produce 2.4 million tonnes of maize in the current 2015/2016 crop season, down from 2.6 million tonnes the previous season due to drought, according to Minister of Agriculture Hon. Given Lubinda. Not bad!
Ba PF shortage of Mealie Mealie, shortage of electricity shortage of fuel. What is next. Are we back in Kaundas time.
Tarino is next!
yes there is market and high demand forour maize outside the borders were millers and smugglas are getting alot of money…but we cant allow this situation wen the country is also in need then weexport at the expenseofour people….we all can see and are seeing wat is happening in the border towns especially eastern province and in living stone…..foreigners buyig more than 20 bags each….who eats 20 bags in a month pa nganda???? ……..HH shud not cause unnecesarry alarmover this issue bcoz its not going to happen that him and gbm sale the meal meal tosmugglas….
Mudala Makasa. replace your keyboard, its sticky. Refrain from rendering your tech ineffective and then maybe, just maybe,we can move onto improving your reasoning.
Your a Excellency, Cancel elections, we need the money to feed people. Reschedule until after rains and harvest. That way you stop the mischief of HH.
@Patriot Abroad
Why bring the name of the President in disrepute as H.E. Chagwa Lungu has assured the nation of overflowing maize stock reservoirs with breakfast meal pegged at K45/25kg bag.
There is no shortage of mealie meal. So why do you want to cause unprecedented riots by even remotely suggesting postponement of election on hunger and mealie meal shortage which are a figment of your imagination.
@Parrot Abroad: that’s treason right there. You and Lungu will be shot on 12 August if you try that monkey trick.
#ChagwaMustFall
I like the headline. Does it mean that two people cannot buy one 25kg bag? 🙂
A responsible govt accepts liability. owns up and patches up the problem at hand instead of shifting blame on others. Its the responsibility of the govt to foresee it coming and fix accordingly beforehand. Lungu’s priorities like tarring roads are secondary as basic needs stare the people which his immediate opponent will capitalise on and gain politically.
The government must take responsibility and answer pertinent questions. Has the export of maize affected our reserves? If so, why do we continue to export maize? On the 18th of February the Zimbabwean vice-President announced that Zimbabwe had secured the importation of 615,000 tonnes of maize from Zambia and the Ukraine. He further stated that; “Zambia has been kind to us – in the last two or three weeks they have agreed to sell us another 115,000 tonnes” This has been going on, on a government to government arrangement. Now we are running out and government is blaming everyone else in sight. Why don’t journalists quiz government on these facts? What was the yield? Have the exports affected the reserves? Who decided that we should export? Did we do the maths?
This method reeks of crackpot thinking by Shoprite and Pick ‘n Pay.
You would think a retailer would want quick turnaround on sales but no. Instead they want to be politically correct and appear to physically allocate a scarce commodity. This reminds me of Zimbos in the 1990s refusing Zambians from buying more than 3 loaves of bread at Kariba and Vic Falls. This is a sure sign of twisted economic thinking and impending economic collapse. It is back to UNIP days. Really
#ChagwaMustFall
So the PF govt has literally failed to provide its citizens with even the most basic essential staple mealie meal? Of course their fanatical and suicidal thug supporters see nothing wrong with this total failure of their loonie party.
This is what you get with a lying government. Their lies are catching up with them. Patriot abroad, kudos and kaponya engineer what happened to the abundant maize your party boasted of last time. The measure of restricting the number of bags means we have run out of the abundant maize. If you can be honest with the people at least they will resort to rice and other delicacies. Now you have made then panic with your lies and I don’t think they believe those manufactured stories. Now HH looks smart, he advised you and you never listened now his warning has become a reality.
Much as we might want to feed ourselves,we need to realise that our brothers and sisters across the borders also needs something for them to survive.If we have a little,we better share with our neighbours.God will bless us abundantly if we share with the needy.We do not have to wait for our neighbours to start suffering before we give them something.We have set a standard of Christianity which is above oneself(egoism)Christianity is centred on giving.Without the gift of Jesus,mankind would not have had abundant life.God gave His very best for us to have eternal life.Let us give so that God blesses us with His everlasting blessings.If we have,we need to give wholeheartedly.
Kudos mind yo language