Zambia’s Performing Artiste, Producer, and Human Rights Activist, Miko Zulu has said that it is very clear that the failures of privatisation and the adverse effects thereof can be attributed to selfish capitalists who manipulated the system by undervaluing prime public assets and then benefitting from the scam by selling the cheaply priced companies to themselves thereafter.
In a post on his Facebook page and reacting to revelation by Forum For Democracy 9FDD) President Edith Nawakwi on HotFM yesterday, Mr. Zulu said that in as much as the processes may have been legal, there was absolutely no morality on the part of the actors and that is the moral compass which must be used to determine in whose hands the future of the country will be safer come August 2021, adding that some things are legally right but morally wrong.
“Let us not forget the poverty, lost lives, destroyed futures, destroyed families and lost jobs that were as a result of this pure capitalist approach to national development. Ghost towns were created in many provinces as a result.
“In the end the wealth was simply transferred from the people to few individuals whose loyalty to the country is now cast in doubt whichever way you look at it.
Mr Zulu further said that as Zambia heads towards a major Presidential election, it is absolutely important for citizens to know who was part of the privatisation process and how they made their wealth because this would give Zambians an indication to where their hearts lie, adding that this was more so for those who wish to rule or continue to rule this country.
Yesterday, FDD leader Edith Nawakwi charged that the conduct of Hakainde Hichilema during the privatization exercise bordered on theft of public resources and that he is lucky he has never been arrested so far.
Mrs Nawakwi charged that Mr Hichilema should not stretch his luck too far as one day he will be made to account for the theft he allegedly committed.
She said as a Managing Partner at Grant Thornton, Mr Hichilema used his position as an adviser to the Zambian government during the privatization period to enrich himself.
Mrs Nawakwi was speaking on the Hot Seat radio programme on Hot FM in response to Mr Hichilema’s call that she and other lawyers who participated in the privatization exercise should explain their roles.
She said the mere fact that Mr Hichilema sold himself a House in Serval road in Kabulonga and ended up as Chairman of Sun Hotels, the hotel chain that bought off Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone confirms that he is thief.
“When I was Agriculture Minister, we engaged Grant Thornton as receivership manager, we were expecting a receivership report but we ended up receiving a liquidation report. What Hakainde should explain is how he ended up acquiring a Lima Bank House in Serval road where he lived until he moved to Lusaka East without any public bids for the sale of that property was engaged. That is theft of public funds,” Mrs Nawakwi said.
She added, “secondly, Grant Thornton was engaged to handle the sale of Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone which became Sun Hotels. We asked Mr Hichilema whether the 6 million dollars offered was a good prize and he told us it was a good price and the following day, he became a Board Chairman of the same Hotel. That is conflict of interest and that is theft.”
The FDD leader said Mr Hichilema should also be questioned over the handing of the RAMCOZ in Luanshya receivership.
She revealed that Mr Hichilema’s Grant Thornton was paid 10 million dollars for the RAMCOZ receivership which has not even benefited the local miners.
Mrs Nawakwi said because of stealing from the government, Mr Hichilema has now amassed millions of dollars in offshore accounts.
“One day, the law will visit him. He shouldn’t think he is very smart.”
Forget about the 1990. Chiluba dead. Deal with now.
Look what that bandit Lewis Mosho, it has sold so many assets including houses for The Post Newspaper. It hasn’t even paid the “debts” to ZRA. Idea was to sell off The Post, pay ZRA and employees.
Don’t go to history, deal with now. Privatization and liquidation are same.
Another robbery is currently going on lead by Milingo Lungu at KCM.
Wait for liquidation of Bank of Zambia, it is already privatized now owned by private PF.
Ni same Whatsapp group. They all know how they have legally beat the system and have the audacity to ask us to take them to court if we have evidence as if that makes them any clean. Something can be done legally but be morally bankrupt, case ya same Whatsapp group iyi.
(HH) everyone has distanced from you. Dirty thug
esterday, FDD leader Edith Nawakwi charged that the conduct of Hakainde Hichilema during the privatization exercise bordered on theft of public resources and that he is lucky he has never been arrested so far.
This is a waste of time. Privatisation was done a long time ago. Any sensible Zambian interested to know what and how privatization was conducted could by now be enlightened and have information before speaking based on what compromised Nawakwi says on a radio programme. You are free to buy the lies from Nawakwi whose main objective is to disadvantage HH during the upcoming elections next year on behalf of PF. Maiko remember lies have short legs and reality is already catching Nawakwi and a few people like you who accepts to be cheated in broad day light!!
You must be very dull Zambians to be dribbled , the whole GRZ including lungu , by a 29 year HH
Let’s not pretend here. If HH was guilty of anything you lot would have arrested him already. Since you haven’t, we can conclude he’s clean. Let’s focus on our current politicians who are stealing from us.
This is PF peddlers of lies being desperate to divert people’s attention from the sinking economy…..
Even if you people your lies , things will not improve
that exercise was legal and nothing illegal about it happened and the records are there to show who was there and what was agreed..can you read Zambians..stop being petty..nawakwi,chikwanda,Kaunda and ba Lungu all mentioned in there..
We are where we are now because of people like Nawakwi and Edgar Lungu .Zambians would want to know what Edith did to try and stop HH benefit from the sale of mines when she was a minister under Chiluba .If she did nothing then , she is just as guilty as she wants to paint HH to be .There are some Zambian o called politicians like Tayali whose thought process is all over the place and focuses on one thing HH .Edith joined Tayali so that she could also pounce on the PF’s left overs .
Zambians had stopped talking about privatization because the economy started doing well the kwacha was bullish and the economy was growing at a rate of 7-8 % until ECL took over and saddled the country with debt now that the economy is sinking from mismanagement you want to talk about a dead story of privatization really hey no
This is the most laughable story in Zambia. The people who were in government at the time MUST be ashamed of themselves. Edith Nawakwi is really very sleepy indeed. Imagine I want to sell my house. A Realtor comes and values it. I agree to the price and I pay him. A buyer comes and I, not the realtor, sell the house. I pocket the money. One day as I am passing by the house, I find the Realtor is now the owner. I start crying foul! It was my s t u p i d i t y ! Similarly, Vendata bought the mines from Levy’s MMD. He went away and boasted about how he did it. This is capitalism. The shrewd win. The foolish lose. Our job is to elect people who are good negotiators not cadres. Donald Trump is saying the same thing in the US.
@Sakala
You are perfectly correct. We had a growing economy for close to 11 years and now we are sinking. Instead of looking at the REAL cause, people as usual are blaming the wrong people. We did the same thing after colonialism. We enjoyed growth for 10 years after independence and after we messed up, we started talking about ‘offshoots of hunger, disease and ignorance.’
This is the most laughable story in Zambia. The people who were in government at the time MUST be ashamed of themselves. Edith Nawakwi is really very sleepy indeed. Imagine I want to sell my house. A Realtor comes and values it. I agree to the price and I pay him. A buyer comes and I, not the realtor, sell the house. I pocket the money. One day as I am passing by the house, I find the Realtor is now the owner. I start crying foul! It was my s t u p i d i t y ! Similarly, Vendata bought the mines from Levy’s MMD. He went away and boasted about how he did it. This is capitalism. The shrewd win. The f o o l i s h lose. Our job is to elect people who are good negotiators not cadres. Donald Trump is saying the same thing in the US.
We just want to change government. Maybe the incoming thieves will be more considerate to Zambians than these callous ones!
I respect Maiko Zulu for his views when he does not involve aspersion but speaks straight! I listened to Ms. Nawakwi who instead of helping the citizenry understand the handling of the mines privatization saga she instead raised more smoke blaming her teams incompetence and failure to cut a better deal on someone who neither was a government official nor direct participant in the negotiations! Nawakwi cleverly wants to make Zambians believe that Grant Thornton was an “ADVISOR” to government and not a “CONSULTANT” who’d provide a report to government after their work and get paid! Government has its own valuations officers who after receiving the report would have reviewed it and made their own final assessments! A consultant gives their opinion and the association with them ends with…
contd…. with exchange of report and payment! What one who receives the report does with it is their problem. Now we keep going round in circles with conspiracy theorizing just because the once hired consultant has joined politics all policy decision failures must be lumped on him! Not everyone may like Zambians who have made their wealth working or investing intelligently out of sheer envy and jealousy but rather than destroy souls with unsubstantiated claims let substance go to the courts! I find it funny for Ms. Nawakwi to warn HH not to push his luck too far, for why shield the theft and thief if you have the proof of the illegality? You can only hold back if you’re complicit! I would rather have all still living members of the government privatization negotiating team could be…
contd…. interviewed than concentrating on the consultant. Let’s not be cheated that Grant Thornton was advisor to government, the lies are just muddying the waters, government was represented by dull negotiators!
The article which Nawakwi wrote definitely nail her down as a lazy incompetent past Finance Minister who is blaming an innocent person. She is a professional who is suppose to have ensured that the mines were sold at the right price. She had minister of mine, General Mangers of the mines. Consultants do not make decisions. Specialists with mining backgrounds do. Cheap politics. Zambia can not make progress because of paper tigers who have no practical experience.
When thievery unclean wolf tries to fit in sheep skin, whoops, the sheep’s skin is way too small for this pompwe munshibila nsala (kleptomaniac) h².
The selfishness is to overwhelming this disgraced upndead camp.
Damn it! I loath thieves.
How could you thrive on thievery chief cheap thief h² and mock us by trying to misrule us through more planned thievery??
Tufyakwa!
No, we need to know the people that gassed us & the owners of magic 48 houses stop wasting time on irrelevant issues. We want to know the terrorists
Its Election Season so they are trying to divert attention from current issues to suspected theft that might have or not happened more than 30 years ago. This diversion is meant to target HH who has been exposing corruption in the current PF Govt. Edith Nawakwi who was Minister of Finance during Privatization wants to pass the back to HH whose Company was hired to carry out valuation of Govt Assets. Edith Nawakwi and Alex Chikwanda should take full responsibility for the Privatization of Mines. They owe an explanation to the Nation to exculpate themselves from the ills of Privatization of Mines and other Govt Assets. HH cannot be said to be lucky for not have been arrest for selling Govt Assets 30 years ago.Why doesn’t Edith Nawakwi report HH to the Police if she thinks he committed…
Thou Shalt not bear False Witness!
Everyone has a different Perception of the same thing. What separates myths from facts is THE TRUTH. The truth here is Edith Nawakwi was the Final Authority in the Privatization Process. She is running away from Responsibility by trying to use HH as a scapegoat. She has twisted many facts in her lies. Read PNT Chairperson’s Book on Zambia’s Privatization and you will have a clear understanding! You will see that Privatization of ZCCM was divided into three: Core Mines, Subsidiaries and non-core assets. Grand thornton where HH is mentioned was tasked with Subsidiaries. So when you say HH sold the mines, you are talking out of ignorance because his team did not with core mines as maliciously alleged! Please get the book by Francis Kaunda titled…
Selling the family Silver on ZCCM assets and speak from an informed position. Learn to fact-check thieving politicians like Nawakwi who capitalize on ignorant masses!
Nawakwi, who kept the keys to Chiluba’s presidential suite at Intercontinental hotel and what did you do with him there?
Actually what we need to know is how Lungu and his people intend to fix the economy and also where the billions that were borrowed have gone to and also we need to have all the people cited in the FIC reports were again billions have been stolen. Privatisation nonsense has no bearing on the current toubles created by the incompetence of PF
No Zambians cannot forget history no you can’t do that for it is history that writes the future , if you want to it is your opinion, what you must know is that yesterday is gone but the events that happened affects today.
People who saw the evil are still alive who lost their relatives are still alive how do shut them up.
The people who selfishly benefited from the scam must be brought to book, they are criminals who shouldn’t rule this nation, that is the only litmus paper to use they cannot be role models for Zambians that is immoral.
I hope the civil society will wake up to the challenge and follow up those people, they are now rich at the expense of poor Zambians, if they are in government they should dance to the tune in opposition just the same if this is…
Mooto moto wayaka moto wayaka moto wayaka…
I told Hei Hei to stop politics of character assassination and name calling. Being the Prosecutor, judge and executioner. See I warned you to just lay down your policies and convince the people. In your own little wisdom, you thought Zambians have forgotten. And I usually tell Zambians. Most of these opposition leaders cling to politics to avoid, delay, and ran away by death from prosecution.
The issues raised by Edith Nawakwi and Sean Tembo on HH’s role in Zambia’s privatization process are pertinent ones despite the passage of time. If HH, now aspiring to hold the highest office in the land, was able to pull a fast one on Zambia LTD during privatization by enriching himself, what guarantee is there that he will not do the same when he assumes the Zambia Presidency? Why does he indeed get angry when asked to explain? Only the guilty ones behave the way HH behaves in relation to the issue.