1. Strong commitments and promises
In his inauguration speech at the National Heroes Stadium on 24 August 2021, President of Republic of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema made commitments to the Zambian people and the stakeholders on a number of points, some of which are of particular interest to us :
– We are determined to free our country from the ills of mismanagement and malpractice,and promote that which is better (…)
– The days of political interference in public institutions and parastatals are over (…)
– We need morality, integrity and accountability (…)
In the Spring of 2020, Candidate Hichilema Hakainda’s spokesperson Anthony Bwalya contacted me to find out the views of minority shareholders on the various issues surrounding ZCCM-IH, such as gold mining and copper mines, etc… We had a lot of discussions. Few weeks before the 2021 presidential elections, he wrote to me : « For the record, we will be looking to strengthen our partnership with the minority shareholders as the UPND government to ensure its run as a
completely independent entity » (…) « the governance independence of ZCCM-IH is a key ».
2. The fine promises went up in smoke
For more than three years, we have witnessed incomprehensible non-business decisions in the management of ZCCM-IH and the resignation of our esteemed Chairperson Dolika Banda amid rumours of political interference.It is with bitterness and anger that we recently obtained proofs of this political interference with the dismissal of the competent Chief Legal Officer and Chief Investments Officer of ZCCM-IH orchestrated by IDC CEO Cornwell Muleya and Cabinet Secretary Patrick Kangwa, as stated in the documents sent to the court.
Do individual investors from Zambia, but also from many other countries, have to put up with the deplorable Zambian habit of finding good places for one’s ‘mbuyas’ or tribal cousins ?
Certainly a position as head of department at ZCCM-IH is a position that makes many envious.Unfortunately, this detestable habit never considers the interests of the company and therefore, in our case, of all Zambians.
What is more, once such a clique is in place, it will be easy to milk the cow. Let us not forget their motto: It is our time !
The rights of both Zambian and international minority shareholders are being totally flouted. We are extremely surprised and shocked that the decision and pressure could have been imposed by the highest level of government, namely Cabinet Secretary Patrick Kangwa. Clearly the promises have not been kept.
Where are the President’s fine promises of non-interference ?Is the so-called ‘new dawn government’ finally nothing more than a sham ?
President Hichilema must keep his promises and political interference must stop. A company listed on three international stock Exchanges cannot be subject to bad eggs whose actions are contrary to the interests of its shareholders, in particular the Zambian people.
Issued by :
Thierry CHARLES
President of ZCCM Defense
FRANCE
HH is a Politician….they’re all liars and conmen…Politicians work for themselves and the people who sponsored them…..HH is now working for his donors just like Trump is now working for Elon Musk..HH doesn’t care about the voters in Chawama or Misisi….
KK warned us that this one will destroy the country but we never listened. I guess what it surprising about this president is the lack of respect for his own people and country. The man is so focused on growing his business empire as if he will take it with him to his grave. He will probably be the firs former president of Zambian to live abroad.The Europeans have done a job on him but he underestimates how quickly he will be discarded when he comes to the end of his usefulness.
You maybe right, but there was noone to warn us about KK who actually destroyed our Zambia
with his One party Participatory Democrocy which in reality was nothing more than a D1ctat0rship
That’s what makes socialism as impractical as teeing a golf ball with a badminton racket. It’s impossible to constitute competent management – due to competing interests by the powers that be.
Every politician in the world makes promises while in opposition or taking office……..
That don’t happen when reality of the state of the economy sets in….
FWD2031
..and what is the reality of the state of the economy?
Which economic activity is better: this we have or that one we had? You seem to be admitting that he has failed us. He lacks foresight; no look into the future. The FOWARD has collapsed under his watch.
The many cows the president has are not enough. He still wants to milk ZCCM-IH whose minority shares have been sabotaged for too long.
GRZ money is free cashcow for selfish exploitation. It is a selfservice store where leaders don’t pay a Ngwee for shopping in it. Zambians were wrong to have thought H-H owing to his riches would opt to pay.
Next time a person comes round campaigning, assess whether the person has competency and capacity. If that is not done, we will end up with current situation of visilili (folk tales) as one chief in Eastern province put it. You will find that the equilibrium is not balanced, the leader is in full gear praising himself and the population is in full gear wallowing in poverty.
Complete failed project, just sticking to the rhetoric of free education and social cash transfer but the country is going downwards economically. Infact the downward trend started way before the drought, which they are using as an excuse. Let us vote wisely next time please
I fully blame Edgar Lungu for sleeping on the job. Each time Upnd lost an election, the mines laid off workers and even abandoning a mine like Anglo did with KCM. Lungu should have connected the dots. The Indian owner took his case to South Africa which made it impossible to reinvest in KCM which resulted despondency among residents of Chingola… originally people were happy to see the departure of Vedanta… but saw no improvement….result was PF lost terribly to Upnd… unlike Kitwe where there was sanity at Mopani at least.
HH won by taking advantage of such situations….by hook or crook.
HH should take a leaf from the Malawian President who confessed that he has failed. Running a nation is not a job of cow herders! He has failed to even make an effective cabinet and as a result he is all over the show traveling up and down and making more false promises. He is a joke. An expensive joke!!
First of all with all fairness the PF govt performed dismally and played a large part in the country’s woes, focus being on the huge debt the current govt had to deal with.
Fast forward to the present, there is absolutely no excuse for the country to be in it’s dire economic situation. The nation has received billions of dollars in investment, has also received goodwill loans and grants totalling in the billions of dollars since UPND took over. Where then is the problem?
The high foreign currency exchange rate volatility and inflation are indicative of two things:
1. Excess forex leaving the country
2. The country not exporting to earn revenue and boost it’s GDP and reserves which in turn will help reduce the rise in prices of goods (inflation)
Ctn So why is the country not exporting enough? One of the core reasons is the eco ony has basically starved the other sectors apart from the mines which continue to be a sector of no real value addition from growing. Look at the electricity situation, the mines consume most of the generated power disadvantaging other key sectors such as tourism and agriculture, and these are the sectors that bring in forex. We are giving the mines too much leeway and it is killing this country. What is happening before our eyes is the economic destruction of Zambia and only a few can see it, not even the clueless opposition can see it because they too were benefiting from the mines when they were in power.
Ctn…After meeting the IMF conditions and securing a debt payback plan with creditors plus the much spoken about $1.3 billion we were all so sure things would improve. Excuses of blaming the drought when our neighbors who were equally hit have not had their currency hit as bad as our is a clear indication we have very poor economic managers running this economy. Even with the madness of PF we did not have an economy in disrepair and with no confidence in it. Who in this world can come and leave their money in a Zambian bank or buy govt bonds with exchange rate volatility and inflation. as it is. To make matters worse they are printing higher denomination notes when the test of world is trying to go cashless! All these higher bites will do is further devalue the currency.
Ctn…Why are they destroying this country, what is their endgame? Is it the IMF setting unfair conditions or what??? For me what I see are leaders who have their investments abroad and in USD not ZMW, if we had leaders that were truly invested in Zambia there is no way you would have a currency and an economy in freefall.
Remember those of you who dislike my comments that our ZMW was the worst performing currency in the world last year September, 2024 and remains in that category thanks to our great economists running or sorry, ruining the economy beyond repair.
ZCCM-IH is a public limited company which is mandated by listing rules to publicly comment on all developments that are likely to impact on its share price. Silence by the company in the wake of such a comment by Thierry Charles is not an option. I’m waiting and all ears.
The man has a gift of tongues.. if you know what i mean.
Only Id!ots would want the economy which was destroyed to improve within a period of 3yrs.They borrowed without a vision/plan to pay back.That 60% of that money went in their pockets.They could not pay farmers and pensioners yet we Id!ots clapping for them using their back side.I will never understand some Zambians.Eve if you hate HH wishe ni so bane.Awe twakana.These above are all sick tribalists.Today they want to tell us that HH has not done anything…awe bane hatred won’t take us anywhere