THE Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has urged stakeholders to ignore criticism of the Zamtel sale by the PF/UPND Pact because the two parties poured similar scorn on the privatisation of the now viable Zanaco.
ZCTU secretary general Roy Mwaba said in an interview that meetings had been held in which all the 2,431 workers had been assured of both full separation packages and retention of their jobs.
Mr Mwaba said the pact leaders had continued attacking very promising deals like they did when Zanaco was sold to Rabo Bank but the bank had now proved to be among the most viable financial institutions in Zambia.
ZCTU was reacting to sentiments by UPND president Hakainde Hichilema and PF president Michael Sata who have threatened to revoke the transaction should they assume power.
[pullquote]“They must stop politicising everything. That is exactly what they said about Zanaco and now the bank is doing very well they have kept quiet,” Mr Mwaba said.[/pullquote]
“They must stop politicising everything. That is exactly what they said about Zanaco and now the bank is doing very well they have kept quiet,” Mr Mwaba said.
He said ZCTU had undertaken to research on the viability of the Libyan firm, LAP GreenN that has its headquarters in Uganda and had discovered that the company was well grounded through diversification into ICTs and agriculture.
It had been agreed that all workers who would lose their jobs would be paid in line with the prevailing conditions of service signed between Zamtel management and the National Union of Communication Workers (NUCW).
Mr Mwaba said the people condemning the sale of Zamtel should keep a distance when Zamtel starts making profits and becomes more competitive like Zanaco, which was now operating at its best.
The congress also called on the political stakeholders to accept that contentious issues regarding the sale of Zamtel had been resolved including the tribunal that heard the involvement of RP Capital Partners which cleared former Communications and Transport minister Dora Siliya.
And the NUCW has called on all unionised Zamtel employees to remain calm as they await their separation packages because their packages will be paid in full.
NUCW General Secretary Clement Kasonde said in a circular dated June 8, 2010, that the payment of separation packages for Zamtel unionised employees would be paid in full as agreed upon by the union and Zamtel management.
“In view of the above assurance, you are all directed to remain calm to ensure that the remaining legal issues are finalised as quickly as possible,” the circular read in part.
Mr Kasonde thanked the workers for their patience.
[Times of Zambia]
The pact leaders are against the way the privitisation was done as it leaves more question than answers
ZCTU should also talk about the so many unpaid workers arising from the blind privatisation i.e UBZ.CH,Mansa batteries,ZCBC etc.Privatisation is not bad, what is bad is the lack of transparency in these deals.
#1 Just shut up if you have no facts about a matter.
Chiluba privatised all large conglomerates for a song and both HH and Sata were either in ZPA or in Govt. and should be viewed as economic plunderers.
What they are agitating for is ‘dont’t sell Zamtel and Zesco,the last two remaining giants as we have lined up buyers from Taiwan who have already given us a commission’LOL!!
Where is blooming Chitalu Sampa in all this debacle?
Thanks LT for carring up all stories of public value!
Separation packages are only paid to employess being made redundant and separating from the complany.. which means they will have no jobs after this.. your statement is wishy washy and lacks intergrity and truth.. what we want ot know is the following.. and from GRZ not you.. (1) How many employess does ZAMTEL currently have? (2) RB made it clear in Ndola & Shikapwasha afterwards that Zamtel had the fundermental problems of too many staff employed because of KKs employment policy and so the consequence was many would be separated and paid to go- We have records of this and aren’t forgetful..How many staff are losing their jobs.. My estimate is at least 50%.. tell us.. 5000, 2000, 3000 whats the number?
Let us criticize responsibly and not just rubbish everything. This is an age for responsible leadership not myopia and playing to the gallery. Sata and HH should join Zanase or ifiyabukaya(sp) etc and leave leading to men of integrity and genuine love of the nation(not self). It is ok to give one’s viewpoint but there is nothing wrong with commending when the right thing has been done. Zamtel has been in serious problems, what would they suggest be done(Sata was in cabinet, why did he not speak)
#6 Kindly Thoughts…your humour above (‘Sata and HH should join Zanase or Ifya bukaya)…has made smile. In any case, I wish the 2 men in question the very best.
Roy Mwaba is wearing a pretty expensive looking shirt and suit and watch.
Why would a union favour privatisation that is just there to provide bribes for the MMD? Do their members enjoy working for the Libyan government in Zambia?
meetings had been held in which all the 2,431 workers had been assured of both full separation packages and retention of their jobs Why a separation package when there will be retention of jobs? What kind of unionists are these? :-?:((
#9 Loose Canon.. Your question is a very good one. Government continues to lie and these two have been oiled to make false statements and do a PR for GRZ on this. you and I have been to school, read and understand English and know what “Separation Packages” means. My problem with this whole affair and GRZ in General is lying , window dressing, and sugar coating Chloroquine tablets.You say one thing a year ago in Ndola when u annunced the sale in Ndola and say something else today. flip flopping. tell us. The RP Capital Valuation was xxxxx. We accepted bid for xxxx. The following number of employess will be retrenched xxxx.. they will be paid xxxx . But everything is secret & even get angry like its ur company. u refuse to publish or disclose Valuation Report or Due Diligence informa.
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL GOVERNMENT OIL. JUST LIKE YOU SEE SENSE IN SATA AND HH JUST KNOW THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE THAT IS DEMOCRACY SUCK IT UP YOU LOOSERS. NOW GO AND WATCH WORLD CUP THAN PASSING SILLY COMMENTS.
Any formidable and responsible trade union should always lean towards the left, looking after the interests of workers. ZCTU leadership leans towards the politicians with their mouths open. Teachers get paid a month late, council workers have not been paid for over a year, a lot of workers and their families are suffering. With pressure, govt can easily overturn this situation Toothless f.o.o.l.s, thats what ZCTU leadership are. They are like the an organised syndicate of fat corrupt counter-revolutionaries only interested in their stomachs. What a pity. Midiocrity is a norm in Zed.
Is ZCTU still functional or it is a shell full of pus? Where does the money go that is forcibly contributed to it? When was the last time ZCTU said something sensible? When was the last time ZCTU made a difference to the workers in Zambia? Does the government even listen to these leeches called ZCTU? Soon they will be a political entity. Unions worked in Poland and South Africa. In Zambia, nayyyy.
that is the end, you have sold the country! any communication of SECRET information will be compromised. that how our enemies will over run the country….. Technocrats for nothing, who cant even think about security of your country…shame!!! Such institutions should not be let in the hands of foriegners..UKUTEMWE NDELAMA!!!!
how do u ignol national issues like that, this man should be serious, he wants us to concetrate on what the leaders who are busy insulting each other, like “he is agry, or he has a big nose”
if he has nothing to say, let him keep quiet and may be go farming because there is nothing he is doing on his post. he should just resign…
ZCTU, are there no labour issues for you to discuss such as poor working conditions, slave salaries, casualisation of workers, health and safety at places of work, to mention but a few? Are you sayingpublic property must be sold to forein companies at night when the owners (Zambians) are sleeping? What we are all worried about is the lack of transparency in the whole sale of this important and highly sensitive (in terms of national security) heritage, and how cheapily it has been sold. For ZCTU to say ignore those zamtel sale critics is really sad. One would conclude that Zambians are very ignorant of what they are doing/saying.
In the first place, no country with sane leaders would sell a telecoms company to foreigners. It is a highly sensitive security entity. The government should have started with raising money through selling some shares or all shares to the people of Zambia themselves to preserve state security.
#3, so you want the same mistake to be repeated over and over, again? Since when did two wrongs started making a right- maybe only in Zambia.
MALABISH——————
I HAVE NOW READ THE ARTICLE.
“the people condemning the sale of Zamtel should keep a distance when Zamtel starts making profits and becomes more competitive like Zanaco”.
THIS STATEMENT IS VERY CHILDISH. NABASHAYA KUSUKULU THINK MORE WISE AND INTELLEGENTLY THAN THESE GUYS WHO ARE MARKETING THEIR SHALLOW MINDS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB. WITH THIS SHALLOW THINKING YOU DON’T EXPECT IMPROVED WORKING CONDITIONS IN ZAMBIA.
yes even you Peter you very childish don’t think the way you are seen things where you are is the way thing are in Zambia, Have ever seen how people are suffering in Zambia without Work because of your Government that sold compnies during chiluba reign? Think twice boyi things arer bad really. i have seen that you are shallow minded boy is your dad in MMd and your are beneficially? no one will improve the works conditions morethan ourselves we if you really educated you can think positively not like your government. is your dad part of it
“He said ZCTU had undertaken to research on the viability of the Libyan firm, LAP GreenN that has its headquarters in Uganda ….”
This means that zamtel will lose most of the top engineering and admin Jobs to Uganda HQ!! All zamtel staff will be told to re-apply for jobs and maybe 10% will be retained under crap conditions. What a joke…
Shame on zambians future….
am not an expert in business, but i have a question, why didn’t sell the shares on lusaka stock ex. to Zambians, say 51-61%? i feel more profits could be retained and re-invested in Zambia. while foreign investment is needed, it has to be on the minority. ZCTU please! ZANACO might be doing well today becouse chiluba/mmd is no longer getting money from it at will. however since the majority shareholder is foreign, then more profits are leaving our country then what is re-invested. makes matters worse we do not have rules (may be to say working rules) on externalisation of forex.
#4 Mwata
Now i know why you like copy and paste…enrol for an eglish course or online correspondence,its never too late
ZCTU, your thinking is very crude. I have not seen any improvement with ZANACOs services. Its still the archaic type. Still crowded and inefficient.
The guys that are gonna be thrown in the streets have no survival skills. All the moneis will finish in three months time and they will be destitutes.
ZCTU think like unionist not like MMD cadres.
The problem is not the privatisaion but the processures taken to such without transparency. When wu sell most companies to outsiders we weakens our currency see we are saying economically we are doing better but look what is happening with our Kwacha. Lets look at the lives of the people on the ground thier lives in becoming poorer those in town to understand better what i am saying go to the rural areas especially Northwestern and Western provinces you will ask if is still part of Zambia. we need honest and who dream dreams to serve our country. MMD has becomes blind and will use the means to remain in power that is what is painful and happen that because of pact there are also doing have started talking about development also. One thing from Zambian experince is donnot let one party
stay. the USA developed because have different parties and president, is some of these presidents left foundation of Democracy there are enjoying today. So lets judge our leaders do htey have dreams for the country. in Chiluba time when was privatising was told that you will make the poeple lives difficult but never listerned went on up to now copperbelt and Kabwe have never recovered. so the caution is itright to sell more companies with the carelees manner or what.
Openess, ” The problem is not the privatisaion but the processures taken to such without transparency. When wu sell most companies to outsiders we weakens our currency see we are saying economically we are doing better but look what is happening with our Kwacha. ”
Also, there is no sunset clause to foreign ownwership. Privatized companies stay in foreign hands forever. That is no way to develop a *Zambian* economy, in fact it looks a lot like colonisation.
It is as if the MMD politicians don’t care what happens to the country at all.
The PACT ignores desperate rants and surges on. MMD’s downfall is inevitable.
It seems some of you including ZCTU secretary general did not do well in comprehension at school. People are talking of the corrupt way in which some of these sales are taking. Yes I may agree that Zanaco is doing fine but if the method of doing things is not right it is difficult to see sense in some of these sales. There is too much nchekeleko (corruption) in RBs government!!!!
So what is secrete about ZAMTEL,
Majority of SMS and Call are handled by ZAIN AND MTN- foreign companies
MOST internet traffic in ZAMBIA is carried by private and foreign owned institution
ALL traffic from ZAMBIA is connect to CORE ROUTER most of the in the USA and Europe.
Most of you are USING Windows Vista and 7 spayware from Microsoft on behalf of the CIA
Sata na Hichilema are not engineers or are not anything hear engineering so they don’t understand that Telecommunication is actually connectivity which upto now is controlled by large foreign companies that handle Data and Voice at wholesale levels, eg INTELSAT- Zambia’s gateway, AND optical Fibre cables in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean.
PLEASE LEARN TO SEPARATE POLITICS FROM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY- there is just too…
i really wonder if Zamtel employees are affiliated to ZCTU, this is rubbish coming from this chap called roy mwaba…he is supposed to be pro – employees and not to encourage them to wait and get meagre terminal benifits, what meaninful business is there for them to do in zambia and sustain there families in the next two years…lets wait for joyce nonde to speak too…viva pact…we will reverse this transaction mwata!