Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has said the Government has shamed people who criticised the privatisation of Zanaco because the bank is performing well.
Dr Musokotwane said in Lusaka that Zanaco had moved from being a non-tax paying institution in 2007 before it was privatised to one that contributed K70 billion in direct taxes to the Government at the end of December last year.
The bank, which has doubled its client base to 450, 000, has opened six more branches and the number of automated teller machines has risen from 20 to 150.
The minister said this at Hotel InterContinetal on Monday night during a farewell party for outgoing Zanaco managing director Mark Weissing, who has been transferred to Tanzania.
The new head of Zanaco, Martyn Shouten was also welcomed.
Dr Musokotwane said the Government carried out extensive research before privatising any institution.
He said the growth of Zanaco was one example which should make Zambians change their mind on Government’s decisions.
He challenged the critics to conduct enough research instead of rushing some important undertakings such as the privatisation of Zanaco.
Dr Musokotwane said Zambia would not develop if people got stuck in the past and continued resisting change as they did when the Government announced its intention to privatise the bank.
“It is very emotional for me to stand here and hear about the successes of Zanaco in such a short time because when we announced we were to privatise Zanaco, there were street protests and when the bank said they would close down some branches during the global economic recession, a protest took place at the Zanaco headquarters.
“If Zanaco was not privatised, we would have been talking about it like Zambia Airways. People today still complain about Zambia Airways, it’s gone, so forget about it,” he said.
[ Times of Zambia ]
Is it true. to me it’s a Wait and see situ
This Dr. Musokotwane is showing his lack of knowledge how QZ went under. Its was the arogance of then Finance Minister Ron Penza. QZ had more assets than liabilities locally and abroad. Even Zanaco its not that it has scored sucess withn a short time it was GRZ and its parastatals which owed alot of nkongole to Zanaco and thats why it wes sold for a song may be there was a debit swap. Generally the wolrd economic perfornance has improved hence the bank doing better. QZfailed to access forex to pay its AITTA fees. Dr. you have to talk about the how Zambians are going to benefit from the high copper prices and job creation. No one is interested in paper tigers or statistcs of economic growth. We need real results. That MD from Zanaco should go in fact he was draining alot of forex from Zanac
That out going Zanaco MD’s wife refused to come and live in Lusaka and the chap had to spend alot of money to and from Juberg and GRZ through Dr. Musokotwane never never raised a point of order as though GRZwas not a share holder in Zanaco. I hope the in coming MD will not repeat what his predecessor’s treking habits. We have got capable Zambians to run Zanaco. 47 years down the line we still import manpower. Dr. Musokotwane should be more concerned with reinstating windfall taxes than condeming those who protested the privitazation of Zanaco. Pipo have a right of association even to protest. DR. Should not forget that there have pipo who occupied that office before him and others will be there after him. He will have to account how he got himself sole supplier of c/blocks to NHA…
Yes, more facts for the noise makers. Please Dr. Musokotwane continue shaming the critics. All they know is to make the loudest noise but continue shaming them with the success the govt is scoring.
Musokotwane is now fighting for recognision. He should have known,when he was appointed FNP Minister, that stepping into Magande’s shoes was always going to be difficult. Please emulate Magande before your get the kudos i.e. more work than talk
demos against zanaco sale led by sata and his vuvuzela the post. HH tood on top of muchinga escapment and shouted the loudest against zanaco sale. now the bank has the highest customer base and highest ATMs and highest bank balance. its big strong and realiable. you see those qeues at ATMs because clients believe in the bank. the next success story will be lapgreen
#2/3 The article is about Zanaco’s privatization success story, and not the bull-shit you’re waffling about! Situmbeko Musokotwane, pls continue silencing these goons with tangible and verifiable facts. Keep it up Hon. Minister, I pray that we’ll be saying the same thing about Zamtel, few years from now. It’s clear that a private sector driven economy is the most viable economic system and Govt should merely facilitate and regulate the market (while supporting few vulnerable sectors like agri, health and education). Had KK pursued a private sector driven economy back in the 70’s, we’d be like Singapore today.
#2/3 The article is about Zanaco’s privatization success story, and not the bull-sh.it you’re waffling about! Situmbeko Musokotwane, pls continue silencing these goons with tangible and verifiable facts. Keep it up Hon. Minister, I pray that we’ll be saying the same thing about Zamtel, few years from now. It’s clear that a private sector driven economy is the most viable economic system and Govt should merely facilitate and regulate the market (while supporting few vulnerable sectors like agri, health and education). Had KK pursued a private sector driven economy back in the 70’s, we’d be like Singapore today.
if u sale a company and it starts doing fine then u re an idio.t. Why was is not doing fine b4? if government thinks privatization is the way forward, we wait for ZNBC, Times of Zambia and Daily Mail privatization. Let us learn NOT to eat with both hands.
I will start believing these statistics when interest rates drop significantly, poverty visibly reduces and most roads especially those passing trucks on the copperbelt are done.
ZANACO is BIG, STONG, RELIABLE and CONGESTED. Can someone do something about congestion especially at the FINDECO HOUSE Branch?
Im not sure what the ministers on abbout. ZANACO has always been very profitable and has always carried the 2nd largest deposit total after Barlays. The bank has always had a strong reserve / retained earnings position, way before selling the 51% robbobank own today and has never required GRZ bailout!!. the reason they never tansferred money to ZRA was because GRZ had already drawn money in advance that was off set. We are educated finance professionals not mere economists leave Corporate Finance Issues to us Dr. The problem ZANANCO had was the propensity for GRZ to just grab money for it and leave them with IOU’s (GRZ Bonds and Treasury Bills) through Bank of Zambia at will. so most deposit were borrowed by GRZ again. cycle continued.
Levy privatised it more out of Corporate Governance concerns following the looting by Samuel Musonda + FTJ and regimes beofre that where they treated the bank like a petty cash office.. And again all this was being done by the same bunch of clowns and our very own MMD!.. LPM wanted someone else to manage the affairs and keep the deposits far away from the likes of Sakala, Kunda, Mabenga etc and had nothing with performance. You were a technocrat in MOFED at the time so you know the truth Dr. Just tell as it is.
its so funny hw our ministers publicly dsplay their idiocy,wit impunity.anyway its only a few days 2go n ul b out of office.samweni aka last.
like all other parastatals zanaco was under performing when you compare with other banks in the country. secondly parastatals by nature are prone to gov misuse and the tax payer goes to pay the bill for the inefficiency. so privating it was always the right decision and the only reason it was not privatised soon was that the politicians were beneficiaries. no RB administration had the courage of doing the right thing and hence they are vindicated by the results.
the nature history of parastatal is poor performance, inefficiency, looses, Gov debt reliefs sponsored by taxes, and complete collapse if not intervention. NCZ how long will it eat from our pockets, sell the thing!
Sometimes I wonder how Dr. Musokotwane got hid Phd or is it that he, now like most politicians think the rest of the citizens are so dull the don’t understand the business or the economics of the nation in general. Zanaco was always making profits even before privatisation. The reason some people didnt want it privitised me inclusive was because now we have that Rabobank share of the profits going outside the country. I would have prefered a management team being hired to run the Bank. They would have sorted out the government borrowing from the bank
Obviously #15 does not understand basic economics. Can you remember the USSR, East Germany? Albania, Poland etc etc? What did they do with their antiquated and badly performing State run banks? Governments do not run things like banks properly. I am sure even a person like you has seen a difference between state run institutions and privately run ones in Zambia. If you want to see the big chasms between the haves and the have-nots please go and visit the countries you want Zambia to emulate such as Zimbabwe, North Korea and Burma. Please be real. There is clearly a difference between the old Zanaco and the new Zanaco.
i hope those against zanaco sell can read No 16 posting.it a good summary
#16 ” Governments do not run things like banks properly”. This statement, for sure, does not apply to chinese government owned and run banks!!
#18 please note. Like many other state-owned companies, the Chinese banks have slashed payrolls and restructured to raise profitability and make themselves more attractive to outside investors. They have adopted capitalist principles. Had China not changed its course, i.e adopt market forces, millions would have been starving to death by now. It has been as recently as the late 90s when Chinese people risked their lives by trying to escape from China using boats which were not seaworthy. They just wanted to go anywhere. The country had to adapt.