OSISA - Zambia

Zambia: baseline information

Tue, 09 May 2006 13:20:03 -0400

Republic of Zambia

Population [WHO 2006]: 11.5 million
Annual population growth [WHO 2006]: 2.1 %
HDI (and rank out of 177) [UN 2005]: 0.394 (166th)
Life expectancy at birth [WHO 2006]: 40 years
Currency: Kwacha
Main exports: copper, minerals, tobacco
Capital city: Lusaka
Provinces/ districts: 9 provinces (Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka, Northern, North-Western, Southern, and Western)

Links to more Zambia resources

African Studies Centre

BBC country profile

Stanford University

Wikipedia article

Background

Tue, 09 May 2006 08:23:14 -0400

(a) Social Economic and Political

Although Zambia is well endowed with natural resources, the majority of the country’s population lives in absolute poverty. This is largely a result of several variants of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which has led to drastic reductions in public spending on social services and wide scale retrenchments and redundancies within the workforce. However, dwindling governance also contributes to the country’s high rise in poverty levels.

Despite rhetorical commitment to diversification from copper to agriculture and tourism, the structure of the economy continues to be heavily reliant on the performance of the copper mining sector. The poor performance of this sector since the mid-1970s, occasioned by a combination of external price shocks and domestic mismanagement, is largely responsible for the country’s economic crisis.

500 Chambishi mineworkers fired

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:00:02 -0500

Zambians sacked over China attack
BBC News 6/3/2008
Some 500 Zambian mine workers have been sacked after rioting and attacking a Chinese manager. Those sacked have three days to reapply for their jobs, while seven union officials have also been arrested. The Chinese manager at the Chambishi copper smelter in northern Zambia was admitted to hospital after the assault ... "They have all been dismissed with immediate effect," company spokesman George Jambwa told the AFP news agency. "We have given three days to those who want to be re-employed to write to us and give reasons why they should join our company." Albert Mando, general secretary of the National Union of Mining and Allied Workers (Numaw) said he was "surprised" by the dismissal, adding that the union could not negotiate when its officials had been arrested ... The protest was sparked by rumours that members of the Chinese management team were about to go on holiday, which workers feared would delay negotiations to improve their conditions of service ...

Managers held hostage at Chambesi

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:08:02 -0500

Chinese managers held hostage
News24.com 4/3/2008

Lusaka - Striking construction workers at a copper smelter in Zambia took a group of Chinese managers hostage on Tuesday in protest at their poor working conditions. Police were called to the site to free the hostages and calm tensions after workers locked the Chinese inside their offices and shut the perimeter gates, said company spokesperson George Jambwa. More than 500 workers at the $200m Chinese-owned site near the town of Chambesi began their strike action on Monday to press for better wages and safer working conditions ... Workers, who staged a similar work stoppage one month ago, said their salaries amounted to a mere $50 a month and complained of poor medical facilities ... Chinese investors in the southern African nation were often criticised for poor safety records. This criticism grew after 50 Zambian miners died in an explosion at a Chinese-owned Chambeshi copper mine in 2005 ...

SA mining in DRC and Zambia

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:26:55 -0500

Needham confident about Metorex's standing in DRC, Zambia
Mining Weekly - Garden View,South Africa
Once again proving that ‘Africa is not for sissies', South African miner, Metorex's CEO Charles Needham on Thursday explained the firm's interactions with the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, where it operates copper mines, and assured investors that he felt confident about

Zambia's fight against gender violence

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:20:18 -0500

Zambia: Fight Against Gender Violence
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA

VIOLENCE against women has surprisingly taken an upward turn to what is now alarming propositions demanding drastic remedial measures. This is despite vigorous campaigns by women and men's lobby groups on the barbarism of gender violence, which unfortunately has claimed a number of lives over the last few weeks. In the past week alone, two women have died at the hands of their husbands in Kazungula, Southern Province and Ndola, respectively, while another, heavily-pregnant for that matter, was shot in the stomach in Chingola. There have been other incidents of women being burnt by their spouses and others clobbered, forcing Zambia to join the international community and condemn this inhuman treatment ... President Mwanawasa has also added his voice to the worrying levels of gender violence. The President, addressing women and men who participated in the launch of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence in November last year, said the Government was worried about the negative effects gender violence had on society and the economy. As a result, the Government was planning to enact laws and domesticate international conventions against gender-based violence ... violence against women is barbaric, primitive and has no place in modern society.

Five illegal miners shot in Kitwe

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:23:27 -0500

Zambia: Mopani Mine Police Officer Shoots Five Illegal Miners
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
FIVE illegal miners have been shot and wounded by a mine police officer after they were found within Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) restricted area in Kitwe's Wusakile dump site. Copperbelt police chief, Antoneil Mutentwa yesterday confirmed the incident, which happened on Monday and said the five are currently admitted to Kitwe Central Hospital (KCH). Mr Mutentwa said the five men, belonging to the group commonly known us

China only wants to help Zambia

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:11:37 -0500

China only wants to help Zambia
Radio Netherlands - Netherlands
by Jacqueline Maris in Lusaka* In Zambia, Mr Li is the face of the world's fastest-growing superpower: he signs oil deals, builds hospitals and highways, sells merchandise, takes over companies and lays oil pipelines ... The large trees in front of the Chinese embassy in Lusaka were long an irritation to Ambassador Li. So early one morning four shabby-looking

VP Banda salutes Zambia Sugar

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:16:33 -0500

Zambia: Veep Salutes Zambia Sugar
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
VICE-President, Rupiah Banda, has saluted Zambia Sugar and the Islamic Trust for partnering with the Government in intervening into the flood situation ... Mr Banda said Zambia Sugar had shown its commitment to helping people in times of need other than just making profits, by donating to the

Weak urban planning in Lusaka

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:52:12 -0500

Zambia: Lusaka Floodwater Has Nowhere to Go
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
The reason why Zambia's urban poor have had to wade through ankle-deep water for weeks on end is as much down to human error as the torrential rain that has hammered the country: in a word, drainage. "The floods [in the capital, Lusaka] are a clear indication of our weak urban planning system, because there is no way water should fail to sink away over a period of three weeks if the drainage system was properly done," Douglas Katengo, former president of the Zambia Institute of Architectures, told IRIN. "All the affected areas are informal settlements, and if proper planning had been done for their existence, there would have been proper services." Zambia has been soaked by heavy downpours since the last week of November 2007. In rural Southern and Eastern provinces, flooding has displaced thousands and drowned crops. In Lusaka, it has also brought misery: schools and clinics have been affected, homes stay waterlogged, and there is fear of an outbreak of cholera ... Holland Mulenga, a property consultant, said, "This is more about lack of proper forward planning which takes into consideration the expanding towns. If we had proper planning, and a planning authority in the first place, the law should have been enforced to ensure social services were properly provided and these floods wouldn't be as bad as they are now." Most residential areas in Lusaka developed haphazardly from unplanned informal settlements ... Zambia's formal sector generates only 400,000 jobs, and all most three-quarters of its people subsist on US$1 or less a day, according to the government's Central Statistical Office. Informal settlements provide the only accommodation Zambia's urban poor can afford."I left my home village in Chipata [a town in Eastern Zambia] to come and look for a job here ... I haven't found that job, so my family sells vegetables and tomatoes at the market, but everything is now disturbed because of the floods," said Ganizani Tembo, who lives in Lusaka's Misisi township ... Zambia's vice-president, Rupiah Banda, told local media the government had earmarked US$4 million to mitigate the impact of the floods in the capital. "[It] is worse than earlier estimated ...

Zambia recalls ambassador to Libya

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:07:18 -0500

Zambia sacks Libya envoy in row over Africa government
AFP -
LUSAKA (AFP) — Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has recalled his ambassador to Libya after he castigated heads of state for their failure to fast-track the formation of a pan-African government ... Mbita Chitala wrote an article which has been circulated at the ongoing African Union summit in Ethiopia where he backed Libyan leader

WB welcomes higher Zambia mining taxes

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:55:48 -0500

World Bank welcomes higher Zambia mining taxes
Guardian Unlimited - UK
By Shapi Shacinda LUSAKA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The World Bank welcomed on Tuesday Zambia's new mining taxes, saying the $415 million projected tax revenue from copper exports this year will also help the kwacha appreciate further against major currencies. World Bank country manager for Zambia, Kapil Kapoor, told Reuters the expected revenue would create opportunities to invest in infrastructure, particularly in poor rural areas. "The new mining fiscal regime makes taxes more equitable as it places Zambia in the middle point of (global mining taxation)," Kapoor said ... Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande said last Friday that Zambia would introduce a windfall tax on base metals at a minimum rate of 25 percent and increase mineral royalties to 3 percent from 0.6 percent, effective April 1, 2008. Magande also announced the introduction of a variable profit tax at 15 percent on taxable income above eight percent and raised corporate tax to 30 percent from 25 percent. Copper mining is the lifeblood of Zambia, but some analysts say the economy has benefited too little as foreign companies have taken the profits ...

Zambian settlers displace wild animals

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:51:11 -0500
Zambia: Zawa to Evict Settlers in Chief Mpashya
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
MINISTRY of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Deputy Minister, Todd Chilembo, has said the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) will evict all illegal land settlers in Chief Mpashya's chiefdom to give room for restocking of wild animals. And Mr Chilembo has appealed to communities residing near game areas to report all wild animals to ZAWA that had terrorised them as they

WB's Zoellick to visit Zambia

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:48:02 -0500
Zambia: World Bank Chief Zoellick to Visit Country
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
WORLD Bank president, Robert Zoellick, says he will visit Zambia to assess the flood situation to establish what kind of assistance the country needs ... Mr Zoellick said his plans followed President Mwanawasa's request for assistance towards mitigating the devastating effects of the floods ... Mr Zoellick who was flanked by the World Bank

Seven contest Kanyama by-election

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:35:07 -0500
Zambia: Seven Run for Kanyama Seat
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Four more political parties yesterday announced their candidates for the February 21 Kanyama parliamentary by-elections, bringing the total of people vying for the seat to seven. The All People's congress (APC) will float its president Ken Ngondo, United Party for national development (UPND) Harrison Mukupa, United Liberal party (ULP) Elizabeth Phiri and the New generation party will be