Laura asks Kapata to shed light on ZAFFICO listing

ACTIVIST Laura Miti is asking lands and natural resources minister Jean Kapata to give full information in the ZAFFICO listing saga.
In a posting, Miti stated that she does not trust the PF government.
What I am saying is Zambians need to rise to protect our Mukula and our forests. I will be honest and say I do not trust this government. I cannot remember when last I was confident that a decision made by them was informed by a pursuit for the best interests of our country, she stated.

For goodness sake, this administration cannot even build a toll plaza at normal cost and without finding themselves giving yet another incredible explanation at why our projects must be carried out at astronomically higher cost than anyone else.

Last week on Sunday, President Edgar Lungu commissioned a basic Michael Chilufya Sata Toll Plaza on the Ndola-Kitwe carriageway, which he said cost US$4.3 million.
Miti urged Zambians to ask the right questions in the ZAFFICO saga.

Why would we imagine that listing ZAFFICO is for the public good? In short, Zambians had better ask the right ZAFFICO questions, she stated.

I am very certain that right now there is a celebration somewhere about the HH distraction. While the nation discusses an interview, government can get on and lose us our Mukula and thus allow a few of them to make the kind of money they will never be able to spend. So, Minister Kapata, your colleague at information said you would give us details on this ZAFFICO listing. We want full information. You cannot decide to list all our forests without talking to us and, if we wanted them listed, it would not be you we trusted to do it. We might as well send a hyena to take our goats to market.

Miti stated that she had been amused at how ministers were lining up to offer resignations should UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema provide evidence that ZAFFICO had been sold to the Chinese. Information minister Dora Siliya, Eastern Procince minister Makebi Zulu and Lusaka’s Bowman Lusambo have offered to resign if Hichilema could prove that ZAFFICO and ZNBC had been sold to the Chinese.

But Miti argued that the ministers in the PF government had turned insulting the public’s intelligence into an art.

So Dora and her mates want reasons to resign, well I can give them a few Vespers[death], Social Cash Transfer meant for the desperately poor disappearing into already rich private pockets, a debt that threatens to drown us for which we have nothing to show, cholera, the tragedy called UTH, 42for42 [fire tenders], the President’s team taking a cruise in New York with public money, while Zambians starve, inexplicable wealth accumulation by connected individuals, cadre violence do they need more? she asked.

But back to ZAFFICO. I am dead worried about the HH distraction on this issue. Typically, UPND has taken us on a tangent that serves only to divert the nation’s attention from the critical questions that need to be answered. Minister of Information, Dora Siliya, says ZAFFICO will not be sold (to the Chinese), it will only be listed on the [Lusaka] Stock Exchange. My first question is why is it being listed? When was this decision made and why is the public not being provided with full information?

Miti stated that truth is, listing is as good as selling.

She stated that anyone with the money could accumulate shares in the entity until they can buy everyone else out and delist, if they so pleased.

How does government intend to protect ZAFFICO from Chinese moneyed hands, is the question? Miti stressed.

The point is; it is no secret that one of the major Chinese interests in Zambia is our extremely valuable Mukula. If ZAFFICO ends up as a majority Chinese entity, their only interest will be to chop down every last Mukula tree before moving on to another African country with a government as reckless with national wealth as ours. Simply I am saying, in private hands ZAFFICO equals Mukula, it equals extraction not protection. We know how many of those trees we have lost to feed Chinese appetite for hardwood and connected Zambian’s appetite for quick, extreme wealth.

Miti stated that not too long ago, China announced they had bought Mukula worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Zambia.
However, for its part, the Zambian government had announced that it had sold logs worth less than a million dollars.
We still do not know where the difference in those amounts went. The summary of all this is that ZAFFICO is meant to protect and grow our forests. Private interest, no matter which one, will be to make money as quickly as possible and leave, stated Miti.

Meanwhile, Ephraim Shakafuswa wrote that in Zambia we only have one Mwansa Kabinga (devil) lookalike to fight Poverty.
He stated that poverty was behind the intention to list ZAFFICO on LuSE.

Here is a company that can raise $4.3 million and hand it over to Kawambwa tea as capital injection. In short, ZAFFICO can build us another Michael Chilufya Sata Toll Plaza without stress on its book balance, stated Shakafuswa.

What is the logic behind the listing other than poverty? As a people, we must fight poverty at both individual and national level. We have enough mukula trees to keep ZAFFICO afloat.

Meanwhile, the Movement for Economic Emancipation has explained that public listing of an institution amounts to a sale.

And MEE says it is possible for a company listing on the stock market to put a restriction on who buys shares in it and that there is a high possibility of the Chinese buying a bigger share of the listed stock.

In a statement issued by its interim president Given Chansa, the MEE stated that listing on the stock market by a company “actually refers to the practice of buying and selling stocks or companies, in full or in part, that is buying and selling of companies as a whole chunk or in small chunks, also known as Shares or Equity”.

The government has said it is not selling ZAFFICO but only listing it on the stock market.

Chansa quoted Siliya dismissing rumour circulating especially in Kalulushi that ZAFFICO has been sold as false but that plans were underway for a Public listing of the Company with emphasis to reserve majority shares for Citizens.
On 5th November 2018, Dora Siliya, the government’s chief spokesperson, again tweeted the following: ‘Govt wishes to restate that it is NOT in receipt of any proposal from Chinese or any other investor on the Sale of ZAFFICO. In fact, Govt has no intention of selling ZAFFICO. IDC will hold a press briefing to confirm the same at Garden Court in Kitwe on Tues 6 Nov at 10hrs’,” Chansa stated.

“From the above, the government of Zambia has told us that: it is planning a public listing of ZAFFICO; it has no plans to sell ZAFFICO to the Chinese or any other investor. We know from the above that the government has plans to undertake a public listing of ZAFFICO. Does Public Listing of a company = Selling of a company? Yes it does. Very simple. A public listing of a company happens on a Stock Exchange. In this case, the government will list ZAFFICO on Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE). A Stock Exchange = A Stock Market. In this context, exchange actually refers to the practice of buying and selling stocks or companies, in full or in part, that is buying and selling of companies as a whole chunk or in small chunks, also known as Shares or Equity. Listing in this case means placing or ukutantika in Bemba.”

Chansa stated that any company that goes to the stock market not to buy is there to be sold.

“So if you take a company and you place it, list it or watantika at the market place and that company is not there to buy something, what is it that that company is there to do? It is there to be sold. Whether the company ends up being sold in full or in part and to whom and in what percentage configuration is inconsequential and purely academic,” Chansa explained.

“The exercise is a pure and simple selling of a company. Think about it another way. Suppose you had 10 boxes of tomatoes which you carry on your wheelbarrow and place them (watantika) at Chisokone Market. What have you gone to actually do at Chisokone Market with your tomatoes? Are you there to buy more tomatoes? If not, most reasonable people would expect that you have come to sell your tomatoes. Why else would someone come and ‘tantika’ tomotoes at Chisokone Market? Now suppose you rightly go ahead and sell only four out of your 10 boxes of tomatoes? Would you say that you have not sold any tomatoes and that it was never your intention to sell your tomatoes? Of course, you did sell tomatoes. You can’t possibly argue to say that because I did not sell all my boxes of tomatoes, therefore, I neither sold any tomatoes nor had I any intention of selling any tomatoes?”

Chansa wondered then what ZAFFICO shares would be on the stock market for other than to be sold.

“In this case, the government is listing, placing or ‘tantika’ ZAFFICO shares on the shares market. For what purpose other than to sell them?” Chansa wondered.

He stated that for now, the amount of shareholding in ZAFFICO that would be placed on the stock market was not known and whether or not the Chinese had an interest in the company.

“The government of Zambia has not told us who exactly they will sell them to except that they will ‘tantika’ them at the market. It is worth noting that it is possible to place a restriction on who is eligible to subscribe to an initial public listing of a company and therefore entirely possible to favour institutional investors against private investors and vice versa. They have, however, assured us that they intend to reserve the majority of shares for citizens,” stated Chansa.

“Whilst this assurance by the government is welcome, we question how the government plans to ensure the reserved shares actually end up in the hands of citizens given that most of us have very little or no access to capital. MEE will be sure to keep an eye on this and we will inform the public accordingly as events unfold. What we already know is that once listed, placed or ‘tantikad’ at Lusaka Stock Exchange, anyone with money would be free to buy the ZAFFICO shares, including all foreigner investors and seeing the Chinese have a lot of money and they seem to have a huge appetite for quality wood products, it seems more than likely that the Chinese too will buy the ZAFFICO shares.”