NEWS FROM ZAMBIA 5/14/99 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE/ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE/ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE Edition: #59 12 May 1999 Subscribe to Zambia News Online A fortnightly update of news from Zambia! ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE is written by Zambian journalists in Zambia and brings you the news from their point of view. It is assembled and edited by Africa News Network, part of South Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement in Denmark. ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE is one of our individual newsletters and together with those from Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Tanzania, Swaziland and Angola, provides up to date news through our established network of journalists in Southern Africa. These newsletters will be followed, in the very near future, by news updates from other countries in the region. ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE is brought to you through a co-operation between Africa News Network, South Africa Contact and Inform, Denmark's leading alternative information network. ***************************** In this edition: Feature: NO EXCITEMENT FOLLOWS NEW POLITICAL PARTY Stories: 1. LUSAKA STREET CLEANUP 2. TREASON TRIAL ENTERS SECOND MAJOR STAGE 3. PROTESTS CRIPPLE ZAMBIA'S TWO UNIVERSITIES 4. FUEL PRICE HIKE WORRIES BUSINESS SECTOR 5. UNIP GEARS UP FOR CRUCIAL NATIONAL COUNCIL 6. MORE REFUGEES, SOLDIERS POUR INTO ZAMBIA Feature: NO EXCITEMENT FOLLOWS NEW POLITICAL PARTY When opposition political parties began plotting to merge into one party some four months ago, a new excitement stirred. Today six parties and a pressure group have merged into a party called Zambia Alliance for Congress (ZAP), but without the much anticipated euphoria. Without some of the country's leading opposition parties, including the second biggest party, UNIP, the merger has all the hallmarks of an anti-climax. None of the six parties in the merger have had much of an impact in past elections including local government polls held last December. UNIP and another recently formed and fairly promising party, the United Party for National Development (UPND) both refused to join the merger saying that they believed they were respectively strong enough on their own to dislodge the MMD. One opposition party, the Zambia Democratic Party, has opted to join the UPND And although the formation of ZAP has been formalised, its leaders are still treading the new ground with extra caution. The parties have retained their status but are affiliates of ZAP. The party's chairman, Dean Mung'omba, says that the process of integration was continuing. Mung'omba who is also leader of the Zambia Democratic Congress (ZDC) said: "The process of integration shall continue and therefore no party is dissolving just now. But any party can dissolve as they wish." None of the six parties have dissolved yet and few, if any, are expected to do so until the 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections. Some of the key parties have held back on dissolving because this would effectively cause their members of parliament and councilors (local government leaders) to lose their seats. Although none of them have any significant number of either parliamentary or council seats, they want to maintain this limited power base from which they hope to launch a formidable bid for the 2001 elections. The National Party with three MPs and the Agenda for Zambia (AZ) with two and the ZDC also with two are the only parties in the merger represented in the 150-seat parliament. Outgoing ZAP chairman Ben Kapita said at the launch of the party that the parties had unanimously agreed on the constitution and the party's name after three months of protracted consultations and negotiations. It is now emerging, however, that consultations have not quite yielded the fully desired results. Some members of the parties are demanding explanations from their respective leaders on why they agreed on the merger without being consulted. Some members state that the respective parties should have held their conventions to decide on whether or not to be part of the merger. The most notable differences over the merger are in the NP whose MPs say they will have nothing to do with the new party. Other members in the party have demanded that the party meets to make the final decision. The party's leaders have bowed to the demand and have called for an extra-ordinary meeting set for this month end. The evidently poor start has given the MMD reason to stress that ZAP is not a party to worry about. The MMD's Information and Publicity Secretary Vernon Mwaanga laughs off the party as one of leaders and not members. He charges that some of the parties in the merger have more people in the respective executive committees than among the general membership. He points out too that in the December local government elections the combined total of votes got by the parties in the merger is so low that they can't now be a party to spend sleepless nights over. Mwaanga also says that some of the parties have had leaders who have never subjected themselves to a democratic election, opting to keep heading their parties in interim capacity. ZAP leaders are, however, undaunted. In fact, their failure in the local government elections is their inspiration to surge ahead. By early June this year, the party will hold a National Policy Council (NPC) meeting at which a programme of action will be drawn. Each party will be represented by 20 members. The NPC will report to the party's general conference at which various leaders will be elected including the party's presidential candidate for the 2001 elections. ZAP is yet to prove that it is not a party of leaders only, but it seems determined to dispel this notion. As to how this will be done, the next few months should provide a clearer picture. STORIES: 1. LUSAKA STREET CLEAN UP. Lusaka's main commercial centre has got a breath of fresh air following the forced eviction of hundreds of vendors who had choked the streets with their makeshift stalls. In a campaign effected by the Lusaka City council with the help of police, the vendors have all been pushed out of the centre leaving the streets easier to get around in. The campaign aimed at restoring cleanliness in the city, has also affected street currency dealers, many of whom were foreigners. After a surprise raid on a street frequented by the dealers, police detained 800 people and after screening about 20 were found with fake dollars. Street vendors had become notorious for their cheek with the way they set up their stalls at virtually any point in shop corridors. Several legitimate shops had their fronts virtually blocked off by the stalls and at some points on some of the streets, the vendors literally set their stalls on the road, blocking off some lanes. This has resulted in many companies moving out of the commercial centre to set up their business in residential areas where they have turned houses into offices. The council says it just had to take such drastic action because the street vendors were becoming a threat to bigger investment in the country. Council spokesman Daniel M'soka says that the vendors had also been providing an ideal ground for crime and the breeding and spreading of diseases like the deadly cholera which has killed scores of people in the capital. ``We cannot allow such lawlessness to continue," M'soka says, and warns that anyone trying to breech the local government by-laws would be dealt with severely. "No one will be allowed to sell anything other than from designated points." The Keep Lusaka Clean campaign is being spread to suburbs and townships where the council is also razing makeshift stalls. The council has also warned that it will pull down all "ugly structures" that were built without the approval of the council. The exercise has been well received by many residents, but many of the vendors are lamenting that they were being deprived of a livelihood. They contend that there aren't enough stalls in markets where the council would like them to move to. Some political parties also warn that unless the government builds more markets from which the vendors chased from the streets could move, there is bound to be a rise in crime as these small-scale traders resort to desperate measures to make ends meet. 2. TREASON TRIAL ENTERS SECOND MAJOR STAGE The treason trial of suspects from the October 1997 attempted military coup has entered a new phase after the presiding judge acquitted nine of the accused and putting 68 of them on their defence. Among those put on their defence, were the alleged co-masterminds of the failed coup, Captain Stephen Lungu and Captain Jack Chiti. The trial which began almost one year ago with initially over 100 suspects including politicians, is now centered only on soldiers, most of them non-commissioned officers (NCOs). All of the nine acquitted, are NCOs. Judge Japhet Banda in releasing the nine, said he was doing so because they had either not been charged on any of the 16 overt acts of treason or the prosecution had failed to adduce evidence incriminating them to the capital offense. Their lawyers are demanding compensation from the state for wrongful detention. The State objects and Judge Banda says he will make a ruling later on this. Defence lawyers say they are ready to immediately start the defence of their clients. One of the defence lawyers, Professor Patrick Mvunga said only one of the accused would give evidence to exonerate himself while the rest would remain silent and rely on earlier evidence presented in court. Only Major Billex Mutale, the highest ranked suspect, will give evidence. 3. PROTESTS CRIPPLE ZAMBIA'S TWO UNIVERSITIES Zambia's two universities have been crippled by protests linked to money. The University of Zambia (UNZA) in Lusaka has been hit by a strike by lecturers and researchers demanding better salaries while the Copperbelt University (BC) has been closed following student unrest triggered by demands for improved allowances. UNZA dons contend that there are glaring disparities in salaries between what they get and what their colleagues at the CBU get. UNZA Lecturers and Researchers Union (UNZALARU) publicity secretary Kazhila Chisembu says that UNZA management is evasive on the issue thus the decision to withdraw labour. The CBU was closed after the students went on an orgy of destruction in anger over the administrations failure to take heed of their demands for more meal allowances. 4. FUEL PRICE HIKE WORRIES BUSINESS SECTOR Prices of petroleum products has been hiked by 15 per cent, triggering worry among those in the business sector who contend that this will have an adverse effect on their operations. A Zambia National Oil Company (ZNOC) spokesman said the increase has been necessitated by the loss in strength of the Kwacha against other currencies. This is the second upward adjustment of the price in six months. The business sector says that the hike would compel many companies to pass on the added costs to their consumers by also increasing the cost of their products or services. The United Transport and Taxis Association says that an increase of bus and taxi fares could cause a decline in commuters. 5. UNIP GEARS FOR CRUCIAL NATIONAL COUNCIL The United National Independence Party (UNIP) this month-end holds a national council meeting which could be crucial in deciding the party's continued impact in the country's politics. The party president, Kenneth Kaunda, is expected to seek and get the members' approval to keep leading the party into the year 2001 when presidential and parliamentary elections will be held. Focus will also fall on the party vice-president, Chief Inyambo Yeta, who has reportedly quit politics and has not been attending the party's central committee meetings. Party secretary-general Sebastian Zulu says that he does not know what the status of Chief Inyambo is. The chief's advisor said recently that Inyambo would no longer involve himself in politics. UNIP, the former ruling party, is generally regarded as the strongest opposition party although it had been boycotting elections until now. 6. MORE REFUGEES, SOLDIERS POUR INTO ZAMBIA Hardly a week after Zambian authorities repatriated 70 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) soldiers back to their country, another 76 arrived in Zambia along with hundreds of refugees fleeing the war-ravaged DRC. The DRC government soldiers are being disarmed and kept in separate camps from those set aside for ordinary refugees. The local United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) representative says that the soldiers who are entering the country through the small border town of Kaputa, would be repatriated to Lumubashi through Zambia's Copperbelt Province. The UNHCR and Zambian authorities are anticipating a rapid rise in the number of refugees from the current 9,000 to well over 40,000 within the next few weeks. The projection is based on an expected rebel attack on the won of Pweto, a few kilometres from the Zambian border. ********************************** ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE/ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE/ ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE A fortnightly update of news from Zambia! 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