Tobacco Board of Zambia Revokes Tombwe''s Purchasing License

Source from:  The Post Online  05/29/2014

The Tobacco Board of Zambia says it has revoked the purchasing licence for Tombwe Processing Limited following the company's failure to adhere to the rules that govern tobacco buying.

And Tombwe Processing Limited managing director, Aldert Van Der Vinne, says the company has since appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to review the revocation.

In an interview in Lusaka on yesterday, TBZ chief executive officer, Samson Muyembe, said a decision was taken to revoke the purchasing licence of Tombwe Processing Limited effective May 20, 2014, because the company was not complying with the set rules that govern the buying of tobacco from farmers.

"They have not complied with what they are supposed to do; the idea is they are supposed to buy tobacco from the main floor here. We have the main floor where everyone else sells tobacco in an open and transparent manner. But they were buying tobacco from their factory; we never gave them a licence to buy from their factory, so they are abrogating the law," Muyembe said.

He said in addition to the company abrogating the law, several complaints were made by farmers who claimed Tombwe Processing Limited under-priced their tobacco.

"There were a lot of complaints from farmers in Lundazi, Eastern, Southern Province and all over. They complained that they were not given chance to have a look at the sales and disparities in weight."

Muyembe said most companies generally adhered to the set rules apart from Tombwe.

"If you look at other companies, they have all been complying with the rules. It is only Tombwe, because of the managing director who does not want to comply with the Zambian rules," he said.

Meanwhile, Van Der Vinn said in a separate interview that the company had appealed to the agriculture and Livestock ministry to review the revocation without providing any further details on what measures the company would put in place to reform its policy of purchasing tobacco, according to the set rules.

"We have appealed and I am in discussions with the minister of agriculture about it. I don't know about that possible measures of reform," said Van Der Vinn. Enditem