The Cleaners Association of Zambia (CAZ) has charged that the delay in concluding the formulation of the Statutory Instrument (SI) to regulate the cleaning sector in Zambia is causing loss of millions of kwacha as this money is going out of the country.
The association laments that over 90 percent of cleaning contracts in the country are given to the foreign companies leaving the local companies scavenging for the remaining 10%.
CAZ Secretary General Lawrence Makumbi has told journalists in Lusaka that in countries like South Africa, there is black empowerment commission and no foreign company is allowed to get a cleaning contract and that Zambia should take a leaf from such a development.
Mr. Makumbi contends that this sector should rid of all foreigners and these cleaning opportunities be given to Zambian companies.
He has therefore thanked the government through the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry for working on the SI saying if it is in place, it will definitely bring sanity in the cleaning sector.
He complains that at most mines, the companies that have cleaning contracts are foreign based leaving out local ones saying this is disadvantaging the Zambian companies and is hampering their growth.
Mr. Makumbi says it is unfortunate that the state has remained mute over this scenario as local cleaning companies cannot benefit from these contracts and hence the need for the government to spearhead the process of coming up with this SI.