22/06/2021
News Release
On July 9, 2020, it came to our attention that we were cited in an alleged price fixing scandal. The CCPC was of the belief that we had colluded with other Fish Fingerlings producers and Distributors to fix the prices of fish fingerlings.
The CCPC alleges that we, along with six other companies in the aquaculture industry “issued a public notice for an impending uniform price increment for the price of fish fingerlings”. We deny and repudiate these claims and hope any misconceptions or errors in judgement that may have led to this conclusion are clarified and the innocent parties exonerated accordingly.
We would like to categorically state that, at no time did Savanna Streams Ltd collude with any business or organization in the Aquaculture industry to fix any prices. Facts of the matter are as follows:
1. On July 9, 2020 we were visited by a team from Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) on allegation that we were involved in restrictive business practices when in fact not.
2. On July 10 , 2020 we wrote to CCPC , to bring their attention to the following:
• Pursuant to CCPC act # 24 of 2010 section 55 (4) as indicated in their letter dated June 29, 2020 which was prepared and signed but was never served on us. The team acted in bad faith by proceeding to obtain a court order without following due procedure.
• When the officers presented the letter and the court order on July 9, 2020, we inquired from them under what offence we were being investigated.The team leader alleged that a meeting was held (no date and venue mentioned) and that Savanna Streams Ltd was in consort with other operators to fix prices.
• This allegation was based on an article published (On an unknown date) by Mukasa Agro solutions Ltd, on a small-scale farmers group on Facebook. The team leader, Mr. Chester Njobvu further mentioned that they had not investigated the publisher of the article. This was shocking how a CCPC officer can go to such extent without undertaking any investigations.
• We allowed the CCPC team to check our documents and electronic devices; they did not find anything on our hard copy documents but wanted to check electronic devices. We mentioned to them that they could get the data and analyze it at their own time since we have nothing to hide. The officers insisted that they could only extract the data at their offices in the lab.
• We pointed out to the CCPC officers that the devices are crucial to our operations, but they insisted that we should send one of our staff with them who should come back with the devices after they extract the data.
• When they reached the lab, the devices were checked, data extracted but nothing was found. Surprisingly they only released one mobile phone and refused to release the other devices, which were collected; Two (PC) Desktop computers and a mobile phone for our sales person.
3. On September 1, 2020, we received another letter requesting us to appear before the commission on September 17, 2020 at 1100hrs. We complied and during the meeting we submitted that at no time did we as Savanna Streams Ltd conduct ourselves in contravention of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Act No 24 of 2010 by participating in Fish Fingerlings Price Fixing(FFPF) citing the following;
• We had never met any of the organizations mentioned in the publication.
• We had never, at any time joined any group with the named companies to discuss fish fingerlings prices.
• We are the biggest producer of fish fingerlings and we set our own prices.
• We are the pioneers of this industry and support the industry through supply of quality fish fingerlings at very competitive prices.
It was during this meeting that we were informed that one of our Drivers namely Lemmy Mweebo, in his individual capacity had joined a WhatsApp group where fish fingerling prices were discussed.
Lemmy Mweebo joined this group without the knowledge or consent of Savanna Streams Ltd and he was not in any way authorized to discuss fish fingerlings prices with anyone.
He was employed as a driver, whose responsibility was to deliver fish feed to our operation sites and collect fish fingerlings for customers.
Note that we did not know Lemmy Mweebo’s allegiance was not with Savanna Streams Ltd. He was involved in a lot of illegal activities which resulted in his arrest on November 30, 2020 for theft of Fish feeds which he used to deliver to our Siavonga hatchery farm.
This proves his misconduct and exonerates Savanna Streams Ltd from the allegations.
4. On September 18, 2020, Lemmy Mweebo was interviewed by the commission in the presence of our lawyers, and submitted that he joined the group in his individual capacity and that he was on that platform as a citizen and not representative of Savanna Streams Ltd.
5. On October 6, 2020, we wrote to CCPC requesting release of our devices which were collected on July 9, 2020. And on October 13, 2020 our devices were handed over to us after four months of unfair business disruption, no evidence of the alleged (FFPF) was found.
6. On December 9, 2020, we received a report about the commission’s findings. However, we noted that there were no submissions from any of the companies.
7. We have patiently been waiting for clearance from CCPC and surprisingly on March 16, 2021 we saw a publication on Facebook , https:/www.facebook.com/117874071900444/post/1373029169718255/?d=n.
It is very unfortunate that we had to learn about CCPC’s unfair decision through social media. We are a reputable organization, which has nurtured the aquaculture industry in Zambia and have always conducted our business with exceptional ethical standards.
8. On March 17, 2021, we wrote to CCPC again demanding clearance of our name from the FFPF allegation.
9. On March 24, 2021, we received a letter in which CCPC indicated that we must submit our grievances to Competition and Consumer Protection tribunal (CCPT).
10. On March 26, 2021we submitted our appeal against CCPC’s unjust decision to fine us based on unfounded allegations.
11. . We maintain our innocent position on this matter and seek quick clearance of our organization so we can take appropriate legal action against the publisher and associates of the article.
Savanna Streams Ltd is an aquaculture pioneer in Zambia with several sites for fish farming, primarily hatcheries for fish fingerlings production.At Savanna Streams Ltd; we provide a complete aquaculture package from consultancy, project conception to provision of inputs and technical expertise.
To make it easier for our customers, we have set up a One Stop Shop for Aquaculture Services at Livestock Services in Lusaka.
Our combined tilapia and catfish hatcheries are capable of producing above 100million fingerlings annually. In order to provide a complete aquaculture solution to our clients, we manufacture various types of fish feed (floating and non-floating) and feed ingredient. We also supply auxiliary gear such as pond liners; pond liner joining, nets and we provide technical support to medium and small-scale enterprises in the sector.
We aim at improving service levels by exploiting economies of scale, implementing continuous improvement processes, the introduction of international best practices and by the use of best-of-breed technology.
For more information, please visit our website at www.savannastreams.com , or follow us on Facebook SavannaStreams . You can also call or WhatsApp on +260955 555 095.
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