By REBECCA MUSHOTA –

THE Patriotic Front (PF) on the Copperbelt has implored the Ministry of Labour and the Immigration Department to conduct thorough screening of foreigners working in Zambia to ensure that none of them are employed for jobs that Zambians can do.
PF Copperbelt chairperson Sturdy Mwale said on the Open Forum programme on Sun FM Radio yesterday, that the PF on the Copperbelt has engaged the Ministry of Labour and the Immigration Department in talks to ensure that a thorough screening exercise of foreigners working in Zambia was done.
This was because some casual jobs in foreign-owned companies that could be taken up by Zambians had allegedly been given to foreigners.
Mr Mwale said this in response to callers on the programme who complained that while the PF prior to coming in Government promised to give all the casual jobs to Zambians, many companies still employed foreign labourers.
The callers said foreign road contractors, mining companies and even shopping malls on the Copperbelt had employed foreigners from their countries to do manual labour.
“PF is addressing the challenges of unemployment among Zambians and is still committed to ensure that all the casual jobs are taken by Zambians. However there are some foreign companies that despite this have employed foreigners to work as labourers,” Mr Mwale said.
Due to the many complaints that the PF on the Copperbelt has received concerning this matter, Mr Mwale said his executive had decided to engage the Ministry of Labour and the Department of Immigration to ensure that jobs that could be done by Zambians were taken up by Zambians.
He called on civil servants in the two institutions to be firm and fair and help Government deliver on the campaign promise to give as many jobs to Zambians as possible.
Another caller Agrippa Zulu, said that the initiative by the PF Copperbelt executive committee to deal with the matter was good.
And Copperbelt PF youth chairperson Nathan Chanda said President Michael Sata should be commended for increasing the youth fund which would in turn create jobs for youths.
Mr Chanda said in a statement that the President had shown through his interventions that he had not forgotten about the youths and creating jobs for them.
He said youths should respond by being disciplined, creative and patriotic.