Elias Munshya, a Zambian lawyer and paster, explains [1] why parastatals have failed in Zambia since independence:
Parastatals have never made a profit since 1964. Parastatals have been run not on a business model but on a political model. Parastatals have not had professionals running the boards but they have been staffed with relatives, nephews, nieces and great-grandsons of the politicians
.