OPP PROPOSES COPPER WINDFALL TAX TO WIPE OUT ZAMBIA’S DEBT
..as Mushimba targets $4bn annual revenue to fund free university, public transport and four million jobs
By DAVID KANDUZA
THE Organised People’s Party (OPP) has proposed a radical 50 per cent revenue-sharing model on copper sold above US$5,000 per tonne.
Party president Brian Mushimba argued that Zambia must capitalise on current record-high mineral prices to clear national debt and finance a massive socio-economic transformation
With global copper prices hovering around $14,000 per tonne, Dr Mushimba projected that the commodity would stay on an upward trajectory for the next three decades, driven by the global green energy transition.
Dr Mushimba noted that the average production cost for a tonne of copper stood at $2,600.
Dr Mushimba drew direct parallels to Zambia’s post-independence economic strategy under the United National Independence Party (UNIP) administration.
In 1965, then-Finance minister Arthur Wina introduced a similar emergency export levy.
That historic framework claimed 50 per cent of all copper revenues generated above £300 per tonne during a global commodity boom.
“We will not apologise about this,” Dr Mushimba declared, emphasising that the era of mining conglomerates expatriating massive profits while leaving locals in poverty must end.
With the general election approaching on August 13, the OPP leader called for a complete change in leadership, positioning his presidential ticket as the only political option ready to enforce resource nationalism while global market conditions remained highly favourable.