UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema says he sympathises with the plight of workers, mine suppliers, contractors, other stakeholders and the Copperbelt community at large following the happenings at Mopani Copper Mines.
Mr Hichilema says he is watching the developments at Mopani Copper Mine on the Copperbelt where two mines in Kitwe and Mufulira have been placed on care and maintainance with keen interest.
Mr Hichilema says the sad developments at Mopani Copper Mines come at a time when Zambia still has unresolved issues with KCM in Chingola.
He said the Zambian economy cannot afford to have an additional 11,000 plus jobless people that MCM is laying off.
“ZCCM-IH is a shareholder in MCM. It should therefore be true that ZCCM-IH is part of the decision to put MCM on Care and Maintenance, a situation Government has known all along”, said Mr Hichilema.
He said for the the politicians in the Patriotic Front to express surprise about this development is purely a political stunt and an act of populism.
“We have advised on diversification of the economy on several occasions, we have spoken about supporting Zambians through positive contract discrimination, financing, market linkages, but there is a tendency to always wait for a disaster to strike, and indeed the handling of MCM is a disaster. Today we are talking about a negative situation where the MCM’s Chief Executive Officer is being intercepted at the airport for allegedly trying to flee the country”, he added.
Mr Hichilema said Zambians must own the economy, even on joint venture arrangements.
He said the sad part is when citizens try to own business entities, they are either closed, victimised or intimidated into towing a particular political line, the case of the Post Newspaper and now Prime TV are fresh in our minds.
Mr Hichilema has since called for the immediate resolution of this Mopani versus Zambian government dispute for the benefit of all stakeholders and the citizens.
He said the UPND economic and mining team are on standby to help Government navigate through this mess.