It’s a fallacy to say that Zambians cannot run the mines – Nakacinda
By Walusungu Lundu in Ndola
RAPHAEL Nakacinda has wondered why the UPND has surrendered the country’s rights to resources and run to people they ceded the rights to for financial assistance.
The PF national chairperson for information and publicity lamented when he featured on Chimwemwe Radio in Ndola on Thursday that Zambia lost about US $5 billion from the mineral royalties mining firms were supposed to pay.
He charged that President Hakainde Hichilema has chosen to borrow from the IMF when the country has the capacity to generate the same amount locally.
“Look at the concessions they are giving their friends… instead of us getting some money through taxes, their friends are being allowed to mine without paying the expected rate for electricity. Just from the mineral royalties these people are supposed to pay, we have lost close to US $5 billion,” he said. “But President Hakainde Hichilema has chosen that instead he would rather go and borrow or beg from IMF US $1.3 or US $1.4 billion other than generating that money on your own. Why would you launder yourself? Surrender all your rights to resources and then you go to the same people that you have surrendered the rights to and start begging?”
And Nakacinda said it is a fallacy to insinuate that Zambians cannot run mines.
“Us the PF under the leadership of Edgar Lungu were determined. We wanted Zambians to take the lead in mining while foreigners follow. At a time we got our independence, we only had a few graduates. This time around when I throw a stone from this studio, out there maybe it will hit a graduate in different fields and discipline. It’s a fallacy to say that Africans and Zambians in particular cannot run the mines. It is because of this same colonial mentality that is causing us to always look to people out there to try and run the mines. Do you know that when Anglo American, those same ones who run the Brenthurst Foundation that supports the UPND, when they ran away in 2004, a Zambian called Jordan Soko ran that mine for two years?” he asked. “He managed to pay the suppliers, he managed to pay the workers. Actually the workforce under Soko was maintained at close to 22,000 workers at KCM for two years without any challenge with the suppliers, any challenges with the workers and all those who were providing services to KCM.”
Nakacinda frowned at the tendence of always looking to foreigners to take charge of the mines.
“Instead of realising that we are capable of running the mines so that we can benefit from just one mine…KCM, can give you the money you are looking for from IMF, but we are always looking up to the whites. We brought that [Indian], when Vedanta came to that mine he didn’t have problems to pay the suppliers. He started actually subcontracting, laundering the works that are supposed to be done because these are traders,” he said. “The next thing was that the workforce for KCM was reduced to just above 4,000 because most of the people were either pruned, retrenched or indeed surrendered to those companies that were subcontracted to provide a service to KCM. And obviously the mine was paying better than those subcontracted companies. Moving forward, the company had reached a point where it was becoming insolvent. Some of the financial institutions which were owed by Vedanta were beginning to move in to liquidate KCM.”
Nakacinda said the mining sector would be doing better if Zambians took charge.
He said the appointment of the liquidator in the matter of KCM was to protect the “stripping” of the mine.
“That is how government made an intervention. Former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s wisdom to say let us quickly move in, this is our national asset. And they appointed the liquidator. It was for purposes of protecting the stripping of that company… if there is a bold decision made, we just find an equity partner and government is involved, Zambians are running the mine and even have a voting right on the board, that mine would not be where it is today,” said Nakacinda.