IT’S ONLY RIGHT TO GIVE KCM BACK TO VENDATA, SAYS SINKAMBA

It is only right to give KCM back to Vendata, says Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba.

Speaking with Daily Revelation, Sinkamba said it was better to give KCM back to Vendata to avoid paying damages to them.

“The way Vendata was removed from operating KCM, it only right that you give mining operations back to them. If they have good lawyers who would argue their case properly, they can win the case because the whole process was illegal. So for us, as Green Party, we feel that before decisions are made by the courts, we get condemned and start paying damages and costs for all these years that we have been running KCM, let us sit down and agree on an out of court settlement,” said Sinkamba.

He said that the liquidation of Konkola Copper Mines was done without following the laid down procedures.

“The way the liquidation was done, according to the Mines Act, is illegal. The Mines Act does not provide for liquidation like that for discontinuation and closure. And according to Section 71 of the Mines Act it provides for steps that should be followed when winding up a mining company. And the law which was used to wind up KCM, which is the Insolvency Act is also not applicable to the mining environment because mining companies have their own way of winding up operations,” explained Sinkamba. “For mining companies there is a systematic way of winding up operations. Not that kangaroo thing. What those guys did was wrong. And I am speaking as someone who set up winding processes for mining companies about 12 to 13 years ago. I helped set up the Environmental Protection Fund, which has money for winding up mining operations. So whatever was being done is illegal.”

He explained that, similarly, law firms have their own way of winding up operations.

“Law firms equally you cannot wind up their operations by way of liquidation under the Insolvency Act. No. When a lawyer who is a partner or whatever dies, as a family you don’t need to appoint an administrator who will come and run that law firm. No. You don’t use those winding up procedures. According to the Legal Practitioners Act, what will happen is that the Law Association of Zambia will appoint a lawyer to come and wind up the operations and close. That’s how law firms closed,” said Sinkamba.

He recommended that issues surrounding the liquidation of Konkola Copper Mines should be resolved without the involvement of courts of law.

Credit: Daily Revelation

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