VEDANTA MOCKING ZAMBIANS
VEDANTA-KCM’S $400 MILLION “INVESTMENT” CLAIM IS A CRUEL MOCKERY OF THE ZAMBIAN PEOPLE.
By the Vedanta Must Return Community Campaign Movement.
[Chingola and Chililabombwe]
17.07.2025
Yesterday 16th June 2025, Vedanta-KCM released a statement with a bold claim that it has already invested over $400 million into operations of Konkola Copper Mines.
As members of the community, we feel this is nothing short of a cruel mockery of the Zambian people. In August 2024, Vedanta returned to KCM with bold promises, pledging a $1 billion investment that was meant to breathe life into the asset. We were told to expect a total overhaul. The Konkola Deep Mine Project would be developed, exploration expanded, jobs created, and value returned to the people. Less than a year later, and before any real transformation can be seen, they are telling us that $400 million has already been invested.
What investment? What has changed? On the ground, what we are seeing is the total opposite. KCM has continued to deteriorate. Information reaching us is very worrying. This is an investor who apparently is even failing to buy tonor for printing papers in Nampundwe, as well as failing to replace damaged pumps among other things. Our people, especially the youths, are not being hired. Nor are they getting business opportunities.
What is happening at KCM is a slow and painful decay to our God given asset, and yet, Vedanta expects applause for simply announcing figures that do not match the reality on the ground.
Like we promised Vedanta last year August during their return that should they not deliver on their promises, the same way we rose as youths to demand for their return will be how we shall rise to demand for their exit. Now that time has come, we shall not sit idle and watch KCM die.
Therefore, as youths of the Copperbelt, we have decided to reorganise. What was once known as the “Vedanta Must Return Community Campaign Movement” will henceforth, be officially known as “Copperbelt Youths for Inclusive Development”, a consortium of young people from Chingola and Chililabombwe. The movement includes organisations such as the Chililabombwe Youth Graduates Club, Konkola Youths for Positive Change, Young People for Sustainable Governance, the clergy, and others.
Our goal is clear: to ensure that the mining sector, especially operations like KCM, delivers tangible economic and social benefits to the people of Zambia. As stakeholders in the minerals of our country, we shall not just be spectators but take an active approach to ensure that owners of the land see real benefits.
Our first mission as a united front will be the launch of a provincial wide Youth Campaign Against Vedanta Resources. Investors must not just promise, they must deliver real and measurable development that is felt by the communities and the country at large. Development should not live in press statements alone.
Chishala Mwamba
Movement Coordinator