Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
VEDANTA LIES CONTINUES
● Pledged $250million to recapitalise the mine and pay some suppliers has never come.
●Smelter operating at 15% capacity and relying on purchased concentrates from the DRC.
● VEDANTA has brought an indian management to replace the Zambian directors, remaining with one or two. VEDANTA is even running two seperate payrolls for KCM workers and its expatriates. This method is usually used for transfer pricing, ZRA must pay attention to such revelations.
● the 6,000 permanent workers and contracted ones through management contracts still waiting for mine activities.
●Vedanta has not dismantled over $1.5billion debt owed as at 2019 it owed ZESCO, ZRA, NAPSA, CEEC and others.
●VEDANTA seeking import duty and VAT waiver on imported concetrates from DRC that’s costing ZRA $8million a month.
● VEDANTA continues to fete Ministers, for example, held a special lunch for a delegation led by Situmbeko Musokotwane who were enroute to the official opening of Kasenseli and Kalengwa mines.
● Workers are complaining that their top union leaders are compromised and continue to fraternise with the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Paul Kabuswe and his counterpart, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chipoka Mulenga who are MPs for Chingola and Chililabombwe constituencies, the heart of KCM Operations. The workers want the union leaders to speak for their plight and to pressure VEDANTA to bring in the pledged $1billion investment beginning with the $250million pledged for 2024.
● The highly touted $20million Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is being sourced locally from savings being made from unpaid taxes.
