Government has secured legal services for over 2,500 Mopani Copper Mines employees who had sued Stanbic Bank for unilaterally increasing interest rates on their personal loans.
Mines Minister Richard Musukwa says government through ZCCM- IH has hired a legal Counsel to represent the aggrieved Mopani Copper Miners in order to assert their rights against Stanbic Bank.
Mr. Musukwa said government has received numerous complaints from the Mine workers whose initial case was dismissed by the Kitwe High Court after they failed to raise funds to pay the Lawyer.
He said government has secured legal services for the Mopani Miners in order to understand the problem and protect their interests.
Mr. Musukwa said that government has a duty to ensure workers at Mopani Copper Mine are not short-changed in any transaction they venture in.
And Mine Workers Union of Zambia President Joseph Chewe said the gesture by government is a relief to the miners who have been paying Stanbic Bank over the last seven years.
Mr. Chewe said Mopani workers will be assured of more money in their pockets once the loans are scrapped off their pay slips.
Mopani workers have been challenging Stanbic Bank for increasing their interest rates from 15 to 40 percent.
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