By SANFROSSA MANYINDA
WE expect Government to do very well and find a strategic partner for Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) and lead a good example in the mining industry, the National Union of Mine workers (NUMAW) has said.
NUMAW president, James Chansa, said in Kitwe yesterday that the people expected a lot of changes for the betterment of the workers in the industry, since the mine was now under Government 100 percent.
Mr Chansa said Government should show a good example because people were highly expectant, knowing too well that the mine was 100 per cent ZCCM-IH.
“We need to see Government stand up and prove to everyone that it is going to make us in the industry proud.
“We expect to see miners getting their terminal benefits, we need to see more of Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR) coming from Mopani as well as the the best management of copper production,” he said.
Mr Chansa said that Government also needed to enaure that the mining industry was improved in aspects. In January, Government’s investment arm, Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines – Investment Holdings (ZCCM- IH), agreed to buy Glencore’s majority stake in Mopani Copper Mines Plc in a US$1.5 billion deal, and yesterday, during an extraordinary general meeting, the transaction was finalised, with shareholders overwhelmingly endorsing the deal.
The acquisition of Mopani from the Swiss mining giant, Glencore, is without doubt the biggest takeover deal by a local company in recent history, definitely not after Frederick Chiluba’s privatisation era of the 1990s, which saw the end of the country’s biggest mining conglomerate, ZCCM.
The deal has, inevitably, generated a lot of public debate. The questions surrounding the deal mainly centre on the ability of the new mine owners to run it successfully and pay the debt owed to Glencore, while some have accused Government of influencing the off-take deal in order to save thousands of jobs in an election year.
For others, perhaps it is just a case of déja vu, remembering how the mighty ZCCM Ltd was dismantled, with devastating results that remain to date.
