Mwombezhi licence saga; Kabuswe to make decision

By NATION REPORTER

MINES and Mineral Development Minister Paul Kabuswe has announced that he will abide by the High Court order and make a decision on the legality of cancellation of the Mwombezhi Resources mining licence.

The High Court has ordered Mr Kabuswe to make a determination on the appeal by Mwombezhi Resources on the cancellation of its large-scale exploration mining licence which has since been granted to Global Development Cooperation Consulting Zambia Limited, a company in which UPND Chief Whip has shares.

Last week, Mr Kabuswe claimed innocence of the illegal cancellation of the Mwombezhi Resources mining licence, stating that the licence was annulled by the Mining Licence Committee.

The Mwombezhi Resources large-scale mining exploration licence was cancelled by the UPND government contrary to claims by Mr  Kabuswe that it was invalidated by the Patriotic Front (PF), it has been revealed.

According to Zambia Mining Cadastre Map Portal, the Mwombezhi Resources licence was active until on the afternoon of December 2, 2021, when it was invalidated and re-granted to Global Development Cooperation (GDC) Consulting Zambia Limited.

But it has been proved that, in fact, the licence was cancelled on October 21, 2021, soon after the UPND formed government.

On December 2, 2021, barely three months after the UPND formed government, the Mwombezhi Resources large-scale exploration licence was invalidated and was hastily re-granted to Global Development Cooperation, a company in which UPND Chief Whip, Stafford Mulusa has 7, 000 ordinary shares.

The Zambia Mining Cadastre Map Portal shows that Global Development Cooperation Consulting Zambia Limited applied for a large-scale exploration licence on October 21, 2021 over an existing Mwombezhi lice and was expressly granted on December 2, 2021.

The Cadastre shows that the minigng licence granted to Global Development Cooperation Consulting Zambia Limited shall expire on December 2nd, 2025, the exact date the Mwombezhi Resources licence was to expire.  The commodities to be explored on the piece of land covering 50, 650.662 hectares include Cobalt, Copper, Silver and Uranium, the same commodities under the cancelled licence for Mwombezhi Resources.

And Mr Kabuswe says he shall soon be making a decision on whether the Mwombezhi Resources mining licence was illegally cancelled or   there was due diligence before the action was taken.

Mr Kabuswe when contacted on the records of the Zambia Mining Cadastre Map Portal said he had already exhausted discussing the matter and was now focused on determining the merits and demerits of the nullification of the Mwombezhi Resources licence.

He explained that he had taken long to determine the matter because government had closed the Cadastre Map Portal and now that it had been opened, he was ready to make a decision.

“The High Court has ordered me to make a decision…to determine the matter. I will soon be making my decision as you know that the High Court is saying the aggrieved party had appealed to my office. So by March 7, I will have made my decision and I will be out of the story after that.

The aggrieved had the right to appeal to me. We took long to make a decision because the Cadastre had been closed and I wrote to them informing them that their matter was under active consideration,” Mr Kabuawe said.