By SHARON ZULU
THE Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) has challenged Government to publish the conditions of the agreement on which Vedanta Resources has been re-engaged as the 80 percent majority shareholder at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
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Joseph Chewe, the MUZ president, said it was important for Government to publish the agreement clauses that would soon be signed with Vedanta Resources so that both parties could be held accountable in case the investor reneged on fulfilling its pledges again.
“That is why we would want government to publish those clauses that they will sign so that we know that we can hold Government accountable at any point should Vedanta move out of what it is that we will be able to agree on.” (
“We recall that MUZ and other unions had to put some conditions on Vedanta’s return, we said the desire by Vedanta to come back is welcome on condition that they fulfil on what they were not doing. This was properly communicated to Government that we have now been taught a lesson on how we should safeguard the interest of Zambians when we are given the authority by Zambians to look after our assets,” Mr Chewe said.
He was speaking when he featured on Millennium TV’s Business Day Programme dubbed: Imminent Vedanta Return to KCM.
Mr Chewe also said the units across KCM operations were in a bad state and required urgent resolution and that stakeholders could not continue bickering when the operations were on the verge of collapse.
“The operations at KCM are in ICU [Intensive Care Unit], it requires resuscitation and this resuscitation requires capital to see to it that the operations continue as expected. If you look at Nkana IBU [Integrated Business Unit], which depends on Nchanga, there is little happening at Nchanga in terms of mining? Even at Konkola there is little happening in terms of mining, so literally the mine may shut down if you do not bring the resources into these operations?”
“Our expectation from Vedanta is that we taught them a lesson as a country and as stakeholders that should they engage in a similar way, those clauses that we believe will be put in place should trigger their exit, they should trigger a separation. So, Vedanta must come with renewed conditions to ensure that the expectations of Zambians and other stakeholders are properly managed,” Mr Chewe said.
He also expressed concern that KCM had not been paying its liabilities and debts owed to Zesco and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) had continues accruing.
Mr Chewe also expressed concern that due to the challenges at KCM, the MUZ membership had reduced from 15,000 between 2004 and 2005 when Vedanta Resources came to Zambia to less than 4,000 currently.
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