VEDANTA DENIES MAKING DEMANDS

…MASUZYO NDHLOVU, THE VEDANTA DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS ACCUSES CHRISTOPHER KANG’ombe of peddling unverified and false information against the Anil Agarwal company

 BY NATION REPORTER

VEDANTA Resources has denied claims that it is arm-twisting government by making tax holiday demands hence making the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) deal verbal and unsigned.

Vedanta Resources Director Corporate Communications, Masuzyo Ndhlovu says the claims are false and baseless because all the developmental agreements entered into are binding and shall be implemented to the fullest.

Vedanta Resources Director  of Corporate Communications, Masuzyo Ndhlovu has said the claims are false and baseless because all the developmental agreements entered into are binding and shall be implemented to the fullest.

Kamfinsa Member of Parliament, Christopher Kang’ombe is claiming that Government has decided to settle for a verbal agreement with Vedanta Resources to take over the operations of KCM for the second time because the Anil Agarwal company is demanding tax concessions and the cancellation of certain statutory obligations.

But Mr Ndhlovu said Mr Kang’ombe was giving false information because he may not have been privy to the high-level engagements between Vedanta Resources and the government on the future of KCM and the milestones to be attained.

“The Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Kabuswe has on a number of occasions given a very clear road map of where we stand today and the steps that are being undertaken before Vedanta takes full control of the running of KCM.”

“An announcement was made on September, 2023 at Mulungushi International Conference Centre where the nation was appraised on developments at KCM. It was announced that the government has finalised the negotiations with Vedanta and that Vedanta will return to run and resuscitate the operations of KCM as the majority shareholder alongside ZCCM-IH meaning that a significant milestone was arrived at,” he said.

Mr Ndhlovu said lawyers were working towards concluding revisions to the shareholders’ agreement and its implementation.

He said all the necessary legal formalities and procedures are also being attended to.Mr Ndhlovu said the provisional liquidator would be removed and a new board for KCM would be appointed followed by the appointment of a senior management team to run the day-to-day operations of the national strategic asset. 

Mr Ndhlovu said the transition could take between eight to 12 weeks depending on how quick the conclusions on the shareholder agreement and removal of the provisional liquidator would take. 

He explained that the payments to creditors and employees would only be made after board reinstatement.

“My approach as Director of Corporate Communications for Vedanta is to take a stakeholder-centric approach so that I give accurate and verifiable information to various stakeholders. I have had an audience with Mr Kangombe before, which I believe was a very fruitful engagement and further to that, I sent him very useful information on Vedanta’s investment in Zambia which residents of his constituency can greatly benefit from. It should also be pointed out that the previous shareholders’ agreement had a clause or a provision for arbitration in case of any disputes.  

And Mr Ndhlovu reminded Mr Kang’ombe that an arbitral tribunal had in July 2021 made a partial final award that there was a breach in the dispute resolution provisions provided in Vedanta Resources’ KCM shareholder agreements.

He sai, it was important to note that the Court of Appeal in Zambia ruled in favour of Vedanta in its November 2020 ruling and stayed the winding-up petition and this was also echoed by the Arbitrator.

“Personally, I think this is the best time for Kangombe to start engaging Vedanta to have a full understanding of how the special purpose vehicle that will drive the CSR programs for all our areas of operation in Chililabombe, Chingola, Kitwe and Nampudwe will run so that we revive and revitalise the economic activities on the Copperbelt,” Mr Ndhlovu said.