Unions welcome ZCCM-IH takeover of LCM

Unions welcome ZCCM-IH takeover of LCM
Written by Zumani Katasefa, Mwila Chansa and Mutuna Chanda
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 5:10:53 AM

MINE unions have welcomed the government’s decision to let ZCCM-IH to take over operations of Luanshya Copper Mine (LCM) and urged speedy implementation of the decision to safeguard property at the troubled mine.

In an interview yesterday, Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) president Rayford Mbulu said the government should translate the announcement concerning the taking over of LCM by Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holding (ZCCM-IH) into practical action.

“As a labour movement we fully welcome and support the action by ZCCM -IH to take over the shares at LCM that have been abandoned by the investor,” he said.

Mbulu said the only cry for the union and the general mine workforce in Luanshya was the timeframe in which that would be done.

“We are impressed with the efforts that government has put in, the mines minister Maxwell Mwale has always been here. But our only cry is the timeframe in which this could be done,” he said.

Mbulu added that it would be important if the pronouncement concerning the taking over of the mine by ZCCM-IH was quickly implemented to safeguard mine assets from being stripped off.

“We do not want to subject our workers to a lot of suffering, already many of them had their benefits held in the banks, so it is just important that quick action is taken,” Mbulu said.

National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) president Mundia Sikufele urged government to take time as it looks for an investor to take over the problematic Luanshya mine.

Sikufele said it was good that President Rupiah Banda had announced that LCM would be run by ZCCM-IH.

“It is a welcome move. And government should take its time in looking for an investor to take over the Luanshya mine. It should not rush in finding an investor. I know it would gobble a lot of money, but what is important is to protect the assets of the mine,” he said.

Some miners in Luanshya who spoke on condition of anonymity commended the government for the move.

“It is a good move, but that should not take too long if it takes long then a lot of assets at the mine would be destroyed,” they said.

And during the newsmakers’ forum organised by the Press Freedom Committee of The Post in Luanshya, Mbulu said the government only needed US $4 million to run LCM every month.

He said the unions had conducted a study, which revealed that the government needed US $48 million for one year to run LCM.

Mbulu said as long as miners at LCM remained out of employment, there was no guarantee that assets would be protected.

Sikufele said the unions had set aside their political differences to focus on saving jobs in Luanshya and ensuring that LCM got back on its feet.

And Roan Patriotic Front (PF) member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili vowed that a Chinese investor would only take over the operations of LCM over his ‘dead body’.

In apparent reference to President Banda’s recent statement that his only hope for the mines were Chinese and Indian investors, Kambwili said Chinese investors in Zambia paid their workers very little money and did not respect labour laws.

He said even labour minister Austin Liato himself was constantly called upon to solve labour-related problems at the Chinese-run Non-Ferrous Metals Corporation Africa (NFCA) in Chambishi because of the alleged ‘peanuts’ that the investors paid their employees.

“And there are more than 400 Chinese pushing wheelbarrows at NFCA; jobs that can be done by Zambians. Upon my dead body, I will not allow a Chinese to come and push wheelbarrows in Luanshya. What are the Chinese going to bring here?” Kambwili asked as some people in the audience were heard responding: “technology!”

But Kambwili warned that the people of Luanshya should not cry foul when what he was telling them comes to pass.

“You’re saying technology. Those people will bring in 300 of them to push wheelbarrows here and that means 300 of you will not have jobs but if ZCCM-IH takes over, at least all of you will be guaranteed of your jobs,” he said.

Kambwili threatened that he would take off his shirt and remain in his shorts to protest if a Chinese investor took over LCM.

He further said it was dangerous to allow the Chinese as the biggest consumers of copper on the world market to also become producers as this would make them a monopoly and allow copper to be sold at a very uncompetitive price.

“We can accept an Indian investor because we have seen what they have done at KCM and we have also tried them before although they disappointed us, but they used to pay decent salaries,” said Kambwili.

Kambwili said a Chinese investor should be the last option for resuscitating LCM, adding that: “Even when a rat says I cannot take over the mine, that’s when we can bring in a Chinese.”

And Liato doubted the capacity of Zambian investors to run a mine such as LCM when those with prospective licences for emeralds had failed to do any tangible mining.

Liato said there was need for people to accept when they had no capacity to do certain things.

“How many emerald mines are here on the Copperbelt and what is coming out of them?” he asked. “If we can’t run small holes, can we run big mines like this? “That is the question I ask myself because it’s easy to mislead people with emotional outbursts.”

Liato said the government was against loss of jobs and that was why President Banda had told investors not to take advantage of the global economic crunch to lay off workers.

He said there was no need to demonise the Chinese because they had the capacity to produce commodities for every market.

Liato said people needed to remember that the Chinese had been Zambia’s ‘all-weather friends’ and that they had built infrastructure that they would never take with them when they return to China.

“Even in the midst of these crises, the Chinese have promised to recruit 1,000 more jobs, so should we hate them?” he asked. “I need those jobs badly as minister of labour.”

He wondered why people wanted to call the Chinese names when none of the employees in the mines they were running had lost a job.

Liato said the problems in the mines did not start with either the late president Mwanawasa or President Banda but that it was some leaders who were now in the opposition that sold the mines for a ‘song’.

“Why do you become so easily divided?” Liato asked the audience. “You don’t seem to identify who your real enemies are,” Liato said.

Liato said the government was trying its best to save jobs and that: “When this nightmare is over, we will focus on creating jobs. I can assure you that the President is not sleeping.”