Maravi

Miners threaten to withhold their votes for govt

Miners threaten to withhold their votes for govt
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Tue 10 Aug. 2010, 04:01 CAT

MINEWORKERS Union of Zambia (MUZ) secretary general Oswell Munyenyembe has said the MMD government should not expect any votes from miners next year if they do not listen to their advice.

And Munyenyembe has said it is surprising that whenever unions in the mining sector try to advise the government on issues affecting miners, the government chooses to discredit the union leadership using a ‘special correspondent’ in the government-owned newspapers. In an interview in Kitwe on Monday, Munyenyembe noted that the MMD government did not want to listen to advice.

“Government does not want to listen, and this is their major problem. Our advice to the government is that they should listen to what the unions are telling them because if they don’t, come 2011, they should not expect votes from miners,” Munyenyembe said.

He said the government should not take their defeat in the just-ended Chifubu parliamentary by-election lightly, saying they should evaluate themselves and see where they were going wrong.

Munyenyembe observed that although Ndola had no major mining activities, it had mines such as Bwana Mkubwa and other small-scale mines run by the Chinese, where workers were frustrated with the poor conditions of service they were subjected to.

“The government by now should know that the mines are the largest employers on the Copperbelt, and whatever happens in the mines affects communities on the Copperbelt,” he said.

And Munyenyembe said the government’s tactics to discredit the MUZ leadership through a ‘special correspondent’ would not stop them from fighting for their members.

Munyenyembe said it was disappointing that whenever unions tried to speak out on issues affecting their members, the government tried to discredit them.

An article authored by a special correspondent that was published in the Monday edition of the state-owned and government-controlled Times of Zambia accused the union leadership of ignorance and lack of negotiation skills because of their opposition to the coming of Vale, a Brazilian mining giant, to Zambia.

Last month, MUZ at a press briefing vowed to oppose any attempts to bring Vale to Zambia because the mining company allegedly had a bad human rights record and no respect for recognition agreements.

But Munyenyembe dismissed the special correspondent's claims that MUZ did not know how to negotiate, saying the union had existed for more than 50 years.
He disclosed that in fact, MUZ last Thursday met the directors of Vale in Lusaka and made their concerns clear in the presence of government officials.

Munyenyembe said the government should not pretend that Vale was a good investor because no good investor could allow a strike to drag for 12 months.

Munyenyembe bemoaned what he termed the government’s over-protection of investors.

He complained that Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) had continued to bring in expatriates with impunity despite unions discouraging such trends.

“When we complain, that is when they bring in more expatriates with impunity. What should the union say? Do we need an expatriate to buy bulbs? There are now a lot of foreign buyers at KCM, and if the union complains, we’re told that ‘no, you are chasing away investors’,” complained Munyenyembe.
“And the other problem at KCM is that their CEO is very arrogant. He even boasts that ‘me, I talk to plot one’.”

Labels: MINERS, MMD, MUZ, OSWELL MUNYENYEMBE

posted by MrK @ 5:43 PM