MINISTER of Mines, Energy and Water Development Christopher Yaluma says the investment at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) is safe.
The minister has also said the technical committee constituted to evaluate the company’s operations is not a witch-hunt.
Mr Yaluma said this when he featured on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation’s Sunday Interview programme.
He said that government is transparent and will protect KCM’s investment.
Mr Yaluma said KCM management is part of the committee and it agreed to the idea of constituting the committee because it was interested in seeing whether Government was violating the contractual agreement or not.
“The committee which is has been set up is not a witch hunt, it was agreed upon. They also wanted to see what was agreed at the time they came into business.
“It is not that we are trying to go and chop their throat, it is collaborative team work from our side and their people,” Mr Yaluma said.
He said judging from its performance, KCM is not a liquid company and government is willing to dialogue with management to ensure that the firm is back on track.
And Mr Yaluma said Government has no intention of nationalising the mines and will continue encouraging foreign investors to set up business in Zambia.
Mr Yaluma said KCM could have been hiding something and was not willing to provide information until Government compelled the company to release the data.
He said there is a possibility that the issue of retrenching workers could have been discussed outside board meetings.
Mr Yaluma said when Government officials managed to get information on KCM’s intention to lay off workers, they told its management that there was no convincing reason for it to reduce the workforce.
The minister said KCM management is not handling the company business properly and is failing to meet its obligations.
Mr Yaluma also said KCM also proposed to Government to start importing its fuel for operations.
“They [KCM] tabled to Government issues pertaining to the development agreement, complained about power and talked about mineral royalty as being high and the cost of fuel,” he said.
Mr Yaluma said no company can justify retrenchment of over 1,500 workers on grounds that it wants to modernise its operations because this requires long- term planning before the exercise is undertaken.
“Modernisation should have been in the business master plan for more than 10 years…at the time they started operations. It is not an easy thing, it is capital-intensive, you need to recapitalise highly,” he said.
They should buy machinery they found which Anglo left
It is not like the government has been totally oblivious of the operations of KCM. The PS at the Ministry of Mines is a member of the Board of Directors and was present at the meeting that resolved to lay off 1500 workers.
This Yaluka man says retrenchments require long-term planning and yet by the same token he acknowledges that the modernization plans have been in place for the last 10 years. So does he expect, whoever runs KCM to postpone a modernization plan until PF is out of office?
BA mop kwena mulichipuba.come to kcm and see what this Indians have done bring down every thing zccm and Anglo left
the MOP works for KCM so do i,and i agree with him
Lairs! Sata and all his progeny are lairs. What a dirty Donchi kubeba government. What a useless leader called Sata!
That’s the way 4ward,ZImbabean farmers are as good as any other said the president…if you let other people do work for you,they choose the tune.zambians should mine themselves only then can they control such activities of the mines..,
Send them back to their country!!!
Government interference in KCL can cost all 10, 000 jobs and In addition to that the govern. can accrue debt by maintaining the mine before finding an investor. It is a known fact that crown corporations save ZESCO, performance is below margin and some crown corporations are out of business because of govern. interference in the running of these business units. KCL signaled long time ago that it was not capable keeping all it’s workforce because of changes in business plan caused by new challenges. The ministers of Mine and Labor and the permanent secretary who is on the board of directors of KCL just sat down without offering practical solution or aid to KCL, hoping all will be fine. After KCL laid off contractor employees that’s when the ministers said, do not lay off workers –
do not lay off workers. The working ministers have no back up plan or reserve fund in case the investor departed or the government decide to revoke the investor’s license. Is the government ready to take over the mine and keep all the workers without making changes to 2014 budget? Mr. Yaluma and other ministers can learn from our past mistakes: Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines was incorporated in 1982 and was sold in 1998 to private sector. For 16 years the educated, qualified, experienced and competent Zambians run the mines unprofitably as a result losses and debt were incurred. After nationalization of the mines, copper prices started declining and copper production in Zambia plumed from its peak of 750,000 tons in 1973 to 230,000 tons in 2000. (private companies could not –
– private companies could not have allowed to run unprofitably) Past mistakes. ZCCM was sold in 1998 for just US$627 million after the copper prices had dropped from US$2,300/ton in 1997 to aboutUS$1500 ton in 1998 – and remained at this level until 2003. The government was subsidizing the mines by approximately US$ 1 million a day. The selling of ZCCM at the low price was criticized for being a result of bribery and corruption. ZCCM assets were unbundled and sold off as business packages to private sector to promote diversity of ownership and minimize political and economic risks. Access to debt relief by the government was also achieved by privatization of the mines.
Why are we suffering and the majority living in abject poverty when we have abundance of natural resources and manpower referenced to our population?
We can shout and make noise that we have many qualified Zambians who can run the mines, then why seek investors from outside Zambia? Look at the performance of Zambia Railways, NCZ, defunct Zambia Airways etc. state companies run by qualified Zambians. If KCL is not careful it will end up like the former Zambia Airways.
We are suffering because of unfaithfulness, greediness, lack of critical thinking referred to the past mistakes, lack of commitment & above all no compassionate for the poor & failure by the govern & MPs to consult Zambians who have solutions & govern interference in private companies. Yes, Zambia has qualified manpower.