President Edgar Lungu has called on Mopani Copper Mine management to handover the mine to the government if they have failed to run it.
President Lungu says government will not allow management to close the mine and lay off workers just because of the challenges the sector is facing.
He says that the miners always accumulated huge profits when the situation in the sector is vibrate vibrant and wondered why they should rush into closing and laying off workers when things are tough.
The President made the call when he addressed a public rally at Shinde stadium in Mufulira on Monday.
President Lungu re-affirmed that government will not allow Anglo American to take over any of the old mines in the country.
He said that Anglo America should consider setting up their own mines which they abandoned when things were tough.
Meanwhile, President Edgar Lungu has advised Zambians to reject tribal politics. President Lungu has further advised Zambians not to be used and misled by political leaders championing regional politics.
Mr Lungu said unlike other political parties, the Patriotic Front is a National Party that accepts members from all tribes and regions.
President Lungu has also advised the Lamba people of the Copperbelt not to accept to be used by desperate political leaders championing tribalism.
President Lungu said Lambas are very good people who have accepted and allowed other tribes from all parts of the country to settle on the Copperbelt.
He said this at Shimukunami school grounds in Lufwanyama District when he addressed a public rally.
President Lungu said the people of Lufwanyama should work with and support the PF because it is the only government that has managed to take development to the area since 1964.
He said this can be seen from the massive infrastructure development projects in the area such as roads, schools and Health centers.
President Lungu assured the people of Lufwanyma that he will ensure that they benefit from the massive wealth in the emerald sector in the district.
The Head of State inspected the newly constructed Lufwanyama district hospital built at a cost of 15 million kwacha. While at the hospital, the Head of state visited some patients at the Health institution.
Earlier in the morning, President Lungu met Lamba Chiefs at the Presidential Lodge in Kitwe where he hosted them during a breakfast meeting.
“when the situation in the sector is vibrate ” Ekweba ati shani uku?
In 2015, ECL was in the race for less than 30 days trouncing careerist ballot losers of 5 generations facing so many fronts. Now in position of control with many variables at hand faced with aimless alarmists without a center of unity in their state of worse off fragmentation, PF under ECL has again bagged a ticket to his inauguration period.
I like the tough side of His Excellence ECL……..and indeed if they have failed let them hand over the mines to the government!
To me, this sound like someone saying `ngati mwakangiwa ku mwa moba ti paseni ti mwe`
Lungu is slowly turning into Mugabe his mentor. People watch the space, if we allow this imbecile to rule past 2016, Zambia will be worse than Zimbabwe. Mark my words.
Zimbabwe is far better off than Zambia because it has precious minerals which Zambia does not have. Zimbabwe sell its gold and diamonds through the back door and gets a bit of cash to sustain the regime even if it can not borrow.
Now think of Zambia, without credibility to borrow, without precious minerals to sell back door; what the heck do you think will happen?
America wont allow us to use the US dollar because Zambia no precious minerals with which pay US treasury fees for using the dollar.
2016 vote UPND under HH the only party to restore Zambia.
What a joke… did you give the mines to them for free?
To be in opposition doesn’t mean you oppose everything the president says. Do a bit of research before you side with these fake investors. Glencore, the owners of Mopani has been stealing from Zambia through what is called transfer pricing. Google a documentary titled ‘Stealing Africa’ and you’ll see how these bandits have been stealing from Zambia by under declaring the selling price of copper so that they pay less tax to ZRA.
The have been stealing because you Zambians a DULL even me could do the same. Why did it take a UK based organisation to discover the issue of transfer pricing? How many ACCA accountants are in Zambia? I can only under declare copper i export and get away with if i know am dealing with a collection of 13 million DULL Zambians. Why have they not done it Australia?
Those are the questions you should be asking your self
Lungu, if YOU have failed to run the THE COUNTRY, just hand it over to someone that DOES KNOW HOW TO RUN IT!
And you have failed big time!
What a reckless statement for a head of state that is so close to Mugabe. This guy is give the impression that we should go back to the UNIP days.
At times it is great to challenge these fallacious investors. let us move away from Indian investors. I would rather have black/white people with arrogant attitudes own the mines, but still hire you; than have Indians that bring their sub par cousins from Mumbai to be managers.
WHEN THE PRICE OF COPPER WAS OVER US$ 10,000 /TONNE GLENCORE AND OTHER INING HOUSES REFUSED TO PAY WINDFALL TAXES AND THEY ENJOYED THE WINDFALL FORTUNES ALONE. NOW THAT THE COPPER PRICE HAS PLUMMETED, ZAMBIANS SHOULD NOT SUFFER.
THE PRESIDENT IS SPOT ON.
THE DETRACTORS OF COURSE WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED EVEN WHEN HE IS DOING THE RIGHT THING.
COME 20I6 THE TRIBALISTS WILL GNASH THEIR TEETH AGAIN!!!
My humble advise to the entire PF as I direct
address Chishimba Kambwili and other PF
senior members: Please if you are really
serious with winning elections next year,
please consider the idea of replacing Edgar
Lungu with a winnable and salable candidate
like Given Lubinda or Miles Sampa. Iam sorry
to say that Edgar Lungu will be very difficult
to sell to the electorates because of his
visibly failure to manage the economy of the
country.
Yes, he narrowly won early this year; this was
because many people thought he was faithful
to his words when he campaigned on carrying
on Michael Sata’s legacy; but now things are
completely contrally.
if PF members are not going to take my
advise, I can assure them to forget ever
witnessing Edgar Lungu being inaugurated
next year…
Nawakwi or bust. You said Miles Sampa, hahahaha. You seriously even imagined Miles Sampa being president. Are you serious. Watch his interview on Muvi tv and then laugh.
@ PROFESSOR OF POLICAL SCIENCE,
What is “POLICAL SCIENCE?”
You must have done your “polical science” at Matero University where you landed a professorship polical science and certainly not from an accredited institution.
Elections are not won to a Ghost, but to serious opponents which are deafeningly missing in the prevalent political order. Consider to take Campaign and election 101 to understand basic variables and dynamics of voter decision making in the Zambian system.
In 2015, ECL was in the race for less than 30 days trouncing careerist ballot losers of 5 generations facing so many fronts. Now in position of control with many variables at hand faced with alarmists without a center of unity in their state of worse off fragmentation, PF under ECL has again bagged a…
@ Senior Citizen
Forgot to take you medication again?
You are a fool….! Is that all you can talk about?
There is no such thing as basic variable.
A variable is a variable period. Senior Citizen threads words to amuse himself and everyone who does not pay attention to what he writes. All his postings are wordy. Hey buddy, learn to write short but meaningful sentences. Yo will not sound lesser the educated. Just in case you are wondering, I know you from some other forum.
I want to believe that Edgar Lungu is now mentally retarded and the earlier we realize this the better. He is busy cheating people that he cares for them when in fact not. If he really cares as he claims, why did he had to hire a plane at $4000 when schools have no computers.
Gone are the days when cheap politicians used to cheat Zambians with naked eyes. Come 2016, Edgar Lungu is going back to Chawama in beer drinking places where he belongs.
mugabe,s schoolboy talking
You don’t talk about Anglo American Corporation like thst, especially if you are a President. All mines in Zambia like it or not are connected to the Oppeinheimers unless you are very ignorant. You don’t wake sleeping lions. As a lawyer who is presumably knowledgeable. ..This President should know better unless the above assertion is to the contrary.
Dumb inferiority complex having Africans like you infuriate me. As Putin, the oligarchy fell in Russia because he was man enough to have testicles large enough to chase them from that great country.
That’s dutch courage speaking there…the man is so dumb!
PLUS HAS ZAMBIA GOT THE MONEY TO REIMBERSE THE MINE FOR WHAT THEY HAVE INVESTED? HAS THE PRESIDENT THE MONEY TO PAY FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT? DOES HE NOT REALISE THAT THE WORLD IS FOLLOWING OUR EVERY MOVE HERE AND DOES HE THINK INVESTORS WILL WANT TO INVEST HERE WITH A PRESIDENT WHO IS ISSUING THREATS, NO IN FACT BULLYING INVESTORS JUST FOR VOTES? SERIOUSLY FELLOW ZAMBIANS LET US VOTE WISELY NEXT YEAR WITHOUT TRIBALISM OR SOCIAL STANDING. LET US VOTE IN A PRESIDENT THAT DOES NOT HUMILIATE US AND TAKE TRIPS ALL THE TIME WITH A PLANE FULL.
Shoo, i really feel sorry for the guys @ BOZ & Ministry of Finance. They is no way they can control the free fall of the kwacha if the most important citizen of a country can make such pronouncements in public. Please PF rush this guy to Chainama before it is too late.
The most important citizen??
Hahahahaha!
Since when was a president the most important citizen?
Have you not noticed that only in developing countries do you find VIP (a reserve of politicians) booths at airports?
We are in trouble bane. I thought Kabwili was an outlier when it came crazy statements. It’s actually a mainstreamed problem championed by the principal.
the biggest problem of lungu is politiking instead of leading,how many pf leaders who have said upnd /tongas are tribal,what has he done to those pf leaders?NOTHING,so his tune of rejecting tribal sentiments is just a lip talk,most corporations don’t keep large sums of money in banks but invest the profits in other sector,so its illogical for ecl to think that the mines which have run out of business to keep the same workforce on an UNCERTAINITY prices,what if it takes 5 yrs before the copper prices bounces back?
I really do not know why Edgar keeps on flailing a dead horse when he continues harping about tribalism, regionalism blah blah blah…It is barely half a month ago when he called the whole nation [Chisi Chaitwa] to pray for reconciliation, forgiveness and what not. The language coming out of his mouth shows that nothing has changed. As head of state, he should not be in the forefront of propagating hate speech which causes deep divisions among the people. No wonder his side kicks Mumbi and Chama can confidently say anything against anybody and never even bother to apologize.
And then we accuse the opposition for discouraging Foreign Investment into the country! Anglo America does not own any mine in Zambia, how do they come in this Mopani Mine nationalisation threat? This mine takeover discussion is supposed to held behind closed doors between Glencore and the Govt and not at a public rally. Without Foreign Investment how is our economy going to recover? Where will Govt find money to caiptalise the mines if we failed to do so prior to privatisation? The Presidential Advisor has plenty of work to do.
El cannot make such pronouncements if there is no alternative…The Chinese are waiting on the sidelines. They proved to be better economic partners in East Africa, Kenya and Uganda. Remember he went to Uganda and met Museveni who is doing so well with the Chinese partnership. Anglo is South African and these guys sponsored Mazoka so this is how they come in. It is clear the they are also waiting to re-enter Zambia if HH becomes President and this is the problem. It is clear that they have a hand in the UPND sponsorship and do not care about what PF does…so why go to bed with a fellow you know will rape you! or Rip you whatever. The fact is these guys running the mines have reaped us for so long….believe or not…This is the stance we need to defend our own.
A President speaking like a Cadre/Kaponya. Nxaah!!!
Wbat was the essence of prayers if the boss can say such wprds about his competitor. It must be a shameful feeling for those who flocked to pray with him.
Regional politcs and tribalism…..by who………..mmmmmmmm. na tina ko ine mwe. Yatinya.
Really laughable. ..his govt can not even build simple health posts and the dull lazy bum is making such silly careless utterances.
I wonder if the president understood the meaning of repent and recociLIation because the hate speech we are hearing during his campaigns indicate that repentance and reconcilIation was not understood.The Reverend who preached at stMargrets should have preached about true repetance and recociliation instead of castigating other churches who might have had good reasons for not participating in the prayer and fast whose true motive we dont know but only God and the PRESIDENT KNOW.The church should seek wisdom from God and always DISCERN THE WILL OF GOD.
You fools you even condemn the president when he is tying to protect the zambians.You will never win the elections you choma based party.Edger nafuti nafuti 2016 tukamotwa bankusa
Hahaha,ba lazy GRZ you’ve failed to run Zambia Airways and ZR into growing viable businesses but now you want to run these huge mines?
What a disappointing statement from Lungu. If pf is failing to run Zesco can they run the mines?
@ nyati
Be careful with your comments. ZESCO is run by professionals and NOT PF! The problem you guys have is that you are too simplistic and envious such that you all always see wrongs instead of being factual. The problem of electricity shortage, by the way has been professionally handled because the problem of low water levels is so severe that only a f00l can dispute this fact. Why is Tanzania closing the all hydro power stations? Is it the PF Government that is charge or are you just talking to show that you exist on paper?
In life, there two things, hearsay and fact finding. If you really care about yourself, go and find out the truth on the ground. Read the free global trends on commodity prices and Go to Kariba, Go to Kafue, Go to Tanzania, Go to Zimbabwe, Go to Namibia, and…
@UFO,
So what if Tanzania is closing down its hydro stations? Are we in Tanzania now?
Eyes on Zambia! Don’t go all over the show fetching for excuses.
There are simulations all over the shore, if you want, that could have been used to predict the rainfall patterns in the region. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that strategic entities such as ZESCO were availed the critical information. There are more solutions to the problem than promoting the use of gensets. Galamukani!
ba UFO the government is just run by people that cannot project and plan for the future. the water level had been dropping for the past five years. watch this space no action has been put in place. we need more power stations because the population is growing and don’t forget the investors we are inviting use power as well in their industries.
But you have failed to Manage Zesco and Zamtel, Now you want to add the mines….. Is this guy Normal????????
I NOW BELIEVE THAT LUNGU IS A BIG FOOL.
Nzelu mwana, MCM is owned by Glencore, whose head office is in Switzerland. Its the largest commodity trader in the world and reputed to own 130 mines worldwide. They are pure bred whites unless you think the CEO name of Glassenberg sounds Indian ?
You are confusing with KCM which is owned by India’s Vendanta. Their CEO is Agarwal.
See the difference ??
If you don’t catch that MCM and KCM are seperate, don’t waste time giving us advise from the desktop in USA
Mr President. The mines have been forecasting a showdown with the Govt since our late MCS rocked their boat. They have been shipping out their capital and substituting with loans from Zanaco and Indo Zambia. They are loaded up on borrowed mortgages. Take the mines and automatically you are lumbered with bank loans. Zambian depositor monies are tied up in those banks. The investors will walk away and let you inherit more Kaloba. We are still in the stone age and still have a lot to learn about international finance
I now believe the words of late President Michael Sata, USELESS ministers! The man saw that he had empty tins dressed in suits for ministers. Looking at this statement from Chagwesa Dziko, I can only wonder as to what he is smoking, but hey Whatever it is, it must be very portent! An empty tin, hardly sober and makes statements without thinking at all. Such statements are driving investors away, uninspiring to citizens and making the Kwacha a toilet paper that it is today. I hope this so Called Senior Citizen can comment on these silly statements being made by this lazy lawyer.
I just love this man, that’s how true leaders lead the nations! Look at strong men of this world, Rwanda, Ethipia, south africa, russian, isreal,america, egypt. These nations have strong men.
Difference is that those nations have strong man which have FUNCTIONAL brain.
Strength emanates from what one knows. Shooting from the backdoor is nothing but stoopidity. This guy is full of manure!
Comment:in zambia opposition is opposion just like the word opposite, do you know what angloamericah did to kansashi mine b4 it was sold to first quantum minerals.it was such a shame, bravo lungu, u ar such a leader
Zambians must not fall to the schemes of HH and his bandits. The most important challenge for Zambia is to understand the past, ie. history. We cannot move forward and create a better country until we fully understand what is causing hell in the present Zambia. It is under the complete control of the empire and HH is an agent being used to do the foreign corporations dirty work. Zambia needs to reclaim what is hers, that includes history, religion, resources and each other; to refuse to be infected by the empires virus of man`s inhumanity to his fellow man. The most effective tool to fight oppression is an idea. HH must lose 2016; UPND is the devil’s advocate.
Stop smoking
and what is the idea? stop copy and paste. we can reclaim but like you said history is important. but let me ask you why do you think we privatized the industries? the current government cannot manage to run these industries. why? because every time someone goes to plot one they put cadres in major government positions simply because they helped him win, and that will happen with upnd,pf or mmd in government. am talking about what I have seen are you?
An example is someone with journalism diploma as minister of energy. really…………..
ba Lungu now you are talking let them go ukutumpa as put it the other day.
y should they owaz decide the way to go when things are bad chase them. we need to be principled not just becoz ni ba investor we av to accept everything
to hell with their money! this is Wat late HE Sat Used to talk about we can’t continue being slaves in our own country in the name of keeping investors.
chase them you av my support.
These HH worshipers have hatred running in their veins they job is to look at the negative side of whatever the President does or says. The bible is very clear “YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS “
@Mambwe: Those of us who are neutral are seeing it different. PF are the ones accusing UPND of being a regional and tribal party. Evidence is presented in this LT news report where the President was addressing the Lamba people and accusing others of being regional and tribal. If this is not hatred speech, then what is it? What about the insults to the Unions and GBM, were they not hate speech? Kaingu even went further to call CBU Lecturers “Goats”. Is this the new culture in Zambia where Leaders can use vulgar language with impunity?
Ba Mumbwe, the problem with you PF stooges is that you heads are so thick ever wonder if you even stepped into a classroom. What you don’t know is that this kaminamisa President of yours is taking advantage of your dullness to hoodwink you so that he wins the 2016 election. But thank God, a lot of Zambians have now seen the lies in him. No more 90 day jokes. 2016 we need HH the Kachema Musuma uletutwala ku menshi a bumi.
I’m surprised that our President cannot differentiate between ‘mine management’ and ‘shareholders’. Managers are employees of shareholders, I therefore think that the President should be addressing the owners of Mopani and not the managers. Remember shareholders are looking for a return on their investment in form of capital gains and dividends.
Where is Chipimo Jnr kanshi? I thought that this is the only opposition hope Zambia have today because of his objectivity? I mean its very sad to see UPND and HH siding with wrong things the so called investors in the mines are doing. Instead of being candid, its the same HH who is supporting that these investors cut jobs for our people. Is $5,200 per metric ton too bad to justify their actions? The answer is a BIG NO? The mines are still making huge profits for your own information, the only thing that they havent and will will not say is where is all that money going? Another fact with these miners is that they are not just producing enough copper per year and they should not attribute it to electricity rashoning because even when full electricity power was cheaply at their disposal,…
If you are so jealous of HH why don’t you just shut your bick
Zambia produces just below 1 million metric tons of copper! The facts are there, despite the favourable conditions that the PF Government has extended to these mines, Zambia is ranked number 8 in world of copper production. So lets be serious imwe fi UPND. The reason why Chile and Peru, the number 1 and second copper producing countries are not feeling the “low” commodity prices is simply because the produce above 5 million metric tons of copper per year so its volumes at play here. So dont be cheated that the price of copper is bad as they want you to believe, its only because these so called investors want to make SUPER PROFITS and leave our people and land in destitution!
Surely, does it have to take a non expert like me to make you see this? I dare HH and the opposition…
@ UFO,
You have only given us the revenue of $5 200 / ton of copper, you should also give us the overheads incurred to produce a ton of copper up to the market for a mine based in Zambia.
Mr President, if I were you, I would not talk like that unless I knew the net worth (Assets – Liabilities) of those entities. Last time I checked Chiluba’s government failed to run the Luanshya copper mines when the investor moved out! Always try to study a matter before addressing it in public.
Lungu seriously needs a brain transplant. The mines have not failed. It is Lungu’s clueless ideology that has failed. The mining investors are here to make a profit and the policies Lungu has in place are the ones biting us now. Get rid of these people for the sake of Zambia. Bo Inonge, sit down please!!!
Senior Citizen – you seem to be pasting your ka memorised statement on anything even where it is not applicable.
Only lazy chaps are afraid of making such statements,Lungu has said it well coz we have the chinise who are more than eager to take over these mines. Let the fools go who cares, if you think your perpetual looser is getting it thise time you are dreaming. 2016 is for the working govt. Katumbi did the same to fake investors and who lost in the process. These investors need us more than we do. Go ahead Lungu thats the kind of a leader Zambia needs, we wont bow to fake investors. I can also run these mines just give them to me.
Sober up Lungu:Codelco’s chief executive Nelson Pizarro is following through with his promise of cutting costs “to the bone” as the Chile-owned miner announced it has cut almost 3,900 jobs, including contractors, in response to low prices and weak demand. The fresh and massive cuts bring the number of layoffs to over 4,000, making of Codelco the mining company that has let go the highest amount of workers in Chile since metal prices began their decline over a year ago. The “painful, but necessary” move has not affected production, “What’s more, the company’s output has grown 5.5% during the last year, and costs have dropped by about 11%,” Last week, the country’s Finance Ministry announced it would give the miner $600 million in funds to help fund a five-year spending plan. Source: mining…
Comment: Fyonse kutalika. Atanse.
Well done Ba President. This is real empowerment of Zambians…YOU HAVE OUR VOTE
I wonder if this guy’s advisers even read the news. Tomorrow will be backing down again and rephrasing to something like he “admits that unfortunately some jobs must be suspended temporarily until God fixes it”
Why is the man starting to sound like a UNIPIST talking about state control of businesses. Kaunda tried it and he failed. Why don’t Africans learn from history. We’ve been here before and our president thinks the same failed solutions used by Kaunda can work in 2015 when the world is more integrated and we are not leaving on an island. Ridiculous.
These are the same chaps that took over collum coal mine in Sinazongwe and eventually had to reverse the decision after ZCCM- Investment Holdings spent millions of our money in sustaining the mine while the dispute was ongoing. Now if they were forced to handover a mine to a cheap Chinese investor imagine what will happen when they take on a company worth 97 billion dollars when our whole ka economy is only worth 27 billion dollars. Problem with Zambians even on these blogs/sites is that most of them talk without facts, levels of ignorance are extremely high, they don’t read, don’t research. Most sound like uneducated cadres in their reasoning ati let them go. They will sue you and grab your assets abroad if you are not careful. Look at the issue of ZAMTEL for an example. MTN and AIRTEL…
…… are in the same business but don’t need me to subsidize them. Why should government use my money in subsidizing under-performing companies like Kaunda used to do?
Kachemas cant form government any time soon because they re way backwards in politics. Its u dont know what a just and unjust call is.U dont u know when to criticise or not. Forexample,ECL calls for prayers,u criticise him and give him conditions,after seeing that people support it u rescind your position. He makes a stance to avert loss of jobs in the mines,u call him names and the people he is trying to protect re hearing u and u expect a vote from them.Thats illogical thinking and just grow up!!!
The fact is HH is the majority shareholder of Zambezi sun formerly Intercontinental Livingstone Hotel. it was sold for a song to the third bidder! higher bids were rejected on HHs ‘advice’ and self interest opinions. HH used his dubious business minions to acquire state owned properties at ridicuoulsy low prices without declaring interest in the sale. He has on several occasions lamentably failed to accurately answer questions as to how he acquired his wealth. It is stinking dirty money not worth to admire. Come 2016 we shall expose further the rot the makes this Chief Tribalist HH, to finish him politically once for all. Most Zambians are Not too dull to reason logically!
You don’t just “hand over a mine” like you hand over a cannabis smoke to a friend. You have to buy it mr president, at market prices, it doesn’t belong to you. Maybee if you hadn’t messed up with electricity things would be good at the mone huh?! Where do you get off not accepting responsibility for anything!
Ama Comments yapanga amalofwa, bwafya sana
Countrymen, you do not need to be abusive to one another. We have a nation that needs solutions. When we turn to abusive language we lose the objectivity required to resolve issues. I do not believe that there is a single person or party that has all the solutions to today’s national problems. To come out of these hard times, the nation will probably do well to adopt an integrated approach where each one is targeting the problem and not another person or entry into corridors of power. We will not accomplish much by merely changing persons if our attitudes remain the same. Look at how we mismanaged ZCCM. How come the same mines became profitable after privatization? Attitudes have to change. Come on we can do better.
People let’s be real over these issues,lungu and pf has got no direction period!!!! The government has no capacity to run mines,look at our economy!! What s there to run any mine?? This guy just yaps like a baby that has just woken up from a deep sleep and is astonished of the people around it! Today c/belt,mailo tz Ummm mwebantu,busy flying from one place to another with no time to address the economical challenges, he is running away as if he won’t come back!!!! Keep buying time and 2016 is just around the corner we show u what zambians can do. Ask chibwezani,he cried like a small boy!