Friday, March 29, 2024

“Expats” – blessing or curse?

Share

NCHANGA Mine rescure Team B Captain Jonathan Kolala inspects air underground during the Zambia Mine Rescure Association competetion at Namundwe Mine
File:NCHANGA Mine rescure Team B Captain Jonathan Kolala inspects air underground during the Zambia Mine Rescure Association competetion at Namundwe Mine

The emotive issue of foreign skills in mining and other fields

Are foreign skills – whether in mining or any other field – a blessing or a curse? Are they good or bad for the country that hosts them?

That is the question posed in this week’s article in the Mining for Zambia website.

Zesco United’s Jesse Were, who is from Kenya, is cited as an example of a foreign-born football player who has made a real contribution to his Zambian team; he scored six goals in two games earlier this season. Were is one of six foreign players in Zesco United’s 30-man squad, which means foreigners make up 20% of the team.

“Football clubs – whether in Europe or Zambia – look far and wide for players who can give them the edge over their competition,” the article says, referring to the skills, international knowledge and experience of other leagues that they bring.

“This approach to recruitment is really no different to that taken by a modern mining company. [It] is also judged on success, and bases its successes on the skills and experience of its management and workers.”

Mining companies, like football teams, operate in an increasingly competitive global industry. The use of highly qualified expatriates with special skills is a natural response to that, adding to the overall firepower of the team.

Yet, Zambian mines do not actually employ much expatriate labour, because Zambia has a long history of mining, and training people at the highest levels.

Zambians can be found in senior executive positions at all of Zambia’s copper mines. At Mopani, for example, the Chairman of the Board, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Services Officer are all Zambians.

A 2014 study on the industry by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) found that expatriates represented barely 1-2% of the workforce, whether contractors or direct employees. That compares with 8% in Peru and 17% in Tanzania.

“So, Zambia’s mining industry is actually far more Zambian than many give it credit for,” the article says.

Furthermore, Zambia is also an exporter of talent. “We have our own high-flying expats – such as Norman Mbazima, currently CEO of Kumba Iron Ore in South Africa, and Anthony Mukutuma, the General Manager at First Quantum’s Guelb Moghrein copper mine in Mauritania,” the article says.

Zambian graduates from the University of Zambia’s School of Mines can be found in high-level careers, both in mining and academia, in Finland, Australia and other parts of Africa.

“Expatriates are heavily represented in some of the world’s most successful economies, both at professional and worker level,” the article says. “In Singapore, they represent one-third of the population; in the United Arab Emirates, the figure is higher than 80%, with the majority of them working in Dubai.”

A fact-sheet by the American Immigration Council states: “As a number of studies make clear, the presence in a company of highly skilled foreign workers whose abilities and talents complement those of native-born workers actually creates new employment opportunities for American workers.”

The evidence suggests that we should be “celebrating the presence of expatriates” who bring vital skills that Zambia needs, not just in football, but in mining and other fields too.

27 COMMENTS

  1. What a poor attempt at deceiving Zambians! We all know the so called expatriates are a curse and have always been. Even if they are more Zambians than Western foreigners in the mines,those few earn much more than the Zambians put together ,and those few actually control our natural resource -copper.Look at the copperbelt and Solwezi does it look like these so called investors are interested in creating a better Zambia? No, and it’s not their job(which is to amass wealth on the backs of Zambians)..the only people who have a heart for Zambia are Zambians and until Zambian leaders realise this we will continue being poor despite producing 10% of the worlds copper.

    • You must be joking when you say only Zambians have a heart for Zambians,look at your political leaders they only have a heart how to pocket money from the poor.

    • @maharaji, walasa mune. Go to the only airline in Zambia proflight, it’s full of expatriates who benefit nothing to Zambia. The engineering section of this company is a joke. These guys get a lot of cash but can’t repair an aircraft. It all comes to the same Zambians to rectify. Government please please investigate this company.

    • Stop complaining about expatriates or foreign workers getting more money than Zambians. Why? because of our stupidity, greedy, failure to look outside the box, lack of critical thinking, appointing unqualified individuals to key positions (In Zambia anyone with mere academic qualifications or inadequate experience or experience in a wrong field can be appointed to any key position so long he or she is backed by a political weight). No sensible foreign worker would like to come to Zambia to earn peanuts or have I seen a Zambian working in a foreign country earning peanuts. What will the government do? Nothing. Look, Zambians have failed to run ZESCO, ZAMTEL, ZR, etc , killed Zambia Airways, killed 19/20 of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, killed Chilanga Cement, killed Kapiri Glass…

  2. Lying and deceiving is part of the Christian evangelic tradition, which started with the founder of Christianity, Paul. Every method of trickery is employed to catch the gullible, the poor, and the ignorant. The missionary is a vulture preying on the destitute and the disadvantaged. He is in the service of Satan and his call is evil.

    • not only are you out of topic,your statement is baseless.The next time your want to accuse a man you must make sure you to present at least an iota of proof

    • Lying and deceiving is part of the Christian evangelic tradition, which started with the founder of Christianity, Paul. Every method of trickery is employed to catch the gullible, the poor, and the ignorant. The missionary is a vulture preying on the destitute and the disadvantaged. He is in the service of Satan and his call is evil.

    • I agree with you on this one. Religion is a big business an| cults compete with each others to get the numbers and graduate to Religions of the world, a trademark of soft vulturing, scavenging of the Living and dead alike.

  3. Of course under a failed pf government which is reliant on loans from rich countries they will always be seen as gods no matter how much abuse they give our people. Zambia is a failed state and if you don’t believe me then you are a pf cadre..simple because you head has been brain washed by thinking tribal on everything. You will remain poor

    • And which one is the true religion? Who are the We you are talking about. The topic in question is not about religion. Be relevant and be educated. Whatever your anger is towards the Bible one day you will see the truth.

  4. Zambia needs foreign expertise not only to cover the skills gap but for behavioural change towards graft. As correctly pointed out, graduates from Zambia do far better in countries with strong structures because other countries identify roles based on skill set rather than individuals. We need foreign skills to improve our shoddy workmanship and perhaps someone with an outside perspective of things to point out the filth we live in isn’t such a bad thing.

    • @futureZed,to some extent you have a point ,having been supervised by both local and expatriate bosses the production output is there to quantify. Local is good but unfortunately laissez fait attitude,nepotism and suspect qualifications and the worst of them all, CORRUPTION and BIBERY makes expatriates an essential component in the mining industry. Expatriates on the other hand must improve their integration in host communities rather than cocooning themselves in enclosures like so called golf estates. Corporate Social Responsibility is not enough

    • Just my Opinion…. I think that Expats live ‘very well’ in Zambia compared to the majority of Zambians who unfortunately live below the poverty line. However in order to attract Expertise to Remote Destinations (Trident Project), the package has to include a standard of living that the person is accustomed to along with a Good Salary, Good Education for Children and good Health Care, after all this is available in most parts of the World. In other words, if you dont pay it, they wont come!

      Its not unlike attracting Top Quality Footballers to Play at a Club, they expect to be well paid and to have all the benefits that come with it.

    • Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man (Quotation)

      “…those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy, the most sublime & benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man, endeavored to crush your well earnt, & well deserved fame.” – Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, Washington, March 21, 1811

  5. The general consensus is that expatriates add value to the economy and countries compete to attract skilled migrants or expatriates. There is however a difference between an expatriate in a developing country such as Zambia and one in a relatively developed country like Australia. In developed countries expatriates come on local terms and are attracted by the life-style that comes with living in that environment. However, for an expatriate to be attracted to a developing country like Zambia there must be incentives which will make their move worthwhile. This means that they will enjoy better remuneration than locals and their standard of living will be higher in their host countries which usually have a comparatively low cost of living structure when you consider that they are paid in…

  6. some foreign currency equivalent. This is ok if it is short term to meet a specific skills shortage need and in the process train locals to take-over. The devil however is in the implementation because, as it was the case in the old ZCCM and the predecessor companies (NCCM and RCM), the so called expatriates came with little or pretty ordinary skills which were common among locals, and then they embedded themselves in the system and actively blocked locals from aspiring to positions. So you had expatriates staying for many years draining vital resources and not really adding value equivalent to their status to the company and economy

  7. This disparity is what frustrated many young Zambian graduates who eventually left and were eagerly received as skilled migrants in the developed world where they are excelling. The challenge in this globalised world is to have better systems of compliance and/or make conditions that will attract skilled Zambians and non-Zambians to want to come on local terms.

  8. The point is every country has to ultimately develop its own human resource especially in this age of intelligent labour. I find the term “expat” to have racist intonations, like only western whites can be expats, when in fact they are economic migrants to Africa. There is difference between having foreign labour force that trains your own people as opposed to one that justs milks you of money indefinitely.

  9. Nothing wrong with zambians except greed. When we took over from whites, we gave ourselves four cars each manager. Even toilet tissue was supplied by the mines for our domestic use. We spent less time on production related issues even going to the extent of promoting all secretaries to supt level at the expense of technical and production staff.Most recent example is Chibuluma where a ZAMBIAN General Manager rundown the mine within a year of his appointment.

  10. When we called for equal work equal pay KK complied by bringing the “Expatriate ” to the ZAMBIAN pay scale. But privately the expat was paid the difference direct to the accounts in their country of origin.

    • And KK introduced the pipeline in the moneytransfer and a lot of money was lost due to late transfer,davaluation lost interest etc.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading