Mopani Copper Mine, Copperbelt Energy Corporation -CEC- and ZESCO are locked in a technical meeting to resolve the revised Electricity tariff standoff.
This follows the meeting held by Ministers of Finance Felix Mutati, Mines Christopher Yaluma and Energy David Mabumba with the three parties in Lusaka yesterday.
The Technical teams from Mopani, CEC and ZESCO are later in the day expected to brief government on the outcome of the meeting.
Officials from both Mopani and the Copperbelt Energy Corporation have confirmed this to ZNBC News in Kitwe.
The meeting follows President Edgar Lungu’s directive to the Ministers to meet CEC and Mopani Management over the revised electricity tariffs.
Yesterday Mopani Copper Mine deactivated mine access cards for more than 300 miners working for contractors and suppliers on the Copperbelt.
Meanwhile the matter in which Mopani is asking the Kitwe high court to cite CEC managing director Owen Silavwe and operations manager Christopher Nthala for contempt comes up in the Kabwe High Court tomorrow.
According to an application filed by Mopani Company Secretary Goodwell Mateyo, CEC has ignored a court order directing it to allow the Mine draw electricity of up to 2-hundred and 50 megawatts monthly from the various interconnections necessary for its operations.
This doesnt matter to me
I hope they resolve it
Keep HH in Jail as it is for me
Thanks
BB2014,2016
My dear Mushota…………..wake up its early morning now……HH was released a long time ago…….WAKE UP WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!
LET US EXAMINE THE ARRANGEMENT WHEREBY ZESCO SELLS POWER TO CEC WHICH IN TURN SELLS TO THE MINES. FOR WHOSE BENEFIT IS THIS SYSTEM.
CUT OUT CEC AND POWER WILL BE CHEAPER AND ZAMBIA AT LARGE WILL BENEFIT FROM LOWER TARRIFS FROM ZESCO
I am tired of …. after a directive from the President for the Ministers to meet both parties…. this is nonsense these Ministers cannot initiate such critical engagements really without the Presido involvement? Small wonder Sata used to say he has useless ministers
This is what happens when you leave all key sectors to private entities. Mopani is not to blame but GRZ for not engaging the company on time. Any company’s main goal is to make profits.
God bless Zambia.
Mopani must go to where they came from! A new company that can take over the rich mines in Kitwe must be sourced! They have stolen enough from Zambia and continuously refuse to pay dues.
Not the Chinese or Indians please. They don’t pay their workers well, get all their supplies from China or India therefore no benefits for the local suppliers, and they pollute the environment like there is no tomorrow. End of the day, no investor will help us, we have to help ourselves.
Glen Core are equally adding no value they have just reaped where they did not sow. Now they don’t want to pay electricity tariffs that even other mines and the common man is paying, and they are not above using poor miners as a bargaining chip. I hate this company. I wonder if they meet their tax obligations or even pay their workers a living wage. Let them go.
This is what happens when you have corrupt Politicians who are not transparent with their dealings…I hate to say this but I think Mopani have a leg to stand on this matter irrespective if they make money or not..you should see what was in some of those developmental agreements signed 20 years ago clauses like keeping tarrifs the same. ..what is Felix the Accountant doing in that meeting? He is simply there to offer tax breaks as usual…
I BET IF WE HAD JAY JAY AT THE HELM HE WOULD BE HAVING A NUMBERED SWISS BANK ACCOUNT BY NOW.
JAY JAY REMINDS ME OF ALL THOSE STUDENT UNION LEADERS WHO BARK A LOT BUT WHEN THEY ARE IN THE RAL WORD TURN TO BE LACKEYS OF THE VERY SYSTEMS THEY USED TO CONDEMN.
@REAL ANALYST – I bet you..you have never met an honest person in your life!!
@4 Jay Jay, I totally agree with you! Ever since Mwanawasa questioned the logic of keeping the development agreements in place after copper prices went up beyond the projected average for which Investors had based their profitability and introduced windfall tax, Mines have been arm twisting government on many fronts at any turn of events in the mining industry! When prices drop a bit they never refer to times of high prices when they made abnormal profits but proceed to cut work force and demand tax reliefs! I DON’T HAVE FAITH IN THESE MINISTERS NEGOTIATING IN GOOD FAITH, after many a crisis, things still work for the Mines and THEN AFTER WE START HEARING OF MINISTER SO AND SO..(and their proxies) HAVE XYZ CONTRACT WITH MINE … THESE CRISES TO THEM ARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR BRIBES!!
@bwafyaa – Those minsters you see on that list are incapable of negotiating with savvy corporate types and they know it. they have a contract in one hand and an axe waiting to dropped on those jobs …all the govt will do will be kicking the can down the road as they have done in the past. They will hope to kick past 2021 and throw in some tax parachutes!!
@ NOT ROCKET SCIENCE U MUST BE VERY DULL AND USELESS AT WHATEVER YOU DO.
I SAY THIS BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN TEACHING THE ROLE THAT CEC PLAYS IN THIS WHOLE ARRANGEMENT.
REMOVING CEC FROM THE EQUATION AND IF ZESCO SELLS POWER DIRECTLY TO THE MINE ELECTRICITY WILL NOT IN ANY WAY MAKE THE COST OF ELECTRICITY CHEAP FOR YOU AND ME, IF CEC AS A MIDDLEMAN INCREASES THE COST OF ELECTRICITY WHY DO WE PAY THE SAME RESIDENTIAL TARRIFS IN URBAN AREAS COUNTRYWIDE WHEN CEC IS BASED ON THE COPPERBELT THINK MWANA!!
you are the Zambians with the “Pull Him Down syndrome” who would rather Mopani a foreign company steals your wealth than Cec a purely Zambian owned company, be proud of your hardworking Zambian brothers who have invested heavily in a business from which you indirectly benefit from the taxes paid…
Electric Guy, you fully right! CEC has very little margin whence the ZESCO and CEC tariffs being literally the same. I’m glad there is a private Zambian entity in between, had it been a matter between ZESCO and Mopani, the parastatals would already have succumbed to blackmail by now. Go CEC go, if Mopani doesn’t blink the govt must nationalize them pronto! Baanya ba mambala, do they think “ni energy ya anyoko ka?”
So you want Mopani to ignore agreement? The politicians are not telling you the whole story…you try to nationalise you will see what will happen do not you know that ..they borrow money from the same markets you borrow..you just try really laughable
Even if Zambia had South Africa’s gold,Angola or Botswana’s diamonds and Saudi Arabia’s oil it would still be poor. Even if all of the DRC’s mineral deposits were instead in Zambia, Zambia would still be poor. Even if 90% of all Zambian citizens had PHDs, Zambia would still be POOR. This,ladies and gentlemen, is irrefutable.
Because you dont like reading contracts!!