Lusaka Lawyer Dickson Jere has been allegedly making frantic efforts to reverse the deportation of Chief Executive Officer of Zambia’s second biggest emerald mining company, Gemcanton Investments Holdings Eli Neaffusy after he was promised a Board position at the mine.
On Tuesday, a combined team of police and immigration officers deported Mr Neaffusy on Ethiopian Airlines under a deportation order from Ndola.
Gemcanton is jointly owned by two companies: British Virgin Islands-based Frango Finance Ltd. and Wolle Mining Limited and is based in Lufwanyama district.
It was formally known as Grizzly mining company and had been digging emeralds in Zambia since 1997 operated by Zambian of Senegalese origin Abdoulaye Ndiaye, popularly known as Gounasse.
In June, Israeli Billionaire Lev Leviev bought 50 percent stake into the Grizzly and renamed the mine as Gemcanton Investments Holdings.
But Company CEO Eli Neaffusy was this week deported after reports emerged that he was behind the torture and mistreatment of miners by security officers from Gemcanton.
Pictures emerged showing Zambian miners lined up in a single file with both hands tied behind their backs, while others depict the victims submerged in mud while being wiped after they were allegedly caught stealing emeralds.
The pictures enraged the local traditional leadership in the area which Chief Lumpuma of the Chief Nkana petitioning Government to revoke the operating licence for Gemcanton Investment Holdings Limited or revoke the work permit for Mr. Nefussy.
The Human Rights Commission also condemned the torture of the Zambian workers saying the act is contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
HRC spokesperson Mweelwa Muleya said this is against article 15 of the Bill of Rights under the Zambian constitution and that the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT), which Zambia ratified in 1989, prohibits torture.
But Mr Jere who is former State House Spokesman under the Rupiah Banda administration has protested the deported of the CEO and vowed that he would fight to have it reversed.
Sources at the mine say Mr Jere is protecting his interests in the matter after he was appointed Director at the mine.
The sources said Mr. Jere is now peddling allegations that Mr. Neaffusy was deported because he was at the centre of a trading dispute with Patriotic Front-aligned shareholders in the company.
When contacted, Mr Jere confirmed that he is Mr. Neaffusy’s lawyer and he working tirelessly to have his rights protected but could not discuss the Board position at the company.
Mr. Jere said his client told him that his business partner and shareholder reported him as a danger to the country and that his three-year work permit should be cancelled.
He disputed reports that the deported CEO was abusing Zambian workers saying the deported Israeli investor had been working in harmony with the Zambian government in accordance with the foreign investment guidelines, hence he could not understand the hostility from the state.
Other sources at the mine also revealed that Mr Neaffusy had been blocking moves by the other shareholders to hold local emerald auctions.
They said the deported CEO insisted that all the gemstones be auctioned in India and other places around the world.
The sources further disclosed that Mr. Jere is going round accusing senior government officials of being on Gounasse’s payroll and that he heavily financed the PF campaigns hence the deportation.
Just how somebody from senegal came to Zambia and own a mine with less money. How many Zambians have invested this level in Senegal? besides this senegal guy is very corrupt and a criminal who once was leader of the jerabos. Let us be serious guys.
Deport the Senesene .
this reporting is archaic.
Another tayali type, avoids hard work only way of survival is bukandile, they are so many mu pf.
This is what happens when you have a government that doesn’t really know what they’re doing. International organized criminal syndicates flood the country to loot it with impunity. The government does not know how to control the so called investors who come into the country. They accept every guy that shows up and claim he’s an investor. There’s no proper vetting of these people. There’s no comprehensive background check performed on them. Just because someone is wearing a double-breasted suit doesn’t mean he’s genuine. Hardcore criminals wear suits too, speak softly and act convincingly. Secondly, the Zambian labor department need to have clear-cut labor laws to protect the Zambian workers from greedy, uncaring investors. Make sure that any investor who comes into the…
(Continue)… country understands that you’ll not tolerate them breaking labor laws with impunity. Also educate the Zambian workers on their rights in the workplace. Have labor laws posted on walls of every company in the country. If a company disregards labor laws, punish them harshly to make an example out of them. If you don’t do that, you’ll be betraying your own people, who’ll be subjected to slave labor conditions—in their own country. The reason these foreigners mistreat Zambian workers like this is because they see that no one seems to care about them—not even the government. These so called investors know that they would never dare do what they do in Africa in general, and Zambia in particular, in a developed country such as USA. They would quickly and easily face hefty…
(Continued)… fines, imprisonment—or lawsuits by the workers. Thirdly, allowing mineral resources such as gemstones to be mined by anybody, without proper government oversight, is not the way to do business. Foreigners who come into the country are mainly interested in only making themselves rich—at the expense of the hosting country. If you don’t strictly monitor their activities , they’ll be doing all kinds of shady deals, including avoiding paying taxes. Please get tough on these people. The poor Zambian workers are counting on you for protection from mistreatment. Don’t fail them.
This came as a school teacher, but started buying emeralds from Zambians called go comes. Due to his discipline he became successful enough to start his own mine. Many Zambians have failed either to lack of discipline or lack of capital or both of them.
@juliet perth
YOU ARE A LIAR
GOUNASSE IS A HARD WORKING MAN WHO TOOK OVER A MINE WHICH A ZAMBIAN COOPERATIVE HAD FAILED TO RUN FOR MANY YEARS. THIS COOPERATIVE USED TO BORROW MONEY FROM HIM BUT FAILED TO REPAY UNTIL THE LATE JUDGE LEWANIKA AWARDED PART OF THE MINE TO GOUNASSE.
THROUGH HIS DISCIPLINE AND BUSINESS SKILLS HE EXPANDED HIS OPERATIONS TO THE WORLD-. FAMOUS GRIZZLY MINE WHILE MOST OF US ZAMBIANS WERE BUSY DRINKING.
I BET YOU IF HIS MINE HAD BEEN GIVEN TO ZAMBIANS THEY WOULD HAVE RUN IT DOWN LIKE WE ALMOST DID AT KAGEM.
It’s hard to find any credible news in Zambia media’s.
On one side you have mastonline…watchdog..zameye then the opposite end you have LT….dailynation …times and daily mail all reporting opposing stories….
Facts remain …..if Zambia workers were mistreated that is wrong ( where are the photos)……if someone was opposing local emerald auctions that is wrong (than again PF have only held a local auction when sata was alive)
And that Senegalese sold half the mine , was ZRA aware or was that the deal lungu and his cabinet went to Israel for ?
On the other hand Gunasse is involved in state capture.. .
You see Spaka, we have now reached a stage in Zambia where we now have leftists media and rightists media such that the leftists ones will always be anti-government and therefore their reporting will always be full of venom so that weak minded readers start cursing government all the way to the polling booth. Clearly, leftists media are sponsored by renegade parties and here in Zambia this includes thieving cartels. So people are safer reading rightists news as opposed to the venom from the Mast, ZWD, Eye, etc.
Is it in order for Abdoulaye Ndiaye to have his Jewish partner in Gercanton deported. Why didn’t he go through the courts to resolve his concerns. Let’s hope he has not assumed the status of the Gupta’s of capturing the state. We need honest investors, not the MAFIA, don’t dent Zambia’s image.
Gunasse has been here since the Kaunda days that’s why he’s even been given citizenship. He’s not new and for your information he’s opening a new mine in Misakashi. The man is just good at doing business.
Many things in zambia are wrong. Government operations are poor and foreigners are so free to buy, sell and mistreat Zambians. On the other hand, if the government try to bring sanity, the same local people will rise against the government. It’s a terrible situation. Dog eat dogs.
I feel bad when I go home and see how much freedom the foreigners enjoy in zambia. We who are living in foreign countries know our limited freedom in these countries we are living in but in zambia foreigners are much more respected than local people. Police are ready in zambia to beat a local man in favor of a foreigner. Even Bushiri the prophet from Malawi has a mine in zambia. The point is, most Zambians are willing to work for someone else and not to be employers themselves.
Facts!
You are spot on, DJ7. Even when you go to the Geological Survey Cadastre Unit, so many young Zambians have small scale gemstone licenses but they never grow. The minute they make money, it’s the 4 x 4’s first, girlfriends and bling bling. Did you know there are several equipment suppliers willing to give machinery to businessmen on credit?? It’s the foreigners who take advantage of such facilities, not Zambians. About 2011, government banned the export of scarp metal with the view to encourage locals to set up small furnaces to process locally and encourage manufacturing?? Today, Zambians are in the forefront of illegally exporting scrap while foreigners are the ones that set up furnaces and manufacturing bases-Universal Mining, Chisteel, Zalco cables, Neelkanth cables, Goodtime steel…
….THE WORKER (SLAVE) ATTITUDE NEEDS TO BE BROKEN.
SO MANY MAFIAS…. JERE IS PART OF THEM…
he is a lawyer of course, all lawyers are crooks
Why can’t the government own part of this mine instead of living it to Senegalese and Israelites to be mistreating the people of Lufwanyama? This gunase thug is a criminal devoid of any human sympathy. Why should we allow our people to be mistreated in this manner? PF thug are at it again. Someone at state house has their hands oiled by these criminals masquerading as investors.
Because the Upper Mambas all get paid big amount of moneys outside Zambia… therefore they keep mouth and eyes closed.They are the real criminals.
NO, why can’t you, I wonder, put you resources together there in Europe, organise financing options available there, and come and invest in a gemstone mine back home instead of blaming the government????
@BAMWINE
GOUNASSE IS A HARD WORKING MAN WHO TOOK OVER A MINE WHICH A ZAMBIAN COOPERATIVE HAD FAILED TO RUN FOR MANY YEARS. THIS COOPERATIVE USED TO BORROW MONEY FROM HIM BUT FAILED TO REPAY UNTIL THE LATE JUDGE LEWANIKA AWARDED PART OF THE MINE TO GOUNASSE.
THROUGH HIS DISCIPLINE AND BUSINESS SKILLS HE EXPANDED HIS OPERATIONS TO THE WORLD-. FAMOUS GRIZZLY MINE WHILE MOST OF US ZAMBIANS WERE BUSY DRINKING AND WOMANISING.
I BET YOU IF HIS MINE IS GIVEN TO ZAMBIANS THEY WILL RUN IT DOWN LIKE WE ALMOST DID AT KAGEM.
i liked this boy Dickson when he worked with RB before we knew that RB is corrupt; he was better than Sunday Chanda; but i hate mistreatment of workers; but i don’t believe this Sene is a Zambian; maybe Zambian for business sake; I don’t trust Sene’s; the first letter seems to be written a relative of the Sene; Jere is a Zambian and is free to be a director and to fight for the deported Jew if the deportation is suspicious; hope Jere is not corrupt; But the Senes are corrupt with their corrupt PF;
Chikamba iwe Jere never worked with RB. Jere was Chiluba’s boy. UPND no nzelu.
One day, these precious stones will be no more. What will Zambian citizenry have benefited? We are still dull allowing everything to be managed by selfish individuals most of whom are foreigners.
Zambian leader lack leadership enough to emancipate mother Zambia. Poor Zambia is compelled to breast feed foreigners while her children are suffering from malnutrition.
Dont blame foreigners,blame your own people.
LT, what’s wrong with my comment that you want to moderate it?
The PF thugs at it again , attempting another lapgreen in conivence with a senesene thug….this time I think the PF thugs are messing with the wrong people, dem Israelis…….it just goes to show how much the PF theives are will to sell the country , they would rather be bribed by a Senegalese thug then have good relations with the Israelis for the benefit of Zambia.
We hope and pray the Israelis use their influence in the west to show what a corrupt gang of shameless theives lungu leads ruling over Zambia.. …
Don’t get suprised if the decision is reversed pronto when pf realise the magnitude of their stupid.dity…..dont underestimate the influence Israel has over the west….
…you don’t know half of the story, spaka. While the mistreatment of workers is true, even the area chief complained of that, you should put into context that Jere is representing the guy who was chosen by the other shareholders to be CEO. In the dailies from yesterday, there is a version that says Nefussy uncovered a lot of questionable accounting practices, irregular expenditure to up to $21m, and was objecting to selling emeralds on the black market opting to use the legal method of auctions which is transparent and allows ZRA and other authorities to monitor output and revenue. I would advise you to desist from blaming the PF and wait for an official statement…
Citizen
How do you bundle someone stright to the airport with out giving a fair hearing ?? Only dollar Hungry corrupt thugs in power would fo that ??
It is actually, Gounasse, Rupiah Banda, Joe Malanji and PF leadership who are behind this scheme of lying and vilifying Nefussy, there is nothing they are telling the nation here. Truth shall be known and will set all Zambians free.
Gounasse is a very bad man. He made his wife suffer and has anyone who differs with him deported. The deportation of someone who is doing good for Zsambianjs does not help the image of attracting investors to Zambia. He himself has never paid taxes, he should be deported. But of course he cannot be deported coz he has captured the state. Like Rajan Mahtani who crooked Norodom very evil men
“….had been digging emeralds in Zambia ” Yaba! kuli Chizungu
Jews can not be trusted, it is good he was deported. first thing pf have done right.
It’s not about Jews here – it’s about Gaunasse the criminal : that hideous senesene : please do justice and let justice be the ruler of our lives : Do away with Gaunasse once and for all !
Dickson, you people you always want to have your sticky fingers in the cookie jar.
He says that the only person he fears is HH coz he “HH ” has never asked for any type of funding from this international crook . The rest he says are his boys – I won’t mention names here but many in past and present one have seen his face several times for kickbacks . Please lawyer , come or make contact with some of us , will tell u more . Bring back that son of Jacob …. it’s not fair for Zambia ?? ,,,,,,,imagine this criminal ?