Zambia recorded a total of 11 fatalities from mine accidents in 2021, 10 of which were at Chinese-owned mines whose safety conditions for workers continues to worry stakeholders including mine-worker unions.
And the Mineworkers Union of Zambia-MUZ-has announced that, its company Shimaini investment, is prospecting on starting its own mine in Zambia in one among northwestern, central and Luapula provinces in addition to its MUZ milling, transport business and Mindola dam, all of which created 500 jobs over the past five years.
Speaking in Kitwe yesterday during the MUZ Supreme Council meeting, MUZ President Joseph Chewe also disclosed that its assessment of Labour in Zambia’s major mines over the past 3 years shows that direct jobs reduced by 40 percent with lost investors opting to outsource Labour using contractors.
Mr. Chewe also disclosed that the union is currently engaging jerbos otherwise known as small scale miners to formalize their work conditions, social security and get them union representation that will see enhanced safety for them during mining operations.
The union has also lamented the impact of Covid 19 on the mining sector last year despite no single mine shutting down its operations and further, the negative impact the removal of subsidies on fuel and the impending hike on electricity prices will have on miners households and on the collective bargaining process for improved conditions of service.
That sort of mirrors levels in China. It is not rocket science. If you do not enforce your own standards your investors will come to your country equipped with their practices and bare minimums. Ni zanu izo.
Zambian should have realised from a long time ago that the Chinese are exploiters and do not about African’s. The past government sold their souls to them and they became the new colonisers of Zambia.
There are so many video’s on the internet showing this. Video’s by “Wode Maya” shows this very clearly.
Wake up Zambia, wake Africa, these people do not care about you. Exploiters usually don’t.
Are those not informal miners in the picture or is this how Zambian mines are?
MUZ cannot be a union and then start a mine and start employing the same miners in its union. That is a direct conflict of interest and is silly at best. Decide if you want to be a union representing workers interest or you want to be a mine operator at which point you cease to be a workers union. No Chinese mine should operate in Zambia. They care nothing about employee safety and the record speaks for itself
These look like illegal gold miners naimwe. Even just capturing a proper pic nima proplem? Ok, how are you going to brand yourselves as a mine? You are a union.
That’s because 90% of the mines are Chinese owned so obviously the likehood of most accidents happening in a Chinese owned mine are pretty high.
@Sel show me one so-called investor who comes to Zambia or Africa who isnt an exploiter. Some of the exploiters we are so familiar with them we see them as part of us. We admire them. We are a brainwashed population. All Zambians admire everything about the British because we spend 12 years of schooling learning about them. The answer is in EMPOWERING OURSELVES