By Chimwemwe Mwanza
As an idiom, scratching where it doesn’t itch refers to the act of aggravating an itch that doesn’t exist or worrying about a sore that isn’t just there (ukufwena apashili ichilonda). In this context, it’s akin to repeating a lie hoping it will turn into truth.
There are parallels to draw from this idiom and the raging battle for the soul of the Lower Zambezi National Park which has captivated Zambian courts over the years. And, mining the truth from the rubble of disinformation and court documents filed by protagonists, Mwembeshi Resources and a coalition of business formations (lodge and campsite owners) opposed to construction of a mining plant in the park, has been a pain. The irony of it all is that while Mwembeshi’s application to set up this mine has prevailed in Zambian courts, it’s losing this fight – at least in the court of public opinion.
Thanks in part to questionable research and an uncritical backing from a biased media both local and foreign, the campaign to reinforce a deeply held antipathy towards Mwembeshi has taken effect. And the narrative advanced by business – backed by cash flush Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) has skewed the truth. At best, this status quo illustrates the impact of big money in Zambia’s tourism and wildlife industry. It’s run by a sophisticated but influential cartel that for long has been pillaging wildlife either for auction to game breeders based in neighbouring countries or for sale to high-net-worth trophy hunters.
This easily explains why the anti-mining establishment is succeeding in cementing the impression that a reckless mining firm is at the gates of a renowned Zambian national park, ready to walk in and desecrate a tourism heritage site. But is this true? The answer lurks somewhere in this rubble of information. For the record, this battle has raged from the lower courts all the way to Zambia’s highest court of appeal – with all rulings favouring the mining company. That the proposed mining site is 42km away from the Zambezi River is cold comfort for business owners.
We can argue all we like and write voluminous research papers on this matter but facts are what both the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) and the courts have relied upon for their determination. Curiously, some objections raised by those opposed to mining border on absurdity including a claim that human encroachment would pose a big threat to wildlife – yet they themselves have encroached the very land they claim to be protecting. Another oddity is that most lodges in the park are built on lands that business annexed from locals – whom they banished to the periphery of the valley.
Even their argument that they are the biggest employer of the more than 160,000 inhabitants of the valley is laughable. Majority of people in this area have taken to fishing for a livelihood. A cursory research shows that lodge and campsite owners employed no more than 1,220 people across the valley with menial jobs such as cleaning and waitering topping the list as the highest paying at K700/month (US$38) in some cases. Yet, businesses charge as much as K63,750/night (US$3,541) with the cheapest rates pegged at K2,150/night (US$119) for lodging.
What is day light robbery if this doesn’t qualify for a definition? Hence the perception created by business that they are the true defenders of the sanctity of the park and not the Chikunda, Soli, Tonga, Goba or Swaka speaking tribes who are the ancestral owner of the land is disingenuous. Fact is, the 4092 sq kilometers long, Lower Zambezi Park is a natural habitat for some of Africa’s rarest game making it an easy cash cow for sophisticated wildlife traders. This is largely the motivation for opposing any competing economic interests in the park.
Unmasking an old boys club
To be candid, in no way is this argument meant to support Mwembeshi’s mining project. No matter its mitigating interventions, mining will somewhat impact the ecology of the park. Yet there is nothing more detrimental to any economy than protecting dubious investors that choose to flout simple rules. About 96% of tourism related investors operating in Lower Zambezi have domiciled their businesses abroad. It makes you wonder; do they even pay their taxes? ZRA, go figure.
For tax avoidance, their clients pay accommodation and trophy hunting fees into foreign accounts with little finding its way into the Zambian fiscus. If in denial, the dismal performance of the local tourism industry shines excruciating light on how these so-called investors are robbing the treasury through use of convoluted schemes and other tax loopholes. On last figures obtained from the International Growth Centre (IGC) – which is a policy research center at the London School of Economics (LSE), tourism accounted for a paltry 7% of Zambia’s GDP in 2019.
The industry injected a mere US$1,7m (K30 million) into the economy creating about 469 000 jobs. Does this make sence? Disappointing as these figures are, they however raise a critical question. How is it possible that an industry that is so rich in resources is failing to contribute meaningfully to the national treasury? For answers, look no further than the antics playing out in Lower Zambezi. There might well be several dubious foreign businesses in tourism that have adopted similar tax avoidance practices.
If you care to know, fact is the battle for the soul of the Lower Zambezi National Park has nothing to do with preserving the park’s heritage or ecology but competing economic interests between a very powerful ‘old boys club’ looking to preserve the status quo and a small mining house that simply wants in on spoils of the park.
That said, mining a national park is a very bad idea.
About the Author: Mwanza traversed the Lower Zambezi in December last year – a great experience. He enjoys reading Political History and Philosophy. For feedback, contact: [email protected]
Whichever way you look at it, exploitation is there. If truly the businesses in this area are using sophisticated ways to cheat government, then government must become sophisticated in order to collect its full dues.
If we allow mining, then government must be up to scratch that we don’t lose the God given natural wonders in the Lower Zambezi.
In such matters it’s better to argue with figures on the table. How much does ZRA collect from these lodges? What’s the projected income from the mines? I know that Chief Mphuka has been pushing for this mine to begin operations. Perhaps a public hearing can shed more light. It seems there’s a lot of hidden info. Let’s have public hearings in strategic places so that various stakeholders can defend their positions
Zambia needs to wake up…………
Ban payments into foreign accounts that tourists payinto …………
That is why every Zambian needs to be unflinchingly jealous of any misuse of our resources………….
Zambians should know what foreigners are paying to use our resources , only then will GRZ be well informed
#3 Spaka… very patriotic… how do these people manage to ferry money out of the country? We are indeed sleeping.
The author is right indeed,and it irks me that 97 percent of Game reserves are owned by foreigners, and indeed they pay using visas into foreign accounts, majority are South African and British. Heck, nearly all game guides are white South Africans, Zambians reduced to driving and cleaning.
It’s a sad situation either way. Mwembeshi Resources has one Zambian shareholder, this being Mikalile who owns 5 percent shareholding, the company was registered in Australia and sold to some unknown entities in Saudi Arabia. For all we know, it could be owned by drug dealers, some Presidents, Mulyokela and other such.
To continue exploiting our tourism workers, or to begin exploiting our natural resources in addition to workers?
As Zambians which ever way you look at it we have been done in. Some mining houses on the Copperbelt have not declared any profit for more than 10 years and yet they continue to operate. If mining companies on the Copperbelt have been operating at a loss why should an investor want to start a new copper mine in the lower Zambezi? As for the lodges and Safari camps owned mostly by South Africans their employment of Zambians is nothing to write home about. Zambia will only develop when we Zambians start owning some of these mines and lodges.
Hh is one of the biggest mining cons. He literally sold our mines for nothing
No sense….Didn’t we hear from haters say, HH is a beneficiary in this mining Company ?
1. The best people to run the tourism industry and sell/promote our history, heritages, culture and wildlife are Zambians. We have stories that have been passed through to us by our ancestors that we can tell tourists. But as a nation we have exported that idea to Europeans to do it for us.
If I visit Japan, I would prefer to have a Japanese indigenous person telling me the history of its country, wildlife and culture heritages. I would NOT want a Nigerian born and raised in Lagos to be the tourism anchor in Japan.
2. Fixing the loophole created by Campsite Business Owners or Tourism Cartel is something that the government can easily act on and fix in a short space of time, if they have the will do so. It’s not an impossible task.
However, having the mine in Lower Zambezi is something if left unchecked will create a very long-term environmental damage, which could take 100 years to repair.
The facts of this story is misleading, first the lodges are not private they have leases with national parks and these leases are hundreds of thousands dollars over the lease period, the selling of game price is set by national parks so blame them, as for local employment they are paid the local minimum wage and its up to Labour Dept. to check on this. As for tax foreign works , those permits are issued by immigration so just put in conditions to train locals ect when it comes tax .dodgers its up to ZRA to audit these lodges. On a resent visit i saw mostly black Zambians guiding from these lodges as they drove by me one weekend. Also for the record there several lodges owned by white Zambians and by law they are also Zambians whether you accept that or not. Everything i have mentioned…
Everything i have mentioned can be enforced by Zambian govt departments. as for this mine it has a life of 20 to 40 yrs after that a big hole in the ground and waste piles to be cleaned up. Parks go on forever as does protecting wildlife, plant and local culture as well as stopping drug and alcohol issues. that a mine is famous for.
@Cosmos, that’s one side of the story. The other side is that the mine is located more than 40km from the fauna and that it won’t affect the ecology as is being alleged. I don’t wish to comment from an ignorant point of view. That’s the reason I have proposed a public hearing which I’m sure was done by ZEMA before they granted the mining license. However, if there are still unresolved issues another hearing isn’t a bad idea
From which ever angle you look at this problem, there is no doubting that mining is inherently damaging to soil, streams, flora & fauna – etcetera. To justify mining in this area, it would have to be said that the whole country’s survival depended on this mine. But, with existing mines already productive – with ingenuity, production could be maximised to meet the country’s requirements. We don’t need a new mine. This though, does not “green light” the tourist industry either. The author is spot on regarding Lodge operations. Their businesses are pretty much one man shows; not benefiting many Zambians. They invest little, but collect maximum US$/£, paid directly into their country’s bank accounts. When they have made their money, they leave Zambia even worse off, as they will have…
Cont…
taken out some of the wildlife to pro hunters and even own consumption;….yet, villagers who nurtured the wildlife in those areas, are not allowed to hunt even small deer for their families. What are we like???
# plant a tree please!
Zambians means – or includes < Black People, White People, Jewish People, Indian Asian People, etc. . No one is saying we must exclude White Zambians to run campsites. Its nonsense to suggest that.. !!
A lot of White Zambians who were born and raised here know the history of this country. Some of these white Zambians can speak good Bemba, Nyanja & Lozi ….. Especially those white farmers in Mkushi District and Chipata Town.
This idea of disturbing the ecosystem disturbs me
Is it not true that wherever there is human settlement, there once lived animals ? Even where Lusaka or New York City are built today, there once lived animals, before human being displaced them. Let the mining go ahead; there is a lot of unemployment in this country.
Whether tourism operators in Lower Zambezi are of net benefit to Zambia needs to be sorted out separately from approval of a mine. Why wait till prompted by an unrelated activity to sort this out?
What I don’t see from proponents of mining in Lower Zambezi is data showing that there is an economically viable mine. With data on the table, the next logical step is to weight from an economic standpoint Mining vs Tourism vs Impacts to the environment and benefit to Zambians.
Discussing approval of a mine that can’t be built because exploration data does not show there to be a mine gives an advantage to Mwembeshi Resources because that moves the discussion to mine approval past the point where Mwembeshi need to prove there is a viable mine. That is a crucial step in the process.
When the owners insist there is a mine without a feasibility report, I interpret it to mean they are interested in other activities besides mining.
On 14th March, 2012, Mwembeshi Resources Limited submitted an environmental and social impact assessment report for the proposed Kangaluwi Copper Project to ZEMA, which was rejected for the following reasons:
(a) the tailing storage facilities were going to be located in the Zambezi Escarpment, an area prone to earthquakes, and this would increase the chances of failure of the tailing storage facilities. This failure of the tailing storage facilities would have significant impact extending to neighbouring countries;
(b) the mine would be located about 30 km from Mana Pools, a world heritage site in Zimbabwe. Any possible failure of a tailing storage facility or abnormal discharge of the effluence from this operation would negatively affect the world heritage site. The 30 km may…
On 14th March, 2012, Mwembeshi Resources Limited submitted an environmental and social impact assessment report for the proposed Kangaluwi Copper Project to ZEMA, which was rejected for the following reasons:
(a) the tailing storage facilities were going to be located in the Zambezi Escarpment, an area prone to earthquakes, and this would increase the chances of failure of the tailing storage facilities. This failure of the tailing storage facilities would have significant impact extending to neighbouring countries;
(c) the issue of acid rock drainage and consequently the metal leaching was not addressed by the environmental and social impact assessment reports submitted by Mwembeshi Resources Limited. The environmental and social impact assessment report stated the potential to…
(e) the environment footprint of the mine would increase when the roads and power lines and other associated works related to the mine are constructed. The integrity of the national park would therefore be compromised, and in the long term, the ecological value would be affected; and
(f) the estimate of mine life was not based on verifiable facts as the environmental and social impact assessment report was full of contradictions coming from Mwembeshi Resources Limited itself. The benefit from the mining operation may be for a very short time, but the consequences may be far-reaching.
Over the mine, we are missing a crucial point, in that the fact that we being screwed by lodge owner, then we should turn another cheek to some one else to screw us as well (big time). The problem is NOT the lodge owners or mine owner. those are in business and not into charity and pitying with us. The Porblem is us Zambian, we have failed to organize ourselves and start being dollar billionaires from our resources . as long as we delegate the hardwork (development of the country) to Investors (Foreigners), we continue ripping what we sow , peanuts. Small salaries
The foundation in south Africa will do us BAD
If this mine ever gets going all that is going to happen is the ore will be removed by truck to SA then to Asia for processing, how many jobs are really required in Zambia and how much cash stays in Zambia, at the end we have a hole in the ground , water tables contaminated , the roads to the borders damaged, hundreds of jobs created in Asia for processing the ore and finished goods.
we are missing a crucial point, in that the fact that we being screwed by lodge owner, then we should turn another cheek to some one else to screw us as well (big time). The problem is NOT the lodge owners or mine owner. those are in business and not into charity and pitying with us. The Porblem is us Zambian, we have failed to organize ourselves and start being dollar billionaires from our resources . as long as we delegate the hardwork (development of the country) to Investors (Foreigners), we continue ripping what we sow , peanuts. Small salaries