The Zambia Consolidate Copper Mine Investment Holding (ZCCM-IH) has suspended paying salaries for Maamba Collieries (MCL) employees.
According to the memo from the MCL Human Resource Department addressed to all employees, workers have been told to be patient as management source for money to pay their June and July salaries which they have not been paid so far.
The memo states that ZCCM-IH will no longer be in the position to pay the salaries to MCL employees and has told management to find money to pay them.
When contacted for a comment, ZCCM-IH Acting Chief Executive Officer, William Musama, said Maamba Collieries should explain the reasons why thousands tonnes of coal that has been mined was not being sold.
Mr Musama said he would only issue a comprehensive statement after the board meeting in Lusaka on Wednesday.
A check by ZANIS at the Maamba Collieries plant found heaps of coal that has not been sold.
Workers from the coal mine, who did not want to named, blamed management for their failure to find market for coal that was just heaped at the mine premises.
The workers said management was employing outdated methods of marketing and they needed to find a market immediately production of coal resumed.
The coal miners alleged that management has failed to pay Oriental, the contractor who is mining coal on their behalf, because there was no market for the coal that has been produced.
The workers said the contractor has threatened to pull out if management fails to pay them their money.
They said their families were suffering as a result of management’s failure to pay them their salaries.
“I tell you there is hunger in Maamba Township and there was no money in circulation,” the source said.
The source said the suspension of salaries by ZCCM-IH to MCL workers follows an article in the Post Newspaper that management had awarded themselves hefty salaries even when they were not selling the coal they had produced.
Efforts to get a comment from the Maamba Coallieries Limited Mine Manager, Alex Mutale, failed as there was no response from both his land phone and cell phone, while MCL Managing Director, Stephen Mutambo,was reported to be unwell.
ZANIS
This is calamity!!
Pity goes to the families.
I feel sorry for the workers and their families.Surely the government should intervene as soon as possible to save the lives and dignity of these people.
Hell is not Brimstone and Fire. Hell is Zambia.
Prepare for hard times ahead.
WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE,
Mwanjipaya nafuti.iyo yachine.
That is totally unacceptable for management at Maambo Coal Mine failing to find a market for coal. ZCCM-IH has evry reason and right to withhold paying salaries for staff there. Times for continued handouts is over. If Management has failed to perform then its better and honourable for them to call it quits. It nosense for management for be forced out of the office for non performing. We have cpmapnies coming from Zim, South Africa etc marketing their products and Zambian managers are just seating on their…. When are we going to be proactive. CHANGE YOUR MARKETING STRATEGIES OR ELSE YOU SINK. MANAGERS AT MAAMBA NEVER LEARN SHOULD I SAY THEY ARE TWITS FOR A BETTER TERM.
Can someone please save the lives of the innocent miners and their families.Come on GRZ intervene or you are proved to be uncaring.Your intervention will not only save the lives of the already poor and malnourished miners but will also add a plus to your credibility as GRZ.A solution to the problems of this company seemto be anywhere near,WHY?Were the problems meant to be everlasting?Have the miners committed an unforgivable offence?Whats up concerning the Equity Partner?SLEEP TODAY,SPOIL TOMORROW…………………..
FROM: Buchushi Mabvuto Chipenzi
Before every one blames management, can someone make sense and say that…”the type of coal produced at Maamba is different from that produced in Zimbabwe and Botswana….the buyers are now buying a specific coal, not the type from Maamba.
That was a truly amazing piece of writing!
That was intriguing piece…