Kansanshi Mines PLC, in Solwezi district of the Northwestern Province, has refuted accusations by sections of society in the area that it is mistreating its workers.
But Anti Voter Apathy Project ( AVAP ) Executive Director Bonnie Tembo confirmed the reported abuse of Zambian miners saying in most instances, the unfortunate miners working at the gold section of the mine especially, are abused before knocking off.
Speaking to ZANIS in a telephone interview, today, Mr Msiska said that the reports of workers’ abuse at the country’s biggest mine were untrue.
He said Kansanshi Mine PLC is a renowned international mining company that is determined to maintain international standards of mine operations, one of them being looking after workers’ welfare.
” We are very responsible as Kansanshi Mines. Yes we mine gold. And we are proud to say that we are up to date with paying Tax to the national treasury, but we do not abuse our workers,” Mr Msiska said.
However, Mr Tembo said that it is true that Zambian mine workers at Kansanshi Mine were being abused by management at the Solwezi based mine.
The AVAP Executive Diriector told ZANIS in a walk in interview in Lusaka , today, that he came back from Solwezi where his organisation held a voters exercise meeting.
He said some of the participants during the same meeting had complained that either themselves or their relatives and friends working at the mine were abused by Kansanshi Mine PLC management.
Mr Tembo said local mine workers in the country will continue to expirience labour at the hands of new mine owners as long as government continues detouching itself from owning some of the mines in the country.
Pointing to concerns being expressed by local stakeholders alleging that the mining industry has not benefited ordinary Zambian citizens, Mr Tembo emphasized that as long as there is no government ownership of the mines, ordinary Zambians should not expect to benefit from the current mining activities in the country.
ZANIS
Mine owners are not paying windfall tax but still abuse the workers. The problem is that the ICON OF CORRUPTION,RUPIAH BANDA and LIATO are on the payroll of these mine owners. So they don’t fear anyone and can do as they wish.
We cannot benefit from the mining sector as long as the ICON OF CORRUPTION IS ON THE THRONE.
‘they are abused before knocking off’ means what? searched? what kind of abuse? Lacks details.
Kansanshi has the best conditions for worker. Bonnie Tembo is just aa desperate person! We know he is campaigning for Gay people! Whether u like it or not, yr Sata is loosing! We also no how abusive Bonnie is to his workers. He pays them peanuts! What is he sayn!
CRIMINALS !!!
First it was Lifuka of TIZ on matters outside his area of competence, now it is Bonnie Tembo of AVAP, Anti Voter Apathy Project on matters way outside his area of competence. Is that how Bonnie Tembo gathers his information and makes conclusions, on innuendos and rumours? Did he ask the mine for their side of the story, did he ask the union? Can he specify what sort of abuse he is talking about? And then the same guys want to do PVT?
It is that time of the year, those with noses sensitive to dirty money have smelt it. Only problem is that if we do not check them, they will sell their, sorry I mean OUR, country for a piece of silver.
Gold, uranium, copper etc, and yet!!!! WRF is this??????
what is the connection between AVAP and mining???
What type of abuse is this ? Can u be more factual in your reporting ba LT. One thing I know is that there are extra security measures in terms of body search where Gold and Diamonds are mined. If the workers cannot stand the strenuous search, let them leave. It goes with the territory. If you cant stand the heat, leave the damn kitchen.
HH SATA well said my friend….
ok if they are been abused, what form of abuse are going through? please give us full detail information not this peac and jack infor u are giving us. If you dont have the facts dont write what you dont know okay.
we know these miniing firm like fqml they pretend to be saints of which they are not ,,they are full of hatred,to africans because they consirder them as SLAVE ,NIGERS that is why they treat us like slave .
if we come to condition of services ,we might think that it is a good salaries to Zambians.but in other foreign countries minimum salaries in USD 1,000 .
shame to such criminals who pretend to be saints.
Wait a minute to start with Bonniw Tembo must not speak about abuse when he is a culprit in this. he has not paid his employees since december last year and he doesnt offer his employees any lunch, transport or medical insurance. he pays peanuts to his employees and when he receives the funds for his employees salaries he uses all the money on his many girl friends. Bonnie you have no proffessionalism in you you you go out with your own employee and you raise her salary when she never even comes for work…….. Bonnie dont involve yourself in things that dont concern you because not all your employees are happy with you……..
We were not aware **** quantum criminals was a ‘ renowed  international mining company ‘ !!!…….
Ba tembo you have also joined the politics of the belly.
You are mining gold and the average Zedian is languishing in poverty.And that gold you are now confirming mining you initialy kept as top secret.Your days are numbered.
This Chap Bonnie is just a sucker, he reaps where he never sows. You can fool the illiterates but you can not fool all Zambians.
FQML is an insult for all the Africans !!! and all  the ones who love and respect Africa
They have been doing the same as in Zambia as in DRC with their criminals manners
 Zambian population espect them to be chased out of Zambia and to be punished, of course!!!
We don’t need that type of criminals ‘investors’ coming only to loot Zambia withthe help of some ‘officials who are collaborrating and make their fortune together in a time record !!
The time has changed  now and Africans know everything by internet….
A wise
black man once said, when the whites first came to Africa, we had the land and they had the bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened our eyes, they had the land and we had the bible.
some things need to be clear here
-the abuse need to be defined, if its true, corrective measures shud be taken
-Bonnie Tembo is “confirming” ignorantly
-Bonnie Tembo is a known pf cadre who want to condem anything ignorantly.the next thing you wil hear is,the govt shud stop building a lot of skools
-Bonnie Tembo is knwon for chindaling his female employees,if one refuses,she is fired.he must stat by taming his chindaling desire for his employees
Some good issues highlighted but some peoples coments are a joke!
Mr Tembo that’s not your baby. Whats the connection between voting and workers rights? Don’t be too nosy. You are irrelevant to say the least. These are the people who cook confusion. Mind your business and the mines will mind theirs too. Zambia will always remain behind if we continue having such d.ull so-called leaders who cant draw a line between what they can comment on and what they do not know.
i work here ladies and gentlemen as a loader i have not seen any abuse, apart from those who are lazy to do their jobs, who are told to improve or be replaced, please report the truth, as a matter of fact i am building a fourth a house in new avondale.please ba tembo
Have been with Kansanshi for 3yrs.I dont agree that we are abused.even our salaries are competitive.
As others have said, we need more information on the type of abuse, frequency and the numbers of miners who are abused. Is the abuse physical or mental? If it is physical can we please be shown some photos of the injuries? If it is verbal abuse am sure in this day and age someone can use their mobile phone to record the perpetrator? The story is rather flimsy on details and facts and if anybody is accusing an international company of abuse they need to be able to provide hard facts. Mr Tembo might find he has a court case to answer to because allegations of abuse are extremely serious which no company wants to be associated with.
ZANIS/LT: Please twapapata do not write stories that you have not researched. This story is empty. What type of abuse are you referring to? What’s the connection between gold and abuse? Is there a particular supervisor in the Gold Section who is abusive or is that there are procedure there (like searching etc) that peopel are finding unacceptable? What?
Please don’t waste our time with empty stories. (By the way, I hear the supervisor is a lousy guy ….. but that doesn’t mean anyone has the right to write a story without getting full details and every party’s side of the story.)
Am a miner my self and just resigned from kasanshi mine a month ago to join a mine on the copperbelt. these investors if you ave been to lumwana and kasanshi you will believe me that in some area of the plant they ave built containers as houses or hostels were foregners stay and some ave no wives but engaged zambian ladies to be swepping these rooms.so some characters take advatage by having sex or making these care takers perform sexial romance with them at a fee so dont call this abuse because they agree and are above the teenager age kufwana – even zambians are doing it. sex ni sex bane.
what has been written here. Can someone tell me I do not get the meaning of this?
Mr Tembo, you needed to dig deeper! A chairman of a certain union had his contract terminated because he inclined himself to the PF which First quantum does nt support.they are behind corruptable and manipulatable MMD so they can still all the precious minerals mined at the conmans’ mine.When are we going to wakeup from the long slumber!whoever a whiteman supports is supposedly a puppet.a whiteman can never like a blackman unless he has seen some foolishness in him!i can rest assure u that if Sata imaged winner, these chaps can start offering something resoanable/respect for the owner of land.SA can never condone this sheet!
#27 chewe, miners are disciplined people. You don’t sound employable to me, certainly not as a miner.
So what if miners are abused! What is wrong with abusing miners? Aren’t you the same people who abuse homosexuals and deny them their rights? What right have you to complaign of abuse? I don’t see anything wrong myself, infact maybe the abuse is not enough. You can’t apply double standards, unless you are an id.iot.
# 27 are you a disgunted ex employee? Have you never heard of a term called camps on mine sites? is a form of cheap accommodation for staff who have to fly from different towns or countries and it is cheaper if to reside on site as compared to paying those over inflated accommodation rates in some of those guesthouses and hotels.By law there should be a code of conduct for whoever is housed in a camp which is strictly followed failur to which if broken one loses the job and is removed from camp.
Poor journalism!! Just who is Mr Msiska???? No first name either??