ZAMBIAN GOLD - WE SHOULD AVOID THE MISTAKES WE MADE ON COPPER MINING black
THE signing of an agreement between ZCCM-IH and a Sudanese company to process gold ore mined in Zambia by different holders of gold prospecting licences has raised eyebrows in the country and many stakeholders have made their divergent views known on the issues.
Those that made their views known on the matter included the the United Party for National Development (UPND). The party wrote a very lengthy letter which it will not be possible to quote in the column for lack of space.
The UPND among other issues felt that our government should not deal with a Sudanese company because that country sponsors terrorism and is on the US government
list. It also complained that one of the shareholders from Sudan was a minister who was politically exposed.
The following are some of the comments which people made after the publication of the UPND letter on social media.
“I only hope this is a fake document because UPND should not be seen to be fighting so-called international terrorism on behalf of the USA. As a sovereign country must we seek approval from the USA on who we should do business with? Furthermore, the demands for sordid disclosures in the gold project arrangements is not on by megalomaniac political hotheads behaving like equal shareholders or partners in the governance of the State.
It is clear that if this puppet party assumed governance it would surrender our sovereignty power back to the imperialists,” were the comments of a retired Lusaka journalist.
A retired director of a statutory institution felt that both GRZ and ZCCM-IH were wrong to sign an agreement with a Sudanese company.
“On this one, I am of the view that both GRZ via the Ministry of Mines and ZCCM-IH have fumbled considerably, the end result being Saturday that even the letter 25 April, 2020 from UPND makes good and intelligent sense, regardless,” he said
One economist thinks that economic nationalism is not the answer to our problems and points to the fact that UNIP tried to develop a business class in Zambia and set up companies like Development Bank of Zambia, Lima Bank, FINDECO and so on to assist Zambians, but we still failed.
“Economic nationalism is not enough. Then finally the complainants and fence sitters. For me the gold mining issue is not about the Sudanese. It is about us, Zambians. Very good at complaining and writing long articles and condemning the government pillar to post.
“What about some action? How can someone be condemning the acquisition by a foreign company of two gold mines when the mines have been actively advertised since 2010? If you are so keen on gold mining why didn’t you buy those mines?
“The number of deals available is quite large. But we love property investment in Zambia. Nowadays the suburbs of any city in Zambia are full of empty blocks of flats. Even little strip malls with only one occupied.
As for waiting for Bally (HH) to fix it, I have a question. We are told Bally is a multimillionaire many times over. Why has he not setup an investment fund to help budding entrepreneurs?
“With his much vaunted and much advertised connections I am sure he can put together such a fund. Does he have to wait to be President?
Let us debate the merits and demerits of government involvement in running or owning commercial businesses in Zambia and in the world at large. Has this model succeeded at all?”
It’s a wonderful debate and we would fill pages with comments on the gold issue. In my view, it is the usual story of people shooting from the hip. Hammer the government and cause despondency at every opportunity.
The agreement between ZCCM-IH and Karma is not a mining agreement after all; it is a processing agreement. The joint venture will process gold for many licence holders in Rufunsa and Mumbwa. The small-scale miners in gold will benefit by getting better value for their money.
And as ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Officer Mabvuto Chipata explained on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview programme, there are over 60 sites with gold prospects in the country and all other players, local and international are welcome to participate. The agreement people are attacking does not stop other interested investors to participate in the sector.
I would like to remind Zambians that the gold we are talking about has always been there. What was lacking was government policy to ensure that Zambians get maximum benefits from the precious metal; this is what the Patriotic Front Government is trying to do. Wholesale condemnation therefore is not fair.
Such policies should have been put in place by those who presided or participated in the privatisation of the economy in the last century and the first decade of the Twenty First Century. But instead they rushed to reap where they did not sow.
As a result, we are still grappling with flawed sale agreements. We are losing out on copper and we should not make the same mistake on gold.
Yours truly,