Mine unions caution state to scrutinise foreign investors

GOVERNMENT must seriously scrutinise investors seeking to invest in Mopani and Konkola Copper Mines so that we do not find ourselves in problems,’’ mine workers unions have said.

The Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) and the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) have said the mining sector in Zambia needs investors that will heal the wounds of miners and make them forget about the challenges and sufferings they had gone through in the past.

MUZ General Secretary George Mumba and NUMAW President Saul Simujika said Zambian miners have gone through a lot at the hands of exploitative investors and so it was time those seeking to invest in the sector were properly scrutinised to find out if they were genuine and had good plans for miners and the nation.

The two mine union leaders were reacting to South Africa’s Sibanye Stillwater which had expressed interest in Zambia’s MCM, the mine and smelter complex. MCM was looking for a new investor after Glencore sold the asset to State mining investment company, ZCCM-IH in January last year.

Sibanye Stillwater Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Neal Froneman said his company had registered interest around a year ago and that it remained

interested.

But in an interview in Kitwe yesterday, Mr Simujika said those seeking to invest in MCM and KCM in particular and the mining sector in general must be scrutinised and be informed of what was expected of them once they make their decision to invest in Zambia.

And Mr Mumba said investors in MCM and KCM were welcome at the earliest possible time, but those investors must be seriously scrutinised even before so that the mining sector in particular and the nation in general do not experience problems which the same investor had caused where it came from.

Mr Mumba said the vigorous target of attaining at least three million metric tonnes of Copper per year as targeted by the government will only be attained if the two giant mining companies get back to their normal capacity production.