By Patson Chilemba
Former Finance minister Ng’andu Magande says Finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane must be asked why Vedanta stopped following the development agreement which was assented to in 2005 when he (Magande) and late president Mwanawasa were in office.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Magande said Vedanta stopped abiding by the agreement the moment he and president Mwanawasa left the scene and were replaced by former president Rupiah Banda and Dr Musokotwane as his Finance minister.
Magande said after president Mwanawasa died and after he was removed by Mwanawasa’s successor, Banda, as finance minister, “somebody we suspect went to the companies now and said do whatever you want to make money but out of that you give me also my little bit of my share.”
“Now Vedanta stopped what they were doing. They stopped even looking after these roads. They even stopped now being in a hurry to finish Konkola Deep. That is where things fell apart. And people don’t want to know,” he said.
Magande said going by what Vedanta was doing before he left office, his understanding was that they have done a lot for the country, saying they came to Zambia when ZCCM did not have money to sink the Konkola Deep and they put up a refinery when the country was experiencing leakages on account of not knowing how much copper was being exported.
He said the development agreement also obligated Vedanta to make sure that women’s clubs were developed in the compounds for miners wives, but that at some point “the supervisor (government) stopped supervising because of something that must have happened.”
Magande said Vendanta has indicated publicly that if they were allowed to come back they have $1.5 million to go into social responsibility projects, and that they have also money to complete Konkola Deep.
“They have already sunk the 700 meters tunnel going down. What is left now are the tunnels where you have to go to the seams of the copper ore for them to be bringing the copper. They have said we will complete Konkola Deep,” Magande said. “The question you should be asking is, if from 2005 when Mwanawasa signed the agreement with Vedanta up to 2009 after Mwanawasa had left, Vedanta were following the development agreement. Why did they stop after 2008 when Mwanawasa and Magande disappeared? Some of the people who are alive now should answer that question. Yes! Why did they stop?”
Magande added that Vedanta did not only take over the mines at Nchanga, but also in Chililabombwe and Nampundwe and that all the mines were working well, but were now closed.
“If you want to bring somebody else, Vedanta are saying tell us what didn’t we do? What I suspect is the day that the government is going to call Vedanta at a negotiating table…if someone will ask them to say why did you stop doing this? That was part of the statement which was issued in parliament by somebody very senior to say ‘don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg,’” Magande said, referring to former president Banda’s statement to parliament in 2009. “If you read in my book I have said ‘this goose was laying eggs but the people who were supposed to trek those golden eggs didn’t see the eggs.’”
On arguments that the mining companies like KCM and Mopani must be given to Zambians to run them, Magande wondered who would even give up those mines on a free, saying KCM was on the stock exchange as it is owned by Vedanta, ZCCM-IH and some private people.
“Yesterday I think it was one of these pastors saying we want now 75 percent. Let them raise the money and pay. Where will they get the money to pay for those shares? Who will sit at a meeting at Intercontinental and say I have given you 50 percent of KCM? For what? Free?” He argued.
He said for now, the country must just re-engage Vedanta and just demand that they follow the development agreement to the latter.
“All these things that you see which are not being done, because nobody supervises,” Magande said.
He said even former president Edgar Lungu tried to get the country on a cleaning drive after visiting Rwanda, but the whole thing fell up after only a few weeks and Lusaka was now back to its old dirty self again because of lack of supervision.
Magande said there was a tendency by some government officials to seek self aggrandisement from national issues, saying that was why he was insisting to know why Vedanta stopped following the development agreement.
Put to him that the person who replaced him as minister then was Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane and also happens to be the Finance minister this time around, Magande said: “So why don’t you ask him? He’s still alive. Why don’t you ask him? I would love you to ask him and I want you to tell me what answer he gives.”
But put to him that Dr Musokotwane unfortunately does not take calls, Magande said “there is nothing I can do about that. It’s personality characteristics. If some people don’t want to talk to you, what do you do? Why can’t he talk to you? Complain to his supervisor. Say your servant is not taking our calls.”
Asked if he thought the country would continue on the same path with Vedanta given that Dr Musokotwane was Finance minister then and now, Magande said he would not answer the question.
“We are already getting to August. What has been done? When you ask a person, some of us when we ask we are told this matter is in court, it’s not for discussion. So how do we help? So it seems the matter will wait until January 2023, that’s when the arbitrator will call the first meeting. But arbitration sometimes even takes years so we don’t know whether this arbitration is going to take another 10 years. We don’t know,” said Magande. “The point is ask those who want to go to arbitration, what is it they did wrong?”
Providing some background to the development agreement the government signed with Vedanta when he was Finance minister, Magande said as part of the development agreement and part of their social responsibility, they were to compete Konkola Deep, and put up a huge refinery beyond their own requirements, saying the idea was to make it difficult for anybody to export copper ore.
He said the government wanted every ounce of copper to be refined within to know how much copper was leaving the country and the other trace elements of gold and uranium which were extracted.
Magande said when Vedanta came, they put up the refinery and since they did not have enough ore at their mines, government then suggested that while they were still negotiating with other mining houses in the country, they were also exploring the Congolese market so that that country could export the ore to Zambia and that KCM would buy it for its refinery.
He said to encourage that, the government removed import duty on copper ore so that those with copper around the world could bring it for refining here in Zambia, and that the Congolese agreed.
Magande said with time, Vedanta suggested that there were huge deposits such as the black mountains which could be used as refinery material, which coincided with the Congolese also coming up with their own refinery, with government at that time increasing the export duty on concentrates.
He said with local mining companies taking their ores for refining to Vedanta, there was an increase in local traffic, which also provided employment to the masses in form of transportation and other ventures.
