By Jane Chanda
The TONSE Alliance has condemned the police brutality at Kikonge Gold Mine in Mufumbwe District, North-Western Province, that resulted in the loss of lives.
In a statement, Alliance spokesperson, Sean Tembo expressed deep sadness over the unnecessary loss of lives due to police brutality at Kikonge Gold Mine stating that the exact number of fatalities was irrelevant, as even a single life lost to police brutality was one too many, whether the government claimed three deaths or some private media reported 18.
He wondered why the government did not simply issue eviction notices to the miners for them to vacate the premises within a specified period of time, instead of sending police to ambush them, bringing about unnecessary bloodshed and loss of lives.
Tembo stated that if the UPND government respected human lives, then the use of force should have been the last resort and not the first option.
“As TONSE ALLIANCE, we further wonder why the UPND government has been unwilling to issue artisanal mining licenses to these youths so as to allow them to regularize their mining activities, instead of gleefully referring to them as illegal miners,” he stated.
Tembo stated that it was evident that these youths were Zambian citizens who were not lazy, but were able and willing to work hard by engaging in mining activities.
“So why can’t the government empower these youths by issuing them with artisanal mining licenses so that they can undertake their activities within the confines of the law?” he asked.
He noted that the youths were battling with high levels of unemployment.
“It is evident that our youths, both those who went to school and those who did not, are battling with high levels of unemployment. There are no jobs on the market. This has forced many youths to engage in criminal activities,” Tembo stated.
He stated that instead of engaging in criminal activities and robbing innocent citizens, the youths who went to Mufumbwe decided to work hard for themselves by engaging in small-scale mining.
“By all means, this was a noble undertaking,” Tembo stated.
“However, instead of their government empowering them with artisanal mining licenses and training, their government instead sent armed police officers to shoot them dead. The question is why?”
He further advised the UPND government to learn from their counterparts in Zimbabwe with regard to the handling of artisanal mining.
He stated that in Zimbabwe, individual artisanal miners were empowered with licenses and safety training, which had turned them into the biggest contributors to the local diamond mining industry.
Tembo stated that in Zambia, the Department of Mines had a long list of outstanding applications for artisanal mining licenses, and yet citizens were harassed and even killed by the police for engaging in artisanal mining without licenses.
He further stated that the alliance believed that President Hakainde Hichilema and his government should change their attitude towards artisanal miners and that instead of criminalising them and sending police to brutalize them and shoot them dead, the government should instead empower these youths by issuing them with artisanal mining licenses, so that they can operate within the law.
“Once these youths have been licensed, they should then be subjected to safety training so that the many small-scale mining accidents that have been rampant of late can be avoided,” stated Tembo “No president can build a nation by deploying force where wisdom is required.”
