By Isaac Zulu
Kamfinsa member of parliament Christopher Kang’ombe has said that the UPND government is trivialising issues surrounding operational challenges at Konkola Copper Mines and Mopani Copper Mines.
Speaking in an interview, Kang’ombe charged that the UPND administration lacks the ability and courage to make decisions on how they should run mining companies.
He said that Finance Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane and Mines and Minerals Development Minister Paul Kabuswe have been issuing contradictory statements on how to proceed with the running of KCM and Mopani Copper Mines.
“They are not being decisive. In leadership you need to be decisive. Today you will hear the Finance Minister say this and the other day the Mines and Minerals Development Minister would says something else. They are not sure about which direction they want to take,” Kang’ombe said. “In my view the UPND administration lacks the ability and courage to make decisions on how they want to proceed with the running of KCM and Mopani Copper Mines. And I am speaking passionately about this particular issue because I once worked at Mopani Copper Mines. That mining company provides 6,000 direct jobs and 9,000 indirect jobs, if it is fully operational. But currently Mopani has no money to even pay contractors and suppliers. And for me the new dawn government is trivialising the issues surrounding operational challenges facing KCM and Mopani. And that is why when the motion to recapitalise Mopani was brought before the House the member of parliament for Kansanshi was shocked that the debaters from the ruling party were trivialising things.”
He insisted that Mopani Copper Mines needs recapitalization to avert the possible shut down of the mining company.
Kang’ombe explained that recapitalization takes many forms and the UPND government has options to choose from.
“Mopani has no funds for operations. When we asked management at Mopani Copper Mines how much they would need. They told us that they need $300 million. And that is why we are calling for is recapitalization, which has different forms. You can ask for an equity partner to buy shares or you can offload shares so that even citizens get some shares in mining companies,” Kang’ombe said. “They can come to Parliament using the provisions of Article 210 and ask if, as parliamentarians, we can support the offloading of shares, provided such a decision will bring money into the mine and better the lives of our people on the Copperbelt. But they are not doing that. They have been in government for one year four months and all they keep telling us is that they are still consulting. For how long are they going to be consulting? I thought by now they should have made a decision on this particular issue.”
He said that the $15 million that KCM acquired from ECO Bank is not sufficient to revitalise operations at the mining company.
Kang’ombe said that government cannot fail to source for the $300 million required for the recapitalization of Mopani Copper Mines.
“Are you sure government can fail to raise that $300 million? Government can even say that from the money we have realised from taxes we are going to lend $150 million to Mopani Copper Mines, to start with. But we are not seeing that commitment from the UPND administration,” said Kang’ombe. “And the $15 million that KCM acquired is not going to help the situation. It is too insufficient to meet operational costs at KCM. And I told that that CEC (Copperbelt Energy Cooperation) got the Chunk of that money.”
