By Merlyn Mwanza
Socialist Party (SP) leader Dr Fred M’membe says he has proof of how Anglo-American Corporation has sponsored “puppets” here in Zambia.
And Zambia’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia Emmanuel Mwamba has demanded that government make the $1.5 billion mining deal public, including the agreement entered into between Zesco and CEC for the supply of electricity to the mines, particularly the conditions attached in the deal.
Speaking during the first ever Mining for Change conference under the Leadership Conference Foundation at Pamodzi Hotel which hosted Mines minister Paul Kabuswe and other participants.
During the event, Kabuswe said the mining industry in the country will be private driven with participation from Zambians.
When it came to making his contribution, Dr M’membe said he was ready to prove if challenged on the table how Anglo-American has sponsored puppets in Zambia for minerals.
He said the same company has a foundation which is sponsoring “puppets” in the other parts of the continent, including for what he said support for Raila Odinga In Kenya and Bobi Wine in Uganda.
“They have sponsored puppets in Zambia, and I say it without reservation, and I can prove it,” he said, saying they were doing so for minerals.
Dr M’membe said the country was duped over privatisation and was being duped again over reprivatisation, saying there will never be peace as long as the “imperialists” maintained their mineral interests in Zambia, and that AFRICOM had come here not to protect this country’s sovereignty but to protect the narrow interests of the neo-liberal community.
He claimed that they were ready to use force to get the minerals and that they were even being frank that they were here to protect their interests.
“Is it going to be peaceful? No!” Dr M’membe said, adding that just this week Africa saw the return of Pan-Africanist Patrice Lumumba’s gold-plated tooth, the only thing that survived on his remains after he was dismembered by the Belgium colonialists over minerals. “What was he killed for? Minerals. All those who resist will go the way Patrice Lumumba went.”
He said Zambians will have to resist in the same manner the Ngoni warriors resisted Cecil Rhodes when he attempted to forcibly start mining in Ngoni land.
Dr M’membe warned that the mining companies have not just come here to do mining but also to govern.
He said the country would not get much from taxation, citing that as the reason why they did not even want the royalty tax as it was too direct to evade, preferring corporate tax instead, but that ultimately they did not want to pay any tax at all.
Dr M’membe said they have found a way of evading the tax base by creating a chain of companies without any legal connection, and narrated one incident where he received a phone call from late president Michael Sata who told him in confidence that one of his ministers had received a $5 million bribe to allow corporations to export “soil”. He said he expected that the president would fire that minister within the following days but nothing happened.
It is not clear which minister Dr M’membe is referring to exactly, but in 2012, President Sata ordered one minister to undo a statutory instrument which had allowed mining companies to export copper in raw form.
Dr M’membe said minerals never rot and there was therefore no need to rush into getting into some of the deals the government was getting into, saying he hoped the government will take into account proposals that were being raised and that even if they did not listen to him they should listen to the others who were raising pertinent issues.
“They cannot listen to us but they should listen to you. We will also have our time,” said Dr M’membe.
Asked if private enterprise will be entertained if SP were elected into office, Dr M’membe said nobody will be stopped from doing business but warned that “we will not let you to be an irresponsible billionaire…you have to be a patriotic billionaire.”
And Amb Mwamba raised issues about the report from the United Kingdom on how Zambia was losing $3 billion through taxes, saying some of the companies which were mentioned include Glencore, Vedanta and Zambia Sugar which is owned by British Foods.
He said if such loopholes would be sealed the country would not need an IMF bailout package. Amb Mwamba said Dr M’membe had raised an aspect where he mentioned that he was a member of an international body but even they have not come to terms on the loopholes used by the corporations to evade tax, saying these are people who invest in the best mining tax experts to achieve their objectives.
He said the price of cobalt has risen from around $9000 to $71,000 per tonne in recent years with little benefit to the country, saying it would be wise to probably close the mines until proper regulations were put in place for the country to receive maximum benefits from the biggest asset.
He said Zambians did not have information on the agreements entered into including what concessions have been given. He said for the Zesco contract nothing has been revealed, including at what rate electricity will be sold to the mines following the contract entered into with Copperbelt Energy.
Amb Mwamba said Glencore targets ministers and their officials to put them under their pockets, including targeting State Houses.
Former Commerce minister Bob Sichinga said he did not believe the country would get to the production of 3 million tones of copper in 10 years because it takes a longtime to develop mines, but emphasize the importance of coming up with a sound policy framework.
And when asked by economic analyst Trevor Simumba on the fact that the people who participated in the privatisation were now in charge of the country, including the same Finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane who removed the windfall tax following the death of president Levy Mwanawasa was the same Finance minister now, political analyst Dr Neo Simutanyi went into the record books where he said the manner the KCM issue was handled under PF smelt that something fishy had happened with the liquidator paying himself K4 million as part of the payment for liquidating the company.
He nevertheless, said the fact that the company was closed under the Lungu government should have remained so as that was still the government which took that action, but that the UPND administration was trying to reverse the decision in a manner which was not transparent.
Dr Simutanyi said looking at the UPND manifesto, he did not think that local ownership was understood that “you and me will have a stake in mining” but where those who are part of the government system will find a way of getting ownership in the mines.
SP secretary general Dr Musumali said his party wants to have a situation where the mines of tomorrow will be Zambian, as one could not expect to be breastfed forever.
