Govt claims ‘hundreds of vehicles’ seized on the Copperbelt in fight against mealie meal smugglers

Minister of Copperbelt, Elisha Matambo, says hundreds of bicycles, motor bikes and more than 52 vehicles have been impounded in an ongoing crackdown on mealie meal smuggling on the Copperbelt.

Matambo also asked for patience as the government ironed out issues with Konkola Copper Mine (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mine (MCM) despite President Hakainde Hichilema promising to announce the way forward before March 31, 2023.

He said this during Diamond Media’s COSTA talk show on Sunday that the taskforce to curb smuggling on the Copperbelt was yielding ‘huge’ results.

“We have impounded hundreds of smuggling vessels which include motorbikes, bicycles and motor vehicles, smuggling has been rampant on the Copperbelt,” Matambo said.

He said the government will not rest until all culprits perpetrating illegalities are brought to book, adding that there are no way people will be going hungry amidst plenty.

Mealie meal traders have used all sorts of transport and routes to illegally export the commodity as empty shelves in most of the supermarkets.

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“We went around milling plants and selling outlets to appreciate the situation, we found milling but residents were not accessing the commodity,” Matambo said.

On KCM and Mopani, he said even in football there was extra time ‘just a little more patience.”

Matambo said the delay to announce the way forward had been caused by the complexity of the matters at hand as he accused the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF) of ‘messing up’ the two mines.

“Yes, the first quarter has elapsed but even in football there is always extra time, we are resolving the issues as we have done with the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and free education among other developmental projects,” he said.

Matambo said the PF should be the last to blame the government on issues surrounding major Copperbelt mines because they created ‘unending’ problems.

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