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Public Policy Expert, James Musonda, says the booting out of ZCCM-Investments Holdings (ZCCM-IH) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is long held view that the current government is a mining disaster.
Musonda, a mining researcher said the suspension of ZCCM-IH from LSE coinciding with the resignation of Board Chairperson, Dolika Banda, shows the United Party for National Development (UPND)’s mining policy failure.
“This illustrates what we have been talking about the mining approach adopted by the UPND which has been a disaster,” he said in a statement in Kitwe on Tuesday.
Musonda said the UPND administration’s inertia about key issues was well documented.
“We reached a stage where we have no direction whatsoever in terms of mining policy. At least during the previous period we knew the direction the government was taking even if we had questions about their policies,” he said.
Musonda said the first thing UPND did when they were elected was rather than looking at improving workers conditions and how much revenue their country will get from the mines, the first thing was to remove the Mineral Royalty Tax (MRT) that enabled private companies to benefit more.
He said it was sad that foreign interest at the expense of Zambians seem to be associated with the current administration.
Musonda said the suspension of ZCCM-IH on the LSE and the resigning of a board chair would continue raising speculations on the suggested political interference.
Read more : Mine researcher, Musonda, accuses govt of applying delay tactics to sell Mopani, Konkola mines cheaply
He said UPND government would be clocking two years with no movement at Mopani Copper Mine (KCM).
“Worse still, no answers, what has happened to the Mopani deal, what is contained in their deal? With respect to the negotiations, how far is the government with Glencore, what is Glencore demanding, if there are any other buyers? Musonda asked.
He said Mopani was not a private owned but a public whose transactions should not be held in secrecy.
Musonda is currently Senior Researcher in Energy Policy at the Institute for Economic Justice, Johannesburg and holds a PhD in Politics and Social Sciences from University of Liège, Belgium.
In 2021, he won the Terence Ranger Prize for his work on Zambian Copperbelt miners, and he is a former trade union.
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