For adverts, promos, music, news and general promotion at a fair price email us zedgossip@gmail.com
Website www.zedgossip.net
The Democratic Party (DP) has expressed worry that the dialogue between government and Vedanta are taking longer, at the detriment of the country’s economic stability.
Democratic Party president, Judith Kabemba has wondered with worry, why the dialogue has delayed despite talks being out of court.
She said in a statement that there is need to conclude the talks in order to restore mining activities in order to bring the Copperbelt back to life and avoid the mine shutting down.
Ms Kabemba has further observed that while production has gone down, the mine is slowly dying and employees are going for years without any increment,corporate social responsibility projects such as support to hospitals, schools, soccer teams, sustainable empowerment by KCM are operating at an equal to zero funding, while the communities who suffer the consequences of large scale mining are left vulnerable.
“Having being born on the Copperbelt and spent fifteen years of my employment life on the Copperbelt and in particular Chingola at KCM, I am saddened by the dwindled economic activities in the towns of Chililabombwe, Chingola and Kitwe” she said with a call for action to be taken immediately.
Ms Kabemba stated that it is a well-known secret that Vedanta is the legal owner of the mine with 80% shareholding, whose huge stake in the mine must therefore work out a win-win formula for government itself and Vedanta.
She stated that suppliers’ liabilities have increased from US$220 million to US$778 million by May 2022, while noting with concern that huge sums of money have been spent by KCM on legal fees which would have been put to good use.
“As a former employee of KCM who worked under the Trust Schools and later under Corporate Social Responsibility , I feel saddened by the current status of the mine and the dwindling economic fortunes of the towns on the Copperbelt that are slowly turning into ghost towns” she further said.
Ms Kabemba has therefore said that it is immoral at this particular time to just sit and watch things going to their lowest, adding that Konkola Copper Mines has been a source of concern for many stakeholders because the firm has not been operating optimally owing to financial challenges.
