LUSAKA YOUTHS IMPLORE PRESIDENT LUNGU AS CHAIRMAN OF IDC TO SAVE THE ZAMBIAN GOLD
_Below is the full statement by Zambian Youth Against Apathy_
As the Zambian Youth Against Apathy (ZAYAA), we wish to first thank the Lusaka mayor for creating an enabling environment for a youth movement like ours to interact and sensitize our fellow Lusaka residents freely and without incident. To the mayor we say: Your work is not easy but keep up with your patriotic intuition. We have your back and we know we speak for many of the city’s residents because we live with them.
The public outcry over the Joint venture between ZCCM-IH (through CGCZ) & Array Metals has compelled us as to take a stand, register our concerns and to make an appeal to elected decision makers to provide us with a lasting solution to the historical problems surrounding our mining policy as a nation.
As ZAYAA, we believe that His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, in his capacity as the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) Chairman can save our Gold.
We also believe that God has deliberately blessed us with the huge gold deposits at such a time so that we can have this very healthy and necessary debate that will in the end disillusion all our citizens like a slap in ones face does. It seems that as a people we have learned to overlook the fact that what is fair is fair (especially in trade). We also seem not learn and appreciate the fact that only intelligent exploitation of our God given natural resources can save our country from a total economic collapse. By intelligent exploitation, we mean such shrewd and prudent management or resources as we have seen Botswana manage its diamonds.
Our neighbors across the border have showed us how shrewdly managed local resources can change the fortunes of an entire country. Botswana built its economy around diamond mining and through consistency has delivered tangible results to its people. Botswana with a population of 2.3 million and a GDP of close to US 19 billion, has a per capita GDP of around US 7,800. This compares with Zambia with a population of 17 million and a GDP of about US 24 billion, translating into a per capita GDP of around US1,300. That means the average mo Twsana is 6 times richer than the average Zambian. 6 times!
The difference here is about ownership and a deliberate plan to empower locals. The mining policy of our neighbors dictates strictly that Botswana owns 50% of all mining assets and shares half of all profits with no negotiations. Zambian ownership of copper mining shows a total different picture:
Mine
Foreign
ZCCM-IH
Kansanshi (FQM)
80%
20%
KCM
79%
21%
Mopani
90%
10%
Chambishi Metals
90%
10%
Chibuluma
85%
15%
CNCM Luanshya
80%
20%
Copper Trees
84%
16%
Lubambe – Chililabombwe
80%
20%
NFC
85%
15%
We desire to see a different approach for exploitation of our gold. Many local investors can clearly raise the $2.4m that Array Metals brought to the Joint venture with ZCCM-IH. They were just overlooked in bad faith and that is disheartening. Zambians should have the right of first refusal. It’s the kind of attitude ba Kapwepwe referred to when he warned that ”if we are not careful, our colonizers will return as investors…”
To our fellow youth, you have been called before to champion political party agendas and you showed up. You have been called before to be used as tools of violence and you showed up. You have even successfully provided security for Zambians in dangerous environments like political rallies and fully attended soccer matches that have potential for a stampede. Today we are calling to something much more – patriotism. Today your country needs you more than ever. Your assignment is to protect the newly discovered gold deposits and Zambia’s economic future by demanding that our government calls in experts and technocrats to help re draft our entire mining policy to the best benefit of all Zambians.
We are saying WAKE UP and be really relevant-lead your country. WAKE UP and protect your God given resources. WAKE UP and learn from our past mistakes. We can not approach gold mining, processing and trading with the same mining policy that failed our economy and couldn’t fully capture the benefits of our copper or cobalt mining for instance. WAKE UP sleeping giant WAKE UP! Demand a different policy and approach to mining that should be stenciled on the presidential directive for Zambians to seek local solutions to local problems in all sectors of our economy because such solutions have a direct impact on our economy.
Stand with us and we assure you, you are not being Xenophobic. You are not against foreign investments or foreign trade. You just want to see fair trade that makes business sense and translates in our own economic growth.
If President Lungu himself once referred to the current leadership as ‘a leadership that has not been inherited from our past,but has been borrowed from our future’…if the president himself has directed every Zambian to advocate for and seek local solutions across all sectors of our economy, then what defense have you allowing foreign entities to benefit more from your birthright? Aren’t you tired of trading your birthright for a bowl of soup?
To our president, the government and the Industrial development corporation, we say: ZAYAA still believes in those PF ethos that were founded on patriotism and pro poor policies. ZAYAA supports the presidential directive to seek local solutions because of their direct impact on our economy, and finally, we are of the conviction that it is not an accident that our nation has discovered huge gold deposits amidst a national debt crunch and the biggest health pandemic of our time. Rather, it is a signal from God that he has not abandoned us in hard times. That if we shrewdly interpret God’s signals and apply ourselves as a country while in hardship, all our adversities will surely come to pass.
We therefore appeal that government considers re visiting our mining policy, in pursuit of a more patriotic policy that prioritizes local investments. For instance, mining licenses could be made unavailable for foreign companies intending to partner with government unless they are partnering in a minority shareholding capacity. Botswana is a good benchmark for such a policy.
Lastly but importantly, concerning the newly discovered gold deposits, our position is as follows: If this Zambian gold won’t benefit Zambians significantly, then don’t dig it. Leave it in the ground until we are ready to make better sense of it.
We believe that sustainable collective prosperity should be the goal for Zambia from now onwards.
God bless our country.
Remember stay home safe and to sanitize.
Chikumbutso Zulu
ZAYAA SECRETARY
