By Lubinda Habazoka
Good morning colleagues and especially the youths. Some of us grew up in an era where government owned most enterprises and you should not be lied to it was a wonderful era!
Immediately one completed university and for example they joined the mines, a big house awaited them in Nkana East or any mining areas!
ZCCM at its worst in 1990 made a profit of $180m!!!!
Don’t be lied to that that was a lost era!! It was a golden era. The mistake that made in the 90s was just to sell for scrap our industries!!
A company like Mopani that fetches over a $1bn was sold for less than $50m!!!!
As a country we are not gangsters and can’t grab companies at will unless such companies are violating Zambian laws so it will be costly for us to buy back these companies from those willing to sell!
Trust me colleagues, I have been very passionate about mining since birth because we grew up in the sector!
Everyone who says we can’t run companies as Zambians should never apply for any job in a Zambian company because it’s pointless to give a job to a person that doesn’t believe in their abilities!
I have seen some graduates say we can’t run companies as Zambians. Then what is the purpose of your education? Do you mean as Zambians we are inferior? Do you mean we shouldn’t employ you in Zambia because you are a failure???
I admit that those that were born post Y2K found nothing and never even saw an effective railway system for example. But we need to understand our history very well and believe in our abilities.
When we control our resources, we control our country.
In Zambia we have some “renowned” people that make commentaries on the economy that have never praised any Zambian entity and always side with the foreign mines!! Those are bought people!! They are in the pockets of the exploiter!!! They should not woe you with semi wisdom rhetoric!!! These people are always praising the IMF and other foreign institutions but they have never praised trade kings or Yalelo! They have never praised Mahogany Air! For them, it’s about promoting their imagine to the outside world for the consultancy jobs aimed at looting Zambia to continue!!
Before being looted, they use Zambians to do consultancies to check our weaknesses! We sell this country ourselves!!
You can call us carders or whatever but at the end of the day, we only have one Zambia and we shall stand by it!!!
For our stance over Zambian citizen empowerment, over protecting our image as a country, we are mocked, insulted and sidelined! All sorts of words are said to us but we remain defiant and we shall protect our mineral resources! Bad words can be said but we don’t worry because “Amashiwi ya chipuba, tayakalifya mutima”!
Pessimists are already pushing rhetoric on how we should own Mopani!! They were the first to comment on the deal! Whatsapp was awash with negative comments from them. Yes maybe I personally might be uncomfortable with certain terms of the deal but overall Mopani is back as Nkana and Mufulira divisions of ZCCM IH!
Zambians, we should guard jealously our mineral resources because “umulembwe wachipuba, upwila muli tumfweko”!
God bless you