STAKEHOLDERS in the mining industry have condemned Patriotic Front Roan Member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili's calls for protests over the delayed re-opening of Luanshya Copper Mines.
The Chamber of Mines in Zambia (CMZ), Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ), Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI) and the Luanshya Pastors Fellowship warned against politicising the issue.
CMZ president Nathan Chishimba said in an interview yesterday that the new owners should be given time to conduct a thorough review of the infrastructure and establish a strategy for resuming operations.
Mr Chishimba said there should not be any demands for the LCM to resume full operations immediately because there was a process that needed to be followed especially after a mine had not been in operation for some time.
"We are sure the new investor is working hard to make sure it reviews the infrastructure as soon as possible and people should therefore give it chance to undertake this critical exercise," Mr Chishimba said.
He said it was unfair for people to put undue pressure on the investor for political expediency at the expense of people's lives.
He said the matters concerning LCM were technical and should be given serious attention because people's lives were involved.
MUZ general secretary Oswell Munyenyembe said Mr Kambwili was not the union's spokesperson to call on its members to protest against the new mine owners.
Mr Munyenyembe said the mine had just been handed over to the new owners and that there was no need for people to protest.
He said mining involved various processes that the investor needed to undertake before finally resuming operations.
"Let him not politicise this matter because the investor is right to ask for time because it has to carry out assessments of the infrastructure it is taking over," he said.
Mr Munyenyembe said the investor had committed to invest $400 million
in the operations and it was only proper that it was allowed to do a good job.
ZACCI vice-president North, Eddie Kapungulya said mining was serious business and required many considerations, among them safety of workers.
Mr Kapungulya said the investor risked putting lives at risk if it rushed its process of re-opening the Luanshya mine.
He said the new owners needed to sort out various issues, including settling debts owned to various institutions and establishing the condition of the infrastructure.
"Though some people will condemn the delay's it must be understood that patience is needed to avoid such things as accidents or flooding underground," he said.
Miners in Lunshya also dismissed calls for a public demonstration.
MUZ Roan branch chairperson Stanslous Mwimbe said in an interview yesterday that there was no need to demonstrate over the delay in re-opening the mine because the process was ongoing.
Mr Mwimbe said the union had engaged the Government and the new mine owner on the need to re-employ the former workers of LCM and all stakeholders were happy so far.
The Pastors Fellowship of Luanshya separately condemned calls for the demonstration against delayed opening of the mine.
Luanshya Pastors Fellowship chairperson Morgan Kanjolo said in an interview that it was not ideal for the miners and other Luanshya residents to protest.
Reverend Kanjolo said it was unfortunate that some politicians intended to complicate the suffering of the people with messages of demonstrations.
He urged politicians to be mindful of the fact that miners belonged to different political parties and inciting them to protest over issues that could be resolved amicably was retrogressive.
Mr Kambwili recently called on former LCM workers and other people to stage a demonstration over the delay in resuming full operations at the Mine.
On June 6, The Government signed an agreement with China non-ferrous metals Company (NFCA) to take over the LCM after Enya Holdings handed over the mine.
