Russian trained Economist Dr. Lubinda Haabazoka has urged Zambians to be in control of how its mineral resources are used citing that this will determine the nations destiny. The time for politicking over the mines is over, Haabazooka carried on his social media page.
Zambians should benefit from the mines as was the case in the ZCCM days when the state were in control of the mineral resources, the Russian trained Economist said. “Every well-meaning Zambian should rally behind the state to ensure that workers are not sacrificed just to arm twist government. This follows varying threats by mining companies to lay off workers in the name of cost cutting as a consequence of higher taxes in the proposed 2019 taxation regime announced by the MinFin.
Haabazoka stated that the state hardly retains $300 million in mineral royalty taxes from over $6 billion worth of minerals sold annually in Africa’s second largest producer of copper, Zambia.
“Other European nations have continued to develop at the expense of Zambians,” Haabazoka said. With the proposed tax regime on the horizon, some mines are already talking about voluntary separation and lay-offs.
How can you develop a country if $6 billion is exported from the country in raw materials and only $300 million is retained in mineral royalty taxes, he asked.
Despite copper prices above $6,000/MT on the London Metal Exchange, Copperbelt looks like all mines are on care and maintenance with the only mines showing promising signs and benefiting Zambians are the famous mine dumps dubbed the black mountain.
Kitwe – Chingola and Kitwe – Ndola dual carriage way were financed by tax payers funds at immense cost yet the mining entities traffic are the largest contributors to the road infrastructure tear and wear, Habazoka iterated.
Haabazoka called all mine unions, mine workers, Copperbelt citizens and Zambians at large to rally behind government in ensuring taxes are collected so that infrastructure benefits do accrue the same way they do for Switzerland where most of the copper and cobalt money goes. You can cheat the Zambian of the 90’s that had no idea of a market economy but you can’t cheat a Zambian of today that is educated. Zambians must not be blind folded to believe it has an unfavorable mine tax regime, he echoed.
We are aware of schemes where Zambians are being used to sign petitions to force government to reverse the new mine tax regime citing loss of mine jobs as a reason. It is a shame that at on one hand we condemn debt accumulation for infrastructure development yet we support the flight of funds from our mining industry.
Acceptance of arm twisting will just allow posterity to judge us harshly.
Haabazoka warned the citizens that continue to aid arm twisters (the mines) citing that their children will have no country to go back to. He urged Zambians to support the government on this move.