• Continued court injunctions by Vedanta have left miners at financial risk.
• Miners no longer want to continue working for Vedanta.
• Union remains hopeful that courts will side with government.
National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) says court injunctions by Vedanta Resources blocking the payment of redundancy packages have left miners at financial risk.
In an interview with Money FM News, NUMAW Konkola Branch chairman, Japheth Simwaba said some miners had already engaged in financial transactions as they were expecting to be paid their redundancy packages yesterday after the restructuring of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
‘’Some miners knowing that they will get paid on 1st March, went ahead and borrowed money from shylocks, and if they don’t get paid their money soon, the borrowed money will accumulate alot of interest,’’ he said.
Mr Simwaba however noted that miners have made it clear through today’s protest in Chingola that they do want to continue working for Vedanta.
‘’Pyschologically, Vendanta is dead with the miners and the community as they do want to have anything to do with it,’’ he said.
He added that the union is optimistic that the Zambian courts of law will rule in favour of the provisional liquidator as it will ensure smooth payment of severance packages to the miners.
‘’What we expect from KCM management is that immediately the courts lift the injunctions, they should go ahead and pay KCM employees their money rather than delay like in the past, which has given chance to Vedanta lawyers to regroup and file other arguments,’’ Mr simwaba said.
Mine unions today staged a peaceful demonstration on the Copperbelt to offer solidarity to government in its efforts to ensure that Vedanta exit the running of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).