Zambian mines minister fired after strike

JOHANNESBURG – Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa sacked his mines minister, Kaunda Lembalemba, in a government reshuffle yesterday after a damaging strike, riots and a bomb blast at the country’s biggest copper mine.

Mwanawasa said the mine workers union had initiated legal proceedings in its pay dispute with the biggest copper mining firm, Konkola Copper Mines, and that there was a need to restore calm in the mining sector, the southern African country’s economic lifeblood. Copper mining is Zambia’s major foreign exchange earner and the vast mines in the country’s Copperbelt province are also a major employer.”There is need to restructure (government) to respond to the challenges of eliminating poverty in all its forms.I have removed the honorable Lembalemba and appointed in his place Mr Kalombo Mwansa,” Mwanawasa told a news conference.Mwansa had been Home Affairs minister.Mwanawasa also sacked the country’s tourism minister and reshuffled a number of other ministerial portfolios to fill the vacant positions.Last week the president fired his police chief after government sources said the head of state accused him of moving too slowly to charge an opposition leader with sedition and espionage in connection with the strike at Zambia’s biggest mine, owned by Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).Mwanawasa said the unions representing miners at KCM had sued management in a pay dispute.”It is regrettable that the unions have gone to court…they should first have spoken to management before going to court,” he said.”If necessary we are going to intervene, although we have no immediate plans to do so because management has assured us that they will resolve the problems,” Mwanawasa said.A union official told Reuters that workers wanted management to effect “reasonable salary adjustments” and that the case would come up in court on Wednesday.Michael Sata, a leading opposition figure, is accused of inciting a riot and causing an explosion at the country’s biggest copper mine during a nine-day strike last month which caused heavy losses at KCM.KCM is majority owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources, while second-ranking Mopani Copper Mines is a joint venture of Glencore International AG and Canada’s First Quantum Minerals.-Nampa-ReutersCopper mining is Zambia’s major foreign exchange earner and the vast mines in the country’s Copperbelt province are also a major employer.”There is need to restructure (government) to respond to the challenges of eliminating poverty in all its forms.I have removed the honorable Lembalemba and appointed in his place Mr Kalombo Mwansa,” Mwanawasa told a news conference.Mwansa had been Home Affairs minister.Mwanawasa also sacked the country’s tourism minister and reshuffled a number of other ministerial portfolios to fill the vacant positions.Last week the president fired his police chief after government sources said the head of state accused him of moving too slowly to charge an opposition leader with sedition and espionage in connection with the strike at Zambia’s biggest mine, owned by Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).Mwanawasa said the unions representing miners at KCM had sued management in a pay dispute.”It is regrettable that the unions have gone to court…they should first have spoken to management before going to court,” he said.”If necessary we are going to intervene, although we have no immediate plans to do so because management has assured us that they will resolve the problems,” Mwanawasa said.A union official told Reuters that workers wanted management to effect “reasonable salary adjustments” and that the case would come up in court on Wednesday.Michael Sata, a leading opposition figure, is accused of inciting a riot and causing an explosion at the country’s biggest copper mine during a nine-day strike last month which caused heavy losses at KCM.KCM is majority owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources, while second-ranking Mopani Copper Mines is a joint venture of Glencore International AG and Canada’s First Quantum Minerals.-Nampa-Reuters