We avoided ‘rivers of blood’ in Mufumbwe – HH

By BARNABAS ZULU

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has defended the police operation at Kikonge Gold Mine in Mufumbwe, where several illegal miners were reported to have been killed, warning that Zambia was on the verge of descending into chaos similar to the violence plaguing eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Speaking during the 12th Quadrennial Conference of the Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) in Livingstone, President Hichilema said the State could not sit idle while illegal miners turned mining areas into battlefields.“ZCTU vice president, I know we have a shared vision. But this government now has four clear parameters when it comes to mining,” President Hichilema began. First, legal mining. You can’t mine illegally. You start killing each other using guns over who owns the site? It’s illegal! People will kill each other,” President Hichilema said.
He stressed that the Mufumbwe situation had reached dangerous levels and had Government delayed to act and curb the illegalities, Zambia would have been turned into a war zone because the illegal miners were armed with military guns.“When those men (police) went to Mufumbwe, they recovered military guns. If we did not move in Mufumbwe, even you the union leaders, you would have been shot dead,” he said. “That is how eastern DRC started – just like Mufumbwe. We should not allow lawlessness and create rivers of blood.”
The President maintained that the raid was necessary to avoid complete breakdown of law and order.
“If we did not move into Mufumbwe, Zambia would have turned into a war zone,” he said. “God gave us these resources and we must use them to grow the country’s economy – not to shed blood.”
President Hichilema added that the second parameter of his administration’s mining policy was safety, particularly protecting vulnerable youths.
“Safe mining – we can’t be sending kids to die in those rat tunnels in the name of them looking for food. No, no, no. They must be protected,” he said. “I can’t be President when my young kids are going into unsafe mining areas and are dying every day. We are losing members of the union. That is why we must insist on safe mining.”
On the economic front, President Hichilema emphasised the need for minerals to benefit the nation through formal trading.
“Three, formal trade – money must come into the economy so that these workers of CSAWUZ can also benefit,” he said. “Because these minerals are their resources as well. They may not be mining directly, but they must benefit. Very simple.”The fourth principle, he said, was to ensure that mining activities do not become a threat to national security.
“Mining must not create national insecurity,” he declared. “We must mine legally, safely, formally, and peacefully. That’s how we build this country.”
President Hichilema urged all stakeholders, especially civil servants and union leaders, to support government efforts in restoring order and ensuring that the country’s mineral wealth benefits every citizen without compromising peace.