Labour Minister Chishimba Kambwili has said that Chinese Labour force coming into the country should be reduced and replaced with Zambians with the required expertise.
And Mr Kambwili has advised Chinese investors to do away with casualisation and consider giving Zambians permanent pensionable jobs.
Mr Kambwili says as much as government welcomes Chinese investment, it is concerned that Chinese investors are paying low salaries to Zambians.
He was speaking in Chambeshi when he paid a surprise visit to CHAMBESHI COPPER smelter.
The labour Minister is saddened that Zambian chemical engineers are getting as little as K2.5 million per month as basic salary.
He said CHAMBESHI COPPER smelter has the ability to pay employees better than K2.5 million .
Mr Kambwili says the company is the lowest paying in the mining sector and has appealed to management to consider increasing salaries for workers.
And CHAMBESHI COPPER smelter Chief Executive Officer, YANG XINGUO defended the decision by the firm to bring in expatriates.
Mr XINGUO (zingo) said most jobs being carried out by Chinese nationals at Chambeshi Copper Smelter are highly specialised and that Zambians need time to gain the same skills.
What skills ‘wemwana wambwa iwe”. Zambians have been smelting and converting copper for centuries. Ask the Kaondes.
This CEO sucks!
Mr Kambwili, go to KCM also. It is not just the Chinese, CCS produces only 5% of Zambia’s Copper production. Go to KCM (50% prodcution), semi functional illiterates are there as expatriates working as fitters, artisans,etc. We can give you the evidence, Zambia we calo caba christiani, kanshi ninshi yashupa!
This what Chishimba Kambwili is good for; go get ’em Mr. minister!!!Â
Can someone explain Why Chinese don’t pay PAYE tax but they work on Zambian soil? Check ZRA payroll system, Check Huawei, zte and chambishi mine payroll systems at ZRA. Its unfair.
Good abservation Mr Minister. Fair play is the way out.
Zambia has mined copper for ages. That foolish excuse of saying chinese are employed for speciallised jobs which zambians cant do is a BIG lie. May be you mean as a result of improved technology but even that is not an excuse becauise Zambians are trainable. You can send your Zambian workers to go and acquire that skill. Chinese are good for nothing it is very unfortunate that they have the money so we are dancing to their tune. they fail to pay workers good salaries, They fail to observe saftey rule,They fail to train the Zambia workers. They are just after our wealthy.Very foolish investors.
No the Chinese are saying that Zambians are Dunderheads. But are they? maybe!!
The Chinese have seen the weaknesses in our systems and are capitalising on them.As much as they are to blame,there is need for us to review our policies towards these so called investors.same goes ofr the conditions on which they can bring in investors.It is unacceptable for expatriates to be working as Artisans because we have those skills in abundance in the country.I worked for a recruitment agency and i know that for sure.
Can someone explain Why Chinese don’t pay PAYE tax but they work on Zambian soil? Check ZRA payroll system, Check Huawei, zte and chambishi mine payroll systems at ZRA. Its unfair. send them back
Bwana Minister,
Formulate policy that is progressive. Is there skill being passed on? If you formulate policy regarding this issue. It will be done constructively instead of these out-bursts. You may get away with it in Parliament but as Govt. your outburst are perceived as Govt policy. Please ensure that these outbursts are sustainable otherwise after you leave someone will make as much noise and what sought out to achieve will be undone not because a bad idea but it wasn’t properly done.
Spot on. This minister seems doesn’t know what his job is. He thinks being in the media is a sign that he is working. We need a binding labour policy to regulate employment of expatriates.
Mr Kambwili when you visit such compains ask them to avail you a list of Zambians who have undergone training outside Zambia.It is a responsibility of every employer to provide training to their employees. We ra leaving in a changing world and technology is changing every day. Gone are the days when we had our ZCCM. Chingola school of accounts contributed alot to training our accoutants.Even if ZCCM is defunct, the benifit we got from the company are still being felt.
Bauzee! Bauze Kambwili Bauze! Bamvesese lelo
you are very right No.4. Instead of just making noise in the Media, go and push for policies to curb this vice. This is not news; everybody knows that chinese campanies in Zambia are exploiting Zambians and bring in unqualified chinese in the name of expatriates. Now that you have found out this ( Which I believe you already knew before you visited Chambishi), next time lets hear you bringing it up in parliament or policymaking fora in the labour ministry. you are a policymaker for crying out loud. do your job
We are tired of this vibe now, i hope he does not repeat this meaningless pronouncement again.
This Minister is really a misplaced minister, Small wonder he was removed from Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You don’t go about attacking individual investors. What you need is to formulate policy that will regularise the employment of foreign nationals in Zambia. It should not be Chinese, Chinese. That is not policy Mr. Minister. It simply shows that you aren’t fit to be in that position. Formulate policy that will serve as a guideline to Ministry of Labour when approving work permits for foreign nationals. Based on the policy, if the country thinks we don’t need such labour, the Ministry of Labour can reject application for employment by an expatriate. That way, the government will be seen to be moving in the right direction.
Thats my minister of the moment who will help deal with stupid investors and exploitative employers!!!
It is high time we implemented the many things we talk about. There are so many so called expatriates doing jobs which Zambians can do in the mining sector. That is the reason many qualified Zambians get frustrated and go and work abroad. The Labour Ministry and Immigration Dept must do something about this. By the way what has happened to the equal work equal pay slogan. Nobody talks about it now!
Formulation of laws would be more vital and tangible compared to Visitings and statements in the media. For how long has Zambia faught the same fight of workers this and workers that?Chinese are good and they do work hard on any loopholes they find.T’s up to us to fill up the potholes.If you have been in China you must know for sure what i mean.I think the Zamgov should find someone i,e a Zambian trained in China to second Kambwili .Tell you what ? You’ll see how things will change.
Honourable Kambwili hats off. That is the language these investors need. We have had smelters for donkey years in this country and we didn’t solicit for chinese labour to run them. Tell that chinese man not to insult our intelligence. Put in a policy in the Mines that no expatriate should be in a job for more than two years. After two years they must pass on the job to zambians with the same renumerations. Surely is it an offence/curse to be zambian? Why should house wives to expatriates get (twenty times) more than zambian graduates when their only qualification is sleeping in the same bed with their expatriate husbands of a mining company?
MCS invited 100 Chinese for luncheon at State House at our expense. He has since gone quiet on them apart from sending emissaries to China for relationship mending and inturn they send a ship load of labourers to Zambia.
Mr. Minister, way to GO. Thanks for your fruitful OUTING. But like Most Blogggers have said, push for necessary legislature to ensure twhat you are saying is enforced and backed by a strong law. Zambia is a hub of Copper Mining and processing. The Chinese is lying. Have they advertised for th Jobs in question to find out that No Zambian can do it? Kambwili you have my support.
Even here in China the average salary of a Chemical Engineer with a Master’s degree is about 7000 RMB ( 5.6 million kwacha). I am not surprised that they are paying Zambian Chemical Engineers ( most who are bachelor holders) a basic salary of 2.5 million kwacha. The other problem why Zambian engineers may not work well is the language problem. I am sure most of the equipment at the mine are labelled in Chinese and the software is in Chinese. A Chinese trained Zambia engineer can perform equally well or perhaps Zambians who can read and speak Chinese, otherwise it is difficult!
I am getting tired of this PF talk without action. Chinese people enter Zambia at borders and not mines. Casualisation is not only in the mines all foreign companies have taken advantage of our week laws. Please PF time to campaign and get popular is over. You are risking being caught napping just like RB. If you can not formulate you own laws I advise you to get hold of South African Labor laws, copy and paste them in our laws. There has been too much talk but very little action from this government
Total rubbish!!!What technology??my kid of three years can operate most sophisticated phones and i know a lot of Zambians out there have similar capabilities.When in University,Chemical Engineers do a course called Process Control and also Process Design,it details how those plants are operated.For any process plant in the World,they run their plants using SCADA type of systems.Anyone with basic computer knowledge can operate these.It’s like the way cars have evolved,no matter how ‘intelligent’ a particular car is,any sane person can get in and drive it,with a bit of orientation even the most advanced cars are driven by Chauffer Drivers.
#15 it still goes back to weak laws. Why bring in equipment that in in Chinese in a country that has adopted the English language as official. Is Chinese not interpretable?
These Chinese chaps seem to have alot of balls. They are always answering back like trying to enter into a confrontation with government officials. No wonder they had a lunchon at State House. There alot of chinese doing tertiary jobs. Boiler makers, bricklayers no one can tell me Zambians can’t do those jobs. In the end these mines are ripping big from us. They pay little tax, pay employees peanuts and keep the money for copper sales in their countries.
What this Chinese mine boss means is that they have to bring their people in order to translate their machinery requirements written in Chinese language. Zambia has produced mining Engineers for a long time. We did not become copper producers yesterday. So what’s he talking about?
Formulate policies that will do the talking. Mr. Minister stop these outbursts at individual foreign investors and make laws for all investors. Boers and Indians are equally in positions which Zambians can occupy. Make the laws that are very clear to read and prosecute would be offenders. Chinese are very clever, they will torn you down with a fat salary and maintain their positions. WHICH ONE WILL YOU GO FOR??? Make the laws clear or wait for the fat salary?
Gentlemen, you must first know what you are making policies for; so you first visit the industry and get first hand information then you can make well-informed policies. so the minister is right to visit these industries. But the question is: what have his Predecessors been doing?
Its not skills Zambians lack, its seriouness, honesty and professionalism that we lack. Bukabwalala, ubunang’ani, utucawa and ukusekaseka fye kuli tubwana.
Tulu
Mr Minister we would like to thank you for your hard work. Talking about skills, its not just in mines where we have foreigners doing Jobs that Zambians are qualified to do. Please carry send your personnels in most of private sectors in so called private sectors, we have accountants from South Africans to mention but a few when we have qualified Zambians who are qualified needing Jobs. Can this be addressed as a matter of urgency!!!!!! Why is immigrations allowed to issue permits for these foreigners!
The man does not walk his talk. Full of air but things remain the same after he passes through. Could he be collecting millions for burying as well then hoodwinks us by blowing hot air around?
Are the Indians and South African investors good employers? Are they paying good salaries? Someone educate me on this
Who issues work permits these days? Is it the investors or the government? Iam tired and sick of the government blaming investors for bringing in expatriates when local skills are in abundance.The buck stops with the government.
MR Minister spend sleepless nights brainstorming how to solve that problem so that law enforcement agents can go and execute the policies you will make.Thats a problem of leaders who are only phisical but not smart.And our leaders are too fat,thats why they cant spend long hours studying issues that need serious attention in the country.Stop insulting investors in Zambia.we are a very small country and humility pays!we are still at the mercy of big economies so be humble mr minister.Offcourse Zambians should be protected without making them lazy by thinking govt will protect them…..Lets brainstorm mr minister dont react so quickly,u just went to that ministry u need to understand some issues…coz somethings are not what they seem…….Donchi kudabwa!
chi kambili
Never mind the copper smelters .What about the Chinese chicken farmers ? Do they possess rare and secret skills of raising chickens that no indigenous Zambian can ever learn hence their travelling half way round the world to come here to do this ,and the same obviously applies to the Chinese labourers to be found all over Zambia . What is that all about ? ? Zambians are very educated and so many Graduates are looking for job opportunities…Anyway now Minister Kambwili is ‘ on the case ‘ . Well done Mr Minister and well done to PF and President Sata ! Viva PF Viva President Michael C. SATA !!!
#13, the policies are already there and all we need is implimentation on the part of the judiciary and other organs. There is too much corruption at IMMIGRATION. I have a Phillipino friend called Semillono, he went there last week and corrupted the immigrational officers paid them some money and got his work permit. He is an artisan heavy equipment at one of the mines on the copperbelt.