The Court of Appeal sitting at Ndola has ordered a halt to liquidation proceedings for Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) to allow owners Vedanta and ZCCM-IH to proceed to arbitration.
Provisional Liquidator Milingo Lungu said in a statement that the Court of Appeal has not discharged him and that he would continue to run the company.
Mr Lungu said he retains the full powers as granted the High Court of Zambia on May 21, 2019.
“In view of the latest Judgment, I wish to update employees, business partners, the nation and all KCM stakeholders. Further, that operations of KCM remain on course with safe production ramp-up being the key focus as the company continues to engage with its business partners in a normal way,” he said.
“As provided for under the Corporate Insolvency Act and powers granted to the Provisional Liquidator, the Provisional Liquidator continues to exercise the executive responsibility of running the Company, and the KCM Executive Management Committee remains accountable to the Provisional Liquidator.”
“I therefore urge all employees to continue working normally, safely and remain steadfast in the pursuit to make KCM a great organization. Our stakeholders should also remain calm as we continue to work together towards a common goal of increased safe production,” he said.
The ruling by the Court of Appeal represents a significant win for Vedanta, which is seeking the removal of the liquidator appointed by state mining investment firm ZCCM-IH – which owns 20% of KCM on the government’s behalf – to run the company.
The India-based group has been locked in a dispute with the Zambian government since May last year, when the PF government appointed the liquidator.
Legal arguments over the case have been heard in both Zambia and South Africa.
A spokesman for Vedanta said: “Vedanta notes reports of the judgement from The Court of Appeal ruling in favour of Vedanta on all counts, with costs being awarded to Vedanta and with the winding up proceedings being stayed.”
“Vedanta will review the full written judgement upon receipt.
Ba pf (Kaizer Zulu explain), do you have a policy on broadcasting in this country, like the dos & don’ts of radio DJ. Like what is radio language or topics. Or do you only react to radios when they are opposing you.
Radios in Zambia, a so called christian nation, are a shock. DJs only promote beer drinking & sex, both in comments & songs played. Komboni is worse. Even lady DJs are scary. In this country, is every song done by musicians radio worthy? Songs played are about getting drunk, beer drinking, bokosi, gumu gumu, uku momonya, mpwimpwi etc. All day. Radios have no educational or enlightening content. There are no programs on youth upliftment, what businesses youths can get into. Nothing of farming as ventures for youths. What country is pf running really? The only time we have…
ZCCM-IH should disclose hw much they hv been condemned to in costs. They hv a duty to make a provision for this liability in their books.
KCM might be another RAMCOz disaster. PF will fight hard to hold on it for them t raise campaign funds then sell it to the Chinese after 2021.
This PF Provisional Liquidator Milingo Lungu (maybe related to L@zy Lungu) is just running the company into the ground….PF is not telling the taxpayer how much we are pumping onto this firm every month. As evident by the following media reports :
• 13 June 2019 – Fatality at Nchanga Smelter
• 15 July 2019 – Disposal of assets – Two Dumps
• 10 September 2019 – Disposal of assets – Mimbula Resource
• 09 October 2019 – Nchanga Smelter CRF Slag run out
• 28 October 2019 – 28 Miners trapped underground at Konkola
• 14 November 2019 – 53 KCM workers, 232 KCM pupils hospitalized after sulphur emission
The recent serious incident on 14 November is particularly shocking.
What we need to revisit is the fraudulent sale of KCM to Vedanta. There must be consequences for those that played a role, be it posthumously
Rights to life and property are sacrosanct. Time has come for tug of war between Ministry of Mines and mine investors to come to an end. Investment climate responds to macro-economic factors, including speculation. The country needs to take time to show case the beauty of its landscape. The natural resources are terrific. The human resources are terrific. The weather is terrific. The rivers are terrific. The lakes are terrific. Take time to attract tourists. Take time to attract investors. Take time to attract technology.
PF government did not handle KCM case well. It had an opportunity to have won the case had it acted professionally. Acting emotionally and showing off does not pay. I wonder how much money the government has pumped in. For about a year the government has been fighting with Vedanta.
Dr Makasa Kasonde(private citizen), u’re right in wht u say. It’s the politics that’s toxic in Zambia. The people are okay. They’re not even docile as some say. They’re waiting for a good government to come and serve them.
Ayatollah : the KCM privatisation or sale to Vedanta Resources is in court. One Dennis Mumba who happens to be a minority shareholder in ZCCM-IH is already in court. I hope he knows what he’s alleging and able to prove it in court.
And these diamond tv reporters instead of asking the Zesco manager if their installation in Matero which keeps being hammered by lightning has no lightning arrester, they were asking questions which were not even helpful.
Excellent to see all parties complying with the courts.this is what living in a civilised society is all about. We may have differences but we should all follow the law. We wish the likes of kambwili could respect court rulings. Kambwili said he is ready to die for this country and yet he is running scared of a mere 1 year imprisonment
As much as I hate Vendanta, the methods that the PF took to grab this mine were lame.
At the time, there were huge celebrations by some bloggers here.
I did remind them that this will cost us dearly as international courts will rule against the state. It will be worse than Lap green of Libya, the Zamnet issue.
This PF has put us in more problems than currently visible. The next 2 years will reveal a lot that they have swept under the carpet.
IndigoTyrol – We told them so they could have repossessed this entity through the right channels but our dumb President eager to please his corrupt advisers and friends rushed in even placing his Press Assistant and the real KZ on the liquidation board members.
Tarino you have no clue what you are talking about. How can a foreigner like you profess to have more knowledge about our internal affairs than us who live and work in government. Stop f00ling people with your fake news and giving them unrealistic information. You are a danger to our country’s peace and stability. My friend concentrate on your life in that freezer of a country called England
Confusing, in the meantime the operational situation at KCM is allowed to deteriorate?
Ba Chichi PF has no powers now to sale kcm to chinnese. Let’s follow the judgement and respect it. Government should make sure vendanta follows the rules. UPND advised PF what to do but they ignored. Im not a politician but some of the advise UPND offer are genuine and you can even tell that they are capable of ruling this country.
This is the first stage of vendetta winning this case. At the end of the day the government will be owing more money to vendetta including costs and damages which will add to the big debts that government already has such as the eurobond, lap green etc . More losses and debts coming.
The price of emotion over reason. Why does government think itself ever more competent to run business? Populism and idiocy is what this is while tax payers suffer.