MUZ officials abusing funds’

By ALEX NJOVU

COPPERBELT MMD taskforce chairman Joe Malanji has accused the Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) top officials of allegedly paying themselves hefty salaries from the subscription fees paid by miners.

And Mr Malanji also accused opposition Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata of not being sincere on the mine taxes Government gets from mining houses.
Speaking when he addressed a group of miners at Nchanga Mine Club yesterday in Chingola, Mr Malanji alleged that there is massive mismanagement of funds at MUZ and that top officials pay themselves hefty salaries at the expense of their members.
“It is shocking that top officials at MUZ pay themselves huge salaries from the subscription fees. Not even permanent secretaries get that kind of money. There is need for their financial reports to be audited regularly,” he said.
MUZ president Rayford Mbulu allegedly gets K24 million, union secretary Oswell Munyenyembe (K18 million) while the others get between K10 million and K15 million and other allowances, according to Mr Malanji.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr Mbulu failed while Mr Munyenyembe refused to comment on the allegations.
He said MUZ officials have allegedly failed to improve the welfare of miners in the country and accused union officials of neglecting mines and that their only interest was in paying themselves hefty salaries.
“We have documents which show that MUZ requested for an advance of K 80 million from Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM) on 20th December 2010 for the payment of Christmas bonus to MUZ employees which they asked the mine to deduct from MUZ subscriptions payable at K 20 million per month.
“They also wrote a letter on August 16 last year to LCM, requesting for a K60 million advance to pay their statutory membership subscription to the global mother body, the ICEM for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010,” he said.
Mr Malanji said it is unfortunate that top MUZ officials are insulting Government even when they know that the authorities have improved the lives of miners countrywide.
He said the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) officials are more responsible in the manner they use the money they get from miners.
Mr Malanji said NUMAW president Mundia Sikufele gets less than K10 million as his monthly salary.
Mr Malanji said miners are key stakeholders whose interests should be safeguarded by their union officials.
Mr Malanji took a swipe at Mr Sata for his continued attacks on Government over the taxes from mining houses. He circulated a letter to the miners, allegedly written by Mr Sata to President Banda on 12th August, 2010, in which the PF leader expressed his views on the loss of jobs by miners because of the tax regime.
Mr Malanji called on Zambians to ignore Mr Sata, saying Government gets various taxes from mining houses.
Chingola district commissioner Tobias Maliti said Government has spent over K3 billion on the implementation of various developmental projects and that K 33 billion will be spent on the rehabilitation of roads in Chingola this year.
And Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) Copperbelt Coordinator Kingsley Cheelu said close to 300 jobs have been created through the projects funded by the CEEC