Natural Resources Unequally Divided

Mwansa Pintu

9 June 2011

Lusaka — When Zambia’s president Rupiah Banda commissioned an enormous copper mine in the remote town of Solwezi, Clariki Mulundwe, a local farmer thought this was his chance to get a better job in the mine right in his backyard. He was wrong.

Although the Kalumbila mining project is expected to create two thousand jobs, the project will mainly rely on expatriates and only employs locals with technical skills, mostly from urban districts like Lusaka and copperbelt towns.

For Mulundwe and many other villagers, this development is a disappointment. “I have never seen any real benefits from these new mines that the government is opening. It only creates better jobs for others, not for us, who live here in Solwezi,” Mulundwe says.

Zambia’s economy largely depends on copper and also has huge deposits of uranium, gold, oil and other minerals. As many as twelve million Zambians still live on less than two dollars a day, despite the country’s rich natural resources and growing economy

Lack of government policy

34-year-old Mulundwe feels the government has not taken plight of villagers like him who have no or little skills to benefit from such huge investments at their door step.

“Those who can read have been working at Lumwana and Kansanshi mine as labourers, but I have not even seen any attempt by the government to help people like me to improve our lives. I just hope that they will help me become a big farmer so that I can sell my crops to the miners,” he says.

Mining firms like First Quantum’s, which operates Kansanshi Gold mine in Solwezi, has a community empowerment project which helps locals to run small businesses. But many villagers call on the government for a long term policy, which could shield them from poverty.

Poor sharing

Action Aid country director in Lusaka, Patience Chisanga, sees Zambia’s lack of strategic resource allocations as a major factor fuelling poverty amongst citizens.

“The level of poverty is still quiet high for the rural areas. People talk about Zambia being endowed with a lot of resources, but when it comes to how these resources are allocated, there is inequity in the distribution of these resources. Many people are unable to get the benefit of particular services that would help improve their livelihoods,” she says.

Empowering citizens

In 2006, the Zambian government allocated 130 million dollars to the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission tasked with issuing loans to locals who had problems souring for capital to participate in the economy.

“Empowerment is broad based; it’s about having the capacity to participate in the economy but also being ready to take challenges in order to make those capacities to come to fruition,” says outgoing CEEC director Mable Mungomba.

Although the CEEC has been in existence for over five years now, people wit a low income have been calling for a larger share from huge investment projects, like Kalumbila, saying they have a stake in natural resources which fall within their areas.

More win-win deals

For Mulundwe, the current economic boom still doesn’t decrease his poverty, because foreign shareholders retain larger stakes.

According to the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction in Zambia, 87.2 per cent of citizens live under the poverty line of 2 US dollars per day, with 46 per cent of the population being undernourished.

Civil society across the country has been calling on government to enter win-win investment deals which guarantee greater benefits for people in rural areas.

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