Favoritism alleged in Kikonge gold mine license awards to locals

“When they say the tenements are for Chizela Chiefdom, it should mean all 35 families benefit. Instead, only one family has received all 6 tenements. This is unfair and does not reflect the composition of our Chiefdom,” he added.

He told ZBT that efforts to engage the Chiefdom leadership for a more equitable distribution have been unsuccessful, with no meaningful resolution reached despite multiple appeals.

According to Musobela, Mufumbwe District is home to 58 mining cooperatives, yet only 20 were allocated tenements, alongside the 6 for the Chiefdom in the revised allocation given to 89 cooperatives.

This has left at least 32 cooperatives without any allocation, impacting approximately 1,600 local members of the cooperatives in Mufumbwe.

The chairman also highlighted the history of the allocation process, noting that initially about 1,200 cooperatives were made aware of tenement opportunities, but the government later cancelled these allocations, citing the presence of an animal corridor, and reduced the number of tenements to just 89. Local leaders argue this reduction has disproportionately affected indigenous cooperatives.

“The government should have prioritized locals, giving at least 58 tenements to match the number of cooperatives in Mufumbwe. It’s the local people who originally discovered and surveyed the mine, not outside entities or government,” Musobela emphasized.

He further criticized the allocation of a significant portion of the tenements to ZCCM-IH, a government-owned mining investment company, at the expense of local stakeholders.

“We are appealing to the government to reconsider and redistribute the tenements so all communities can benefit fairly,” Musobela concluded. The affected cooperatives are now calling for immediate government intervention to ensure a more equitable and transparent allocation process, prioritizing local communities who have long depended on mining for their livelihoods.

Article by Tyndale Muchiya