UPND President Hakainde Hichilema was a key speaker at the 2016 Mining Indaba in South Africa on Tuesday.
Hichilema one of the richest Zambian spoke alongside the CEO of Invest Africa Rob Hersov, Chairman of Credit Suisse Securities Rick Menell and CEO of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank Roberts Orya.
The annual Mining Indaba is held in Cape Town and brings together more than 7,000 delegates from 100 nations to discuss business opportunities in the sector. Notable speakers at the event include the CEOs of large companies such as Rio Tinto, Ashanti Gold and Vedanta, financiers and various ministers from across the continent.
Mr Hichilema spoke about the great opportunity that still exists in many areas of Zambia for mining projects, and in particular projects that will bring benefit to the people in terms of jobs and stimulating local economies. He stressed that with a stable policy environment, Zambia should have been producing 1.5 million metric tons of copper today, compared to the 750,000 metric tons it currently produces.
When asked what Zambia had learnt from the recent price fluctuations Mr Hichilema suggested that for far too long Zambia has been like a microcosm of the mining industry, believing during the good years that they will last forever and not reinvesting the money in diversification, and when the bad times happen panicking and trying to impose legislation that ends up causing further harm. This is a cycle we must break out from, the UPND President stated.
He further explained that given governments and companies both face challenges in navigating the commodity price cycle it was clear that the best way forward is through conversation and not confrontation. He spoke about the importance of identifying vulnerabilities that could create additional problems in advance, such as in the energy sector. He also stated that the recent weakness in the copper price and indeed any other commodities had proved a painful reminder that quicker action is required on diversification to end over-dependence on one sector, in the case of Zambia, mining.
On the question of sustainability Mr Hichilema proposed that actors need to change their time horizons when looking at the sector. He cautioned that politicians must be careful not to get caught in the trap of politicising the sector. For investors and mining companies, Mr Hichilema said they must take serious time to understand the country’s priorities and how a project can be adapted to feed into these, for example by using local contractors and creating jobs. The benefits that can be secured beyond revenues are too often neglected, the UPND President concluded.
Mr Hichilema is set to make a further address this evening at the Graduate Business School at the University of Cape Town as part of their Distinguished Speakers Programme.
well spoken mr presido, Zambians please lets give this man a chance in 2016
Continue failing to distinguish sense from nonsense, I would rather be fooled by HH than be fooled reversals everyday Why don’t you start by telling us how you are still poor whenbena HH are rich only then can we ask HH to explain it using sign language this time around because his explanations in English you have refused to get and unfortunately he can’t explain it in Tonga because some of you would rather be born dumb than accept Tonga as your tribe or hear anybody speak in Tonga
I don’t want to be fooled by HH or anybody for that matter. It’s lack of credibility to the highest power in calculus fir HH to be claiming to be an expert on mining business if he can’t even admit that he is the sole beneficiary of the provocation process than the miners he is claiming to help. It’s time for him to come clean and apologize that he was misguided. Lungu and his predecessors just inherited messy mines that were created by HH and his fellow corrupt corporate thieves. HH didn’t care about the miners than because making a buck trumped his mora conscience. Now the man who gave away the mines is back claiming to be a messiah? Awe naimwe bane you are not fooling anyone as can see through HH’s lies. He is not the only educated economist in the country. We are educated too that’s why we can rip his hypocrisy apart.
I meant privatization process.
So sad he didn’t talk about how he made a fortune via privatization. He isn’t fooling me.
What do you expect? Some of those in his audience comprised the same companies to which he sold the Zambian companies that he privatised.
Bravo HH umwina zambia.jealous down…distinguished speaker at a foreign university.it’s high time we stopped talking about diminishing assets, yes, zambia has a lot of arable fertile land and more than 40% of water in SADC is in zambia.how about being landlocked, its a plus, how about being a haven of peace. name it..sober minds and leadership that’s what we need.lesa twafwani.
This man needs to be tried to head this great nation really. We wont regret like it is now.
Well spoke Mr President. God, give us Zambians Mr. Hichilema as our zambian president this year.
Well spoken Mr HH. We appreciate your deep rooted business knowledge. You have our vote on 8/11. Thank you for flying Zambian flag as an entrepreneur in foreign lands. We will now give you all the mandate to do it for mother Zambia, come 8/11.
PF and kambwili say something umwaice has spoken not l wil fire u znbc
Good Job HH… I can see your focus is creating Jobs in the mines for Zambians and that we should get maximum benefits from our natural resources. Your prime focus is to better the lives of ordinary Zambians
I have no doubt in my mind that you will implement this once elected into office.
I wonder what your critics will say this time around. Meanwhile we have a minister of mines who is there to warm chairs.
Indeed you deserve to be president of this great nation.
Zambia forwaaaaaaaard……
Yet we fail to realise capability in him. He is a great son of the Zambian soil.