By ZAMBIAN NEWS FEATURES CORRESPONDENTS
ZAMBIA’S Opposition United Liberal Party (ULP) has prodded mining companies to put contingent safety measures in place in case of a power failure like the one that affected the whole country last week.
ULP president Sakwiba Sikota said in a statement Monday that was wrong for mining companies to pass the blame on the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) management for the danger posed to lives of workers trapped underground as a result of the power outage.
During last week’s power outage which affected most of the country, close to 110 workers were trapped underground in a cage at Konkola Copper Mines.
He called on the mining inspectorate at the Ministry of Mines to ensure that all mining companies installed emergency power supply for underground cages to avert any loss of life that could occur as a result of power outages.
“ULP is concerned by the deliberate lack of commitment by management of some mining companies towards the safety of workers during the ZESCO power outage that occurred on June 18, 2010. It is wrong for companies to pass the blame entirely on ZESCO management for the danger posed to lives of the workers that were trapped underground as a result of the power outage.
“The United Liberal Party (ULP) is not saying ZESCO should not be blamed for the problems caused as a result of the power outage on June 18, 2010; what we are saying is that the mining companies are primarily responsible for the safety of their employees whether there is a ZESCO power outage or not,” Sikota who is also Livingstone Member of Paliament, said.
He said the decision by the KCM management to pass the blame on ZESCO for the safety of KCM workers was tantamount to transferring their responsibility to ZESCO.
The ULP also called on KCM management and Mineworkers’ Unions to be pro-active and ensure that management installed emergency power supply dedicated to the underground cage in order to protect the lives of miners.
“The ULP believes that it is not only ZESCO that needs to answer questions over the danger posed to the lives of miners and other workers as a result of the power outage that happened on June 18, 2010; equally to blame is KCM management and the Unions,” Sikota said.
Sikota lamented that over the past years most industrial negotiations and strike action have emphasized salary increments and ignored the safety and health of workers at the workplace.
“Strike action by miners, teachers, judicial officers, nurses, doctors, council workers and other public service workers have mostly been dominated by issues of salaries and allowances.
“Evidently over the past years both public and private employers around the country have ignored the importance of the safety and health of a worker which has in certain instances led to fatal accidents and even death. The safety and health of workers at the workplace has rarely been on the agenda of industrial negotiations as evidenced by KCM’s decision to pass the blame for the safety of their employees on to ZESCO,” he said.
He appealed to union leaders to include the safety of workers at the workplace during negotiations with their employers.
(Edited by Gershom Ndhlovu)
