People’s Alliance for Change president Andyford Banda says Konkola Copper Mines provisional liquidator Milingo Lungu should be removed from his position because he is destroying the mine.

A scandal has emerged at KCM in which the mining giant paid US$1.6 million (about K32 million) to a company allegedly bought by the liquidator, Lungu, through his relative Dingiswayo Ndhlovu, for the supply of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO).

On Tuesday, Lungu said the report that he authorised a payment of US$1.6 million to a company that is owned by his relative, for the supply of Heavy Fuel Oil, was a fabrication that bordered on mischief.

In a statement issued by KCM Acting Public Relations Manager Victoria Kabwe, Milingo said he had noted a systematic and consistent fabrication of stories against the mining company by the News Diggers.

On Wednesday, however, News Diggers published excerpts from court proceeding in Kabwe where a Copperbelt based businessman, Joseph Chilinda, told the Kabwe High Court that Lungu bought his company, Cashfin Zambia Ltd, for US$500,000 and promised to pay US$490,000 of the total cost through a procurement tender from Konkola Copper Mines.

This is a matter in which four individuals have dragged Cashfin Zambia Limited owners, Chilinda and Convex Equity Limited, to the Kabwe High Court, seeking a declaration that businessmen Jason Kombo and Dingiswayo Ndhlovu are the rightful shareholders of Cashfin Zambia Limited, following a purchase transaction.

But Chilinda has told the court that it is KCM liquidator, Milingo, who bought his company and not the people who have gone to court claiming ownership of Casfhin.

Commenting on these revelations in an interview, Banda said Lungu and PF had destroyed KCM.

“Milingo must be removed because he has failed to find an alternative investor to take over the mine. There has been a lot of scandals involving KCM, this is not the only one I can assure you. So, it is long overdue. If Mr Edgar Lungu does not want to have KCM on top of his legacy and include KCM as part of his failures, I think it is high time he removes Milingo. These guys, the PF, are killing us in broad daylight, we need to be serious about taking our country back. Whatever is happening at KCM is not surprising. If KCM is being run by a liquidator that has been appointed by government and the government is fully in charge, what do you expect?” wondered Banda.

Banda said the PF had continued to benefit from KCM under Milingo.

“This PF government is a fully corrupt government. We are not surprised this is just a tip of an iceberg, there are other people who are in the PF government who are benefiting from a lot of tenders. Milingo should not be the only one. KCM has just become a scam. This liquidation could be a way of wanting to finance the PF campaigns because some of this money is donated to the PF secretariat. The time that they were putting KCM on liquidation, he said an investor had already been found but up to today there is no investor,” said Banda.

“These guys know that they are benefiting, they know that the moment an investor takes over, they will not be able to benefit. What is going to happen is that KCM is going to be a shell of a mine. KCM will be unable to run, there will be no investor who will be able to mine sooner or later because these people, Milingo and his team will have destroyed this mine completely and that is what they are doing right now.”