red. on Nostr: https://void.cat/d/7vv62YexoYyUv8WWn813sB.webp Why does Zambia continue to grapple ...

Why does Zambia continue to grapple with frequent and fatal mining accidents? Let's delve into the underlying causes and find out what globalism has to do with it.

The south-central African country has been a mining powerhouse for well over 100 years and is one of the top copper producers in Africa and the world. However, a significant number of its mines are run by foreign companies.

Even though an increasing number of mines are Chinese-owned, the major players remain some of the world’s top mining companies such as First Quantum Minerals, Barrick Gold Corporation, Vedanta Resources, and Glencore.

Regardless of ownership, working conditions are precarious across all mines. Several miners reported that the brutally long shifts and inadequate safety measures led to the frequently occurring accidents with dozens of fatalities annually while causing widespread environmental damage.

Just last month, a South African court dismissed one of Africa’s largest class-action cases against the British multinational mining company Anglo American after one of their mines poisoned over 100,000 in the Zambian town of Kabwe and turned it into one of the most polluted places on earth.

Facing declining copper prices since the mid-1970s, Zambia privatized its state mining company in the late 1990s due to international pressure. To attract investors, the government offered tax incentives and weakened environmental and labor laws, introducing casualization while undermining the unions.

The more than 20 years of privatization of Zambia’s mines saw a collapse in the number of permanent mine employees from 60,000 in 1994 to 28,000 in 2018. Simultaneously, temporary contract workers rose to 46,000 by 2018 while mining companies use labor retrenchment as their go-to response to fluctuations in global prices.

Any attempts at greater government control have been undermined by foreign mining companies through threats of mass lay-offs of workers. In 2018, First Quantum Minerals laid off 2,500 staff after the government decided to raise mining taxes.

In another instance where foreign companies got the upper hand, the Zambian state purchased Mopani Copper Mines from Swiss-based multinational giant Glencore in early 2021, propelling the country into an unsustainable debt while Glencore retains the right to buy the mine’s copper.

With the Zambian government, which heavily relies on the mining industry with mining contributing to over 70% of the country’s export, at the mercy of multinational corporations, most proceeds continue to flow out of the country.

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