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.