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Yaluma Asks Kitwe Cops To Secure Black Mountain
MINES minister Christopher Yaluma has directed police officers in Kitwe to secure the Black Mountain until the government comes up with a system on how it will be managed and handed over to the community.
Yaluma said all illegal mining activities must be halted because they were too risky and life-threatening for many young people that scavenge for minerals.
Various youth groups, including some PF officials, almost fought on Wednesday after confusion erupted on the management of the famous old mine dumpsite, the Black Mountain.
Last week, deputy mines minister, Richard Musukwa, said the government, through the Ministry of Mines, had asked Chambishi Metals, who were the custodians of the Black Mountain to surrender it to the State so that it could be given to the community for them to begin earning some income from the less than 1.5 per cent of copper found in the waste rocks of the mountain.
Speaking when he toured the Black Mountain on Friday, Yaluma said the government wanted the community in Kitwe to benefit from the Black Mountain and that the government would soon come up with practical ideas and give guidance on how mining activities would be conducted in a professional and safe manner.
He said the government feared for a catastrophe because, through their illegal mining, the young men had formed risky curves on the mountain that could collapse and bury them alive, adding that the government would not want to see such kind of incidents.
And speaking when he addressed the illegal miners, Yaluma assured them that the Black Mountain would be given to them once they form cooperatives and meet required standards of mining.
“As the deputy minister of mines Richard Musukwa said, government’s idea is to provide empowerment in a professional and safe manner to young men that, have over the years, raided the Black Mountain illegally. We don’t want you to be running around when you see the police, we want you to get meaningful empowerment. We want to train you in safety, provide a safe working environment and we also want you to form cooperatives, we want to issue operating licenses so that you can operate freely and make money for your families,” said Yaluma.
Posted by Editor
on March 10, 2014. Filed under LATEST NEWS.
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March 10, 2014 at 4:05 pm
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id!ot!
March 10, 2014 at 5:05 pm
Ni dodo manje iyi mwana!
jamakudi
March 10, 2014 at 10:50 pm
No comment.
Bullu
March 11, 2014 at 10:37 am
Ok, legalising illegal mining. Sounds like someone is running out of job creation ideas.
paya miner
March 11, 2014 at 1:31 pm
PF wants to ‘legalise’ mining so that many can die as they have no proper jobs for them. What a shame!
kaasai
March 11, 2014 at 3:16 pm
“People are scared of the deaf. They are convinced that we are possessed by evil spirits”, Dominic, a deaf man from Butembo City, tells us. The strong belief in magic in this part of the Congo means that he, like so many other deaf Congolese, is forced to live in isolation, de-humanised by his neighbours’ unwillingness to interact with him. As a result he is thrown into chaos.
For the deaf, this vibrant land of rich red soil and green green grass, offers only a silent and empty landscape amidst isolation and rejection. “My father despised me because I was deaf and he could not stand for me to have a life outside of the house. When I arrived home he threw me to the ground and beat me with a club full of nails. ” Kavira says, illuminating how even the families of the deaf can often fear and loath them.
Outside of the personal turmoil of their exclusion, there is another threat that hangs constantly over the deaf in the Congo, war. “We can tell that we do not suffer any more: we die.” Jean Bosco says when talking about the conflict that engulfs them and brings not only physical death, but also the inner death that comes from the rape and pillage that the soldiers wreak. Even this conflict is shrouded in mysticism as the Mai Mai fighters talk of their magical invincibility and weapons gifted from god. This is the strange other worldly universe that deaf people in the Congo are trapped in, one of magic and death and unbearable loneliness.
However, they are incredibly resilient. Despite the hardships they endure, some deaf Congolese never give up fighting for dignity and happiness. They make up 2% of the population and are constantly persecuted, they fight a war within a war.