IS THERE ANY HELP FOR CHILOBE COMMUNITY? A mining firm has allegedly claimed a mine where locals were earning a living

WITH the prices of tin having nearly doubled on the London Metal Exchange (LME) from between US$18,184 and US$18,530 per tonne in October last year to trade somewhere between US$27,030 and US$32,950 per tonne, it is not strange that something that commentators close to the development are calling ugly is brewing in Chilobe, a small community in Zimba district.

The community is deep in Zimba’s Mapatizya area. The area is endowed with tin, a mineral whose price has steadily been skyrocketing on the LME recently to nearly three times more than the price of copper.

Tin is a soft, silvery white metal with a bluish tinge which is mixed with copper to get bronze. It is widely used for plating steel cans used as food containers, in metals used for bearings and in solder.

Following a report from Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) in Zimba that a mining corporation called Ostrich Mining and Exploration Limited had fenced off the Chilobe Mine where locals were earning a livelihood, Caritas Zambia, who were instrumental in helping the community legalise operations, embarked on a fact-finding mission to the area.

The intention was to get firsthand information of what was going on and make recommendations on the way forward. In his report, CCJP chairperson Joseph Kaluwe stated that the situation in Chilobe was tense. “It is a sad situation because the community depends on mining for their livelihood.” he said.

Minutes into the meeting with the community members, the gathering was nearly disrupted with scenes reminiscent of an action movie. Prince Muuzu, who is Ostrich Mining and Exploration Limited - Chilobe Mine site manager made quite an entrance with his Nissan pickup truck and wasted no time in asking who was chairing the meeting.

Visibly displeased, Mr. Muuzu who was locked in a heated discussion with Caritas Zambia programmes officer for economic and social accountability, Mando Chiundaponde claimed his company has an exploration and mining license to the area.

“How am I a bad person when I have allowed these people to mine here and sell to whomever? I haven’t chased them away even if I could if I wanted,” he was heard saying.

Well, let’s just say the back and forth went on for nearly 30 minutes before Mr. Muuzu cooled down, albeit after reaching a mutual understanding.

The background to the story is that Caritas Zambia discovered the group sometime in 2019 and since then, it has been helping the group in capacity building and also in the process of acquiring an artisanal mining license.

Through the Diakonia funded Strengthened Accountability Programme (SAP II) project, Caritas Zambia managed to help the community form a cooperative society and facilitated for the group to get a consent letter from Chief Simwatachela of the Tonga speaking people of Zimba district to facilitate the obtaining of the mining license.

Everything was going well until Ostrich Mining and Exploration Limited came along and claimed the site, and deprived the community of something they hoped would help turn their fortunes round.

Joseph Poipoi is the Chilobe Mining Co-operative society chairperson and says the group had made tremendous efforts in its pursuit for a license, before being duped at the very last minute. “We paid K900 and an additional K1,000 to the Ministry of Mines and officials from the ministry, including their regional manager (Dickson Banda) came here to get the coordinates for the mine,” says Mr. Poipoi.

Just when the community thought it would be given the license, it was later discovered that there was already a license holder in the name of Olibul Mining and Exploration whose licence was to expire in March 2021.

The community was made to wait for Olibul’s license to expire or get consent from it to permit them to go on site as artisanal miners. “But after March, we were surprised to see Ostrich Mining and Exploration coming to fence off the area and lay claim to the mine,” he says.

It is said Chief Simwatachela also gave Ostrich Mining and Exploration, a company owned by a named Rita Hoare who is reportedly Copperbelt based, a consent letter.

Whitewaters Development Trust (WDT) is also another organisation that has been working closely with the Chilobe community in trying to make sure that they have a sustainable livelihood. The organisation has offices in Zimba and Choma.

WDT director and senior trustee Jeffrey Mikunga says the organisation's thematic areas are climate change, sports development for youths, agriculture and tourism and mining. He also explains how they came to learn of the Chilobe community.

“When we went there, we found those people mining without safety measures and it got us worried and concerned. We started to try and legalise the process for them - it was an expensive venture so the quotation we got was somewhere around USD25,000 and we couldn't find people to help us with the moneys.

“When the government made things easier with the introduction of artisanal miners, that's how we resorted to the issue of co-operatives. The people of Chilobe did that and the final step was the application for an artisanal mining license using the co-operative certificate,” he says.

Mr. Mikunga who is also a magistrate at the Zimba local court says Olibul, the previous license holders had even prepared a well thought out Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the community.

“But due to hostility, Olibul decided to pull out of the area. We don’t know whether along the way, some people from the Ministry of Mines sold the information that we found on the ground to other people - but that’s how the community has seemingly lost out,” he says.

He said his team has been in contact with the Ministry of Mines to resolve the impasse before it escalates into what he termed as “something embarrassing to the Government and Chief Simwatachela”.

In his letter to the ministry dated March 16, 2021, Mr. Mikunga said: “...unfortunately Hon. Minister, this Co-operative and a population of over one thousand locals of Chilobe area which is under Chalimongela ward in Zimba district are under threat of being displaced due to a mining investor in the name of Ostrich Mining and Exploration Company whom we understand has been given a mining license. The company wants to fence off the entire area thus displacing them.

The letter continued: “White waters Development Trust has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chilobe Mining Co-operative in which it has been given the Power of Attorney. We are now imploring you Honourable Minister to clear this impasse and see how best the community can benefit from the natural resource endowed in their area or from the  putative owners and avoid displacement of these people who were earlier displaced in 1955 during construction of the Kariba Dam and they were not compensated. I would also like to inform you that the locals have been mining since 1963 illegally and formalization was done recently due to the new Government Policy on artisanal mining to benefit the Locals.”

Mr. Mikunga says he had assurances from Mr. Musukwa that the matter had been escalated and a response would be given even before parliament is dissolved.

“That is why we haven’t even decided to go to court yet because we believe we can resolve this matter amicably otherwise we are ready to challenge these actions, but first we get a response from the ministry,” he says.

He wondered how Ostrich Mining and Explorations Limited could have a mining license even before satisfying the conditions of an explorations license.

Efforts to get a comment from Ms. Hoare proved futile as her phone went unanswered. “We also don’t understand how Chief Simwatachela gave consent letters to two different people. In fact, we are even told there is someone else with a consent letter from him as well,” he says.

Caritas Zambia programmes officer Chepa Lesa who also held a meeting with Zimba town council secretary says the organisation wants to get to the bottom of the matter before it can recommend a way forward.

She says efforts will be made to have a round table meeting between all parties involved to see how to make sure that the community is not left out. “The idea is to see how we can resolve this matter among the parties involved here before going to the community. Those are our people and we need to go there with one voice and make sure that they are protected,” she says.

The Zimba Town Council is also aware of the mining activities in the district but it has very scanty information regarding the statistics.

Coster Mutandi is the council secretary. He says there is a gap between the council and the ministry of mines when it comes to the issuance of mining licenses.

“We feel sidelined because we just hear of activities happening in certain areas without our knowledge really. That is the reason why we have invited the Ministry of Mines regional manager Mr. Banda to our next full council meeting to come and educate and sensitise the house on how they go about with the issuance of licenses,” he says.

He says the council wants to come up with a clear register of all the mining activities in the district and how they are benefiting the local communities.

“We have noticed that many of these mining companies are not even ploughing back to the communities they are working in. It is our wish that any mining company operating here has a well thought out corporate social responsibility plan. That way, the communities and us as a council will benefit in a way,” he says.

Estely Siambalo is one of the Chilobe community members. All her life has evolved around the community.

The community comprises about 254 people of which 98 are males and 156 females. For a livelihood, the community has been relying hugely on mining tin, of course using unconventional means and a little bit of farming. “We don’t do as much farming here because of the soil and landscape. We keep a few livestock such as chickens and goats too,” says Ms. Siambalo.

This article was published in the Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper on 18, August, 2021. You can find it on this link http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/is-there-any-help-for-chilobe-community/

JOSEPH MOYO: how one man has defied sickness to protect girls

IMAGINE you have two chronic illnesses, one of which has left you confined to a wheelchair and another has people looking at you weirdly and wondering what is just wrong with you because it is somehow strange.

Also add the fact that doctors have advised you to continually rest and do absolutely nothing, but the passion and dedication to work won’t just let you.

That is what Joseph Moyo, founder and director of The African Woman Foundation (TAWF) has had to live with since 2011.

Mr Moyo was in 2011 diagnosed with chronic back pain and chronic intractable hiccups at the Livingstone Central hospital.

“I began to have continuous pains in my spine in 2011 and the same way, I developed this condition of hiccups. They [Livingstone Central hospital] tried to treat my back pain and hiccups with some medicines, but they never stopped,” he says.

Sometime in May or June of 2016, Mr Moyo flew to the USA to seek medical attention at Florida Hospital in Altamonte Springs in Florida.

“I was admitted to that hospital for almost a year because my condition wasn’t getting any better,” he says. “The improvement was minimal.”

He says: “I could walk a bit with the aid of a walker, until they prescribed me a wheelchair and declared me temporarily disabled.  I don’t know when I will be okay.”

Mr Moyo lives on therapeutic drugs time and again.

Talking is not without challenges either because of his hiccups. “Sometimes when I am in the bank or anywhere public, people tend to wonder what is wrong with me because I am always constantly hiccupping. Sometimes, you have people look at you in a certain discomforting way,” he says.

Since then, Mr Moyo usually flies back and forth between Zambia and the USA for his medication – of course now, given the current scenario, flying is a risk too.

He has, on several occasions, been advised by doctors to rest and “do nothing at all”.

But he has defied those doctors’ orders and says: “I have dedicated my last breath here on earth to change the perception that people and society have towards the girl child.”

He adds, “I am determined to use my days on earth to contribute towards ensuring a better future for the girl child so that they may in turn contribute towards the growth of the country and continent as a whole.”

A father of three – two daughters and one son [Leifer], Mr Moyo says he decided to found and register TAWF in 2018 because of the challenges faced by his daughters Cara, 31 and Mara, 28 in a society where men who could approach them and tell them they loved them were in fact only interested in using them for sex.

“Plus, wherever, they would go to visit, my daughters would be made to believe that their value was in sex and child bearing only. That made me angry and made me relook the approach, especially in Africa.

“That, coupled with the experiences I had while working for the United Nations, I discovered that a girl child in Africa was being raised for sex and child bearing,” he says.

TAWF was first registered in the USA in the State of Florida in 2018, with another office being in Washington D.C.

Even though it was registered in the USA, Mr Moyo says its lenses of focus are focused on Africa.

To this day, TAWF has 176 satellite offices across Africa in various communities where women organize themselves and register with their respective local authorities and operate under the core values of the mother body.

“The USA offices are just for logistics in terms of shipping aid and finances,” he says. “We exist to change how society treats women through education, by changing how a boy child is raised in a home and also by changing how a girl child is raised in a home.”

Mr Moyo is of the view that challenges being faced by the girl child in society are as a result of how they [including the boy child] are raised in a home. To change this, he says both girls and boys are supposed to be raised as equal sexes in a home.

“That way, once the boy child grows up and goes into society, he will know that girls are not groomed and raised to be a subject of the boy but as an independent human being and equal partner to development,” he says.

TAWF also exists to empower women with knowledge to understand some of the legislation that protects them whereas empowering the endangered girls with education.

To date, TAWF has sent over 7,000 young women and girls to go to school across Africa to various colleges and universities so that once they attain education, they can be independent and empowered enough to contribute to the growth of the continent.

“Many women are abused by men who feel they own their survival,” he says. “We visit various colleges and universities to talk to scholars on these matters and identify those that are struggling with fees so that we help them. Others come to us through Facebook requesting help, and we help them and we are still helping a lot of young girls and families here in Livingstone.”

Mr Moyo who is married to his wife of 32 years, Evelyn was born on September 3, 1965 in Chibombo district in Chief Mungule’s area. He is number six in a family eight which consisted of three girls and five boys – two of whom have since passed on.

“Most of my childhood, I did not have the priviledge of having and knowing a father. My father [John Moyo] died when I was very young, leaving my mother [Anita Mthimkulu] and my grandmother to raise us, something that wasn’t easy,” he says.

He attended Mbosha Primary School in Chibombo from 1972 to 1979. After passing his Grade Seven exams, he was selected to go to St. Paul’s Secondary School but couldn’t go there due to finances and then opted to go to Mumbwa Secondary School for his grade eight, nine and ten before enrolling at Wisdom Secondary School in Lusaka, which was owned by a Mr Handabu for his final two grades.

“After completing school, I went back home in Mbosha and became an untrained teacher at my former school Mbosha Primary somewhere in 1986. I enjoyed my stay there,” he says.

Soon after, with the help of then Katuba Member of Parliament [a Mr Laima], Mr Moyo in 1988 got a job in the now defunct Special Investigation Team for Economy and Trade (SITET) which was a government security agency that worked hand in hand with the Ministry of Finance and was posted to Livingstone.

“The duty was to check compliance in foreign currency trading, corruption and also check on whether businesses where adhering to the sanctions that President Kenneth Kaunda had imposed on South Africa resulting from apartheid. Basically, we were ensuring that public workers lived within their means,” he says.

Mr Moyo has a Diploma in International Relations from the University of Alabama, a Bachelor's Degree International Relations from the University of Florida, a Degree in Family Life Education from the University of Florida, a Diploma in in Social Work, a Diploma in Gender Studies and he is today, a certified member of the Centre for Family Life Education, a USA regulatory body for family life educators.

He has previously worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and spent most of his time in Angola and Rwanda. Apart from working there, he is also a human rights activist and is the founder of the United Nations Human Rights Association in Zambia where he, together with the likes of Dr Sipula Kabanje, Dr Irvin Devalia, Vernon Mwaanga and others were educating people on issues of human rights.

A committed Seventh Day Adventist member, Mr Moyo in 2003 founded the Lifestyle Health Foundation (LHF) which used to promote good healthy lifestyles and sponsor children to school. The organisation grew and got registered in the USA, Cambodia and India.

DJ CORE ISN'T JOKING: T Sean's talented brother tests waters

WHEN DJ Core, born Desmond Mulenga released his self produced first single titled Joke in May last year, perhaps not many took him seriously.

But after following up his first release with three more singles within months, perhaps it is right and befitting to lend the budding artiste whose elder brother T Sean (Richard Mulenga) is a household name, an ear.

We caught up with the talented music producer who recently released a single titled Umulwele. The released song which featured Kas D Troy, Slim the Hitmaker and Goodson Chizo was released together with a top class music video.

“I would say that I technically started music last year in May when I released my first single which was called Joke. I will be clocking a year in the industry very soon,” he says while emphasising that the desire had always been there. “It was just a matter of time before I would go into it full swing.”

Growing up, DJ Core whose other alias is Dees Law, had always loved music. “I remember growing up, we would normally practice together with my brother T Sean and my immediate young sister from time to time. So yeah, I have always had the passion for music,” he says.

He says had he not been a music producer, DJ Core would have probably been a full time artiste manager.

“That is all out of the love I have for music,” he says. DJ Core has mostly been working as T Sean’s deejay at shows, something he is grateful for.

“The experience has been great.. I am learning a lot and I am grateful for the opportunity,” he says. His second single was Ikumbatefye and it featured Bow Chase and Jedi. It received quite an overwhelming response from both radio and club deejays.

He then went on to record, produce and release his third single which was titled Ecstasy. On the project, he featured his brother T Sean, Kas D Troy and XYZ affiliate rapper Camster.

“Then there is also this new single Umulwele, which I am currently promoting. So far, I am impressed with my works and the latest project is so dear to me because, not only did I work with exceptional people, but it came with a video which is a huge landmark for me because it’s my first ever music video,” he says.

DJ Core says he receives so much love from the fans and assures that he will not be a one hit wonder - he is here to stay.

“I am unique in my own way because I make beats and produce apart from the usual disc jockeying works. I call myself DJ Core as an artiste and Dees Law is my other moniker that is mostly limited for business and company use,” he says.

Having been in the shadow of an established artiste in the form of his brother, DJ Core seems to have seen it all and understands how hard it is to break through in the industry.

In the same vein, he has some advice for upstarts wishing to make the top drawer in the game.

“I have worked with many top drawer acts in the game such as T Sean, T Bwoy, Bow Chase, Camstar, Slim the Hitmaker, Kas D Troy, 4D, Jedi and Goodson Chizo. My advice to other upstarts is to simply say that everything is possible. Just be focused and determined in life and know your target and goals,” he says.

He says he will release an album in due course as soon as he has established a fan base.

DJ Core was born on May 4, 1994 in Kitwe to Memory Banda and Robert Mulenga. He is the second born in a family of seven.

“I have been brought up by two lovely families. My parents split when I was quite young so most of my childhood involved moving back and forth between Kitwe and Lusaka,” he says.

He attended Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula primary school in Lusaka and also Chiwala Secondary school in Ndola.

After completing his secondary education in 2015, DJ Core then enrolled at Evelyn Hone College in 2017 where he pursued a three year diploma in Science Laboratory Technology course.

“Being in college was an amazing experience. I learnt a lot of things, not only academic wise. During my stay in school, I was solely focused on school and I hadn’t gone into music by then, even though I would from time to time join to support my brother at shows. My commitment to music then wasn’t as it is today,” he says.

DJ Core is also grateful to his parents and the family for their unwavering support throughout his musical journey.

He says: “Few parents in Zambia support music and I know that had I gone into music before going to college, my parents would not have allowed me. So I had to do what my parents wanted me to do. Only then did I take the step that I took - which was to follow my heart and pursue music much as I am still a professional scientist.”