“You'll Be Fired if You Refuse” - Human Rights Watch

quote was virtually identical to one given by a Mines Safety Department official in one of
the reports from 2007 mentioned above. He said:
You will find that somebody has gone mad and developed 20 metres,
because you know most of the development is now done by contractors
who are paid by the metre, so they go mad developing and they leave
people exposed without support in the roof sheets…. Sure enough you go
there and you find someone is just scratching their heads—and they say,
“sorry, I was under pressure.” So, my biggest worry is the use of
contractors. When I joined the mines, all the work used to be done by the
mining companies themselves…. But with the coming of the new
investors, they believe in out-sourcing. To me some of it has got to
ridiculous lengths. It was all done for the sake of reducing the labour costs
and overheads. The mines come to an arrangement with the contractors
that they pay them so much for the work done. 213
KCM has a code of ethics for contractors which states that they must abide by applicable
laws and regulations as well as the company’s “high moral ethical and legal standards.” 214
Government’s Mines Safety Department
Miners who spoke to Human Rights Watch repeatedly deplored the ineffectiveness of the
Mines Safety Department (MSD), a government body under the Ministry of Mines and Minerals
Development that is based in the Copperbelt town of Kitwe. The Mines Safety Department
employs inspectors who are meant to ensure that the various mining operations conform to
the strict regulations under Zambian law, but it appears ill-equipped or unwilling to play the
strong role needed to ensure that mining operations protect miners’ health and safety.
Prof. John Lungu, an expert on the copper industry at Copperbelt University in Kitwe, told
Human Rights Watch:
The mine inspector is supposed to be a watchdog. But they just sit, they
just stay at their office; they don’t do random checks. Part of this is a lack of
personnel and funding, which comes from the government’s will…. There
213 Frasier and Lungu, For Whom the Windfalls, p. 24.
214 Konkola Copper Mines, Code of Ethics, http://www.kcm.co.zm/index.php?option=com_content &view=article&id=56&Itemid=69
(accessed September 26, 2011).
“YOU’LL BE FIRED IF YOU REFUSE” 68