DOES DICTATOR HICHILEMA HAVE A HAND IN THE MUFULIRA BLACK MOUNTAIN TROUBLES ? Good evening. The Zambian Whistleblower has been waiting for Zambians to digest the news of how Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) insulted Kankoyo United Party for National Development (UPND) member of Parliament Heartson Mabeta over developments at the Mufulira minerals slag dump known as Black Mountain. MCM Chief Executive Officer Charles Sakanya, through his Corporate Affairs Manager, Nebert Mulenga, told off Mabeta for simply announcing that he would meet the MCM management over the troubles between the mine and Zambian artisanal mine licence holders. So far nobody has come out with the truth over this matter because they are afraid of facing the ugly truth. Even MP Mabeta is skirting around the real issue. This is a simple matter of UPND senior leaders' corporate greed gone wild. The documents we publish tonight help tell the story. The four Zambian individuals so far mentioned, Febian Mubuyaeta, Faith Mushongo, Georgina Muleya Mwansa and Voster Hampako, were granted artisanal mining licences by the Ministey of Mines early in January, 2025. They had applied for their licences on an area which had been held by a company called Jubilee Metals. This company's licence was later rendered non compliant. The four applied to the Ministry of Mines Cadastre portal, online, and were given licences, as can be seen in the certificates given to ZWB and published on this page. On 17th January, 2025, all four of them were granted written authority to commence their mining activities at the Mufulira Black Mountain. They proceeded to present their papers to the Zambia Police for security escort to the slag dump to prepare for commencement. Further proof that these licence holders had been given specific areas to mine was provided by a letter written to Mopani Copper Mines by the Mines Safety Department on 20th January, 2025, over its illegal dumping activities. The letter, signed by Senior Inspector of Mines, Engineer Kashimu Brian Mulewa, referenced a boundary verification exercise done in the presence of four named MCM officials. The exercise found that MCM was dumping waste in four mining areas, listed as numbers 39380, 39381, 39385 and 39377, which did not belong to the company. "As you are aware, and as the records show from Cadastre Mining Department, Madam Faith Mushongo, Mr Febian Mubuyaeta, Mr Voster Hampako and Madam Georgina Muleya Mwansa, are the licence holders respectively of the four artisanal mining rights granted under this Act and your actions are in direct breach of the conditions of the grant of licence issued by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development to Madam Faith Mushongo, Mr Febian Mubuyaeta, Mr Voster Hampako and Madam Georgina Muleya Mwansa." "Furthermore, your actions amount to illegal dumping of materials in another's licence area," the letter stated. In simple language, these four Zambian citizens followed the law and applied for artisanal mining licences in areas that became avaliable because the licence held by a company called Jubilee Metals had been found non compliant. They got their licences and written authorisation to commence mining activities. Imagine their shock then when suddenly, police officers accompanying them to the area were withdrawn, and all four of them were blocked from entering their licenced lots, because Mopani Copper Mines is claiming them as its own. They have tried everything and have failed, hence they approached MP Mabeta for help to talk to MCM which now is claiming those four areas fall under its licence. The biggest shock is news that this action to block them has been sanctioned by Minister of Mines Paul Kabuswe and Permanent Secretary Kabeta Muleya. But how is that even possible? Would clueless Paul Kabuswe have the guts, nor pompous Kabeta Muleya have the personal cheek, to stand in the way of citizens- empowerment in this manner? The answer is a big NO. They can only do this on orders from their superior. Even "Caretaker CEO" Charles Sakanya can only be this rude to Mabeta knowing he is backed by the most powerful interests in this government. Evidence? Know how to read your media outlets. There is one private media outlet favoured by State House to break its critical stories for controlled narrative. For example, the government has said only that the four artisanal mining licences given to these Zambians were cancelled by Minister of Mines Paul Kabuswe, but has not given reasons for such cancellation. Here is what the ZWB has learnt. All this is tied to how the government structured the deal to give MCM majority stake to International Resources Holdings (IRH of Abu Dhabi), the investors who have up to now failed to inject the promised $1.5B into MCM operations, probably awaiting injection from these secret Zambian interest who could be banking on the proceeds from the slag dump. This deal has long been suspected to have secret Zambian shareholders, whose identities Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) President Edith Nawakwi speculated about in one briefing shortly after the deal was announced. It is now understood that the Zambian shareholders had cleverly built into this deal the use of proceeds from the Mufulira Black Mountain as contribution for their share of MCM. Jubilee Metals was to be the vehicle for raising these funds. Knowing very well that when selling assets, the government does not include wastes(dump sites), the dump site was not listed. Before Jubilee Metals, the slag dump was owned by Brustan a foreign company. But after acquiring its intetest in the black mountain, Jubilee Metals went to sleep and its licence became non compliant, resulting in the said citizens applying for the same. They were issued with licences because it was done online and there were no faces attached. When the real owners realised Jubilee Metals had lost the areas, and the dump site areas, the political and business powers behind Jubilee Metals became enraged, and panic set in at the Ministry of Mines. Kabuswe and Kabeta Muleya have to fashion a reason to cancel these four artisanal mining licences, without confirming that the UPND government is promoting interests of a group of elite business people, at the expense of empowering ordinary citizens. The big question is this: can any of these things be done by these two officials at the Ministry of Mines, without the knowledge of Outgoing Dictator Hakainde Hichilema, the consummate micromanager? Can you really believe that Outgoing Dictator Hichilema, who had a hand in the process of bringing IRH to invest in MCM, allow anything to spoil this deal? Think on these things. Get in touch with us on WhatsApp +263786654620 John 8:32 "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Goodnight. #zambianwhistleblower #zwb ©️ Zambian Whistleblower (ZWB).