African Mining January 2022 | Page 17

COUNTRY IN FOCUS •

Covid-19 didn ’ t do Lungu any favours and as socio-economic conditions deteriorated and mining output stagnated , the unemployed youth started getting restless . Change was in the air way before voting day on 12 August 2021 as a record number of new voters registered for the election to make their voices heard . Suddenly there was a glimpse of genuine change and new hope for Zambia .

A victory to celebrate This should have been an early warning sign that things might not turn out as Lungu ’ s Patriotic Front had hoped . Despite all the ruling party ’ s efforts to prevent Hichilema from becoming president ( after five previous failed attempts ), his rise to the throne will be celebrated as exuberantly by the people in Zambia , as it would by members of his United Party for National Development , and of course , the business fraternity and foreign investors .

Hichilema is an accomplished businessman and not a political ideologue . With four ranches to his name , he is the second largest cattle rancher in Zambia . His company is one of the biggest suppliers of meat to the local Zambian market , as well as one of Zambia ’ s biggest exporters of hard-currency-earning beef products .

Furthermore , Hichilema holds substantial investments in Zambia ’ s tourism sector . International markets reacted favourably to the final results , and a few days after Hichilema ’ s historic win was made public , the Zambian kwacha became the world ’ s best performing currency when it made significant gains against the dollar , at one stage appreciating by 7.8 % to 17.92 per dollar .

Economic reform on the cards Hichilema took no time to make it clear that economic reform is on the cards , and the markets will watch in keen anticipation . According to Bloomberg , investors are betting Hichilema will be able to secure an International Monetary Fund economic program and associated USD1.3-billion loan sooner rather than later .

Years of overspending by Lungu ’ s government has wrecked the Zambian economy and resulted in the government defaulting on its external debt .

Against this background Bloomberg reports that the large copper producers are ready to get their expansion projects , worth almost USD2-billion , back onto track if the industry can reach an agreement on royalties with president-elect Hichilema ’ s new administration .

“ Companies including First Quantum Minerals and EMR Capital are ready to raise funding for the projects , while other producers need to spend “ hundreds of millions of dollars ” in capital that they ’ d held back since 2019 because of tax changes that deterred investment , the Zambia Chamber of Mines said .”

The return of stability and a measure of certainly in Zambia will do wonders for new investment in the entire Southern African region , which is still on the backfoot because of the global pandemic .

Hichilema ’ s victory is proof that the democracy remains strong in this neck of the woods with Zambia ’ s immediate neighbours Botswana , the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ), Tanzania , Angola , Mozambique , Malawi and to a lesser extent Zimbabwe , all enjoying some form of revival after a disastrous 2020 , exacerbated by Covid-19 . All eyes will be on Zambia next year , as the slumbering copper giant stirs . •

The return of stability and a measure of certainly in Zambia will do wonders for new investment in the entire Southern African region .

All photos : © Leon Louw

Copper being mined at one of the large mines in the Copperbelt of Zambia .