About 8 200 mining jobs in Zambia have been lost since December as the global economic crisis sends copper prices down, hitting Zambia’s main export, the mineworkers’ union said on Monday.
”This number includes those that work for the mines and some who work for companies that are directly linked to the mines,” said Rayford Mbulu, president of the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia.
He voiced concern that more retrenchments are still to come.
The job cuts are already causing ripple effects, as laid-off mineworkers are unable to afford school fees for their youngsters, Mbulu added.
”Children are no longer in schools and the fear is that crime and prostitution may rise,” he said.
Lawmakers representing copper-mining regions said severance benefits paid out to those dismissed were paltry.
”The problem is that many were in big debts, and so all the monies have again been taken away from them,” member of Parliament Wylbur Simuusa told AFP.
Zambia’s economy is dependent on copper exports. With some of the world’s largest copper reserves, the metal accounts for 80% of Zambia’s export earnings.
On Friday copper for delivery in three months traded at $3 420 a tonne, less than half the price in June last year. — Sapa-AFP