Billionaire’s Seized Mines Pose Quandary for New Zambian Leader
President Hichilema must decide on whether to return assets, or prolong three-year legal dispute.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema speaks at the opening of the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town earlier this month.
Photographer: Dwayne Senior/BloombergZambia’s new business-friendly president faces a dilemma: risk a political backlash by returning mining shafts seized from an Indian company his mines minister once labeled as the nation’s worst-ever investor, or prolong a three-year legal dispute over one of its most important assets.
Hakainde Hichilema, who won power in August, has yet to say what he’ll do to revive Konkola Copper Mines Plc -- key to realizing his ambition of more than doubling national output of the metal within five years and rebooting the debt-stricken economy.