The Suffering Of 6,000 Ex-Armcor Workers Who Are Still Unpaid

By Paul Shalala in Chingola

Armcor Guards

Unemployment in the mining town of Chingola is an everyday issue which some residents grapple with.

For some months now, 1, 000 Chingola-based former Armcor Security Company workers have been roaming the streets looking for jobs.

These workers are among six thousand from across the country who lost their jobs after Armcor was liquidated.

"We are now being laughed at. Our children have been sent away from school because we have failed to pay school fees," said Mischeck Chinyemba, a former Armcor worker.

Annie Lumuni is a former Supervisor at Armcor who also lost her job last year after serving the company for eight years.

She lives in Chingola’s mine area and has decided not to just sit and wait for her terminal benefits.

"I make crackers and sale to the public to earn a living. Life is hard here. Just this month we have lost two former workers. They have left their money," she said.

Following Armcor Security’s liquidation in 2014, Konkola Copper Mines which had contracted it to provide security at the mines, delivered cheques K1.1 billion kwacha to the Chingola District Commissioner’s office for the retrenched workers’ benefits.

But Acting Chingola District Commissioner Phillip Kalima declined to comment on the matter referring all queries to the liquidators.

 

And when reached for a comment, Armcor Security Company liquidator Felix Chisambo said the  cheques where in his possession.

Mr Chisambo said he was assessing each of the 6,000 former worker’s benefits before he can issue out individual letters and payments.