Last August, Hichilema and his UPND won the majority vote on the Copperbelt, their very first-ever, a feat which propelled them to power and condemned to defeat the former ruling Patriotic Front in what was previously a stronghold province.
The Copperbelt hosts Zambia’s two biggest mines – Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), the two biggest formal employers in Zambia after the government. They are also the two oldest mining units with an average age of 85 years.
After the privatisation of the mines in the late 1990s, fresh capital and a rally in prices in the 2000s saw Zambia’s production pick up and the country became Africa’s top copper miner.
