Hichilema Warns Mopani Copper Mines Over Unpaid Pensioner Benefits

By Zambian Economist Analyst

President Hakainde Hichilema has ordered Mopani Copper Mines to resolve outstanding pensioner and worker payments “with immediate effect,” warning that government will step in if the company fails to act.

Addressing residents of Mufulira on the Copperbelt, President Hichilema said unresolved dues at Mopani had gone on long enough. He directed the mining company to award more contracts to Zambian firms, particularly youth-owned businesses, and said his government had created one million jobs over the past four years and eleven months, including positions in the mining sector.

The President used the same rally, held five days before Zambia’s 13 August general election, to pledge that a re-elected UPND government would complete the Mufulira-Ndola road, the Mufulira-Mokambo road, Mufulira District Hospital and the Kamuchanga market. He said government was aware of the district’s water challenges and would address them.

What “outstanding issues” means at Mopani

Neither the President nor Mopani put a figure on what is owed to pensioners and workers, and the company had not issued a public response to the directive at the time of writing. Pension arrears tied to Mopani’s operations are not new on the Copperbelt: in 2023, Kitwe City Council cleared benefits owed to 53 retirees only after Mopani settled K87.4 million it owed the local authority, a reminder of how the mine’s payment obligations can back up through several layers before reaching individual pensioners.

Mopani is 51% owned by the UAE’s International Resources Holding (IRH), which bought its stake for $1.1 billion in 2024, with ZCCM Investments Holdings, the state’s mining investment vehicle, holding the remaining 49%. The company has since committed roughly $300 million to lifting output at its Mufulira operations, and a safety-related suspension at the mine earlier this year, following two worker deaths, was lifted within weeks once new underground tracking systems were installed. A pensioner dispute breaking during an election campaign puts a different kind of pressure on a company whose growth plans depend on staying in government’s good graces.

Testing the one-million-jobs claim

President Hichilema’s jobs figure is a government estimate, not one Zambian Economist could independently verify against a single published dataset at the time of writing. The Zambia Statistics Agency’s labour force releases and the Chamber of Mines’ annual reports are the two sources that would ordinarily be checked against a claim of this size, and neither has yet published a count that matches it directly. What is documented is that national copper output rose to roughly 890,000 tonnes in 2025, up 8% on the year before, with government targeting 3 million tonnes annually by 2031. Expansion at that scale requires more labour, but an expansion plan and a delivered jobs count are not the same thing, and mining is only one slice of a claim that spans the whole economy.

Infrastructure pledges: promises, not budget lines

The road, hospital and market commitments made in Mufulira share one feature: none came with a costed budget line, a funding source or a completion date. That is consistent with how Zambian Economist has assessed similar campaign-season pledges elsewhere this cycle, including the harbour and border post commitments made in Shangombo. The test for Mufulira residents will be whether these appear as costed items in a future national budget rather than remain rally announcements.

Business, investor and policy implications

For business

The directive to award more contracts to Zambian companies, particularly youth-owned firms, signals an intent to widen local subcontracting on the Copperbelt. Businesses positioning for mine-services work should treat this as a cue to register interest with Mopani’s procurement office rather than a guaranteed pipeline, since no quota or timeline was announced.

For investors

A public presidential warning aimed at a majority foreign-owned strategic asset, five days before a national election, is a signal markets will read for what it says about the state’s willingness to intervene in commercial disputes. IRH’s investment case for Mopani rests on steady output growth at Mufulira; unresolved labour obligations are a cost and reputational risk sitting alongside that growth story, one this Zambian Economist analysis of copper’s job-creation potential flagged as a recurring tension in the sector.

For policy

The episode tests how government balances two roles at once: minority shareholder in Mopani through ZCCM-IH, and regulator with the power to intervene if pensioner obligations go unmet. How that tension is resolved after 13 August, regardless of who wins, will matter more to Copperbelt households than the rally itself. It also sits inside the wider question this campaign has raised about the affordability of manifesto pledges, one Zambian Economist has tracked as parties compete on promises heading into 13 August.

Key takeaways

• President Hichilema has given Mopani Copper Mines an ultimatum to resolve pensioner and worker payment issues, with a threat of government intervention if it does not.
• No figure for the amount owed, and no company response, had been published at the time of writing.
• The one-million-jobs claim covering nearly five years of UPND government is a government estimate not yet matched by an independently published dataset.
• Road, hospital and market pledges for Mufulira carry no disclosed budget or timeline; the test will be whether they appear in a future national budget.

For a full side-by-side of both campaigns, see our analysis comparing Hichilema’s record with Mundubile’s Tonse Alliance platform.

Related: How the Emoluments Commission is preparing Copperbelt stakeholders for the Pension Laws of 2026.

Related: NAPSA pays K9.1 million in interest free pension advances to 565 pensioners.