Dangote Cement’s Zambian
subsidiary has sued the country’s labour minister for libel and slander after
he accused an executive of the company of attempting to bribe him.
A row has been brewing
between Zambia and Dangote Cement after the minister made the allegations in
September.
Dangote said in papers filed
in court that the minister had created an impression that the company was
exploiting Zambian workers and enticing government officials with bribes.
“The plaintiff has been
brought into public scandal and its reputation has been injured,” Dangote said
in a writ of summons dated October 10.
The dispute appears to be the
latest in a string of incidents in which the southern African nation’s
government has resorted to unorthodox tactics against foreign investors it
believes are circumventing labour laws.
Dangote Industries Zambia
(DIZ) has 400 workers building a $400 million cement plant, a staff count that
should rise to 2,000 when production starts in November.
During a tour of the plant in
Ndola, the minister of labour, Fackson Shamenda, said a Nigerian executive
attached to the Zambian unit tried to bribe him at a hotel.
The company described the
allegations as “malicious misinformation” and denied the corruption and bribery
claims.
A year ago, Zambia revoked
the work permit of the chief executive of Konkola Copper Mines, owned by
London-listed Vedanta Resources, and threatened to rip up its mining licence
when the firm announced plans to lay off 1,500 workers
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