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22 February, 2012
Oswell Munyenyembe, the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia (MUZ) President since November 2011, was killed in an automobile crash on the Kitwe-Ndola motorway on 7 February in the southern African nation. The ICEM mourns his passing and recognises Brother Munyenyembe’s long service to the MUZ, and expresses deep condolences to the MUZ in this difficult time.
He was 59.
His funeral was held in Mufulira on 11 February. Zambia President Michael Sata said the “sudden loss is already being felt by both the employees and the management in our robust mining sector.” Sata called his “bravery, courage and maturity even in crucial moments … peerless.”
The National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMSW) President Mundia Sikufele urged Zambia’s labour movement to stop and reflect on the death. MUZ General Secretary Chishimba Nkole said the death leaves a big gap in one of the nation’s oldest unions and he urged mourners to look after his children and widow.
Oswell Munyenyembe
Munyenyembe is survived by six children and his wife Charity. Born in Muyombe in 1954, he did his secondary education in Malawi and studied architecture at Zambia Institute of Technology, now called Copperbelt University. Munyenyembe worked as a draftsman for the then Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), and continued his union activism while working at Mopani Copper.
He held various positions in the MUZ for the past 24 years, including one short period previously as president, and since 2006 served as general secretary. He started in 1988 as a shop steward for the MUZ Butondo branch at ZCCM and became chairman for the MUZ Mufulira branch in 1990. He won election unopposed as President of MUZ on 4 November 2011.
Oswell Munyenyembe was a passenger in a Toyota Prada that was operated by his driver when the vehicle lost control and overturned. He died enroute to the Wusakile Hospital in Kitwe.