Civil Society Group, The Collectif, Calls on DRC Government to Strip Trafigura of Cobalt Deal
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo--(Newsfile Corp. - July 16, 2022) - The Collectif, environmental and social campaigners in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are calling on the country's prime minister to revoke a controversial cobalt agreement with Trafigura, the international commodity giant.
The "Collectif des Mouvements Citoyens, Leaders des Organisations des Jeunes et Jeunes Femmes" is a co-operative that includes 33 civil society groups based in the DRC.
The Collectif has written to prime minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde over allegations that the Trafigura deal breached strict laws designed to prevent corruption and bribery. The Collectif is calling on the DRC Government to take action over what the campaigners have branded a "violation of competition rules designed to prevent corruption and bribery in the DRC".
In November 2020, Trafigura signed a contract with Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC), a subsidiary of state-controlled mining company Gecamines, to market cobalt produced from artisanal mining zones. According to the terms of the deal, Trafigura will be able to purchase 50% of artisanal cobalt production in the country over a five-year period.
Trafigura will provide financing to fund the creation of artisanal mining zones, the installation of ore purchasing stations and costs related to the delivery of cobalt it receives.
The Collective believes that the award of this contract to Trafigura broke strict Congolese competition laws.
In an open letter the Collectif said: "The deal was made in secret and, as a result, rode roughshod over article 17 of the law n° 10/010 du 27 avril 2010, which stipulates that 'public contracts are awarded by invitation to tender'. There was no tender and Trafigura was therefore illegally awarded the contract.
"We fear that EGC's partnership with Trafigura will harm our country's international standing and, more importantly, be to the detriment of the 200,000 Congolese artisanal miners whose labour is the lifeblood of this country's economy."
The Collective has also said that the full details of the EGC-Trafigura agreement have not been published as required under DRC laws and international agreements on transparency to which the DRC is a signatory.
"This lack of transparency is troubling for such a high-profile project," the Collectif wrote in their letter to the prime minister.
The Collectif also raised concern about Trafigura's tarnished reputation worldwide, which it said should disqualify it from government contracts. The Collectif wrote: "We also harbour serious ethical concerns regarding Trafigura. The company is currently under formal investigation for corruption in Brazil and has been linked to corruption in many more countries, including Venezuela, Jamaica, Angola, Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo and South Sudan.