By LEE MPUNDU in Chisamba –
A FIFTY ONE-YEAR-OLD father of seven, who worked for 20 years at Ellensdale Farm in Lusaka’s Ngwerere area, is a happy man now that his nine-year battle to get his terminal benefits is over.
Stephen Tembo of Mupamapamo in Chisamba District says he can now sigh with relief after his former employer agreed to pay him his dues, in addition to roofing sheets.
In addition, Mr Tembo has been asked him to look for a residential plot in an area of his choice.
Mr Tembo, who is married with seven children, started work at Ellensdale Farm in 1985 as a pump man-irrigator before becoming a supervisor three years later. He left employment in 2002 on medical grounds.
“My health was failing me and, therefore, I made several visits to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka where I was subsequently issued with a medical discharge certificate by the Chinese doctors,” Mr Tembo said.
He said when he presented the medical certificate to the farm director he seemingly was not amused because he sensed he was going to pay thousands of Kwacha in terminal benefits.
“Instead of sympathising with my situation, the director started coaxing me to return for work by extolling my virtues as a hard worker and that he still needed my services,” Mr Tembo said.
“After a sustained campaign in 2003 he succeeded in luring me back into employment and I signed a three-year contract as a supervisor.
“But upon completion of the contract and realising the folly I had made of myself by returning for work as a sick man, I quit in 2006 and continued pushing for my benefits.”
However, this time the ‘suspicious’ director, in an apparent act of intimidation, knew that Mr Tembo was in a much stronger bargaining position than before and demanded to see the people who had authored the medical certificate.
“In my wisdom, I did not respond to the demand of my former boss but prayed that he would one day come down to business and see the justness of my cause,” Mr Tembo said.
True to Mr Tembo’s expectation, the director has responded positively to his demands and he hopes that this time around he (director) will honour his side of the bargain.  “I am greatly relieved my former boss has made a concrete promise to pay me my benefits in 30 days but it has been a long, hard wait,” Mr Tembo.