This is very sad, that so many are wasting money and effort.
Don’t we know that houses are supposed to resist the weather?
We all know that poverty and desperation can drive people to reckless acts-but we must learn by our mistakes!
In Zambia there is a tendency for everyone to believe that they have the expertise to do (almost) anthing.
I remember at the Ndola public swimming pool on a hot day many years ago, witnessing someone who could not swim-jump into the deep end-because he saw everyone else swimming.
He nearly drowned.
Houses and all building construction requires expertise and care to get it right.
The local authorities who are supposed to control who builds, where they can build and how they build have allowed chaos into the construction industry-not just among the poor-but where massive expensive buildings end up as dangerous structures.
Today in Zambia anyone designs, anyone builds and no one supervises and is accountable for the finished works.
This applies to about 95 per cent of all construction works.
Rules and regulations are corrupted and chaos reigns.
Until people are punished for ignoring the law, particularly those who are supoosed to be implementing the law-things will get much worse-and there is a heavy price to be paid for this careless behaviour.
NEVILLE RAVENSDALE
Ndola
