. Mwanza

By CHUSA SICHONE –
MARGARET Mwanza has been pleading with God to intervene in her situation.
But she feels her creator is taking long to answer her prayers and thus at times she thinks the only way to end her suffering is by taking her life!
Her life and that of her dependants turned miserable when she lost her husband Levious Mwanza in 2007 after a long illness.
Mr Mwanza was among the 1,109 Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC) workers retrenched on April 30, 1991. He died before receiving his terminal benefits.
He is among the 98 (as at end of October, 2015) former ZSIC employees who have died without receiving their dues despite the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) and Supreme Court ruling in their favour.
There is a likelihood that the number of deceased persons could be more than 98 as only 497 out of the 1, 109 retrenched workers have appeared as complainants and are members of the ZSIC 1991 Retrenchees Committee chaired by Elias Mwila.
For 25 years, the former ZSIC employees have been pushing for their terminal benefits. They are demanding to be paid K34 million with interest.
In March, 2008, owing to frustration, the irate workers attempted to march to State House to meet the President but were intercepted by police along the way.
They ended up spending a night at Lusaka Central Police Station.
Ms Mwanza was among those detained. Although the family was having difficulties while Mr Mwanza was still alive, the situation has worsened.
As things stand, there are times when Ms Mwanza, her three sons and two grandchildren go for up to four days without food.
Altogether, Ms Mwanza has nine children, all of whom are unemployed.
Ms Mwanza has not been paying rent for the past two years because she cannot manage to raise K150 to pay her landlord every month.
Her last born son leaves home in Kabanana Township at 04:00 hours every weekday and walks to Lusaka Secondary School in Long Acres where he is doing Grade Eleven. He walks back home after knocking off.
The Grade Eleven pupil has been treking to and from school since last year and at times, he walks on an empty stomach.
He recently was soaked by rain on two consecutive days while walking either home or to school.
He is currently having difficulties to study at night as the house does not have electricity and Ms Mwanza cannot afford to buy candles every day.
His older siblings used to study from the Catholic Church in the area, but the church authorities no longer allow them to study from the premises.
Luckily, his older sister pays his school fees although she is also struggling to make ends meet as her business of selling clothes and handbags has been going through difficulties because of stiff competition from rival traders.
Ms Mwanza’s two grandchildren aged 13 and eleven have not reported to Luminary Community School this term because they do not have books and their grandmother has failed to raise K70 contribution to the school.
The two minors’ mother is currently working as a maid in Angola where she has been since 2011. The mother is struggling to support the children while their father’s whereabouts are unknown.
Ms Mwanza’s two sons aged 24 and 21 who are studying at the University of Zambia (UNZA) are equally faced with hardship.
Despite them being on 100 per cent Government sponsorship, there are times when they do not receive their meal allowances on time.
The delay to pay them prompts the duo to walk home in Kabanana Township at night to eat and find their way back to the university afterwards. If there is no food at home, they remain hungry.
The UNZA duo is currently squatting in rooms of their friends at a fee because they failed to secure their own accommodation.
When the university is in recess, the duo does odd jobs to raise some income to buy food at home as well as pay for squatting at the university.
Ms Mwanza paid glowing tribute to Bwafwano Home Based Care and International Justice Mission for providing support to her children at university who have received help for their education from primary to secondary level.
Currently, one of the university students is in his first year while the other is doing the second year at UNZA.
Ms Mwanza used to fend for the family by going to remote farms to sell second hand clothes (salaula), but she has since stopped doing so on account of ill health. Her blood pressure has been overshooting and doctors have advised her not to overwork herself.
The inconsistent rent money she collects from a tenant occupying the Zingalume Township house which her parents left is not very helpful as she shares the meagre income with her sister. Some of the money is used to settle debts.
Ms Mwanza had to sell her mattress to raise money to buy food at home.
Now, she sleeps on a bed covered with empty mealie-meal bags instead of a mattress.
When her sons from UNZA are on recess, Ms Mwanza sleeps on the sitting room floor while the two siblings take up the two bedrooms. But she moves to squat elsewhere in the house when it starts raining because of a leaking roof.
Ms Mwanza, however, said she could not blame the landlord but herself for not having the defects on the house repaired because she has not been paying rent and was happy that the landlord is a very understanding person.
Her worry, however, is that one day the house might collapse if it continues to rain heavily owing to cracked walls.
It is these and several other problems that make Ms Mwanza feel that life is worthless.
“Sometimes I say to myself that it’s better to die and I have on several occasions thought of committing suicide by drinking dpoison but I resist that temptation. I ask God why he is allowing me to continue suffering like this and why he is still keeping me alive,” she said, holding back tears.
Ms Mwanza strongly feels that once the 1991 ZSIC retrenchees are paid their money, it will go a long way in alleviating the suffering she and the other ex-ZISC workers have borne.
She is hopeful that President Edgar Lungu will intervene in the matter as he is aware of it owing to the letter the ZSIC 1991 Retrenchees Committee chairperson Mr Mwila wrote to him on 6th November, 2015. There are several other people in a situation similar to that of Ms Mwanza and the 1991 ZSIC retrenches, or even worse than that.
Some of the retrenches have since passed on due to depression.
However, taking one’s own life or taking the law into one’s own hands is not a solution when faced with problems, but praying faithfully to God and he alone answers prayers at his opportune time.