Presented To: President/Minister/King/Prince/Dr/Rev/ Bishop/Proff/Mr./Mrs./Miss ............................................................................................................................ On the occasion of ............................................................................................................................ By ............................................................................................................................ Date: Affirmation ............................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................ Author’s Autography............................................................. Henry. M. Nasilele
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Copyright © 2010 by Henry Nasilele All rights reserved. No part of this book should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo copy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the written permission from the author and publisher, with the exception of brief excepts in magazines, articles, reviews, etc. Publisher: Elijah Miti Consultancy Enterprises Mobile Zambia: +260974359322 RSA +27761285439 or +27781319580 Email: emcemagazine@gmail.com Web: www.elijahmiti.co.za Web: www.elijahmiti.webstarts.com Web Design: www.ptt.webstarts.com Books: www.whatmenwant.webstarts.com ISBN: 978-0-620-49454-0
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SNARES OF A DECEPTIVE
SOCIETY HENRY HENRY MUSIALELA NASILELE
3
4
CONTENTS Preface
9
CHAPTER ONE
11
The Snare of Confidence Tricksters 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9
Introduction House Rentals – Rogue Tenants House Rentals – Criminal Tenants House Sales – Crooked Vendors Retail Business – Shops Lose Merchandise Vocational Training – Fake Training Institutions Employment Opportunities Business Partnership – Disowned Ownership Vehicles for Sale – Possible Risks
CHAPTER TWO
63
The Snare of Quick Profit 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
Introduction Imitation Products Fake Products Low Quality Institutions
5
Educational
2.5 The Cost of Poor Service 2.6 Inflated Contract Costs 2.7 Under Weight Measures 2.8 Cattle Rustling 2.9 Theft from Employment 2.10 Reflection
CHAPTER THREE
95
The Snare of Taking Advantage of the Weak 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Sexual Exploitation 3.3 Child Labour 3.4 Exploitation of Women 3.5 The Poor Struggling to Make a Living 3.6 Reflection
CHAPTER FOUR
109
The Snare of Marital Affairs 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Marriage by Hook and Crook 4.2.1 - Professional Scroungers 4.2.2 –Unpaid Lobola 4.2.3 – Breaking Old Relationships 4.3 Hidden Children 4.4 Extramarital Children
6
4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9
Spouse Battering Property Grabbing Marriage Interference Parents and Relatives Early marriages Reflection
CHAPTER FIVE
by
139
The Snare of Drunkenness 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Some Consequences of Drunkenness 5.2.1 - Poverty brought about by heavy beer drinking 5.2.2 – Embarrassing Moments 5.2.3 – Loss of Employment 5.2.4 – Health Risks 5.3 Reflection
CHAPTER SIX
167
Other Snares of Society 6.1 Forged Documents 6.2 Unfulfilled Promises 6.2.1 - Sympathy Promise 6.2.2 - Assistance Promise 6.3 Gratitude after Assistance 6.4 Extortion and Blackmail 6.5 Witch craft 6.6 Conclusion
7
8
PREFACE
T
he author has been prompted to write this
book in order to illustrate some of the snares which Satan uses to infiltrate the human mind. Adam, the first man, was created by God in his own image without sin. Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden. Later on Adam was convinced by Eve to eat the same fruit. God was angry with them. "So the Lord God expelled him from the garden in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the garden in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life." (Genesis 3:23-24). As a result of sin, the human mind has deviated from the spirit of God. The Bible describes the human mind thus:"The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).
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Our Lord Jesus Christ describes Satan as "The thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” (John 10:10) and people who are under Satan’s influence thus: "You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44). To illustrate on how some snares are perpetrated by Satan, some stories have been written. The stories, except for those mentioned as real life stories, do not refer to any persons living or dead and do not refer to any particular real events that have happened. As Christians, it is our duty to continually fight the snares of Satan with the Word of God. This book does not claim to be the "be-it-all" or a "crime-busting" manual of life. The snares mentioned in this book are just a tip of an iceberg of many others. I pray to the Lord that more books would be written in future regarding the same. The author takes no responsibility for any loss incurred by the reader as a result of the advice or opinion given in this book.
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CHAPTER ONE The Snare of Confidence Tricksters 1.1 Introduction What is a Confidence Trickster?
A
ccording
to
Wikipedia,
the
free
encyclopaedia, a confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or a group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, confidence trickster or a con artist. Confidence
men
or
women
exploit
human
characteristics such as greed, dishonesty, vanity, honesty, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility and naiveté. The common factor is that the mark relies on the good faith of the con artist. Just as there is no typical profile for swindlers, neither is there one for their victims. Virtually anyone can fall prey to fraudulent crimes. Shills, also known as accomplices, help manipulate the mark into accepting the con man’s plan. Con men always exploit a given circumstance in order to make monetary gains out of it. Such a circumstance is usually brought out by a need to improve one's financial position. One may need to improve sales of goods in a shop or to rent out some property or services for cash. The con man would study the financial position of his potential victim before he strikes. Confidence tricksters are tricky people to be identified as such at the first instance. A lot of them are smart looking and have impeachable credentials. They usual succeed in their activities because they usually take advantage of the weaknesses which are inherent in human behaviour. It is my hope that a number of the readers who were likely to become future victims of these people would take precautions to protect themselves.
1.2 House Rentals – Rogue Tenants
In 2009 a man showed interest to be a new tenant of a vacant house in Livingstone. The owner of the house was staying on the Copper Belt. The house required some renovations to be done before it was to be occupied. The owner agreed with the tenant to do the renovations. The amount spent would then be deducted from the rental fee. The owner of the house was to be paid about $4,000 in rentals in advance for 3 months. This was less the renovation cost. The man moved into the house and commenced on the renovations. He promised the Landlord that payment of rentals would be effected within two weeks. The Landlord was told to check his Bank account on the Copper Belt, for the rental payment, on several occasions. After ten days without being paid, he realized that he had been duped. The owner of the house travelled to Livingstone without informing the tenant. On being confronted by the owner of the house, the tenant produced a Bank receipt. The receipt showed a cheque deposit of $25,000 into the
man's bank account with a date stamp the date of the very day he was confronted. He claimed that it was from a parastatal Company. A copy of the receipt was taken and on closer examination, the receipt turned up to be not genuine. There were a number of anomalies on the receipt. There was no cheque number or signature of the cashier on the receipt. The matter was reported to police for investigation. On sensing danger, the con man fled and disappeared. Police investigations revealed that the man was a very slippery confidence trickster. His description by some of his victims revealed that he had tricked at least four other people out of a total of $10,500 within the last six months. He was believed to belong to a syndicate of con men who were on the police wanted list.
How Does One Identify and Deal with a Rogue Tenant? Though there is no foolproof way one can really identify a rogue, the following are guidelines that may assist one to be on the lookout for one.
Precautions You Could Take •
The fist precaution one should take is to
avoid delegating transactions with potential tenants to relatives or friends who have no legal rights over the property. •
Avoid doing all your transactions by correspondence. A lot of people are conned due to the fact that they are not able to track what is exactly is happening on the ground. If you are renting your property which is in another town or city where you live, take time off to travel there and meet the potential tenant in person.
•
Establish where he is currently residing and ask him why he is shifting from that place. You could be dealing with a habitual rent defaulter. If he is renting the house he wants to vacate, find out from his current Landlord why he is changing accommodation.
•
If he says he is shifting because he wants to move into a bigger house, find out who are members of his family and meet them if possible. You may be shown some photos of the children and wife stuck in a purse. This is not usually a guarantee that the family is still together. Some men, who have turned into crooks, usually have their wives running away from them, and they keep their photos as a means of
solace. •
If he tells you that the wife is out of the country for studies, find out which institution she is at. A lot of con men have no clue about foreign universities.
•
Establish the true identity and authenticity of the person you are dealing with. If he claims to be a businessman, ask for his business cards and establish the premises where he is operating from. Do not deal with briefcase businessmen.
•
Find out what business he has done with any organisation, ask for proof of that or make an effort to check for yourself, if you know someone in that organisation. Most big organisations have a computerised system of their Suppliers and Contractors. An established business would have done business with several organisations, so you have a way to double check the information given to you.
•
Do not depend on information given to you verbally by third parties such as “We know him, he is our regular customer”.
•
If some renovation work is required to be done to the property, and the tenant agrees to pay for them, ensure that he is
not given access to the premises until full payment is done. The date of the effective date of the start of the tenancy period should thereafter, be agreed in advance by both parties. This should be clearly stated in the Tenancy Agreement.
•
Renovation work should be supervised by people you have appointed and approved by the tenant. You should have access to all the documentation regarding the renovations. The scope of work and a bill of quantities approved by both parties should be put in place. Do not depend on information from third parties.
•
All payments to you should be done by direct deposit into your Bank account either by cash or a bank transfer. Bank transfers should be confirmed before payment is considered done. Do not listen to information like “The money will reflect on your account in two days’ time.”
•
Do not accept to be invited to go to his Bank to witness the deposition of the money into your account. Why should you witness the transaction when you can check if it has been done on your own?
•
Do not accept payment to be given to you in cash in an isolated place. There is a
danger of the money being grabbed from you soon after “payment” or the “money” may be counterfeit.
•
Do not accept cash to be given to you even if it is in a Bank. You could be arrested right there, if the money turns up to be counterfeit, when you try to deposit it in your account. The con man would have slipped away from the scene and leave you to face the law on your own!
•
Do not accept to go to secluded places alone for any meetings. Some con men use attractive young ladies as shills, to persuade you to go to some rendezvous. You could be walking into an ambush and get mugged, robbed or even worse. You should only do so go with an escort of law enforcement officers, if an arrest is planned for the con men.
•
Ensure than you correspond with him by e-mail which should be copied to third parties who have interest in the transaction such as his boss, his colleagues, your family or your friends. If he does not reply and insists on verbal conversations by phone, start recording them!
•
Do not give him your physical address until you have established his true identity and authenticity.
•
Do not send him your personal documents such as Title Deeds, Certificates and IDs in colour, by electronic or mechanical means. Some Conmen can use these to forge them for criminal activity. If you have to send them, do so in black and white format. As an additional precaution, ensure that the documents are embossed with “Scanned Copy” written across them. Such documents should only be sent after seeking legal advice if you are not sure.
•
You should not sign the Tenancy Agreement until full payment has been done. Do not accept partial payments in the hope that more will be done later.
•
If you have any doubts about the person you are dealing with , you could take some drastic measures such as taking photos of the vehicle he is using and if possible his own photo. You can ask someone to take a photo of yourself and him as you do transactions together. If he refuses to have his photo taken do not force him as you may chase a potential good tenant. If need be, do so without alerting him.
•
Crooks are everywhere; some of them work for reputable organisations you would not expect to do harm to you. Crooks in these organisations do their criminal activities behind the backs of their bosses. Before you commit yourself, verify that you are dealing with genuine people in the organisation. This is of course not easy, unless you presume that, all are not genuine until proven otherwise! In this case use your personal judgement or intuition. Put it in prayer for God’s guidance.
Behaviour That Could Alert You •
If a promise is made to you like “The money is being deposited into your account within the next two days”, and nothing happens, he will accuse someone else for not fulfilling the promise. “You know these small banks they take longer to do their transactions”. This is not true because the transactions are done electronically. The size of the Bank has nothing to do with how fast they operate.
•
In order to win your confidence, you may be told of huge amounts of payments he expects to receive from some source. For example you will be told something like “I
am expecting a payment of $40,000 from one Company where I did some work for them”. This is not true because if the man is an established businessman, why should he wait for payment from anybody to pay you $3,000 for your services? From experience, in Zambia, cheques of over $20,000 are not usually issued for immediate payment.
•
If there is delay in paying you, he may promise you to pay you a smaller amount by borrowing from his colleagues whilst the bigger amount pending is being “processed”. Do not fall for this fallacy; he is just trying to buy time before he disappears. Insist on giving you the transaction number for the transfer and ask him to fax or e-mail you a scanned copy of the bank transfer. If he does not do it, then you are being cheated.
•
He will show sympathy to you for the delay in payment and promise to compensate you for the inconvenience or loss of business as a result of the delay. There is no one who can compensate you for your loss as a result of his inaction. Why he should compensate you anywhere?
•
When you talk to him in stern language,
he will tend to forget some of the facts about your deal. For example, he will give you a wrong figure of how much he owes you or in some cases he might forget the exact details of your agreement.”I’ll be able to pay you for the sale of your house (the deal was to rent the house not to sell it!) by next week. Don’t try to correct him as you talk to him and see how far he goes in cheating you! This gives him more rope to hang himself. An agitated con man loses focus because all his “generator” of tricks comes to a standstill when he is challenged.
•
There will be a general pattern in the way he is giving you excuses. He may say “I am sure all will be fine by next Monday, considering the weekend is around the corner, and Banks don’t work at weekends”. The weekend is his best time to give you excuses because he knows you’ll be busy with Church Service and other social functions. If you tell him that you have a busy schedule, he will encourage you to attend to them without worrying how much he owes you. He might even tell you that he is also have a busy schedule at “Church”. This gives him a break to devise more excuses for you for the coming week!
•
When you send him an e-mail to query or clarify anything, he will not reply to it. Instead, he will ring you. Why is this so? Because an e-mail can be reproduced in court as incriminating evidence. A telephone call, unless recorded, cannot be reproduced.
•
The same goes for SMS you send to him. Most of them will be answered by a verbal conversation. SMS can, however, be converted into printable format on the higher version Cell Phones and pocket PCs. If you have a Cell Phone that can record a conversation, arrange to make some recordings of them. The only setback is most Cell Phones that record; make a bleeping sound every five seconds during recording. A cleverer con man would be alerted by this and avoid his voice to be recorded.
•
When you talk to him and you put him under pressure, he will tend to stammer and speak in low tones. Some con men tend to talk very fast so that you cannot get what they are trying to tell you.
•
He will not answer some of your calls and later say he had left the phone in the car as he was in the Bank organising for the
money. This is not true because why leave the phone in the car when he could have just switched it off? When he is not answering the phone it means he is still planning how to tell you another convincing story at the next conversation.
•
He will tend to “over respect” you, by referring to you as “Boss”, “Father” or “Big Man” most of the time, when you speak to him. This is to give you a false of sense that he is an honest man. What he really means is “You fool” or “Sucker” you will never get your money!
•
When you ring him, after he has not given you a reason for not honouring his earlier promise, he would tell you something like “Let me come back to you as I am in a meeting now” or “I am driving”. If he does not ring you as promised, then you are rest assured that he will not ring back!
•
If you ever meet him, and he is carrying more than one Cell Phone, if you notice that he changes SIM cards, be assured that he has more “customers” thank you. If someone calls him and he answers any of the phones, take note of how he responds. Is he cutting off the caller? Is he
saying “Let me come back to you?” If he says more than one sentence, note whether his conversation with the caller is friendly or hostile? Con men have a lot of people chasing them and trying to catch up with them. •
If whilst talking to him, and he rings someone else, note whether he is talking loudly or quietly. The latter indicates that he is consulting someone for advice. If he talks in a language or slang you do not understand, he is probably up to no good.
•You should be concerned if he calls you from a different cell number he has not previously called you from, unless you were given that other number at the beginning. Why should he use different Cell Phone numbers? If you notice that one of the numbers you knew before is no longer in use, this should alert you that he has just successfully conned one victim and has thrown away the SIM card!
Action One Could Take •
Do not tell him, on the phone, that you are aware that he is just cheating you. There is a danger of him fleeing before you confront him.
•
Confront him without notice, and do so in the presence of at least two witnesses. You don’t have to give him the full details of your witnesses at first. If one of the witnesses is a law enforcement officer, you can only reveal this to him at an appropriate time. Introduce him by his true name and tell him that he is a friend or relative.
•
Do not shout at him or show anger. An angry man is not focussed on the issue at hand. The right approach is to stay cool. Some victims of con men have turned into villains by assaulting the cheating person. This would complicate the case being handled.
•
Tell him in the face that you have lost confidence in him.
•
If he still tries to show you that he is not a crook, tell him that you will take audio and or video recordings of his commitments in the presence of witnesses. Immediately send these recordings and photos to him by e-mail and copy it to interested parties. The con man is almost certain to flee once he realises that his false promises he had just made have been disclosed and are now known by more people!
•
A con man depends on buying time to plan more falsehoods. If he is taken by surprise he flees.
1.3 House Rentals – Criminal Tenants In some cases people who pose as tenants may turn up not to be what they say they are. Some people have unwittingly kept criminals due not taking precautions to check the credentials of people they are dealing with. The following story illustrates situation could arise: -
how
such
a
In an effort to supplement their income after retirement from the Mines, a couple built two single bedroom flats on the plot of their house they have been living in for the past twenty years. The flats were to be rented out to individuals who were in need of accommodation, which is in short supply in urban areas. This accommodation was intended and suitable for single people who have just started work and have not yet got families to look after. This is how two single ladies, who had recently been employed by one of the Banks, in one of
the Copper Belt cities found their accommodation. The two women had been schoolmates since their primary school days. They had been very close friends ever since. They have been like twin sisters who did a lot of things together. The two ladies had stayed at the rented flats for close to a year, when one of them was engaged and was married within six months. This was a setback for the friend who had not yet got a proposal for matrimony. Her friend had to join her husband who was working in Lusaka. The lady who got married gave notice to the landlord to find another tenant three months before she vacated the house. A young man approached the owner of the flat which has just been vacated by the lady who got married. He told him that he was a supplier of spares to the Mines. When he was asked where he was currently staying, he said that he was staying with his married elder brother in a nearby town. He told him that he wanted to shift to the city which was nearer to his customers. He further said that once he shifts to the flat, he would come along with a lady who he was going
to be cohabiting with until they officially got married. The landlord had no objection to this announcement, though he was rather surprised at the "cohabiting before marriage" arrangement. Who was he to interfere with other people’s private affairs? After the wedding of the outgoing tenant, the cohabiting couple moved into the flat. When the new tenants moved in, the landlord noticed that most, if not all the furniture, kitchen utensils and bedding items were new. This did not worry him as he knew that the couple were planning to get married in due course. The new tenant paid his rentals on time for the first six months without any problems. The new tenant was not a very communicative individual. This was unlike the previous lady tenant who always engaged the landlord’s wife in conversation and kept referring to her as “aunt”! The man was out of the residence most of the time and was only seen at times. He would leave home in the morning and would not be back until late in the evening. At times he would not be at home for several days.
One evening , there was a news flash on Television that police have impounded a truck laden with copper which was believed to have been stolen from one of the Mines in the city. They had arrested the driver of the truck, who was assisting them with investigations. Police believed that there was a syndicate of people, who were involved in copper thefts, which have been going on for some time. The police public relations officer said that they have gathered enough information which would lead to the arrest of more suspects. The following day the new tenant did not go out for his errands as usual. He came to see the landlord and told him that he would be leaving for further studies in South Africa in a week’s time. He told him that his fiancée would continue staying in the flat until the end of his studies. He informed the landlord that he would make arrangements to pay for his fiancée’s accommodation whilst he was in South Africa. He told the landlord that as he was going to be nearer the source of spares he sells to the Mines, he would be sending these to his business partner in Zambia to sell on his behalf. The partner would then pay the rental fee for the fiancée on his behalf.
The following weekend the landlord and most of his family left for their farm, which is some thirty kilometres away from the city. It was harvest time for the maize which was grown in the farm. The harvesting of the maize would take about ten days. The only members of the family of the landlord who were at home were three schoolgoing children who had to remain behind as the schools they attended were open for classes. Before going to South Africa, the tenant paid one month’s rental in advance for his fiancée. After the harvest the landlord returned to his home. He found that the tenant has left for South Africa as told earlier. The fiancée of the tenant was not at the home. On enquiry, the children who remained at home told their parents that they have not seen her from the time her fiancé left. This did not worry the landlord as he presumed that maybe she has gone to visit some relatives in a nearby town. At the month end, officials from a furnishing company in town came to look for the tenant who had just left for South Africa. He had not paid the hire purchase fee for the previous month.
They were told that only the fiancée was around but they had not seen her for two weeks now. The lady was not seen at the flat when the next rental payment was due. Since the landlord did not have the contact details of the man in South Africa and his fiancée, he got worried of what happened to the lady. The children then disclosed to their parents that whilst they were at the farm, a three tonne truck came to take out some household goods from the flat. The fiancée was in the company of three men who came to take the items out of the flat. This prompted the landlord to force open the front door of the flat to see what was left inside. He was shocked to find that all the items, except for the curtains had been removed from the flat! He later learnt that his tenant was part of the group of suspected copper thieves that were being sought to be interviewed by police. He was quizzed by the police on why he kept someone whose credentials he did not verify when he posed as a tenant. He was warned that he could be charged for harbouring a criminal.
The man is still at large and is on the police wanted list. When a new tenant is shifting into your house, be suspicious if all or most of the household goods being put into your house are new. You may notice that furniture, bedding and cooking utensils are removed from wrappers. These could have just been bought on hire purchase from a furnishing company. You could be dealing with someone who will not pay for them and disappear after sometime. Find out where the old household goods are if you were told that tenant has shifted from another place. It is always advisable to check the credentials of new tenants and take interest in their activities if one has a chance to do so.
1.4 House Sales – Crooked Vendors When buying property from individuals it is always advisable to take precautions to ensure that one goes into an agreement with the vendor with legal advice. Many people have lost their money after paying for property which has been “sold” to other parties:
The following story is typical of incidents of such type of sale agreements. In 1997 the Government of the Republic of Zambia announced that a state owned mining company, was going to sell its company houses to its employees who were sitting tenants. The houses were sold to the employees by deducting their book values from the terminal benefits of the employees. This decision was made in order to get rid of assets of the company, which was due to be privatized in 2000. The new owners of the privatized mining divisions indicated that they would not provide accommodation to their employees as has been the case for many years. The houses were, therefore, not part of the assets to be acquired by the new owners. This decision by the Government was extended to the sale of council houses as well. This development brought in a new scenario in the country, where thousands of citizens suddenly found themselves, owning their own property for the first time ever. This brought joy to the people, many of whom had no houses of their own after working for their employers for many years.
The sale of the houses at their book value meant that many were sold well below the prevailing market prices. A number of people were tempted to resell them at a huge profit to those who could afford. This worked well for those who reinvested the money from the resell of the houses. A number of successful businesses were thus created. On the other hand, the resell of the houses backfired on some people. A man who was working for the Mines and retired left his newly acquired house in the city on rent and settled in a site and service compound within the same city. He had built a smaller house which was sufficient for himself and his wife, as most of their children were grown up and living on their own. The income from the rental of the house helped to supplement the man’s income which enabled him to live fairly comfortable in his retirement. Later on, he developed an illness which led to his death. After his death, the wife decided to go back to her own village and sold the house at the site and service compound to raise money for transferring her to the village.
The house in town remained on rent and she arranged with her son who was staying and working in the same city to be collecting the money and post it to her in the village. Her two daughters were married and staying in other towns. The son was working for a contracting firm doing business with the Mines as a stores clerk. He was the youngest of the three children of the ex Miners who has just passed away. He was not yet married but was staying in a rented guest wing in the city. The title deeds of the house were still being processed at the time the ex Miner died. The wife had only the letter of offer of sale from the company. She left the responsibility of processing the title deeds for the house with the son, who was given administrative powers for the estate of his late father. The two elder daughters could not be given this responsibility as they were staying very far from the city where the house was situated. The title deeds were ready within a year and given to him in his name. After the death of his father and the decision by the mother to give
him administrative powers of the father’s estate, the young man thought of selling the house without consulting the mother. The Director of the contracting company, where the young man was working offered him $30,000 for the house, which was up to now being rented by the same company at $800 per month for one of their managers. The young man again arranged to “sell” the same house to another person at $25,000. This person was a dealer in precious stones and was able to pay him in cash. After collecting a total of $55,000 from the sale of the house, the young man send $4,800 to his mother, whom he told that the company has decided to rent the house on a six month lease from the previous three months. This left him with $30,000 in his account from the company and over $20,000 cash from the stone dealer. The young man disappeared from work and his residence. A legal battle then ensued between the contracting company and the stone dealer who have all signed a purchase agreement with the young man who was now on the run. On hearing the story about her son, the woman
developed a stroke and lay in hospital for three months before she died. The contracting company finally won the legal battle because they were given original copies of the title deeds for the house. The stone dealer was given photo copies of the title deeds. Since these were not certified by a Commissioner of Oaths, as genuine copies of the title deeds, he lost out in court. The young man was finally arrested in a neighbouring country where he had fled to. He was given a jail sentence for obtaining $25,000 by false pretences from the stone dealer. The young man’s life is in danger because the stone dealer, who has a number of hit men, has vowed to deal with him once he comes out of jail.
1.5 Retail Business Merchandise
–
Shops
Lose
The other section of society that is targeted by confidence tricksters is the retail business. The following story illustrates some of the methods they use to trick business houses. Non Government Organizations (NGOs) are renowned for supplementing Government effort
in undertaking developmental projects in the country. This is more so in rural areas where they are involved in projects such as building orphanages, schools and healthy centres. NGOs are usually funded by the foreign countries that sponsor them and if any supply company is approached to provide some goods they are usually assured that the payment will be prompt. It was in 2007 during the Heroes and Unity holiday, which extended from Sunday up to Tuesday, when a group of four young men came to one city on the Copper Belt. The day was a Saturday at around midday; one group went to an IT and computer hardware shop and presented a Bank Certified Cheque to the manager of the shop worth $5,000 for the purchase of five Computers for an orphanage in the Northern Province. Meanwhile another group went to the industrial area and approached a hardware shop with a similar cheque for $2,500 for the purchase of some electrical cables for the same orphanage. At the computer hardware shop they did not encounter any problems. However, at the other shop they were told that there were only cables worth $1,500 in stock. The balance had to be collected from their warehouse, which was a few kilometres from the shop.
The owner of the shop selling cables saw an opportunity to make a good profit. He organized to purchase the remaining cable from nearby hardware shops at $850 which he sold to the unsuspecting NGO officials. Whilst the men were waiting for the other cable to be delivered, they were feted by the shop owner who was glad to make such a big sale a few minutes before the shop closed at 12:45 hrs. Up to this time, the day has been bad for business as only $150 worth of sales were realized from 8:00 hrs when the shop opened. In order not to raise any suspicious activity to the shop owner, the men at the cable shop made several calls via their mobile phones to the other group who were purchasing computers for the orphanage. The three men were clad in expensive looking three-piece suits and were wearing expensive perfume which is normally used by the affluent in society. They had hired a 3 ton Mitsubishi Canter light truck which was painted with the logo of the purported orphanage. The shop keeper could therefore not suspect anything strange with the three men. The
computer shopkeeper took the cheque to the Bank before close of business. The cheque bounced and referred to the drawer of the cheque. He reported the matter to police. This information about the con men’s bounced cheque did not filter to the cable shop owner at the time he was organizing for more cables. The conversation by mobile phones between the con men was actually for telling the other group at the cable shop to remain calm, as police could have been alerted of the bounced $5,000 cheque from the computer shop. They had already left town. They told the other group to flee should they sense that the shop owner was getting suspicious. The three men at the cable shop managed to keep calm until the remaining cable was delivered at 13:30 hrs, some forty five minutes after the official closure time for shops on Saturdays. During the long weekend the cable supplier heard a story of a group of men who got away with five computers using a forged cheque. This did not worry him at all because the ones who came to his shop “looked” genuine. When the long weekend holiday was over, the cable shop businessman took the cheque to the Bank. He was shocked when he was told that the
cheque was not genuine! Bank Certified Cheques are never hand written except for the signature of the Bank Manager. They are usually machine printed with the figures written via a perforation on the cheque. Secondly, the name of the Bank had changed from ABC Bank Ltd. to ABC Bank Plc. The man soon started sweating profusely when he realized that he was also duped in a similar fashion to the computer shop. He was admitted in hospital with a life threatening BP of 200 over 130 mm of mercury. When he recovered, he was given a $200 bill for medical treatment from the hospital. His only consolation was that he was tricked out of $2,500 worth of goods which was half of the amount stolen from the computer shop. Do not give goods or provide services before payment is done. A Bank Certified Cheque only becomes cash once you see it reflected in your account. Do not be cheated that the goods or service are required urgently. You may be told something like “We are running behind schedule on the Project which must be completed before next Independence celebrations”. There is no urgency for anything unless proof is shown that human life is at stake.
1.6 Vocational Training – Fake Training Institutions Another part of society which is targeted by confidence tricksters is where people are in need of vocational training. A boy who was a grade twelve pupil living in one of the rural towns of Zambia had just finished writing his secondary school leavers’ examination in November 1989 He was always amongst the brightest in class and he was a pride to his parents. His father was a wealthy businessman with a chain of retail outlets in the country. There was an advertisement in one of the local newspapers for grade twelve school leavers to enrol for tertiary training at one private college in the capital city of Lusaka. The name of the college was Mbwetuka College of Arts. The advertisement requested the applicants to send $10 for enrolment application forms which were to be sent by post. The boy asked his father for the application form fee which he was given without question. The money was sent to the college by registered mail.
Two weeks later the application received and duly filled in.
form
was
The college who indicated that it was offering diploma courses in accounts. Their offices were said to be situated in one of the skyscrapers found in Cairo road. They said they operated from Room 208 on the second floor. They asked applicants to send $300 registered mail. The money was said to be for booking of accommodation of the prospective students who were to enter the college in January 1990. They indicated that their campus was in the Makeni area some few hundred metres from a prominent filling station. For students who could arrange their own accommodation in Lusaka, they were requested to send $100 deposit. The deposit was for medical insurance fees. Those paying $300 for accommodation need not pay $100 for medical insurance as this was covered in the amount paid. Since the boy had not been to Lusaka before, the parents decided that he travels to Lusaka and stay with his uncle at Libala township for the month of December as he waits for the college to open in January. This was for him to get “acclimatised” to living in a city.
The parents decided that since sending money by post would take longer he would be given the $400 to cover the enrolment fee at the college and his transport to Lusaka. It took the boy two days to reach Lusaka because of the bad road network which connected the town to the capital city. The following day after his arrival, the boy proceeded to the skyscraper building to go and pay for his enrolment. On arrival at the building, he asked one security guard he found on the ground floor whether the office of Mbwetuka College of Arts was in the building. The guard told him that he has been working for ten years in Lusaka and has never heard of such a college. The boy thought the guard was not telling him the truth and he decided to climb the stairs up to the second floor. He did not dare use the lift because he did not know how to use it. The other fear he had was because he had heard of stories of people trapped in them for many hours before being rescued by the Fire Brigade. He had to climb eight flights of stairs before he came to the second floor. This was a tiring especially for one who does not do physical training regularly.
When he landed on the second floor of the building he found that the place was not well lit. It took him some time to locate Room 208 as he had to go past many room before he found it at the far end of the corridor on the floor. On knocking at the door of Room 208 he was greeted by a man who was wearing a white dust coat. He asked him to see the administrative secretary of the college. He was surprised when he was told that the place was used by a tailoring business and was not a college! The man told him that he has never heard of Mbwetuka College of Arts. The boy went back to his uncle’s place at Libala and told him that he could trace the college. The uncle advised him to go and check for it at Makeni the following day. On arrival at the mentioned filling station, the boy could not find the billboard which he was told in the letter of admission to the college that he would see it from there. When he inquired from the attendants he was told that several people had come to ask about the same college during the last few days. Some of them had sent money and did not receive the confirmation of its receipt by the college.
The boy visited other filling stations in the area but could not locate the college. He came back to his uncle’s place a disappointed fellow. During the evening television news broadcast it was reported that some people have reportedly lost thousands of dollars after sending money by post to the fictitious college and the police were looking for the fraudsters. When contacted for comment, a spokesman for the ministry in charge of education and vocational training advised the public not to send money to any institutions. He expressed surprise at how colleges could ask school leavers to pay for college education when the school examination results for grade twelve were only due in March the following year. On the application form from Mbwetuka College of Arts the applicants were not even requested to attach any school certificates or statement of results! How can a genuine college accept students without proof of educational attainment? The boy had to travel back to his parents and waited for the examination results. They were relieved that they did not post the enrolment fee to the fictitious college.
1.7 Employment Opportunities People looking for employment locally, overseas and those who want to supplement low paying jobs often fall victim to confidence tricksters. Fake Overseas Employment In June 2007 an overseas recruitment agency organised a seminar for engineers and technicians with experience in the building industry in Zambia at a five star Hotel on the Copper Belt. The seminar which ran from 8:00 hrs up to 17:00 hrs on one Saturday was for familiarisation of the participants of the latest development in building technology in the world. Entry to the seminar was free and a total of 250 participants attended it. The organisers of the seminar arranged for packed lunch for the participants. At the end of the function the participants were requested to leave their contact details in form of cell numbers and e-mail addresses.
It was public knowledge that was a number of major building projects which were planned to be built across the country in the coming years. Since the technology to be used in the buildings were not yet available in Zambia, the participants were requested to register to an international organisation for building engineers and technicians (IOBET) based in the country where the organisers of the seminar hailed from. This registration meant that the qualifications of the engineers and technicians would be recognised by the foreign building companies who were to be contracted to build in Zambia. They were sent registration forms for the application to this IOBET organisation and the annual registration fee was $800 per application. The applicants were told to apply online at a given website and pay the registration fee either by Visa card or by International Money Order. The seminar attendees were told that once an applicant’s academic qualifications and experience were recognised by the IOBET, the chances of one being employed outside the country was also very high. They were told that once one became a member of the IOBET he or she was going to be sent an update of overseas job opportunities where one could apply to.
The response to this application was overwhelming because even those who did not attend the seminar managed to apply after getting details from their colleagues and friends who attended. A total of 320 applicants paid a total of $256,000 in registration fees to IOBET. There was great expectation from all the applicants who dreamt of getting lucrative overseas jobs, which were better paying than Zambian companies. Months passed by without getting any response from IOBET. A number of applicants tried to contact the organisation by e-mail which went unanswered. Some even tried to ring them through their phones given on the website through which the payments were done, but to no avail. Some people who had friends working and living in the country where the seminar organisers came from, requested them to locate the offices of the organisation but they were unable to do so. The website which was used for the applications and payments disappeared from the internet. After reporting the matter to local police who involved Interpol, it was discovered that the men
belonged to a group of con men who had collected nearly a million dollars from a number of countries in Africa, including Zambia. There was no such organisation called IOBET and there was no way the men could be linked to any legitimate organisation in the country they claimed to have come from. The case is still pending to be resolved by Interpol. Fake Local Employment Someone who was working as a motor mechanic for one local company was approached by a group of men who told him that there was a businessman who was looking for a part-time motor mechanic to service imported vehicles before they could be sold to the public. When he went for “interviews” at a parking yard, the businessman was nowhere to be seen. He was told to wait for him. Later on one of the “workers” for the businessman called him aside and showed him some precious stones he could buy very cheaply. He was almost tempted to buy them when his instinct told him that he was about to fall into a trap of con men. He told him that he would withdraw the money later and if they could meet at the bank the following day. The mechanic then arranged for
police to trap the men at the bank during the transaction. When the con men realised that a trap was set up for them, they switched off their cell phones and disappeared into thin air. The story of the businessman was false and the parking yard the mechanic was shown belonged to a company which kept the vehicles as a transit for dispatch to another town with a limited capacity of a showroom. Guidelines When Looking For Employment •
Ensure that you are dealing with a genuine company or organisation. This is not easy. Some companies may not be easily proved to be existing or not. There are some which have been operating genuinely and could have gone into liquidation. Con men would continue using the name of the company long after it has stopped operating.
•
Some con men would use a name of a genuine company without it knowing or could use a name similar to that of a genuine one. For example, ABC Plc may be called ABC Ltd. or ABC (Pty) Ltd.
•
If it is a local company you would like to join, visit their offices to establish whether
they are really established or not. If you are called for an interview and you are interviewed from a Hotel or from a residential home ask them where their operations are done from. Some companies operate from homes and are established but one needs to know how the field work is conducted. •
Try to establish who the customers or clients the company has done business with.
•
Do not send copies of your qualifications, passport and national registration identity cards in colour, through either electronic or printed copies. A lot of con men would use these to forge certificates for use in other operations. If you are asked to send copies of these documents do so in black and white. The documents should be embossed with “Not Original Copy” or “Scanned Copy” to make them impossible to forge.
•
Be alert for companies that offer working conditions that are too good to be true, unless you have known cases of such working conditions. If they ask you to give them your conditions and they do not query or want to discuss any of them start wondering whether they are able to meet all of them.
•
Be alert of companies that offer you employment at first and later talk of going into partnership with you for the same company. One should not discuss about partnership without establishing how the company is faring.
There is an incident where a man who was applying for a job. He was offered an immediate partnership when it was learnt during the interview that he had some residential property worth $250,000. He was told to bring his title deeds so that a bank loan could be secured for the company which was about to employ him. This was to finance a project the man was not even given details of. When he told them that he would make consultations before he could commit himself, the offered job “disappeared” soon after the interview!
1.8 Business Partnership – Disowned Ownership The idea of going into a business partnership between two or more parties is usual an attractive proposition, at first thought.
However, before one commits himself to such an arrangement, there are certain precautions one should take in order not to regret later. Any partnership must be legally binding to all parties’ right from the beginning. One should not go into any partnership which is done by mutual agreement. One should not be attracted by high expectations and promises. A lot of people have regretted later after going into. Business is a serious matter which requires one to do a lot of planning. Two parties would normally go into partnership so that they put their resources together for the successful implementation of the business. For any business to succeed, there are three important inputs to be taken care of. These are called the "3M"s. These are: •
Men - People who will be running the business. These should have the necessary expertise and experience to run the business.
•
Money - There must be sufficient initial capital finance to start the business.
•
Materials - The business can only function by use of certain materials. The materials include raw materials, accommodation and equipment.
In a partnership where two parties are involved, they would not necessarily have the same strengths of the "3M"s mentioned above. Usually the first two "M"s would be found between the two parties in sufficient quantities to enable the growth of the third M. Problems usually arise as to what percentage of the business each partner should be in control.
It is always advisable to seek legal advice before going into any partnership. An understanding between "very good friends" is not enough. Businesses do not know any good friends! Robin was a highly qualified mechanical and industrial engineer, who was trained in the UK and Yugoslavia. After his training, he worked for the mining industry for close to thirty years. He rose up to a status of an engineering superintendent. On retirement, at the age of fifty five, he was given a reasonable retirement package. He bought a house and farm. Since he still had
school going children, what was left from his retirement package was not enough to sustain himself and his family. He had some $4,000 left which he thought he could start a business with. He opened a hardware shop selling spare parts to customers who included the mines where he had a lot of influence. After a year this business was not doing very well. Jeff was a local businessman, who has been a long time friend of Robin. He approached Jeff so that the two could be partners in Jeff's business. What Jeff lacked was technical expertise to run his business efficiently. The two agreed that they would work together. Jeff had a machine shop which made mechanical spare parts such as shafts and pump barrels. Robin suggested to his friend that they introduce a foundry so ingots which could be machined and sold as bushings and bearing sleeves. He had an experience of operating a foundry. The company did very well by having a combination of a foundry and a machine shop. The company received a lot of orders from the mines and the water utility companies where
Robin had a lot good working relationships as a result of his past work on the Copper Belt. After a year of operation the company made a profit of $60,000. The previous year the company only made a profit 0f $15,000 when it had only a machine shop running. Robin was given his share of 40% of the profit as agreed with his business partner at the time of their agreement. The following year Robin managed to extend the customer base to the Lusaka and Southern Province as well as Congo DR. Within the first six months of operation of the second year the company had $200,000 in its coffers. What surprised Robin was that Jeff requested him to spend more time in the field. Jeff on, the other hand, took up the role of an administrator of the company. This was under the pretext that, since Robin was a “minority” shareholder, he should spend more time in the field to get more customers. Robin was surprised when he was told that he would only be given 10% of the profit at the end of the year. On querying his friend and business partner on why this was the case, he was told that as an “employee” of the company, he was
only entitled to get a “salary” which was subject to review by the “management”. Jeff told him that when he joined him he brought no money or equipment into the company and hence he could not claim “ownership” to the company. Robin was shocked by this new development and was forced to leave the company. Robin managed to hire some workshop facilities from companies with similar equipment to those where he was forced out. He registered his own company and within two years of operation he was able to buy his own machinery. As he was getting older, he employed young engineers and technicians to work for him. The company that he left behind went under within the same time due to lack of technical expertise. When one joins a company as a partner his technical expertise and experience should be taken into consideration as an asset to the company. A lot of companies fail to tick because the owners only look at the physical assets such as equipment and some cash in the bank.
It takes a lot of time and money to train a professional whose contribution in any organisation is invaluable. That is why they are paid highly as employees of companies. Before you commit yourself to any business partnership with anybody ensure that you sign a legal bidding agreement with your partner. A number of professionals have been lured to go into verbal agreements with what they perceived to be long time and trusted friends. Once the business is established the partners who pumped in money into the business always claim ownership of the businesses at the expense of professional and experience input.
1.9 Vehicles for Sale – Possible Risks •
When you advertise you car in the press do not send a picture of it, just describe what it is. There is no vehicle in the market that is known how it looks like. If you send a photo of it, you may be met by a group of “interested people” who want to buy it in a car park. They would then tell you to drive them to a place where payment will be done in cash. In the process your car could be grabbed from you or you could get hurt.
•
Describe your vehicle in simple language. What you should remember is you are
selling a vehicle which is subject to viewing and inspection before purchase. Don’t use flamboyant language such as “full house” or “immaculate condition”.
•
Do not allow potential buyers to take the car for a “test drive” on their own. You will never see it again!
•
Do not allow yourself to accompany potential buyers for a "test drive" in your car alone. You could be attacked in the process. If a test drive is insisted, let it be done with the assistance of law enforcement officers or garages.
•
I personally do not like sticking "For Sale" stickers on vehicles, especially expensive ones. It attracts a lot of attention and con men are always on the lookout for such vehicles and plan how to steal them from the owners.
CHAPTER TWO The Snare of Quick Profit 2.1
Introduction
I
n July 2008, I travelled to the Tanzanian
capital of Dar-es-Salaam on business. Whilst there, I went to a shop selling Cell phones. I was looking for a Nokia 1650 model. The shopkeeper surprised me by asking, if I wanted an original model or a Gong’as (imitation)? I told him that I wanted an original model. Out of curiosity, I requested him to show me both models and how much each was
costing? To the untrained eye, it was not easy to differentiate between the two phones. The imitation model was going for 30,000 Tanzanian shillings, whilst the original was costing thrice that amount. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, "Shanzhai" refers to Chinese imitation and pirated brands and goods, particularly electronic. Literally "mountain village" or "mountain stronghold", the term refers to the mountain stockades of warlords or bandits, far away from official control. "Shanzhai” can also be stretched to refer to people who are lookalikes, low-quality or improved goods, as well as things done in parody. The market for Shanzhai Cell Phones is not only in China, but also in the surrounding developing countries in Asia, and Third World countries in Africa and Latin America. The outstanding sales performance of Shanzhai Cell Phones is usually attributed to low price, multifunctional performance and imitations of trendy brands. Shanzalism has a long tradition for products needed to be designed to suit peasants,
which form most of China's population. Whilst the sale of Shanzhai products is acceptable in many under developed countries, it is not right to allow these products to be sold alongside the original products. Greedy traders could end up selling unsuspecting buyers products which are imitations (Gong'as or Shanzhai) at the same price as that of original models. The tragedy of some people is the greed to attain wealth as soon as possible using underhand means. We have heard of individuals who have lost their lives being shot by security forces whilst running away with booty. Some have swallowed illegal narcotic drugs in foreign countries with the view of avoiding detection. Some of them have died from the poison of the drugs after unintentionally digesting them during transit. A number have been caught by alert security agents on arrival in their own countries. The greatest gift a living person has from God is that of life. Just imagine what would it be like if one was not born at all? A very close friend of mine once said: “Don’t expect everything in your life to come on like a flashlight at a flick of a switch! ".
2.2 Imitation Products A friend of mine recently approached me with a brand new “Nokia N96” Cell Phone and requested me to configure it so that it could be used to browse the internet and install the Holy Bible, which comes in a form of a Java programme. I suggested to him that in order for him to get the full benefits of the phone I could connect it to my Laptop so that we install more programmes on the Cell Phone. Most of these were Java programmes like Operamini browser, Nimbuzz, Snaptu, etc. I have a Nokia 6300 which I have been using for over three years and I have installed Nokia PC suite programme on my Laptop. The PC suite allows one to install programmes, browse the internet, manage files on the Cell Phone, and do backups of contacts and several more functions. The Nokia PC suite can be used for a variable range of Nokia phone models. When we connected the “Nokia N96” to the Laptop via the USB Connectivity Cable, I noticed that the phone could not be detected as “New Hardware Found” by the Laptop. After several attempts to connect it to the Laptop, I realised that the phone was not
really a Nokia model but an Nckia! The “C” on the phone was written in a very clever manner that one would read it as an “O” at first sight. On checking from the User Manual for a real Nokia N96 phone, I found that the N96 was a “Slide Phone”, whereas as the Nckia N96 was a “Touch Screen” type. It took my friend a bit of time to be convinced and realise that he was not having a Nokia N96 Cell Phone but a cheap imitation of the real one! The price of the Nckia N96 is around $120, whereas the Nokia N96 costs around $700. Next time a trader shows you that fancy looking "Nokia" Cell Phone, you could check if it is the real model by using the following codes :*#92702689# This shows the phone details like serial number, year of manufacture, etc. The owner will be required to put the month (MM) and year (YYYY) of purchase. This can only be done once and cannot be changed later. This code only works for Nokia phones. It can be used to test if a phone is really Nokia or not. On some Nokia models, one has to
switch off the phone to come out of this Menu. On other models, there is an "Exit" facility. *#0000# This gives the Cell Phone Model Number and (firmware) software version. Only works for Nokia models *#06# This gives the Cell phone's Serial number only. This code works for all Cell Phones, not necessarily Nokia models
2.3 - Fake Products Apart from imitation and cheap products, there is the practice by some people fond of selling fake products to unsuspecting customers. Fake products differ from imitations, in that the products offered for sale are not really what they are claimed to be. Fake products can cause harm to the health of human beings and damage machinery. We have heard of stories of transformer oil being sold as cooking oil and culprits have been arrested and prosecuted. Some unscrupulous street vendors sell diesel
mixed with other oils as "diesel". This fake fuel causes damage to engines of motor vehicles. Some people sale goat meat along our highways and claim it to be "game meat". There are also cases where natural honey being sold along the highways is mixed with refined sugar as "natural" honey. This type of "honey" is not good for diabetic patients who are not supposed to take refined cane sugar. The number of fake products on the market are too numerous to list here, they include fake chemicals, drugs and food stuffs. Customers should be on the lookout for these products. As a rule of the thumb, do not buy products from unauthorised or unlicensed traders. If you ever come across a Chemist or a Drugstore where you are able to buy all the drugs there, without a prescription from a medical doctor, start to ask yourself if such a place has taken measures to protect your health? Under the pharmaceutical laws of the country, certain drugs like Fragyl and Valium can only be sold over the counter with a prescription from a qualified medical practitioner.
2.4
Low
Quality
Educational
Institutions At the time of independence in 1964, there were only some 100 graduates in Zambia. The new Government proceeded to build the University of Zambia which was completed in 1966. Thereafter, a number of Colleges and Vocational Training Institutions were built. Most of the students who were admitted to these institutions were sponsored by the Government. As the population of the country increased, and the price of copper dropped around 1974, the Government could no longer afford to build more training institutions to cater for the increased population. This led the Government to allow individuals and organizations to establish private educational institutions. The response to this was overwhelming, as many privately owned nursery and primary schools soon sprouted across many towns and cities. This was by followed by establishment of private secondary schools and colleges. Later some private Universities were established. With
the
establishment
of
these
private
educational institutions there was some concern regarding the quality and recognition of certificates issued by them. The Government put in place measures such as control of registration of these institutions. For the certificates from them to be recognized they had to be affiliated to Government organs such as TEVETA and Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training. A lot of these institutions offer very high standards of training of pupils and students which are equal to or better than Government run training institutions. There has been some concern, though, regarding some of these private institutions which offer very low standards of training. Some of them have been forced to close down. Some of the malpractices sighted from these institutions are: 1) Very exorbitant fees- Trainees are made to pay very high fees which do not Correspond to the quality of education being offered. 2) Over enrolment of pupils and students which results in overcrowded class Rooms.
3) Poor boarding facilities – Some institutions have no boarding facilities of their own. They rent out some houses which they turn into dormitories, which are usually overcrowded. These are not maintained at all and the cleaning is done by the students themselves. 4) Poor standards of training aides. Some institutions offer science subjects that require laboratory or workshops. These teaching aides are usually ill equipped with old or outdated equipment. There is one computer workshop where old Pentium One PCs with Windows 98 installed were found. The students were supposed to learn about Windows XP and Vista applications. This is a mockery. 5) Claims to offer a very wide number of courses without a corresponding number of teachers and lectures. There was a recent advertisement on Television where one private University claimed to be offering so many Bachelor and Diploma courses. One wondered how big the strength of the teaching staff for all those subjects was. 6) Claims of very high pass rates amongst the students. At one private school it was found that there was an organised system of leaking examination papers and some
staff were prosecuted. 7) Unrecognised Certificates by potential employers. Some certificates issue by some institutions are not recognised by some employers. This is a very unfortunate situation where someone spends a lot of money to do a course whose certificate is not recognised globally. 8) Overworking of the teaching staff. Due to so many courses offered some teaching staff are forced to take several classes at the same time. This lowers the quality of education given 9) Failure to settle utility and rental fees to service providers. Some educational institutions have outstanding water, electricity and rent bills. There is one case where some students were thrown out of a rented boarding house they have been accommodated in. The institution had not made any payments to the relevant authorities for over three months. 10) Some institutions operate without being affiliated to local or international ones. As a result of this, the students do not get any benefits from student exchange programmes. This is an essential ingredient for exchange of ideas across
borders which results in recognition.
2.5 The Cost of Poor Service Service is defined in the dictionary as "work, or doing work for another or for a community, etc". According to Wordweb, the online Thesaurus, service is "a Company or Agency that performs a public service; subject to government regulation". A number of companies and organisations are engaged in providing services and amenities such as education, water, electricity, communication facilities, sewerage removal and medical care to the public. These companies and organisations are commonly referred to as service providers. The quality of the service provided by a number of the service providers has been a source of concern. One area where public has been given a raw deal is in the availability of a reliable electrical power supply. In recent years, there have been power cuts on a regular basis. Supply of water by water utility companies in some areas has seen disruptions on a regular basis. The quality of the water supplied also
leaves much to be desired. It is common in some areas, to open a "domestic water" tap and see muddy water coming out of it for some time before clear water is seen. The muddy water is metered and paid for. The users have no choice but to let it flow to the drain or keep it in containers to let it settle before use. The availability of internet is erratic in some parts of the country. Even those customers subscribing to broadband internet, do not always get the specified speeds that they pay for. The availability of medicine in a number of medical institutions is erratic. It is only those who can afford to pay private institutions that get a better service. In the education sector, it is now "fashionable" for parents to pay for private tuition of school going children in order for them to get good marks in their examinations. What has happened to the standard of teaching in some schools? The answer is anybody's guess. Let us consider an example, where a parent pays, say $250 per term, for a child who attends a boarding school. During school holidays, the parent pays $20 per subject for the child to get "extra tuition". The tuition would be from a
member of staff from a similar school where the child attends! For four subjects, $80 tuition fee has to be paid. The total cost of education per child comes to $990 per year, instead of $750. This is 32% more than what should be paid. There is nothing wrong with extra tuition for school children who are slow learners. What is worrying is where this tuition has become the norm rather than the exception. What happens to the children whose parents cannot afford extra tuition if their schools can't provide quality tuition? Let us consider another example of a water utility company who supplies low quality domestic water. If a family pays $40 per month for it and, say $5 worth of that water is not suitable for use. This comes to $60 worth of water per year thrown into the drain. These two examples given above, results in a total figure of $300 extra expenditure per annum. This money, which is paid unnecessarily, reduces the quality of life of the family. It is also good breeding ground for corruption as people are forced to find other means to make ends meet. If the total amount of money lost by the public, in terms of loss of business, or having to pay extra is calculated, it will be in millions of dollars for the whole country.
The question is what has gone wrong for us to reach this state of affairs? A number of service providers are dogged by various problems ranging from poor management styles, lack of capital input and lack of competition. Authorities are urged to put measures, to ensure that the public does not subsidize nonperforming companies and organisations, at the expense of national development.
2.6 Inflated Contract Costs
One of the greatest challenges that organizations face is the bearing of cost higher operating costs. This can be attributed to various factors. One is as a result of poor work practices. A typical example is that in contract work, where the cost of jobs done could be inflated to as much as 20% above the actual value of the work.When a job needs to be done, a company would issue out a tender document inviting potential contracting companies. The tender document would consist of:•
A Scope of Work - This gives a
description of the work to be done. •
A Bill of Quantities - This gives a list of tasks to be done. This list includes the quantities of materials required to carry out the work and the unit cost of the material. The Bill of Quantities also includes the quantity of labour and equipment costs associated with the work.
The total cost of the project would then be equal to the totals of the costs tabulated in the Bill of Quantities. When a tender document is issued by an organization, the tendering companies are requested to fill in the costs for the various elements in the list. A company's Clerk of Works, who ideally would be a qualified Quantity Surveyor, would make an estimated cost from the Bill of Quantities. This is done before the tender document is issued out to the contracting companies. The estimate done by the Clerk of Works would then be used as a yardstick for comparing the tender offers from the bidding companies. A lot of organizations lose out on tender work because of the following:1) They do not employ qualified Quality
Surveyors who can make professional calculations to determine a realistic estimate of the cost of the work. 2) They do not keep records of similar jobs done in the past. Keeping records is a very good system because the overall trend of installation work can be monitored. 3) Dishonest employees do take advantage of the ignorance of their employers and connive with contractors to inflate the cost of contract work. 4) There is no consultation between departments or divisions of the same company to compare previous costs of similar jobs. 5) In an effort to save costs, some organizations tend to choose the lowest tenders as the best. For a job which has been professionally estimated, the difference between the lowest and highest bidder should not be more than 25% and the Quantity Surveyor's estimate should lie between the lowest and highest bidder. 6) There should be specific type and quality of material to be used. Some contracting companies have a tendency of buying inferior materials so that the total cost of the installation is lower than those who quote
using high quality material. Remember if it is cheap, it is not durable and hence it is not good. 7) Commercial departments should not have a say in who should do the work unless experienced and qualified technical people are part of the commercial departments. 8) Some organizations have a system of asking for very ridiculous discounts after the tendering companies have submitted their quotations. The company that gives a very large discount may be given the contract. At the end of it all the work fails to be done successfully and a new tender has to given. 9) Employees in charge of writing the Scope of Works have inadequate experience. 10) Some organizations do not use modern management tools. These tools help to ensure that there is a professional approach to do the work.
2.7 Under Weight Measures In an effort to make more profit, some traders have tendency of giving underweight quantities to unsuspecting customers. At the local markets in most towns and cities
foodstuffs are sold, some commodities are sold without being properly weighed. The Weights and Measures Department of the Government at one time tried to put in legislation to compel the traders to use calibrated scales at markets. This could not be fully implemented because most of the traders are poor people who could not afford to buy these scales. The other problem was to implement the checking the accuracy of these scales, which could be easily be tampered with. Even at some filling stations where fuel is sold via calibrated pumps, one has to take precaution when refuelling. Most of the victims of cheating whilst refuelling their vehicles are the affluent. A lot have a tendency of not paying attention when refuelling. The others are the long distance travellers. There have been cases where a tired traveller, on a long journey, drives into a filling station. He asks the fuel attendant to fill up his vehicle up to full tank. Since his mind is on continuing with the journey as soon possible, he won't check whether all the fuel is actually being put into the tank. Some unscrupulous fuel attendants would put a jerry can under the tank of the vehicle. If the driver asks him to put full tank, part of the fuel would go into the jerry can when the driver is not looking.
In some places there are cases where the weight of commodities sold is artificially increased by soaking it in water.
2.8- Cattle Rustling Cattle’s rustling is one of the biggest headaches that indigenous farmers suffer from time to time. In Zambia this crime now attracts a minimum of seven years behind the bars. The cattle rustlers usually strike when the cattle is kept in kraals for the night. Over the years some criminals have been caught red handed and have received the wrath of the owners, which in some incidents has resulted in the deaths of the culprits at the hands of “instant justice” mobs. In Africa, cattle are regarded as a form of wealth which is comparable to that of millionaires in Western societies. A man’s status would be determined by how many herds of cattle one has and not necessarily how much money he has in the Bank. Cattle has been used as a means for payment for various services rendered , which include dowry settlement and payment for being treated of an ailment by a witchdoctor. With the development
of the countries from a traditional to urban setting, cattle has become an input in the Butchery industry found in urban areas. The cattle for the butchers are either purchased from commercial ranches or from traditional herdsmen found in rural areas. Due to increased population in urban areas the demand for cattle has outstripped their supply. This has resulted in some criminal elements taking advantage of the situation by involving themselves in cattle rustling. In some instances as many as thirty herds of cattle would be stolen in a single time. This new development has resulted in cattle owners to take some drastic measures to stop this scourge. One of the methods is for one man armed with a shot gun to spend a night in the cattle kraal to wade off any would be attackers. Alternatively, the cattle herd would be kept very near the village, this however, is not often done due to the strong stench of the dung of the animals. After taking these measures the number of incidents reduced drastically. The Rustlers had to go to out flung areas where they were not
known. These places are homes of poor peasant farmers who had lived quietly for many years. In one of their missions the cattle rustlers travelled a very long distance deep into the bush to look for cattle to steal. After crossings a number of isolated grassy plains they were informed by some villagers that across one stream there were a lot of cattle, which apparently was just roaming about without herdsmen around. The villagers were tipped that a group of cattle rustlers was in the neighbourhood. They got a shock of their lives when the herds of cattle they were told about turned out to be a herd of buffaloes. The disturbed beasts charged at the group of cattle rustlers. Two of them were killed after being impaled by the sharp horns of the male buffalo. Three others managed to escape by climbing up trees. The story of the men’s deaths spread very widely across the neighbourhood and the activities of the rustlers were thwarted for some time.
2.9 Theft from Employment 2.9.1 Portable Generator Theft Backfires Albert Mwenyi has worked as an Electrical
Artisan at one of the Copper Mines on the Zambian Copper Belt for close to ten years. He was always emanating a strong stench of alcohol when he reported for work in the morning. This earned him several reprimands from his immediate supervisor Robby Mwalanga. Despite his weakness of reporting for work with hangovers, Albert was very hard working and dependable Artisan. He was especially strong at fault finding on electrical faults. This made him the blue eyed boy to his superiors. Albert never seemed to run out of cash, whilst his colleagues who had smaller families, could not afford to have cash from month end to month end. Albert was always with cash which he lent to his work mates with interest. Most of them had run of money by mid month. He was popularly known as "The Shylock" of the Open Cast Mine. No one could figure out how Albert managed to have cash all the time. His secret was that he used to pilfer electrical spares from his working place and sell them to suppliers of spares to the Mines. He could for example steal a box of fuses, sell them to a friend who a supplier to the Mines.
The supplier would later resell the same fuses to another unsuspecting Mine. In some cases the spare would be resold to the same mine where it was stolen from. This is what was called "recycling" of Mine spare parts. One item could be recycled a number of times before it was finally used by the Mines. This was a substantial loss to the mining companies. Albert became was a friend to a number of influential people around town. These included one of the local Police bosses, a Magistrate and a Bank Manager. These people never suspected him to be involved in any shoddy deals. In order to camouflage his clandestine activities, he was running a pirate Taxi business which was purported to give him extra income. He was so influential that he even played Golf with top Mining Officials. He was popular to the Mine Police because he gave them some leads which resulted in the arrest of some mine employees who were stealing from the Mines. What he was doing in fact was to get rid of his rivals who were a threat to his well being. One weekend as he was having his beer he learnt that one Farmer who was staying some 10 Kilometres from the
Mining Town was in Generator for his farm.
need
of
a
Portable
The Farmer, Mr. Jacobs was assured that Albert could organise one Generator for him. He told him that he had a friend who imported spare parts for the Mines. Through his connections he managed to remove a brand new Generator from the Mine Stores. In order not to raise suspicion, he kept the Generator in a secret place before selling it. He told Mr. Jacobs that it will be delivered in three weeks time. After three weeks Albert wrapped the Generator in a sack. He then boarded a mini bus going to one of the neighbouring mining town.The mini bus dropped by the gate of the Farm and then proceeded to its destination some 100Km from the Farm. Albert was accompanied by his brother in law who assisted him to carry the Generator from the road to the Farm House, a distance of 200 meters from the main road. Mr. Jacobs was curious to see two young men struggling with what looked a heavy load coming towards his house. As Albert was approaching, Mr. Jacobs recognised him as the gentleman who was always glad in an immaculate suit whenever they met at the Golf Club. What surprised him was why he came to
his farm wearing tatters and walking on foot! Mr. Jacobs welcomed Albert and his companion. He asked how much the Generator was selling at. He was told it was going for an equivalent of $1,500 in the local currency the Zambian Kwacha. After some negotiations the price was reduced to $1,250. Mr. Jacobs told his visitors to wait whilst he went into the house to get the money. As he closed the door behind him he opened the window of the house which was nearest to where Albert and his Brother in Law were. He picked up his telephone receiver and pretended that he was ringing the Police. “Hello! Is that Central Police? Please connect me to the CID section... I have two suspected criminals here who are trying to sell me some property which I strongly believe has been stolen... You have no transport? What a shame! Ooh there is a patrol car in this area please divert it to my farm quickly! “ When Albert and his in law heard this one sided conversation with the police, they fled from the Farm at great speed. In the process they left the contraband behind as it was not practical to escape with a 100Kg load as they were fleeing! As they were running away they saw what
looked like a Police Vehicle speeding towards the Farm from a distance. This gave them more motivation to flee even faster! 2.9.2 Digging with Bare Hands! John Hapezu was working as a Shift Boss at one of the open pits on the Zambian Copper Belt. Hapezu was a polygamist who lived above his means. His life style was the talk at his working place as it was not understood how he could live such effluence when he was just a middle management official in the Company he was working for. Hapezu used to tell his colleagues that he was a prince for one of the tribes in the country which was renowned for keeping large herds of cattle. He had to be a polygamist as per his tradition. Hapezu had one secret which was not known to his work mates until fate turned against him. He was doing afternoon shift and the weather was very showery. He took advantage of the rainy weather to carry out his plan. He was driving an official four by four Land Cruiser, when he loaded four 210 litre drums of SAE40 engine oil into the vehicle. Three drums were required to be offloaded at one at the Filling Stations at the northern end of the open pit which was some five kilometres away. He managed to organise with the store
man at the main Filling Station to add one extra 210 litre drum for Hapezu's use. There was a small bush on the eastern perimeter of the pit where the extra drum was offloaded. After delivering the other three drums at the destination Hapezu continued to do his work. The Land Cruiser was equipped with a mobile Motorola radio by which communication with the rest of operations at the pit. His radio call sign was “Omega 55”. He was due to knock off at 22:30 hrs. Just before that time he drove to the place where he offloaded the drum which he had planned to drive to the edge of the pit and roll the drum so that it would drop off some twenty metres into the bush below. The drum would then be picked by some accomplices using some bush passes which led into a shanty compound which was notorious for being a haven of criminals. As he was driving through the bush towards the pit rim where he was to offload the drum the Land Cruiser got stuck in the muddy ground. Despite attempting to engage the four-wheel drive of the vehicle it could not come out of the mud. His shift relief who reported at the Control Room waited for him to bring the vehicle. By 23:00 hrs, he has not come despite several promises when
he was called on the Radio “Omega 55 what is your location?” He kept on answering “Close by, just stand by”. By midnight Hapezu's whereabouts were not known. In the meantime he had commandeered a Bulldozer to try to pull his Land Cruiser from the mud. As fate would have it, the Bulldozer got stuck in the mud as well. At 1:00 hrs. The Mine Security were alerted about the missing vehicles. The driver of the Bulldozer abandoned it after a fruitless attempt to assist Hapezu to get the Land Cruiser out of the mud. Hapezu spent all night trying to free the vehicles but to no avail. Meanwhile the Mine Security combed the area where Hapezu could have been to but he could not be located. By daybreak the Mine Security made a discovery of tracks of two vehicles leading into the bush where Hapezu was marooned with the stuck vehicles and the contraband he wanted to take out of the pit. He was found digging the ground around the wheels of the Land Cruiser with his bare hands. He had put some branches beneath the wheels which he hoped would free the vehicle. His body was covered with mud such that he was hardly recognizable. After being arrested and
handcuffed he was put at the back of the Police vehicle. On arrival at the change house he was told to go and take a shower and change into his casual wear clothing. One Policeman was assigned to wait for him outside the change house. The policeman waited for 15 minutes or Hapezu to come out of the shower. What he did not know is that he pretended to go into the shower and opened the water tap and left it running. He then slipped away from the change house by using a separate door which the policeman was not aware of. After 20 minutes it was known that Hapezu had escaped. After he left the plant area he went to his home and told his two wives that he had to leave for his village suddenly because his uncle died last night. When the police came to his home they were told he has left for the village. However, an informer told the police that Hapezu was seen drinking at one of the Pubs in the Site and Service area of the mine town. He was so intoxicated by the time of his arrest that he could hardly walk on his own. He kept shouting to the Security men. “I am a prince. I won't suffer in my life!” A week later he was summarily dismissed from employment for attempting to steal the drum of
oil and misuse of two Mine vehicles. Those who met him a year after his dismissal attested that the man was not a prince after all and he was living in squalor! 2.10 Reflection In this chapter we have seen how the deception of making quick money shows itself in various forms. Imitation products are found on the market and it is up to the individual to decide whether to buy them or not. Fake products which are not the same as imitation products should be reported to authorities and people selling them should be reported to authorities. Educational institutions offering low quality services should be avoided if one can find better alternatives. One should just be on the lookout before committing oneself to such institutions. The service rendered by some service providers is a source of concern. At the local “traditional” markets customers are given a raw deal because a lot of merchandise sold there is not properly measured to ensure that good bargains are given to them. The list of unfair deals to customers is long and one only hopes that citizens should be on the lookout to ensure that they are not exploited.
The greed to make quick money comes in different formats examples cited were that of cattle rustling and theft from employment. The Bible says: - “Wealth gained quickly will dwindle away, but the one who gathers it little by little will become rich” – Proverbs 13:11
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CHAPTER THREE The Snare of Taking Advantage of the Weak 3.1 The Snare of Sexual Abuse - Child Molestation
T
here was a news item on one of the local
Radio Stations on the Copper Belt recently. It was about a minor who was nearly defiled by a youth in one of the townships.
Twelve year old, Angela (not her real name) was sent by her mother to go and purchase some groceries from the market. The market is a distance away from the girl's home. She had to walk on a footpath that passes through a small patch of bush and grass for about three hundred metres, before she could reach the market. As she was walking on the footpath, she sensed that someone was following her. When she looked back she saw a young man of about twenty five hurrying to catch up with her. Sensing danger, she started running away from him. He soon caught up with her and forcefully dragged her into a nearby bush. At this moment, the girl started shouting for help at the top of her voice. The brute forced her to the ground and was soon on top of her. He started to undo his zipper whilst attempting to stop her from shouting by gagging her with a piece of cloth. He was about to defile her when three men and a woman, who had heard the shouts of the girl, arrived on the scene. They pounced on the young man and dragged him away from the minor before he could do any harm to her. He was slapped hard on the face by
the three men. As a result of the noise from the commotion, a crowd soon grew around the scene. Some people were about to lynch the young man for his evil intentions. After some heated debate amongst the people in the crowd, a decision was made to take him and the girl to the nearest police station. The mother to the girl was informed about the incident. She rushed to the police station in great shock. The young man was locked up in the police cells and the girl's mother was told to take her to hospital for a medical report. The medical report indicated that the girl was not sexually violated in any way. The young man was released from police custody the following day, after paying an admission of guilt charge. The people of the township were incensed with the police decision of merely charging the young man with "conduct likely to cause breach of public peace". The following day, a group of angry people from the neighbourhood, where the girl stays, converged on the police station to protest.
They demanded to know why the young man was freed. They had expected him to be locked up in remand prison awaiting court trial for an offence of attempted defilement of a minor. The police allegedly told them that there is no such criminal offence as "attempted defilement”! The crowd was not happy with this explanation. They soon became unruly and were about to riot. They were warned that their action could result in them being locked up for "conduct likely to cause the breach of public peace." When one ponders over this case, it looks very unfair to the poor girl and her mother. Did it require the offending man to actually sexually penetrate the girl for him to be charged with the intended criminal offence? Why is that attempted murder is a criminal offence whilst attempted rape and attempted defilement are not? Surely the man could have been charge for indecent assault? Were the police in order to charge the man with an offence of conduct likely to cause breach of public peace?
If the family of the minor decided to sue the man, what is the appropriate law that would apply? It is high time our law makers made a review of some of the laws that are not protecting the rights of vulnerable people like women and children.
3.2 The Snare of Child Abuse - Cheap Labour Many children around the world are exploited by adults by employing them as cheap labour in homes and industry. They are usually paid very low wages which are far below those paid to adults. Some children are only paid in kind just as narrated in the story above. Many are subjected to very dangerous and unhealthy working conditions and this has resulted in premature deaths. There are laws and statutes that prohibit the use of child labour, but these are ignored by a lot of culprits with impunity. When I was growing up, I was staying in the Western Province of the country which has a sandy terrain. There was a sandy road passing near the village where I was staying.
One day a Jeep four-wheel drive vehicle was going passed our village towards the district administrative centre, commonly called the Boma. This was around 1960 before independence in 1964. The vehicle was driven by a white man. I was in a group of about a dozen children who were playing near the road. When the vehicle went passed us, three boys chased it so that they could cling to the rear side of it to have a free ride as it went through a very sandy part of the road, where its speed dropped to about 10 Kilometres per hour. In order not to alert the driver that some naughty children were having a free ride, one had to cling to the rear bumper in the centre so that the driver could not see you in the rear view mirror. There was a particularly sandy place which was nicknamed “Mashitoka”, where even four-wheel drive vehicles sometimes got stuck in the sand. Two of our friends we were playing with managed to get a ride from vehicle for a distance of about two hundred metres. When it came to the Mashitoka area it could not pass through and got bogged into the sandy terrain. The two boys at this stage managed to jump off the rear bumper of the vehicle. They disappeared into a nearby grassy patch to hide.
When the vehicle got stuck, the white man had seen some two figures running away into the grassy patch. He came out of the vehicle and shouted to the two boys. “Come back here you pick ninny! Help me to get this damn thing out of the sand!” The two terrified boys came out of their hiding place. They thought they were going to get a beating from the white man. They did not understand the English language the white man was using. The only word they knew was “pick ninny”, which was a derogatory word used by the white colonialists to refer to black African children. The white man beckoned to them to come and give him a push to get the vehicle out of the sandy patch. They struggled for about thirty minutes without success. The white man instructed them to go and pick more pick ninnies from the village to come and give them a hand. When we heard of the stuck vehicle, we were very willing to go and assist because it was going to give us a chance to have a free ride from the vehicle. To get the vehicle out of the sandy road we had to cut some branches from a nearby bush. These were put underneath the wheels of the vehicle to give it a solid base on which it wriggle itself out of the sand.
It took us about fifteen minutes to free the vehicle. The white man only said “Thank you pick ninny!” and drove off. After a few metres he threw some sweets out of the window. We scrambled and fought to share the sweets to the amusement of the white man. The sweets were given to us not as appreciation for the work we had done but were meant to prevent us chasing the vehicle to get a free ride.
3.4 The Snare of Exploitation of Women In any game of sports, such as soccer and rugby, the playing ground where the opposing teams play against each other must be level. This way each team is given no fair advantage against their opponents. In our society, there is a policy that there shall be equal opportunity to all in all fields of human endeavour, irrespective of race, colour, religion or gender. Wars between nations have been waged, in the past and nowadays, as a consequence of differences in race, colour or religion. As far as one recalls, no war has ever been officially declared as a result of difference in gender! 8 March of each year has been declared International Women's Day. The theme of 2010 was “equal opportunity for all”. Our womenfolk
have a desire to be given the same chance to participate in the human activities of our societies on equal terms with men. Many countries have taken steps to change laws that discriminated against women in the past. These include equal pay for equal qualification and effort. The tendency has been that women have been marginalised by being used as tools of exploitation by the men folk. A typical example here in Africa is that of some of them being made to dance for political leaders at state functions. Some women are forced into early marriage by their parents and relatives for monetary or status gain. In some institutions women are paid less than their men folk for equal work done. One just hopes that the women will take up the challenge and participate more in all fields of human activity on equal terms with men. They should not allow themselves to be exploited by the men dominated society.
3.5 The Poor Struggling To Make a Living Early in 2010 council authorities, for one city situated on the Zambian Copper Belt, demolished
some illegal makeshift market stalls at a Shopping Centre which is in one of the townships. This is the second time this has happened, the last time was in June 2009. How could these marketers, who have a desire to make a living, be assisted to make this dream come true? A walk around in most African cities and towns reveals a horde of street vendors selling all sorts of merchandise varying from fruit and vegetables to electronic gadgets. Some vendors even sell charms which they claim can improve the libido of men, cure all sorts of illnesses and even bring luck to their customers! Most of these marketers are poor and have no other means of livelihood apart from selling in the markets or on the streets. A good number of them are coming from families with problems brought about by loss of employment due to the world economic crunch of 2009 or the death of the bread winner. In an effort to minimise the number of illegal marketers the Governments, through local authorities, have built a number of markets from which they could operate from. Due to their poverty, a lot of these are not capable to operate
from these markets due to rental fees which are beyond their ability to pay them. There is also some accusation, from some quarters, about the alleged corrupt way in which market stalls in these modern markets are allocated. Due to increased unemployment, the number of people who have resorted to selling goods has increased to a level that even the markets being built by the local authorities cannot accommodate all traders. This is what has brought the accusation of corruption. When I visited Europe in the mid 80s I was impressed with the way street vending was organised. In most cities the city square was used as a market on designated days. People selling goods would converge on the city square and sell their goods from mobile stalls such as caravans. At the end of the day, all traders would clear the city square leaving it spotless clean. Due to the higher levels of unemployment in Africa, this arrangement may not work. However, when I visited Tanzania in 2008, I found that one part of the city of Dar-es-Salaam called Karioko was a huge marketing compound. All sorts of traders are found in this area and one can buy anything one is looking for. They are
allowed to trade during the day. They have to clear the streets around 20 hrs. The marketers are required to put all the rubbish left from their trading in huge refuge collectors. These are cleared by council workers during the night. I noticed that the marketers were much disciplined as far as cleanliness was concerned. Because of the large number of people trading in Karioko market compound there is a security risk. The authorities have put in place measures to ensure the security of the traders and customers. The issue of street vending is not unique to any country. Authorities should put in place measures to ensure that it is controlled. This will result in minimum harassment of the marketers who are entitled to make a living.
3.5 Reflection In the last paragraphs examples of exploitation and abuse were cited. A lot of people who are abused by others are usually the illiterate and the poor. The illiterate are exploited by the educated due to their limited knowledge. The poor are exploited by rich because of their
limited resources. The majority of the illiterate and poor are children and women. Children are vulnerable to abuse because of their immaturity and innocence. The most affected are those coming from illiterate and poor families. Their parents are not to adequately meet their needs and hence the children are forced to fend for themselves. Women are vulnerable to abuse because they are usually financially less secure than their male counterparts. Society has traditionally let women to take the back seat in human activity. Female children are not usually regarded as heirs to their parents’ assets. A lot of parents would spend more money on educating their male children than on the females. In countries where the number of offspring a family could have is restricted to one child, girl children who are born to families are sometimes eliminated in infancy with the hope that male children would be born to replace them. The world has gradually come to realize that children and women deserve every right that any other human being is entitled to.
CHAPTER FOUR The Snare of Marital Affairs 4.1 Introduction
M
arriage is the union between two adults,
a man and woman, where they come into a state of being husband and wife. The two parties usually come into a legal union for cohabitation and often procreation. Marriage dates back to the time of creation when God created the first man, called Adam, in the Garden of Eden. The story of creation is narrated in the Holy
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Bible‘s book of Genesis as follows: "The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man's side and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family."" (Genesis 2: 19-24). Marriage was sanctified by the creator from the beginning. However, with Satan introducing sin into man, marriage has become one of the causes of pain to mankind.
Many marriages end up in divorce soon after their consummation. The causes of divorce are many but the underlying factor is the sinful nature of man.
4.2
Marriage by Hook and Crook
4.2.1 - Professional Scroungers Mary was a single lady who has started her working career as a State Registered Nurse in the tourist capital of Livingstone. She was born and brought up on the Copper Belt where she attended her primary and secondary school. She did her nursing training at one of the nursing schools on the Copper Belt. Her getting a job in Livingstone meant that it was her first time to live outside the Copper Belt. Her first few weeks of working in Livingstone were lonely as she did not have friends or relatives to spend her spare time with. One day, as she was approaching her flat, she met one young man of about her age. The man asked her if she was a resident of Livingstone. She told him that she was new to the place and was still getting used to it. The man introduced himself as John. He said that
he has been a resident of the city for the last fifteen years. Mary was immediately attracted to the man, by his handsome features. She invited him to her flat for a "chat". She learnt that John had done his Grade 12 in Livingstone some three years back. John told her that he could not proceed to college due lack of financial support. His parents who supported him perished in a fatal road accident on their way from a wedding party in Lusaka some four years earlier. An uncle of John who was appointed as the Administrator of his parent's estate squandered it and left him and his elder sister with nothing. The elder sister has since been married and was living in South Africa with her husband. The sister had met the South African, a white tourist, at the Victoria Falls during an educational visit to the place when she was at college in Lusaka. He has not heard from her since she left for South Africa. Mary was touched by John's sad story. After a few more "chats" at her flat, the two fell in love and John moved, from a friend's place where he told her he was squatting, to her flat. She told him that she would l assist him to go to college. At first John turned down the offer for assistance, until she revealed to him that she came from a wealthy family. Her father was a businessman who had a number of companies on
the Copper Belt and Midlands. She arranged for John to be sent to study music at the Evelyn Hone College. Mary did not inform her parents about his engagement to John and their cohabiting. She did not want them to know he was looking after a man whom she was not legally married to. Her plan was for him to finish his course and get a job before announcing the marriage plans to her family. Since John was not staying with her when he went to college, her relatives on the Copper Belt were not aware of his existence at first. During her annual leave she passed through Evelyn Hone College to visit her fiancée on her way to the Copper Belt. To her surprise, she could not locate John at the college hostel where he told her he was staying. She had to confirm with the college administration that there was no student with the credentials matching those of John, before she realised that she was tricked. The time she arrived in Lusaka was too late to get a connection coach to the Copper Belt. She had to spend the night at the Intercity Bus Terminus before proceeding to her parents on the Copper Belt. She did not mention her predicament to her
parents during the two weeks she spent with them. On arrival back in Livingstone she tried to find out who and where this John was. She later learnt that John was, in fact, a resident of Choma. He was in the habit of looking for lonely women and cheat them into a relationship. He would be with them for a while under false pretences. Once he manages to get some money out of them he would quietly disappear. The $1,000 "college fees" which she got for John was used for other business in Choma! She had got a "furniture loan" from her employers, in order to give to John. There was need for the loan because her wealthy father had fully furnished her flat when she got a job. Mary was devastated by this turn of events and had to break the news to her parents. It was worse for her when she realised that she was pregnant from the relationship she had with John. John was later traced in Choma by Mary's father who vowed to teach him a lesson for ruining her daughter's life. John turned out to be a grade nine school dropout.
In order for the scandal not to be made public an abortion was arranged for Mary. Her parents did not want their daughter to be associated with John who was just a leech looking out for lonely women to drain them of their riches in exchange for fake love. Mary had vowed to remain single for the rest of her life after this experience. She only got engaged and got married when she met her true love at the mature age of thirty five.
4.2.2 –Unpaid Lobola Marriage, in the usual setting, starts with a courtship between a bachelor and a spinster. This is then followed by an announcement of the relationship to the parents and relatives of the individuals. Due to a diversion in cultural and ethnic customs by different peoples living together in urban areas, there is sometimes a clash in the method of execution of the marriage process. In recent years there has been a general format in which the marriage ceremonies are conducted across many different ethnic groups. After announcement of the engagement, the bride’s parents and relatives would arrange for a kitchen party, which would then be followed by a
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wedding ceremony and reception. The problem that has resulted from this “new” culture is the financial cost involved in carrying out these ceremonies. There cases where the family of the bride would not be able to bear the cost of the kitchen party and the bridegroom would then foot the bill for it. This is in addition to organize the wedding ceremony later. The bridegroom is also expected to pay the bride price commonly known as “lobola”. As a result of this a lot of newly wedded couples find themselves in big debt soon after marriage. There have been cases where the bride “helps” her man to pay the lobola. This usually brings a lot of problems later when the marriage is rocked by other vices such as infidelity. There was this young lady who paid for her own lobola and after two years of marriage without a child, the man decided to ditch her for another lady who was “fertile”. When the matter was brought to a local court, the man revealed that he did not, in fact, pay the lobola to his in-laws! He accused the lady of having “tricked” him into marriage. The marriage was dissolved on those grounds. There are cases where some parents would allow their in-law to pay part of the bride price, with
the understanding that the balance would be settled later after the marriage. This arrangement has also brought conflict between families. The situation becomes more serious where the proposed marriage is not approved by either parents of man or the woman. Some families would not allow their children to be married to families of different religious, social or ethnic groups. Even some Christians would not allow people from a different denomination to marry into their church until they are “converted” to their denomination! This has brought cases of eloping by the young couple. Marriage is a God sanctioned union between two adults and should not be subjected to interference by human self-centered attitudes and emotions.
4.2.3 - Breaking Old Relationships Durkent was trained as technician electrician at one of colleges on the Copper Belt. He was admitted there after successful completion of his grade 12 education in Lusaka. He joined one of the electrical companies that manufactured electrical panels in Lusaka. Durkent only worked for the company for four years. He shifted from Lusaka where his parents were living and started his own electrical panel
manufacturing company. He was assisted to start the business on the Copper Belt by a businessman of Asian origin who was a long time family friend to his parents. Durkent's father was a senior civil servant in the ministry of science and technology. Durkent managed to get some good business with the mining companies because of the good quality of electrical panels he made from a rented workshop he was operating from. Within three years, Durkent Electrical Company Ltd. (DEC Ltd.) grew from a small backyard company to one of the biggest suppliers of electrical spares to the mining companies. A new workshop was built and manufacturing equipment was imported from Australia. He went into partnership with an overseas electrical company who brought in experts to train local staff on how to use the sophisticated manufacturing equipment. Durkent became one of the richest men in Zambia. He got married to Meeky who was his childhood lover from his school days. They grew up together in the rural part of the country. Meeky was of humble educational background. She was a beautiful lady with a typical black African skin. She had an attractive wide smile which was augmented by her very white teeth with very dark gums. She developed a dimple whenever she smiled.
Durkent got married to Meeky when he was working as an electrician of an electrical company. By the time Durkent Electrical Company was celebrating its tenth year in business, the couple had three children, two boys and a girl. The girl was the youngest of the three children. Due to the affluent life Durkent now led, he was exposed to so many women he met during his business transactions. There was a young lady who was working in one of the financial institutions called Mercy. Mercy was a spinster who was very light in complexion. She had a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management. Durkent was attracted to the young woman, who was some ten years younger than him. The two soon fell in love and decided to get married. Mercy was aware of Meeky whom she and her boyfriend referred to as the "native" from the village. Durkent was convinced that in order for his business to grow bigger, he needed to marry an educated woman. Mercy, with her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, was the right candidate for that. Meeky was a very cheerful lady with strong Christian faith. Her father had been a Pastor of a Pentecostal church until his death a few years after his daughter got married to Durkent.
Durkent on the other hand, was not coming from a family with a Christian background. He was introduced to Christianity by Meeky, during their courtship, but he really never became a regular church goer. He took Christianity as one of the social functions and not a way of life. Once he fell in love with Mercy, he started to sleep out. At first he pretended that he was kept busy by business transactions which could not allow him to come home. When Meeky started to doubt and question his excuses of sleeping out, Durkent became abusive towards. A couple that had lived in peace for over ten years started to have brawls which sometimes attracted the attention of neighbours. Meeky tried to save her marriage by involving her in-laws and church leadership without success. Durkent's father was opposed to the marriage right from the beginning. He did not want his son to marry a girl who was not very educated and brought up in rural areas. Finally Meeky was forced into leaving her husband and went back to the village where she was brought up. After divorcing Meeky, Durkent was free to marry his "graduate sweetheart”, as he was fond of
calling Mercy. Their wedding reception was held at one of the classy five star Hotels in Lusaka. The pastor who married them was hired to do so at a small church without a public ceremony. After the wedding the couple went for their honeymoon in Thailand for two weeks. When Meeky was divorced she was given $15,000 compensation by a local court. Durkent was also ordered to look after his three children's welfare until they finished college. In the meantime the global recession started to affect the operations of most companies in the country. Business from the mining companies started to dry up and DEC Ltd. started to experience liquidity problems. For the first time since he started his business Durkent found himself with a $100,000 debt which was giving him sleepless nights. Mercy assured her husband that all will be well as she could arrange to get a loan from her employers. Durkent agreed to this suggestion and got a soft loan of $150,000. This money was given on condition that the title deeds of his mansion and workshop were surrendered to the financial institution where Mercy was working. The company started to show signs of recovery
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after injection of the $150,000. However, after a year the balance sheet of the company was getting deeper and deeper into the red. Foreign suppliers who used to supply the company started to withdraw their credit facilities. The financial institution finally got possession of the assets of the company and Durkent was left a destitute. Mercy kept him at her parent's home as he was trying to start a new business with one of his long time business associates. After this new beginning could not work out, Durkent was forced to get a job as a Technical partner in one company. Mercy had told him to leave her parent's home. The new employers accommodated Durkent in one of the lodges after he was rejected by Mercy. The company managed to secure a very big order from one of the newly opened mines. Durkent was given $40,000 to purchase spares required for this order. He was to travel outside the country to get the spares. He was bought a ticket and he travelled to the airport with the company car. The car was left at the fee paying parking lot so that on arrival from overseas he would pick it and drive back to the lodge. Two weeks passed without his employers hearing anything from him. All efforts to trace him failed.
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A check at the airport, where the car was left, revealed that he did not board any plane from there during the last six months. The lodge later revealed that he had actually checked out of his room the day he was scheduled to fly out of the country. One taxi driver revealed that he was hired by Durkent to drive him to the border of Congo DR on the date he was to fly out. The company tried to freeze his account where the $40,000 was deposited but to their shock they discovered that the amount was transferred to another account and only $1,500 was left as balance. The other account was no longer in use. Durkent is now a fugitive on the run! 4.3 Hidden Children One of the issues that affect marriage relationships is the fact that at the time of courtship, the two people involved would not find out from each other if both are coming into the relationship with a "clean plate". In other words are both parties having any children from previous relationships? A lot of pain has been invoked on some people who thought that their would-be wives or husbands had actually not revealed to them that they had children who were either born out of wedlock or from previous marriages.
In the old traditional societies, the woman to be married was tagged with a higher bride price if she was said to be a virgin or has no children. However, with modern living trends, it is not always the case. The same goes for men if they had no children before the relationship, they would be more acceptable to the family of the bride to be. The choice of who one should marry depends on the individual and opinion from members of the public or family would not deter them. Samson Kambwetu was brought from his village into the urban area by his eldest brother who was working in Lusaka. This was after the death of their father who was the only bread winner for the family. Their widowed mother could not look after the last two children who were still at school. Samson’s immediate elder brother, Shimon, resorted to illicit beer drinking after their father died. The heavy beer drinking resulted into the death of his brother. When the eldest brother visited the village during his annual leave, his mother pleaded with him to take the surviving brother so that he would continue with his education. Samson had failed to pass his grade nine examinations and had to repeat the classes when he came to stay with the eldest brother in
Lusaka. During the time he was staying in Lusaka Samson, displayed an inborn talent of fixing things. He was able to repair domestic property like the house electric cooker, do minor service on his brother’s vehicles like replacing the air filter and changing the engine oil. At the end of the year Samson barely managed to pass his grade nine and he told his brother that he was not keen to continue with his education and opted to go for training at one of the trade schools in Lusaka. He was enrolled for a one year course in basic electronics. He did very well especially in practical where he scored a distinction. After his training Samson managed to get a job with one private company that serviced electronic equipment such as televisions, electronic scales, digital metres, etc. After working for the company for two years he opened his own electronic repair shop at the City Market. The business was mainly focussed on repair of television sets and cell phones. Samson proved to be having acumen for business and within two years he was able to shift from his brother’s home to a rented two roomed house in Kanyama Township. Samson met a girl who she only came to know through the church he was attending. She was in the
Girls’ Brigade whilst he was in the Boys’ Brigade. Through interaction at the functions where the two met they fell in love and decided to get married. Meanwhile, the mother at home had chosen a local girl from surrounding villages at the home where Samson was brought up. The announcement of his intended marriage to the “church girl” was made to his elder brother, who had no objection. When Samson was told about the village girl, whom he barely knew when he was growing up, he ignored the suggestion from his mother. His argument was that he was better off to marry a fellow Christian from the same church rather than a stranger. This brought sadness to the mother who had even told the parents of the village girl that their son was doing very well in Lusaka and he would marry their daughter who was a very humble and disciplined. The wedding ceremony was conducted at church and the reception was at the house of the eldest brother’s home. Their mother who was sent some money so that she could travel to Lusaka for the wedding ceremony did not come. This was in protest of her being not listened to on her suggestion of the bride-to-be for his last born son. She said that the boy should have
shown respect to her because she had sacrificed a lot for the boy after the death of his father. She lamented that since she was now a widowed and poor, no one would listen to her. Soon after the marriage ceremony Samson noticed that they had visitors from his wife’s family on a very regular basis. One time a cousin would come from the Copper Belt and visit them for a month and soon after an aunt would be with them. As per tradition the visitor were sent off with some money and gifts to take to other relatives of the wife. The visits did not bother Samson at first, until when he was told by his wife that the aunt who visited them regularly was keeping her son whom she had when she was still at school! Samson was devastated by this revelation of the child who he was not made aware of at the time of their courtship! His wife apologised to him for not revealing the truth to him earlier. It pained him more when he came to know that the child was in grade six. This meant that the woman she has married did not reveal her true age to him. On checking her National Registration Card he discovered that she was five years his senior! When this information was revealed to Samson’s mother, she had a good laugh and told him that he did not care anymore as the girl she chose for him was now married to what she called a
“disciplined” young man. She told him that he could keep his “grandmother” wife. Samson is still trying to recover from the shock of being cheated. 4.4 Extramarital Children Another issue that affects marriage relationships is the issue of unfaithfulness by married women and men. There are cases where single or married men would have relationships with married women and vice versa. This results in children being given to married men when they are not their biological fathers and men having other children outside marriage. In the former circumstance, it will not immediately be known that a born child is not that of the husband. The causes of unfaithfulness in marriages are many. The married woman may not find love and affection soon after marriage and would seek these from other men. The man could be spending a lot of his spare time away from the wife. He would be entertaining himself in clubs. Former lovers before marriage may resurface and continue with the old relationships. Lack of
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financial support may force a woman to be tempted to make ends meet by an extramarital affair with someone financially stronger that the husband. Long periods of separation of the couple due to study or work may tempt individuals to get involved in extramarital affairs. There is a heated debate currently going on in the country where married women are forced to be separated from their husbands as a result of being offered employment in places which are very far. Some marriages have broken down as a result of this scenario. Some people say the problem was not there in the past. The truth is that in the past most women, who were married, were mostly fulltime housewives. With increased educational achievements, amongst women, many would like to pursue their careers. This may not necessarily be where their husbands are working. 4.5
Spouse Battering
Another problem that crops up in marriages is that of spouse battering. Most of the victims of spouse battering are women. This is because women are generally physically weaker than men, though there some cases where men are beaten by their wives. In the Lozi language, such men are referred to as "mahutu a banna", which literally translates as "feet of men"!
The causes of spouse battering are many and varied. However fights usually break out after some differences between the married couples. There are no two human beings who will always agree on any given issue in totality. What usually happens is a compromise solution could be reached for the two to agree. Violence crops up when there is no agreement at all. People who usually beat their spouses have other problems elsewhere. Their failure to get what they want usually results in venting the anger on their partners. What is more worrying is that some of the beatings have resulted in deaths. Another worry is that, despite frequent beatings, some women remain in such relations and there seems nothing that they can do to resolve the problem. There are cases where some women have lost several pregnancies after heavy beatings from their husbands. There are cases where a woman is beaten by the husband and runs to her parents for some time. After the wounds have healed, she goes back to the husband! What surprises is that no action is taken against the husband. There is a belief in some traditional societies that women should be beaten by their husbands as a
way of showing their love and superiority over them. Some women report the beating cases to the police and men are charged with wife battering. The sad thing is most beatings are not reported to the police for fear of ending the marriage. Some women have even withdrawn cases after their husbands have arrested. This is under the pretext that the fight was a domestic affair which could be resolved within the family. It is only when a death occurs when the case is given a lot of publicity. In the case of “feet of men” scenario, no known case has been reported to the police with the knowledge of the public. This is probably for fear of being ridiculed. Some men have died at the hands of their battering wives. Cases of spouse battering should be dealt with just like any other criminal activity. Some unfortunate deaths have occurred as result of concealing these cases. A marriage that needs to be persevered is a happy one not where fights are the rule rather than the exception.
4.6 Property Grabbing – Hammer Mill turns out to be a Transformer! Grabbing of property by relatives of a man who has died from widows is quite rampant in our
society. What is worrying is that this is usually done before the tears of the widow dries up. Sadly the majority of the property is usually undertaken by female relatives of the deceased man. A lot of widows have been a victim of this vice for a long time. This is despite the fact that the country has a law on intestate cases. Most of the victims of the property grabbing do not report the crime to law enforcement agencies. This is for fear of witchcraft. It is also sad that most of the men do not make any wills whilst they are still alive. This again is associated with the fear of dying soon after the will has been done. Mary Kungwa ha just lost her husband who was a chief engineer at one of the mines on the Copper Belt. Relatives of her husband Martin gathered for the funeral from all parts of the country. Soon after the funeral an uncle of the deceased man announced to all that he was not interested to take any of the property from the house. During the funeral men usually spend the night outside the house within the courtyard whilst the
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women would be inside the house to console the widow. The uncle took notice of a machine which was giving out a humming noise throughout the night. He made sure that that none of the relatives would have access to the machine by constantly referring to it as not working properly. On the day of sharing the property a young brother to the deceased announced that he will take away the car of his late brother so that he could convert it into a taxi which would bring in some money with which he could financially assist the two children left behind. He was shocked when the vehicle was taken away by one official from the company saying that the car was bought via a company loan which was only paid half way through. The car would be sold so that the money paid back by the deceased would be given back to the widow and herb children. As for the uncle who thought the "machine" he used to hear humming at night ,was actually a power supply transformer belonging to the electricity utility company. All along he had been thinking it was a hammer mill! 4.7 Marriage Interference by Parents and Relatives
At the beginning of this chapter it was said that marriage is the union between two adults. The two parties come into a legal union of being called a husband and wife. One of the problems encountered by married couples is the interference in their marital affairs by people who are not part of the union. The main culprits in this interference are the parents of the man or the woman. It usually begins at the very beginning from courtship when some parents are known to dictate to their sons and daughters on whom and where one should marry from. Everyone who is married now can testify that there was at one time when some pressure was exerted on them by the family, relatives and friends at the time of choosing their life partners. The main reason for this interference is because the parents’ thought is to protect the interests of their child. Many people would like their children to get married in families that have the same social status as themselves. Others even insist on their children to get married to those of the same ethnic and religious group. What is not realised is that the happiness between two people can only be achieved through their mutual effort. It cannot be transplanted from outside and made to grow in a
new family. When two people come to live together that is when they start to learn each other's weaknesses and strengths. For example one would only know about the other's snoring when they come to sleep in the same bed. I met a young couple once where the parents of the husband were long time family friends. I found him complaining to his father about his wife's "forgetfulness". According to him, his wife must have been a mental case. He could not understand, for example, her inability to remember her NRC number! What the young man did not realise is that we are born with different capabilities. It is not fair for anyone to be expected to be the same with anybody else. Interference from outside any marriage is therefore not in the best interest of the parties involved. What I believe is that two people who plan to get married should have the same kind of spiritual understanding. For any relationship to be successful the two parties should learn to be tolerant to each and be prepared to supplement each other's weaknesses.
4.8 Early marriages
Early marriages are a very contentious issue in many parts of the world. The minimum age limit for marriage for women is generally thought to be sixteen years but there has been cases where young girls as young as five are "married" off by their parents. A woman who goes into marriage must be biologically reached an age where she can conceive without causing a health risk to herself. If a woman starts bearing children at a very age there is a danger of death during child birth because the body is not fully developed to take on the impact of childbirth. On the part of men there is no known minimum age limit for marriage, however since marriage is usually initiated by a proposal by the males, men can only marry when they are financially capable of supporting a wife and children. The other factor that should be taken into account is the maturity of the persons who are intending to marry. It is not always the case that as one grows by the years the maturity also grows. It is important that children are brought up in a way that will allow them to grow into responsible citizens at the same time. This can only be achieved through educating the children by giving them those responsibilities of adults as
they grow up. For girls it is important to teach them the chores done by their mothers such as cooking and looking after babies and washing of household items. Traditional initiation ceremonies which, unfortunately are fading away, were very important for preparing young girls for marriage. As society developed these initiations is no longer a necessity. These have been replaced by kitchen parties. It is a pity that a number of women go into marriage without being adequately prepared for it. The modern way of life has a different look at life. Men are now expected to do house chores such as cooking and washing clothes which were traditionally done by women. This is debatable topic but it is really one’s choice on how one leads his or her own life. 4.9 Reflection Marriages are supposed to be enjoyed by couples that decide to go into it. Human greed and deception has made this institution, which was sanctioned by God at the time of creation, one of the greatest causes of human misery.
CHAPTER FIVE The Snare of Drunkenness 5.1 Introduction
I
n this
chapter I
am writing about my
personal experiences with the habit of beer drinking. I have decided to write about it because I believe my story will help others, who find themselves in a similar situation, to learn one or two lessons from it. I was lucky to have survived and I thank the Almighty God who preserved my life on two occasions. He spared my life so that I could tell the story to others. I attended a secondary school run by Christian
Missionaries. Pupils at the school were required to attend church service twice per month. A roll call was made, and all those absent were punished. What had happened, on that fateful Sunday morning, is that I and three of my friends decided to have some fun in neighbouring villages. The four of us were part of group of eleven naughty school boys who came to be known as "Mu Jeremani" or the German. The German group's aim was to break every school rule via clandestine activities. If any of us were caught we lost our "ranks" in the Group. The ranks in the Group ranged from "General" down to "Private". This Group exposed me to beer drinking and other vices. We visited one village where a local beer called "Katanta" was being sold. We were punished for going out of bounds of the boarding school and missing from the church service. The punishment involved copying a novel called “Things Fall Apart" by the famous West African author Chinua Achebe. We were all given pens and notebooks and told to start copying the novel from the first page! The punishment went on for four hours before we were told to stop.
I lost my rank of "Colonel" to that of "Major" in the “Mu Jeremani” Group after the punishment. Due my belonging to this Group, I was eventually expelled from the boarding and had to write my Form 5 final examinations whilst commuting from my parent’s village which was some four kilometers from the school. Despite my stubbornness at school I passed my Form 5 examinations and was the only student from the school who got a place at the University. Later on the Headmaster of the school wrote me a congratulatory letter. He hoped that I would, in future, learn to respect authority. I was not pleased by this letter and wrote back to him and denounced him as a staunch racist, who did not want to see black people to progress. I met him some three years later in Lusaka and I apologized for my denouncing letter. In 1972 when I went to the University of Zambia, where church service attendance was voluntary, I stopped going to church. A year later I started to attend church service voluntarily. In 1974 my baptism which I had an infant, was confirmed by a university chaplain. I used to spend my holidays from campus with an uncle, who introduced to me to social life of
late nights and heavy beer drinking. This was in 1975. I again stopped to attend church service. In 1977 when I got a job with the mines, I continued with my beer drinking habit. At one time I was nicknamed "Beer Lord" by my fellow drunkards. I rarely took food during the drinking orgies. I only took food at home after drinking, which used to be well after midnight, or very early the next morning, if it was at the weekends. On 28 October 1994 I was admitted into an intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital. This was after I lost nearly two litres of blood due a bleeding peptic ulcer. I went into a comatose state as result of shock brought by the loss of blood. My life was saved by emergency blood transfusion, whilst my breathing was supported by an oxygen mask for several days. Whilst in the intensive care unit I made a male nurse whom I shared the Word of God as I was recovering. He told me what it meant to be born again in Christ. His teachings really touched my heart. I stayed in the ICU ward for a total of ten days. I was told by a medical doctor that the peptic stomach ulcer was as a result of my heavy beer drinking. I was advised to stop drinking beer altogether. I followed the doctor's advice,
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but only for a short while. In April 1996 I was temporarily dismissed from employment with a workmate. This was after investigations of one man linked us to his activities which were questionable. On appeal, we were both found innocent. The ordeal took 51 days of torment before we were reinstated. The truth was that the concerned person used our positions to carry out his activities behind our backs. After the case at work I, once again, started to drink beer. The reason for resuming my beer drinking was for me to vent my anger and if possible get revenge on those who gave false statements against me during the case at work. A colleague advised me that people who frequented bars get more "inside information" on many issues than teetotalers. What a deception! On 18 May 2005, I was in another near-death situation due to appendicitis. An operation to remove the appendix saved my life on 19 May 2005. The surgeons who operated on me could not believe their eyes at how big it had swollen due to puss that filled the infected part. They told me that had the infected appendix burst and fed the puss into my blood system, I would have died instantly. After the operation, I have not gone back to beer drinking. I am a now free man after my release
from this snare.
5.2 Some Consequences of Drunkenness 5.2.1 - Poverty brought about by heavy beer drinking One of the consequences of heavy beer drinking is poverty. This is because one has to find money to drink, which means a portion of one's income has to fund this "necessity". During the period I was drinking full time between 1975 up about 1998 I never bought any viable assets, except for three vehicles. It was only in 1998, when the company I was working for decided to sell houses to employees who were sitting tenants, when I owned my first house. The money to pay for the house was deducted from my terminal benefits. I was earning a salary which could have enabled me to buy at least two houses between 1977 and 1997. Though I had extra family commitments of looking after my younger siblings, my aged parents and orphans of my two late sisters, I believe the situation could have been different had I not put my mind to beer drinking. The problem with beer drinking is that once money becomes available, the top priority on the expenditure list would be beer. I could get $600 as pay at the month end, for example, and up to
$100 of that was reserved for my entertainment, which was mostly for beer.
own
Whenever members of my family brought the issue of my beer drinking habits, they would be verbally scolded and at times we had some violent encounters. I could shut them up by reminding them that they were not with me when I was at the university studying hard to get my bachelors degree. At one time, around 1982 my married life almost came to an end. My family was not happy about how I was conducting my life. After being counseled by some elders I stayed for about a month without drinking. During the time I was off the bottle, my beer drinking "friends" started to mock me. They suggested that I had stopped beer drinking because I was broke. They even offered to sponsor me for ten bottles of cold Mosi lager. When I turned down this offer, they insinuated that my wife had given me a "love concoction" which would make me an imbecile in due course. The allegations that I was broke or that I was under my wife's control incited me to gradually go back to the bottle. Satan is very crafty when it comes to trap one to commit sin. He would tempt you by making false accusations against you so that one falls for the
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trick by counter reacting to the accusations and thereby getting snared. This is exactly what he did during the temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ when he tempted him for 40 days and 40 nights. Since the Lord is without sin, he did not fall into the devil's snare of deception. (Read Matthew, Chapter 4 and Luke, Chapter 4) The following fictional stories are typical cases of people who are incarcerated by poverty due to heavy beer drinking but want to show the outside world that they are doing fine. One may have come across some individuals who are always clad in immaculate suits and driving posh cars. However, on visiting their homes one is greeted by squalor and want. One man was invited for lunch to a home of a friend. He used to go out with him for a beer. After having a very big meal he was told to take a seat on one of the Sofas in the living room. The owner of the house went away with his wife for a private conversation in their bedroom. He asked the wife for some money so that he could take the visitor, who was a very "good" friend, for an evening out. The wife was running a chicken run business to supplement their income. She had no choice but
to give him $20 from the chicken sales. The man came out of his bedroom smiling whilst patting the wife on the shoulder. He then beckoned to the visitor that they could now go for a "quick one". This is the slang which we used whenever we were about to go out for a beer. The visitor, no realizing the condition of the Sofa he was seated on, stood up quickly when he was told they could now leave. In the process of standing up, his right trouser leg was caught up in a protruding spring which had dislodged from the cushion of the Sofa. This tore the trouser leg! On realizing what had happened, the gentleman vehemently apologized to his friend. He blamed his wife for not buying new furniture as she was allegedly directed to do recently. After a year the man visited the same family. He noticed that the “offending” Sofa was still in their living room. This time, he was choosy where to take a seat. Another man, who had been drinking for three continuous nights during a long weekend holiday, collapsed at his home. He was rushed to the Hospital and was wheeled to the Casualty section. He was taken to the Resuscitation Room. As part of the treatment, the nurses had to remove tight
clothing from his body which included his under garments. After removing his immaculate suit, shirt, tie and trousers the nurses had a tough time to remove his underpants. It was only after sometime that they realized that the underwear’s elastic had elongated due old age. In order to prevent it from falling off the man’s waist it was secured with a safety pin. This is the type which mothers use to secure baby napkins. During the hospital visiting hours, the wife of the patient was very embarrassed when she was told about the worn out underpants and the safely pin by one of the nurses. The nurse happened to be a "tribal cousin" whom she could joke with without offence. She wondered why the cousin’s husband, despite driving a posh vehicle and wearing an expensive suit, could not afford to buy himself good underwear. She was directed to bring a new pair of underwear at the next visit and the old one was thrown into the waste bin.
5.2.2 – Embarrassing Moments One of the results of taking alcohol in excess for a prolonged time is the mental effect it has on people. The effect of alcohol is making one feel happy and talkative after a few bottles have been taken. As the consumption increases, one’s
reasoning power start to disintegrate. One may start to do acts which he would not normally do. These include shouting, laughing, dancing, insulting, fighting, promiscuousness, etc. The list is long. A lot of incidents are occurring wherever alcohol is taken in large quantities. Most of them are of embarrassing nature. The following fictitious stories are typical from any drinking environment. At one time Police were in the process of trying to arrest a gang of criminals who were responsible for several house breakings in one township in Lusaka. Efforts to corner the criminals using police vehicles proved fruitless as the criminals seem to have a very sophisticated network of informers, who were able to identify even unmarked CID vehicles. The police requested one of the prominent businessmen to use one of his company vehicles to corner the criminals at one drinking place in one of the townships on the outskirts of the city. The police watched the place from around 18:00 hrs. Two hours later police were informed that all the three suspects were at the said drinking place. Three other men who were friends to the
businessman recognised the vehicle which the police were using in disguise. Since they were not aware of the police plan they assumed the vehicle was being used by one of the drivers who they saw at the place. The driver had to drive the vehicle with two armed CID officers who were left some two hundred meters away from the drinking place. The driver of the trap vehicle then parked at the drinking place and came out of the vehicle alone. This did not the criminals in any way because they did not know the driver. As he came to the bar the three men who were friends to the businessman came to the driver and started to engage him in conversation whilst they shared some beers. In order not to blow up the police operation, the driver did not inform the three men about the two CIDs who were about to burst into the place and surprise the suspects. As the two CIDs suddenly picked the two suspects and led them out of the place towards the trap vehicle. The driver then followed them to the vehicle. As he was leaving the other place his three friends who had no transport to go back to town followed the driver who told them at short notice what was happening.
The three men were members of the senior police club which was near the police station where the suspects were being taken to. The driver explained to the officers how the three strangers came to jump on the same vehicle that was taking the two suspects away. There was a civilian barman who was employed by the club. When they reached the Police Station inquiries desk, the officer who was there was surprised to see that the number of “suspects” who walked in with the CIDs were more than what he was earlier informed. The CIDs explained the situation to him. He shouted to the three innocent men “You three go out to the toilet outside!” The three men walked out of the police station. Two of them went to the club where driver went to park the vehicle used to pick the two suspects and the three friends. One of the three innocent men was so drunk that he had mistaken the officer at the Police enquiries desk for the Police Club bar man. He went back into the police station and ordered the Police constable at the enquiries desk “Barman, give us four beers!”
The officer was surprised by this demand and tried to reason with the drunken man to go and join his friends at the club. When he realised that he could not persuade him to leave the police station he locked him up. The charge read “Drunk, idle and disorderly”, when he was released by his friends the following day. He has been missing from his home from the previous day when he went out with his friends. When the wife enquired from his friends that was when it was discovered that he was detained at the police station. They had assumed that he had walked to his home when he came out of the police station and as he did not come to the club house. Asked later why he ordered the uniformed officer to sell him some beers in the police station he said he mistook him for the bar man at the Police Club! It took him about six months without coming to the Senior Police Club because of the shame he caused to himself. There was another drama at one of the executive night clubs on the Copper Belt one weekend. Members we were having a good time. At such
occasions a police permit would be obtained so that the closing time for the bar went on up the early hours of the following morning. Two men were drinking with one of their friends until at about 1.00 hrs, when the third man who had earlier told them that he was retiring home, came back to the club only after a few minutes. He asked for assistance to push his car that was stuck outside. The two friends told him that they we were unable to assist him since he never bought them any beers that evening. He organized some five volunteers who went outside to give him a hand. As the rest of the revelers continued with their merrymaking they were attracted by cries of a man who yelled at the top of his voice that he was about to die. They rushed outside the club house to see what has transpired.They were shocked to find one of the volunteers from the club crushed by the same vehicle he had gone to assist in pushing. What had happened is that the owner of the vehicle was very drunk. He was not aware of a two metre trench that was recently dug near the club by the municipal council workmen to accommodate some new sewer pipes for the
club. The front tyres of the car went into the trench and its rear ones were lifted off the ground. Since the vehicle was a rear puller, it was stuck in the trench. Realizing that that if the traffic police officers learnt of the accident he was going to be charged for drunken driving. His plan was therefore to remove the car out of the trench without attracting the attention of traffic police officers. When the volunteers came out to assist him, one of them went into the ditch to lift it by the front bumper whilst the four men helped to lower the rear wheels until they got in contact with solid ground. The car could then be driven out of the trench. At this moment the driver was told to go into the car and put it in reverse gear so that it would come out of the trench whilst the front wheel were supported by the man in front with the help of others who lowered the rear part of the car . The drunken man put the vehicle in the first forward gear instead of reverse. The car ran over the man in front of it. The man sustained broken legs just above the knees and that was the cause of the scream that was earlier heard from the
club house! Traffic police were called in and the driver was charged for causing injury by drunken driving. The victim was admitted in hospital for three months. It took him nearly a year before he could properly walk on his two legs!
5.2.3 – Loss of Employment. Fred Shamingo was a very brilliant student when he was studying for his City and Guilds’ Technician course at the Northern Technical College in the late 70s. He took a course in heavy duty equipment course. On completion of his three year course, he was employed by one of the mines on the Copper Belt. After completion of his on job training he was appointed as an assistant Foreman in charge of an Open Cast Mine’s shovels and drills. His performance as an assistant Foreman was outstanding. He was promoted to Foreman after working less than two years of working at the lower rank. At that time most of the Engineers at the Open Pit, who were Fred’s bosses, were white expatriates. They were very pleased with Fred’s performance as a Foreman. Fred soon found himself to be a close friend to the expatriates in social clubs such as the Golf
and Lions Clubs. In the 1980s most of these clubs were dominated by expatriates and only a few Zambians could afford to be members of these clubs. Expatriates remunerations have always been better than that of the Zambians. The scenario was such that an expatriate could earn as much as three times more money than a Zambian for the same job. This disparity in pay scales between Zambian and expatriate labour was the cause of a strike on the Mines in 1982, by the local technicians and engineers, who demanded for “equal pay for equal work”. Fred happened to be a very close friend of John, a young white expatriate from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. John was an assistant Foreman at the Machine Shop which fell under the Engineering Services department of the Mine. Fred and John came to know each other because of the functional relationship between the Open Cast Mine and the Machine Shop. John was in charge of the machining of spare parts that were used on the shovels and drills at the Open Cast Mine. It is when Fred used to come to push machining work at the Machine Shop when the two became friends.
Since John had just been in the country for a short time he was always lonely after working hours. He had not made many friends even in the expatriate community. Fred introduced John to the Golf Club where the two played the game after work during the week and at weekends. John was not a married man. Fred introduced him to some local girls to keep him company. Fred and John were both beer drinkers. At weekends Fred, who was a married man, used to organize some girls and take them out for fun at the Golf and other social clubs. John on the other hand, was sponsoring most of the drinks during these social encounters. He could afford this as he was single and his salary, which was paid in British pounds, could easily cover the cost for the entertainment. As a result of this Fred spent a lot of his off duty time on socializing. This resulted in him being hooked to the beer bottle. He developed into an alcoholic who reached a stage where he would tremble and shiver when he had not taken alcohol for a few days. In order to get round this condition, he would put some whisky or brandy in a flask which he would take to work disguised as tea. Whenever he craved for alcohol he would sneak back to his office to quench his thirsty.
It was a tradition for local contractors to organize a get together end of year party with senior mine staff who were in charge of the engineering and production departments. The party was called the annual Contractors and Miners Christmas Party. On this particular year, Christmas Day fell on a Sunday. This meant that there was a public holiday on Monday as per Zambian system of public holidays. The Contractors’ Party, as it came to be known, was held on Saturday evening at the Golf Club. John and Fred attended the party with their girl friends. There was a raffle which was held at midnight as the day was coming to Christmas Day. There were four bottles of John Walker whisky to be won. Fred won one of those bottles and he took it to his car so that it would be drunk on Christmas Day at his home. Later on he took his girlfriend to her home where he spent the night until very early in the morning when he went back to his home to bath and change clothing. Fred was the duty mechanical Foreman at the Open Cast Mine on Christmas Day. He was supposed to report for work at 7:00 hrs and distribute jobs to mechanics and artisans who
were called in to work on Christmas Day. Since Fred only arrived at his own home from his girlfriend’s place around 5:00hrs. He fell asleep soon after arrival at home. When men at the Open Cast Mine reported for work at 7:00 hrs the duty Foreman was nowhere to be seen. Efforts by the Control Room to get him on his VHF radio and home telephone were not successful. One of the assistant Foremen then took up charge of the men. At about 10:00 hrs Fred woke up and staggered out of his bed dazed with a very big hangover. His wife told him there was a phone call from his work place requesting to report for work immediately. Fred, who was practically still drunk, jumped into his car and drove to his office. On arrival he got hold of his official vehicle, a four wheel Land Cruiser, and drove down into the pit. He went to an area where he learnt that one of the shovels had broken down. Fred had carried the bottle of the John Walker whisky which he had won at the raffle during the Contractor’s party ton Christmas Eve. On arrival at the shovel he asked the crew of men he found working on the shovel why they were working on Christmas Day which was a public holiday. They told him that the Open Pit
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manager, who was at his home at the time, had told them that they should not knock off until the shovel was repaired. Fred instructed the men, who included the assistant Foreman, to immediately knock off and continue with the job the following day. The men were very grateful for this gesture. Fred told them that he had a bottle of whisky which they could share at his office before the men went back to their homes. There was a small Christmas party in Fred’s office as he shared the bottle of whisky which was drank dry without any mixers. Fred then left the Open Pit and rang John around midday that they could go for another drinking session at the Zairean border. John was very excited about the idea since he has not been to the place before. Fred told him that there was no need to go with their girlfriends. He told him that they would meet some other girls there. At 14:00 hrs when the Open Pit Manager drove to his office, he learnt that Fred had told men who were working on the broken down shovel to knock off and go home to enjoy Christmas Day. The Manager drove to Fred’s home to find out from him why he instructed the men to knock off. Fred was not at home and was not responding to his call sign on the VHF radio. He
was very annoyed and he tried to organize another crew to work on the shovel without success. The Manager then directed Mine Police to look for Fred and lay him off duty. They could not find him because he and John had driven to Kasumbalesa border to taste the Zairean beer called Nsimba. There was a popular bar at the border which was popularly known as “The Hiding Place”. Fred and John spent the Christmas Day at the Hiding Place where they stayed until the following morning. When Fred came back to his home he was met by a group of Mine police officers who apprehended him and took him to the Managers office. Fred was in very drunken state and became abusive to the Manager whom he accused of being á racist. Fred was taken to the Industrial Relations officer who told him that he was suspended from work pending the case hearing on Tuesday. He was taken back home still in the drunken state around 9:00 hrs. On Tuesday the case hearing was set at 15:00 hrs. When Fred reported to the Industrial Relations offices he came in a very drunken state. He was taken to the Manager Underground’s office where the disciplinary case was arranged to be heard. On entering the office Fred was very
aggressive and the case could not be heard. The Manager then called in Zambia Police to lock him up. He was only to be released following day. On being released from the police cells he was once again taken to the Underground Manager’s office. He was summarily dismissed from employment. On appeal to the General Manager, two days later, the dismal was sustained. This was the end of his working career with the Mines. A number of qualified young men have lost their jobs in a similar manner to Fred as a result of heavy and irresponsible beer drinking. This is a sad state of affairs, more especially for a developing country like Zambia which is in need of such people. 5.2.4 – Health Risks Alcohol consumed through beer drinking is associated with health risks that are to be discussed here. I’ll talk about my own experience as an individual who has consumed alcohol and what medical authorities have to say about it. The reason that I started beer drinking was to get rid of boredom. When I tasted the first bottle of a lager was when I was about thirteen years old. This was given to me by a pupil who bought it from a bar in a nearby township which was near the primary school where I was doing my standard three (now grade five). We shared a 375 ml bottle between the two of
us. The taste of the lager was very bitter for me at first and I was taking it in small sips. My friend encouraged me to take larger sips so that the effect of the alcohol could be realised quickly. He assured me that with practice I would soon get used to the taste. After we finished the bottle I was feeling very happy and the world around me looked more beautiful than before. I also realised that I had a greater appetite than before. Medical experts define alcohol as a central nervous system depressant which acts as a tranquilizer and a mild anesthetic. As I continued with my beer drinking habit as years went by, I noticed that I had to increase the number of bottles to drink in order to reach a certain stage of feeling “good”. The first half bottle that I took made me intoxicated for several hours before I could come back to normal. Later on I had to take about five bottles in order to have the same effect. Medical experts say that a moderate intake of alcohol is beneficial to the body. Moderate drinking is said to be when one takes less than three bottles per day. One of the benefits mentioned is the reduction of coronary heart disease. What I have experienced is that there is no way someone can control the habit as long as one finds it a means of getting rid of boredom.
The more one tends to follow the habit the more one gets hooked to it. Once one gets hooked to the habit, it requires a strong will power to stop it. This is made worse by peer pressure when one wants to come out of it. One bad result of alcohol consumption is the number of fatal accidents that occur across the world due to drunken driving. Alcohol impairs one’s judgment and hence it is a very great risk to drive a vehicle when drunk. Thousands of people are injured or killed from these accidents and the numbers don't seem to be going down any time soon. All that can be done is for the legislators to make stiffer penalties and jail time if necessary to get the offenders imprisoned to stem the problem. In some countries I have visited, like the United Kingdom and South Africa, there are very strict regulations on drinking and driving. Drinking and driving is a problem that doesn't recognize age and it's a problem ranging across all age groups. A lot of violent crimes such murder and rape are committed by drunken perpetrators. The most common disease caused by excessive alcohol consumption is cirrhosis of the liver. Excessive drinking is not only damaging to the liver but also can stress the kidneys. One medical colleague informed me that he has not seen anyone surviving from cirrhosis of the liver
in his twenty five years of practice. Pregnant women are discouraged from taking alcohol. It is said that alcohol that passes through the umbilical cord taints the breast milk and could cause brain damage. Due to lack of intake of food by some people as they take alcohol the stomach lining is slowly eroded. This eventual leads to ulcers as was in my case. Heavy alcohol intake can lead to brain damage which eventually results in mental sickness. I have witnessed some individuals who take very heavy doses of alcohol by mixing different types of strong alcoholic drinks such as lagers and spirits in one glass. The drink is appropriately called “bomb”! This surely is suicidal. This book is not an expert source of medical facts on this subject. The reader is encouraged to make his own research on the health risks associated with excessive intake of alcohol.
5.3 Reflection Excessive intake of alcohol has far reaching consequences. My own experience with this habit is a testimony that it does not pay to get involved with it.
Moderate drinking is said to be beneficial to one’s health, however, I believe that this has been achieved by a few individuals. There are some traditional beverages with minor content of alcohol such as Maheu and Munkoyo which are healthy to take.
CHAPTER SIX Other Snares of Society 6.1 Forged Documents
A
lbert Gonanani was educated up to grade
eleven before he was expelled from Mumbwa Secondary School. This was after he accepted the pregnancy of a grade eight girl he met some four months back. The girl, Lucy, was travelling from Mongu to Lusaka when the bus she had boarded made a stop in Mumbwa to refuel. When the bus arrived at the Mumbwa Filling Station at 19:00 hrs, it had already closed business for the day.
Due to a recent spate of armed robbery in the town, all businesses were forced to close by 17:00 hrs and the Filling Station was no exception. The latest attack was aimed at it and only quick action by a police flying squad sent from Lusaka foiled the intended theft. The bus crew announced to the passengers that they could not proceed to Lusaka that evening and they were spending the night in Mumbwa. They were told that those who had relatives in the town could spend the night at their homes. The bus would only proceed to Lusaka the following morning at 08:30 hrs. Lucy was travelling on the bus with her friend Margaret who had an uncle in Mumbwa. She told Lucy that they could spend the night at her uncle's home, which was a short distance from the town centre. The time the two girls were travelling to Lusaka marked the beginning of second term school holidays. Albert, who was in a boarding school in Mumbwa, came to spend the school holiday at his parent's home, which was in the same town. When the two girls came to the home of Margaret's uncle they were very warmly
welcomed by the mother to Albert. Margaret and Albert were first cousins. Margaret had not visited this family for a very long time. Her aunt suggested to her that she and Lucy should spend three days in Mumbwa before proceeding to Lusaka. Lucy who was travelling to Lusaka to spend the school holidays with her uncle's family did not object to Margaret's aunt. She has not lived in Mumbwa before and it was a chance for her to know the town for a while. The journey to Lusaka for the two girls thus ended in Mumbwa for a while. During the three days that Lucy spent at Margaret's uncle that is when she fell in love with Albert. Lucy only realized that she was pregnant when she went back to school in Mongu after three months. When the pregnancy was known she told her parents how she met Albert on the fateful journey to Lusaka. The matter was reported to the Ministry of Education authorities in Mongu. They send this information to the ministry headquarters in Lusaka. This resulted in the expulsion of Albert from school. Albert's parents were very angry with him and they forced him to leave home. He went to live
with an uncle who was working for the mines on the Copper Belt. Six months later there was a recruitment of grade twelve certificate holders to join the mines as staff learners. Since Albert was expelled from school for the pregnancy of Lucy, the previous year, he did not qualify to apply for staff learner’s engagement with the mines. Albert was very bright in class whilst he was at Mumbwa Secondary School. He was likely to get a division one certificate had he gone up to grade twelve. An idea came to Albert's uncle that if a grade twelve certificate could be forged for him, he would be able to join the staff learners programme with the mines. An arrangement was made for someone who had access to printing facilities in Lusaka to forge a division two certificate for Albert. That is how Albert found himself working for the mines without any problem. Albert was a hard worker and he soon found himself rising in ranks. His parents told him to marry Lucy who had a child with him after the Mumbwa affair. After working for the mines for six years, there was a requirement for further training for those with grade twelve certificates with divisions one and two school leaver's certificates.
Those who applied were told to send copies of their grade twelve certificates for selection. Albert did not initially apply for this course since he knew that his certificate was not genuine. His immediate supervisor persuaded him to apply since he was doing very well at work. Albert could not turn down the request since he was convinced that his secret would not be exposed. Before the applications were submitted to the company that offered the training, the education and training department of the mines sent the copies of the certificates to the Examination Council in Lusaka to verify their authenticity. After a week Albert was surprised to get a call out slip from Police CID section. He was requested to report to their offices at 08:30 hrs. He wondered what the call out was for. He thought that it could be for identifying some recovered stolen property from the mines. During his working for the mines he had been called at least two occasions to do so. The following day he reported to the CID offices as requested. He was surprised when he noticed that the officers did not show much interest to him when he came. He was told to wait in an office where he remained alone for a few minutes.
Later on two CIDs who later told him that they were from the antifraud division in Lusaka. They asked him whether he had ever been to Lundazi Secondary School. He replied that he had never to the Eastern Province. They showed him a copy of the certificate of an Albert Gongwe who attended Lundazi Secondary School some five years back. Again they showed him a copy of his purported grade twelve certificate which he submitted to the mines for further training. Albert's heart missed a beat and later started sweating profusely as the tempo of his heartbeat increased. Even before the police officers explained to him what was coming he knew that the end has come to him sooner than later! As the two officers were telling him that the two certificates were exactly the same in every way except for the surnames he was not listening. He fell down on his knees to ask for forgiveness. He explained to them that he had to do it for Lucy whose future he has ruined as a result of his foolishness. As the handcuffs were locking on his two arms he had already wetted his pants. He was arrested for forgery and uttering.
A few weeks later he was beginning a life in prison which was to deprive him of his freedom for the next three years. When Lucy's parents were informed of this development they were delighted that justice has finally been done to their daughter. They have never approved of the marriage from the very beginning. When Albert was in prison Lucy's parents came to pick her and put her in a private school to complete her education. She managed to pass her grade twelve with flying colours, which saw her proceed to take a degree course in law at the University of Zambia. She later got married to a medical doctor. Albert on the other hand, became a hardened criminal who had been in and out of prison several times. After the forgery case he was imprisoned for theft by agent and later for being a confidence trickster. On his next conviction he died from tuberculosis during his incarceration. Lucy's new husband adopted her son and the couple migrated to Australia.
6.2
Unfulfilled Promises
A promise is an assurance by one person to undertake or not to undertake a certain action in the future.
In this book we look at the type of promise where an action is expected from the one making the promise. Promises can either be legally or not legally binding on the part of the person who makes them. Legally binding promises do not usually bring problems because of the punitive action that are usually associated with them. It is the promises that have no legal implications that are not usually fulfilled. Such promises would be made by people who are close to those whom they make promises to and there is mutual trust between them. The following stories are an illustration on some no legally binding promises which are sometimes not fulfilled:6.2.1 - Sympathy Promise - A promise made soon after a loss of property or a life. Michael Kaluku was working as a Senior Clerk in one of the Government ministries. He worked for the ministry for twelve years before passed away after some illness. He was an only child for his parents who unfortunately, passed away during the Cholera outbreak in Lusaka in 1980. He was doing grade nine at the time. His elder cousin, who was working in the mines,
is the one who brought him up until he completed his grade twelve. Since the cousin had five children of his own he could not take him to a college. He managed to find employment in the Government as a junior clerk. Michael later enrolled for a course in Accounts which he did it on a part time basis with a College in Chingola. At the time of his death, he had three children of his own. His wife who only managed to go as far grade nine was not employed. Her only way of supplementing the family income was to sell vegetables at the local market. When Michael passed away a number of relatives who came for the funeral made promises that they would adopt the children in order for them to continue their education. An uncle who came from Lusaka said he would take the second born child. The elder cousin, who educated Michael, picked the first born child soon after the funeral. The youngest child who was some two years old was left with the widow, who moved to a rented house at the site and service compound where she had to shift after she had to leave the Government rented flat where they were staying. The uncle from Lusaka promised that he would come at the end of the year to pick the second
born child of Michael. At the end of the year the uncle never showed up as promised. When he was asked why he did not do as promised his excuse was that he had a very big family of his own. There are some people, who make promises of assistance during bereavements but soon forget about fulfilling their pledges.
6.2.2 - Assistance Promise - A promise made to help someone after a loss of status or property. Jabes Zangu has retired from a senior position in the civil service after working for a total of 30 years. Eight years had passed since his retirement. At the time of his retirement, the Government had introduced a system of empowerment of citizens by allowing them to purchase institutional houses in which they were sitting tenants. The house that he bought as a result of this arrangement was a four bed roomed executive type that was built for white expatriates during the colonial days. The house could have easily been mistaken for a guest house due its huge size. One evening there was an electrical power blackout around 19:00hrs due a cable fault.
Jabes and most of his family had gone for a wedding party in a neighbouring city. The only people who were at home during the power blackout were a housemaid and two grand children. When the black-out occurred, Mary the housemaid, who was staying at the servant's quarters within the same courtyard as the main house, brought a lit candle into the main house. This was to assist the two grand children of Zangu family to be seeing around the house. Since the two grand children had not yet had their evening meals, Mary arranged a charcoal burning stove to cook meals for them. The two children were not used to candle light and so they went outside the house where there was some lighting from a full moon. The lit candle was left in the dining room where Mary intended to take the meals after preparing the meals for the two children who were aged ten and fourteen. As she was preparing the meals she noticed a bright light coming from the dining room. One curtain had caught fire. What happened is when the candle was taken into the dining room, the fourteen year old child took it from the table where it was placed and
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brought it to the window sill where its light could be seen from outside the house. She did not properly secure it on the sill. As a result it titled over and caught the linen of the curtain which soon caught fire. On seeing the flame, Mary shouted for help to neighbours to come and assist to put the fire out. A number of people from the neighbouring houses soon converged in the courtyard to try to put the fire out and retrieve some property from the burning house. Their efforts to put out the fire was very not successful due to the fact that most of the rooms in the house were locked by the Jabes family except for the doors that were leading into the kitchen, dining room , living room and the children's bedroom. Someone managed to call in the Fire Brigade, who arrived at the fire scene after fifteen minutes. By this time most of the building was a raging inferno which could be seen some three kilometres away. A few items, mainly from the Kitchen, dining and living rooms were saved. The rest of the property in the house was reduced to ashes.
The fire was finally put off by the Fire Brigade after nearly two hours; however, the building was reduced to a blackened shell. Jabes, his wife and their last born son were the only people living in the house with the two grand children. The grand children were orphans of their second born daughter, who died in a tragic road accident with her husband some nine years back. The ten year old grandchild, who was then a year old, was the only survivor in the tragic road accident. The other child was not in the vehicle at the time of the accident. Efforts to inform the Zangu family about the fire did not bear any fruit. They had gone for a wedding party of a cousin of Jabes Zangu and all their cell phones were not reachable. When the party was over Jabes noticed that he had more thirty missed calls from various people, most of whom were not even in his phone contacts. The only one he recognized was that of the housemaid. When he tried to ring it he could not go through. He later learnt that its battery went flat as she was trying to get hold of him and her ringing other people who in turn rang her back.
Jabes was worried by the number of missed calls that were on his cell phone. These were between 19:30 hrs and 20:30 hrs. After failing to get hold of Mary he tried one was of numbers he did not know who the owner was. He was answered by a gentleman. He told him that there was some emergency at his home and he should come back home as soon as possible. When asked what the emergency was all about, he was told that there was some water coming from one of the rooms of the house but the children were not able to open the locked door to turn the tap off. The man who answered the phone was a neighbour to Jabes. He did not want to immediately reveal the truth about the gutted house. Jabes was known to be hypertensive and diabetic. If the truth was revealed to him then there was a danger of him getting a heart attack which could lead to a stroke or worse. As they were leaving the wedding party, Jabes broke the news of the waterlogged house as a result of a water tap that was left running in their self contained master bedroom. He accused his wife of being careless as the water bill is going to be huge due to the water flowing out without
control. The other concern is how they are going to use the waterlogged house. As they were driving out of the town where the wedding party was done Jabes turned on the car's FM radio and tuned in to the local radio station. The time was 22:00hrs and there was news summary. What attracted Jabes' attention was a news item that mentioned a house that was gutted that evening. The news caster mentioned that a house was destroyed by a fire in the township where Jabes was staying. What worried him was that the owners of the mentioned were said to be out of town at the time of the fire. Only a housemaid and two young children were left at home. The owners of the house were not yet identified because by press time, efforts to get them on their mobile phones were fruitless. The husband's cell phone was ringing but unanswered, whereas the wife's cell phone was switched off. The news caster said the family were believed to have gone for a wedding party in the next city and were expected back home that evening. On hearing the news, Jabes stopped his car and dialled the housemaid's cell number. The number
was not reachable. He then rang the neighbour who told him the water tap story. This time he was told part of the truth. He collapsed onto the steering wheel and failed to drive any further. Their son who was a licensed driver took over the driving. They were some 30 kilometres away from their home town when they learnt of the disaster. Jabes who was in a very weak situation by now, had to be driven to the nearest hospital where he was admitted in the ICU ward with a life threatening high blood pressure of 250/180 mm of Mercury. On arrival at what used to be her home, Mrs. Zangu also collapsed when she realized that they had no more clothing apart from what they were putting on. They had lost over ninety percent of whatever they had. The house was not repairable as it was reduced to useless shell. The neighbour had told Jabes that a lot of property was saved and only part of the house was damaged by the fire. He did not want to tell him the extent of the loss as this could have made them not to travel safely back to the home town. She was also admitted in hospital. The couple recovered from the shock after a week and both were released from hospital. A number of
sympathetic people donated clothing and food to the family. The couple were forced to stay in the servant's quarter which was modified to fit the family as a new home. Their local church set up an emergency fund raising campaign to assist the Zangu family to rebuild their house. A total of $5,000 was pledged by various individuals. What was notable after a few months was that only 30% of the people who made pledges of assistance actually paid anything. Two year later the money was still not paid! Human nature is such that when a calamity befalls another there is a tendency to come forward in full force to assist. After sometime that enthusiasm wanes. My personal experience is when I was out of employment when my fixed term contract job was terminated in 2010.A number of colleagues who have been very close associates to me for many years came forward with promises to assist in various ways. Some offered me partnership in their businesses and others promised to employ me or get me a job in companies that they had influence in.
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Within six months I was promised on at least ten occasions. None of these promises materialised.
6.3 Gratitude after Assistance All of us have been assisted by others in order to resolve some pressing problem or to get what we need. Whenever you are assisted by someone there are several scenarios to the situation:•
The person assisting you is doing it out of his own will and kindness.
•
He is doing it with ultra motives to get something out of you in return.
When the assistance is out of goodwill a mere “Thank You” from the recipient is enough. When the assistance is done with ultra motive intentions, the recipient becomes a victim of torment from the provider of the assistance. In the latter case conditions may be given before the assistance is rendered. There are cases where qualified females seeking employment in public and private organizations are given preconditions of sexual demands before they could be considered. Other people are requested to give some monetary "gifts" to the corrupt officers.
In this case the person seeking the assistance should think twice before getting it. In some cases there are no preconditions given, but soon after the assistance, the recipient would be tormented by constant “reminders” of how and why the assistance was rendered. How many people have been told something like: - "If I had not helped you to get a job or a promotion you would not be where you are now”! The Bible says:"Do not eat the food of a stingy person; do not crave his delicacies; for he is like someone calculating the cost in his mind. "Eat and drink," he says to you, but his heart is not with you; you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten, and will have wasted your pleasant words." (Proverbs 23:6-8). A job or promotion given in this manner is not done in honesty. If one is qualified to get the job or deserves the promotion, how does a third party come into the picture? If someone is duty bound to facilitate employment of people, it is not right for him to expect any "compensation" from those engaged. Some people misuse their positions for monetary gain. This is tantamount to corruption, which is punishable by law.
John Manangu had just graduated with a diploma in Business Studies and Accounts from the President's Citizenship College in Kabwe. The diploma was presented to him at a colourful ceremony that was attended by his parents and two of his siblings. He had worked as a supervisor on temporary basis in a retail shop in town before he went to college. After college he went to stay with his parents in Chingola whilst looking for permanent employment. There was an advertisement in a local newspaper by a multinational private company in Chingola who were looking for management trainees. The applicants had to have a minimum of a diploma in business studies. Since John had the required academic qualifications, he applied for the job. On the day of the interviews for the jobs six candidates who were shortlisted came. There were three positions which were available to be filled. The successful candidates were then to be sent overseas for specialized training which was meant to suit the requirements of the multinational company. The employment officer for this company, Kebipi Mwagulo, was known for his corruption. Several allegations against him were made by some individuals who were victim to his vices but no concrete case could be made against him.
The man was almost untouchable as he was believed to be a friend to individuals of high influence in society. On submitting his application, John was told by Kebipi that he could "arrange" to secure him one of the positions if he gave him $400 for his "drink"! He told him not to regard this request as an act of corruption. He was told that in this world, a lot of people do "assist" each other in many ways. As long as no one was hurt, there was no issue of corruption. John did not know how he could raise that amount of money at short notice. Since John was desperate to get the job, he told his father about the employment officer's suggestion. The father, who was a retired security officer, got in touch with the Anti Corruption Commission officers. They told the father that they would give him marked notes which were going to be used as bait for Kebipi. The employment officer's cell phone calls and SMS were tapped by the ACC investigators so that all his correspondence with John could be monitored. As part of the investigation process, the ACC had to get a search warrant from the local
magistrate's court in order for the cell phone company to tap Kebipi's cell phone. John was told that every time he talked to the employment officer he should mention his name several times during any conversations. He was given forty $10 bills which were photocopied by the ACC officers. He was told to lure him to a Hotel which was just outside town. The idea was that when he was arrested not very many people would witness the drama. Kebipi was no fool because he was always careful to bury his tracks whenever he was getting any money through corrupt means. When John told him that they meet at the said Hotel, he sensed danger. He instead suggested that they meet at another Hotel that was in town. He gave him the excuse that he had a meeting with another friend there. John told the ACC officers about this new development. They had already planted some men at the other Hotel. They had to use “Plan B” which John was not aware of. John handed the money to Kebipi at the town Hotel. There were no ACC men in sight. John was worried because he thought the plan to catch the man would fail. As Kebipi left the Hotel, he was watched by two ACC officers who were
waiting for him in a parked private vehicle in the town centre. Kebipi was experienced with how to get rid of the money quickly by getting lower denomination bills from a cashier who was working in one of retail shops in town. Since the shop was already closed for business he could only do this the following. He needed to inform the cashier that he had an assignment for him to change nearly $400 into smaller denominations. Since he did not have enough talk time he got change on the first $10 bill from a talk time vendor who selling it outside the Hotel. The ACC officers could not pounce on him at this stage. They only took note of the vendor for interview later. Kebipi then went to a secluded restaurant where he thought no one could follow him. He ordered a Hamburger and a Coke and went to take his snack in a darkened corner of the restaurant. There were very few people in the place at the time. When Kebipi was half way through his meal, two young ladies walked in into the restaurant and ordered some snacks. They then came to sit at a table near to where Kebipi was seated. He was not alarmed by their presence as their faces were familiar to him. He had seen them in
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various drinking places. He had thought of them as call girls. He had noticed that they were always in the company of men whom he presumed were their clients. The men were actually ACC officers. One of the ladies moved from their table and came to sit on an empty chair that was opposite his. He was not ready for female company now as he still had to bury the tracks of the money in his purse, which was now at $380, the following day. Kebipi was in the process of telling the young lady that he could not attend to her as own girlfriend was about to join him. The lady replied that she was not what he thought she was. Soon he found himself gazing into an ACC officer's ID card that was waved in front of his startled eyes. Kebipi almost choked on the remaining piece of hamburger he was eating. He was about to bolt when two male ACC officers burst into the restaurant. He was told that he was under arrest for receiving money by corrupt means. He retorted that there was no proof for this alleged offence. He was instructed to take out the remaining $10 bills in his wallet. To his shock, he found that the officers had photocopies of the bills whose serial numbers matched those of the ones in his wallet. One $10 bill was also taken out from the
restaurant till and its serial number matched that of the photocopies the officers had. He was even more shocked when the talk time vendor was brought in and he displayed the first $10 bill from which Kebipi bought $2 talk time. Kebipi who has been in this "'business" for nearly five years without any hitch, suddenly found the solid ground he had been standing on swept off his feet. He was now seeing himself falling into a bottomless pit of misery. The corruption case against Kebipi was watertight due to the overwhelming evidence against him. His bank account and other assets which included three vehicles and a farm were frozen and forfeited to the state. He was in addition, sentenced to a jail term of five years with hard labour. The Bible says:"Wealth gained quickly will dwindle away, but the one who gathers it little by little will become rich." (Proverbs 13:11).
6.4 Extortion and Blackmail Extortion is defined as the felonious act of obtaining money from someone by coercion or intimidation.
An Extortionist usually gets the money or property from his victims by virtue of his physical or economic strength. If the victims do not pay, they are either threatened with injury or death. Blackmail is defined as the extortion of money by threats to divulge embarrassing information. A Blackmailer on the other hand, may be weaker individual who have incriminating information about a stronger individual which he uses to extort money from him. If the victims do not pay, they are threatened with exposure of the embarrassing information about them. Both extortionists and blackmailers are criminals who are liable to prosecution under the law. Jimmy Koloa, who was popularly known as JK, was working as a Boilermaker Foreman at one of the Mines on the Copper Belt. He was in charge of a crew of men who were working morning, afternoon and night shifts on a rotary basis with one relief crew. Each shift was headed by an assistant Foreman who reported to Jimmy. Jimmy's normal working time was during the morning shift. However, as a Foreman he was expected to check the work of the other two shifts from time to time. This was
more so when a major plant breakdown had occurred. As routine, he used to check the other two shifts at least three times during a week. He would drive into the plant area at 21:30 hrs during the afternoon shift and go back home at 23:00 hrs. The night shift crew reported at 22:30 hrs. This meant that he would be able to check on both shifts in one visit to the plant. Jimmy was a married man who had six children. He was also known to have two more children outside wedlock. He liked socialising by visiting drinking places where he was renowned for giving free beers to friends, most of whom were of the opposite sex. Despite having a large family, he never seemed to run out of cash most of the time. People working with him were wondering how he could afford to live so comfortably from his salary. He did not have any other known source of living. Jimmy led his men with a firm hand and he was a feared by all because of this. Jimmy's bosses were pleased to have a no nonsense man as a Foreman in a plant which was a critical part of the mining operations. At the end of one year he was given a Christmas present by the top management for being the
best performing Foreman at the plant. His performance was judged by his firmness on his subordinates and frequent visits he made to check on the job during his off times. As a result of this the number of lost hours due to machinery breakdown was kept to a minimum. Jimmy always ensured that there was adequate spares and equipment to handle any situation. Critical spares such as grinding discs, welding electrodes, cutting torches used by boilermakers were kept in a Buffer Store which was located a few meters behind his office. He was the only one who was authorized to sign requisitions to draw the spares from the Buffer Store. There was a store man who manned the Buffer Store during the morning shift. His duty was to ensure that critical spares were drawn from the main Mine Store and kept in the Buffer Store. He would then issue these two men working in the plant as required. Each withdrawal was recorded in a book and the Foreman had to counter sign in it before spares were issued. During backshifts spares were issued by Jimmy himself as he had a spare key to the Buffer Store. The assistant Foreman on duty would then sign in the book as "witness". One evening when Jimmy came to visit the plant during backshifts an artisan Boilermaker saw
Jimmy putting a set of Acetylene cutting torches and hoses into the boot of his personal car. Jimmy had not seen the artisan who, on seeing what was happening hid himself behind a concrete pillar. He did this so that he would not distract the Foreman. After a few days the artisan Boilermaker changed into afternoon shift. As he drew out some welding electrodes from the Buffer Store he checked in the book where all withdrawals were recorded. He noticed that the Acetylene cutting torches and hoses that he saw being put into the Foreman's car were not recorded in the book. He did not take any action at that stage. One weekend the artisan met Jimmy in a drinking place in the company of two ladies. He approached his boss and requested him to buy him some beers as he did not have enough cash. Jimmy's reaction to the request was harsh. He told him that if he could not afford to buy a beer for himself why was he bothering to come for a beer? He told him as he handed him two beers which he deliberately chose from the table he was seated with his two girlfriends. The table had more than ten unopened bottles. Many of them were cold. Those given to the artisan were the warmest.
The artisan was very embarrassed by his boss' reaction. He drank the two warm beers given to him and walked out of the drinking place. Two weeks later the artisan Boilermaker was doing night shift. Soon after 23:00 hrs Jimmy drove into the plant. The artisan was expecting him to take away some other spare out of the Mine. He lingered around the car park but was not visible to anyone who was in the car park. At 23:15 hrs Jimmy was seen tip toeing to his car with four packets of welding electrodes. As he was closing the boot of his car where the electrodes were put the artisan came out his hiding place and confronted Jimmy. The artisan told him that he was going to report him to Mine Security. Jimmy pleaded with him not to do so as he was going to be fired. The artisan agreed not to report him provided he gave him $20 to compensate him for the embarrassing moment he subjected him to when he was in need of a beer. Jimmy agreed to this. Later when the two met in the drinking place the artisan was given an abundant supply of beer as he wished. As long as he was given some money to enjoy himself, the Foreman was not going to be reported to the police.
This went on for some time until Jimmy could no longer tolerate to be intimidated by the artisan. Jimmy arranged for him to be transferred to another department of the Mine. He told him that he would not give him anymore money for keeping the secret. He told him that should he report him, he would ensure that he is eliminated through witchcraft. The artisan was very scared of witchcraft and he kept his mouth shut. Six months later Jimmy was caught red handed. He was about to take a contraband of stolen spares from the Mine. Investigations revealed that there was one Mine Security constable who hailed from the same village as Jimmy. He was the one who used to allow him to take the stolen spares from the plant. Both were fired and handed over to Zambia Police. After prosecution they were both sentenced to three years imprisonment for theft by servant.
6.5
Witchcraft
6.5.1 -Introduction One of the snares that Satan uses to terrorise humankind is witchcraft. In many communities across the world witchcraft is practised extensively. I grew up in an African village and had several encounters with witches and wizards.
Some people look at witchcraft as a superstitious nonsense, but the truth is that it has brought a lot of havoc in many communities. Wizards and witches are agents of Satan who use demons to torment human beings. It is only through the protection by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that these demons are kept at bay.
6.5.2 “Rain Maker” dies at the wrong time! When I was young there was one man living near my village who was known to be a very dangerous wizard. He was feared for his “rain making” and snake charms. As children we were very much intimidated by his witchcraft. In the middle of our school garden there was a Mango tree which used to produce very sweet fruits. The wizard claimed ownership of the tree because his ancestral village used to be where the tree was. He put up a charm for lightning so that whoever ate any fruit from the tree would be struck dead by lightning. One secret we came to know about charms of rain makers, was that if one takes the charm from where it was put and submerge it in a stream with running water, it would not work. One day we decided to use this “trick” so that we
could help ourselves to the sweet fruits without getting permission from the wizard. We were five of us staying in the same village who took part in this experiment. Three days passed without any incident. On the third day there came a very harsh thunderstorm with very frightening lightning flashes. All those who ate the mangoes were very terrified. Four of the boys involved decided to brave the heavy rain and lightning and run some two kilometres to the wizard’s village to report themselves. I did not join them because I reasoned that it was more dangerous to run in an open space in the middle of a fierce thunderstorm. I decided to meet my fate in the shelter of the hut I was in. I started to pray silently. The other boys managed to reach the village of the rain maker without any harm. They reported themselves to the rain maker on how we “disarmed” his charm before we helped ourselves to his mangoes. He told them that we did well because every time he was about to strike the culprits his demon failed to see clearly who to strike. All he could see was a flowing river. They were given a concoction of very bitter herbs to take as an antidote. In my case I was sent a message that I should also use the herbs in order to prevent lightning to strike me in future.
When my colleagues brought the herbs to me I could not to use them because of their extreme bitterness. However, I kept them in case of need. I never used them. Our rain maker used to tell people that the day he died the community was going to experience the fiercest thunderstorm which was going to be remembered for many years to come. He died on a 15th of June. This is the time the cold season when it does not rain in Zambia. That day was, however, particularly cold when the temperature suddenly dropped to near freezing point. Those who believed the rain maker’s prediction attributed the very cold spell we experienced that day to the death of the wizard. They told us that had it been during the rainy season, we were going to experience the promised mother of all thunder storms. They said that when the approaching rainy season began the following November we were to experience the promised fierce thunderstorm. When the first rains came in November, we had the quietest rain storms in many years!
6.6
Conclusion
In this book various types of snares of Satan have been discussed. These snares are just a small part that is encountered in our lives. The battle of humanity to free itself from these snares is a continuous process. The freedom can only be achieved through the deliverance that is achieved through our Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians, it is our duty to continually fight the snares of Satan with the Word of God.
End
About The Author
Henry Musialela Nasilele.
Biography
H
enry is an Electrical Engineer who was
educated at the University of Zambia from 1972. He was in the fourth batch of Zambian trained engineers from the School of Engineering of the University, which was first established in 1969. Henry is married to Bridget and they have six children aged between 31 and 19.
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When he joined the then Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines Limited in Chingola in 1977, most the engineers working for mining industry then were expatriates. It was a big challenge for the young engineer who has to excel in a group of engineers from other countries. In 1983 he was transferred to Konkola Division of the then Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited in Chililabombwe where he worked as a project design engineer for surface and underground installations. In 1986 he was sent to the United Kingdom for post graduate training in Power Systems installation and maintenance. He was sent for training for Maintenance System engineers at Redcliffe in Zimbabwe. He was part of ten engineers from Preference Trade Area countries who were trained under the auspices of UNIDO. He then worked as a Maintenance Systems implementation engineer at Nchanga Division in Chingola from 1990 In 1992 he was again involved in project work involving installation of new equipment at the Concentrator and Tailings Leach Plant at Nchanga. In 1994 he was transferred to the then Power Division of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited where he continued with installation of at
Mufulira Division’s underground equipment. Henry worked at Nampundwe Mine in 1996 as a Head of Engineering. Thereafter he worked at Nkana in 1998 where he was involved in maintenance management system implementation until 2002 when he retired. In 2004 he was re-engaged by the mining industry on a fixed contract, by Konkola Copper Mines Plc at Nchanga Integrated Business Unit, as a Plant Electrical Engineer until January 2010. Henry had been in a group of experienced engineers who were called on many occasions to investigate a number of very serious electrical accidents across the mining industry .Henry is an avid reader and is a self taught Website designer. He has been writing Blogs on the internet since 2009 but started writing articles offline in 2008. This is his first book to be published by Elijah Miti Consultancy Enterprises under EMCE Publishing ( www.elijahmiti.webstarts.com . A company that has helped over 80 Zambian Authors publish their First Books including 6 books written by His Royal Highness Senior Chief Kanong’esha. You can send your inquiry to EMCE Publishing on email: emcemagazine@gmail.com.
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