Maravi

Collum Coal Mine shooting victim seeks help

COMMENT - Absolutely amazing. The MMD got rid of universal healthcare and replaced it with a fee based system. They shifted the tax burden from the mines to workers by giving foreign owned mines decade long tax holiday and increasing PAYE (Pay As You Earn) income tax. They bend over backwards to corruptly defend foreign investors, so they take the investors side over the side of their own people.

And now, when a young guy is shot by these same investors, his family must come up with the money for his hospital treatment. An absolute disgrace.


Collum Coal Mine shooting victim seeks help
By Mutale Kapekele
Thu 28 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT

The youngest victim of the 11 Collum Coal Mine shooting is stranded in Lusaka after being discharged from the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) following a stomach operation. 20-year-old Vincent Chenjele, a grade eight pupil at Kandabwe Basic School, was shot twice in the stomach and a third pellet pierced his chest.

In a walk-in interview, Chenjele’s father Leonard Kapwizi said he had no money to take his son back to Sinazongwe and the mine had not provided any logistics for the victims.

“It has been difficult because even the money to go to the hospital was just borrowed from the neighbours and now we don’t have transport money to go back to Sinazongwe,” Kapwizi said.

“Travelling on public transport is going to be difficult looking at the operation that is still far from healing and on top of that, we have to come back on the fifth of November for review.”

Kapwizi said the government should ensure that the victims of the shooting received compensation from the Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mine.

“My son is a grade eight pupil who works part time at the mine to raise school fees. This shooting has left lifelong effects on the boy and he will have to find employment that is not labour intensive, otherwise he never do what he was able to do before,” he said. “The government and the mine should compensate the victims. They Collum Mine have not visited the victims at the UTH and have not provided any logistics. If the government does not act, it is possible that the victims will not get any compensation from the mine. I doubt that they will pay.”

He complained that Chinese investors were taking the country back to the pre-colonial days.

“This situation in Sinazongwe should be changed because the Chinese investors are taking us back to the pre-independence period which is not acceptable,” Kapwizi said. “The Chinese don’t care about human life and just do what they want. If that is the way they live in their country, someone should tell them that this is a democracy with a different business environment. Zambia is independent so why should we suffer.”

And the UPND demanded that the Chinese embassy should ensure that the victims got compensation.
UPND chairman for logistics Sibote Sibote, who accompanied the victim, said his party expected the government to secure compensation for the 11 victims.

He said Chinese investors needed orientation on how to conduct business and how to behave in a democratic state.

“We understand that they come from an environment that supports dictatorial attitudes but this is not China,” said Sibote. “We demand that they compensate the victims and urge the government to ensure that they get that compensation.”

Labels: CHINESE, CHINESE COLLUM COAL MINE, LABOUR, MINERS, VINCENT CHENJELE

posted by MrK @ 6:53 PM