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Kitwe Youths Desert Mine After Being Subjected To a Lot Of Hard Work, Hunger, Lack Of Clean Drinking Water
MORE than 200 youths, who paid K150, 000 to be employed at Kantobo Mine in Kapiri Mposhi have come back and vowed never to go back to the mine because they were subjected to a lot of hard work, hunger, lack of clean drinking water and had not been paid anything.
The 200 youths were part of the youths who paid K150,000 to a named pastor who promised that they would be employed at a new mine called Kantobo mine in Kapiri Mposhi District.
The same youths on September 1, 2012 blocked the road at Wusakile roundabout and protested that the pastor had swindled them because he was not giving them employment as he had promised.
The youths, who were found at the District Commissioners office in Kitwe, told the Daily Nation that they had decided to come back because they had suffered a lot during the period they had worked in the area.
Speaking on behalf of the others, Lawrence Kanyanta said when they arrived at the purported mine on August 22, 2012, they were told to start cutting trees, making the road using the hoes and shovels and only used to have one meal per day which was a small rump of Nshima in a cup and a table spoon of beans.
Kanyanta said they tried to persevere and endure because they were promised that they would be getting K2.8million per month, but they could not manage because they were just being used without being paid.
He said, it was after realising that there was nothing good coming up at the mine, that they decided to sell some of their clothes, cellphones to raise money to come back to Kitwe.
The youth narrated that when they arrived at the mine, they were assigned to cut tree and make access roads to the prospective mine. They had one meal a day made up of a cup of Nsima with beans
“We were very determined to work because we were promised a salary of K2.8million but we never got this money and the people who were supposed to pay us were never seen, so we ended up selling our clothes, cell phones and other belongings to find money for food and transport.” He said.
“We have suffered very much big man. We were among the first groups that went to the mine.” He said.
Another youth, Steward Kabwe said they when they arrived at the mine, they found that there were already 500 youths in the area who were working and had told them that they would not cope with the hard work, the hunger and lack of clean water.
Kabwe said they used to walk for three hours from Chief Ngabwe’s palace where they were sleeping to the purported mine and by the time, they reached the working place, they were already tired.
He said, apart from walking long distance from the palace to the mine, the working place had no clean drinking water and were forced to drink water from a stream where animals were drinking from.
“When we reached the mine, we were told it is not Kantobo mine, but it was Chief Ngabwe’s mine. The purported mine is located near Chief Ngabwe’s palace and so we used to sleep at the palace. We were taking eight hours to walk from the palace to the mine.
“The place is very far in the bush and it has no clean drinking water. We used to drink water from a stream where animals were drinking from,” Mr Kabwe said.
Mr Kabwe appealed to the government to help them get the money they worked for at Kantobo mine because they were no longer interested in going back to the mine.
He said more youths were planning to come back from Kantobo mine because of the hardships they were going through in the bush which was claiming to be a mine.
“Ba mudala, teifwe fweka tweba bwelako. Nabambi baleisa abanensu umulandu wabuchushi balepitamo meaning we are not the only ones who have come back from that mine, even other colleagues of ours are planning to come back because things are just hard in that place.
“We wasted out time going to that place and so we are appealing to government to help us get the money we worked for at the mine. We did a lot of hard work,” He said.
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Posted by
marie-anne
September 29, 2012 at 9:08 pm
Lazy Bemba bums. They were building pit latrines on top of the ore deposits. Now the Pastor comes & gives them a purpose in life, they feel entiltled. They fail to perform becoz most of these guys are lazy bums. I remember when I did a project in Kitwe a few years ago, one guy would be tightening a bolt while 4 other guys would be watching him whilst chatting on their cell phones. At the end of the day they would request for overtime (double rate) & after commissioning there would be so many breakdowns & we would start the cycle all over again.
Wiseman
September 29, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Vote fo me in 2016. I will do the foLlowing in 90 days:
1) Reduce unemployment from the present 70% to 5%. This I will do by firing the boers and Chineese amd employing our own Zambian experts. I will also explore the oil prospects in western province, open up new copper mines in luapula and North western province.
2)Reduce salaries to politicians. No one should go into politics as a form of employment but to serve. That is why there is too much coruption among politicians even these that hide from pronouncements of being alergic to coruption.
3)Raise education standards in this country. Teachers should be better rewarded for their service. That way they wiLl not involve themselves in misschief like teaching halfway and asking pupils to pay for the other half (you know what I mean).
4) Improve on our imfrastructure, communication (We are having a raw deal from our mobile providers. The service we are getting is appauling. The banks Automated cash teals are also being affected by communication problems)
5) I can do more fo this my beloved country so come 2016 let us unite and vote for me.A….Wiseman
umu zedian
September 29, 2012 at 9:33 pm
People of Zambia we lack vision and everyone know for sure that these people we put in Govt offices cannot deliver.
Comfort
September 29, 2012 at 11:09 pm
lazy kitwe youths,i bet kaChisha was amongst them.
ear worm
September 30, 2012 at 1:30 am
panono panono ifintu ni panono…
Katwa
September 30, 2012 at 3:21 am
Who subjected them?
Tere
September 30, 2012 at 4:25 am
The story has very little truth. Those youths were not read for work. My father was once a miner. In the early times of the Rokana mine (Mopane mine), work was very difficult he said. If our parents did not endure the hardship, this Nkana (Mopane ) would not be there. Young men you are the pioneer just endure the hardship. We should not wait for others to do things for us.This is the more reason we had people from Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe working in our mines. Ubuunang’ni tebusuma bane. As for the payment, it is your right,get it. Next time take note of the condition of employment before you get into it
The Elder
September 30, 2012 at 7:36 am
ZNS pt 1 ,pt 2 get them back bt please give them amenshi food , shelter and pay.i wish my nephew was one of this chain gang,too much MTV,sagging,facebook,food and girls.hmmm !sweat b4 sweet unclez ka.
Pm
September 30, 2012 at 11:01 am
That need to be investigated . Though mining is not a simple job, people doing a hard job need a lot of water ,food and good sleep.
To you young men that’s an opportunity lost especially if u are not qualified found out from your friends at lumwana there now operaters and they get good money
My advise is go back and endure that’s what it takes to be a miner
Teleshi Kabemba
October 1, 2012 at 8:48 am
Dirty water and long walk.That is 15 Kilometres(when the youths say they do walk 3 solid hours)That is very inhuman one pint number one whereby you have to walk like that then on top of that you do not have clean water.
Zambians let us also think for others.Next time it will be your relative or your son.Others in pioneers as miners there was hope of bush clearing by modern machines.You cannot cook nshima with an empty pot on firewood.
The Terminator
October 1, 2012 at 11:43 am
The baggar was arrested…