Statistics indicate that over 78% of widows and orphans continue to suffer injustices countrywide due to archaic laws.
This is according to the Justice for Widows and Orphans Project-JWOP.
Project Manager Felix Kunda says the current Interstate Succession Act of 1989 lags behind modern trends.
Mr Kunda is now calling on Government, through its research wing, the Zambia Law Development Commission, to review the current Interstate Act by realigning it to modern trends.
Mr. Kunda said the Act in force currently does not adequately protect the interests of the widows and orphans, especially on matters relating to customary land.
He said the Act poses challenges administering it as it is applied according to customs and traditional norms prevailing in a particular area which vary in a country of 73 tribes and 286 chiefs.
He further said the Act also greatly disadvantages widowed women and orphans on their rightful inheritance shares from the estates of their deceased husbands and fathers, particularly in rural areas.
Mr. Kunda proposes that, in the revised law, property grabbing from widows and orphans should be classified as a criminal offence.
He is of the view that police should be empowered arrest and while the Judiciary should be mandated to prosecute such cases to deter would-be perpetrators of the vice.
Mr. Kunda said his organisation and the Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) have documented cases of injustices that the widowed women and orphaned children have been subjected to over the last one year, to show the extent of the problem in the country.
Finnish Ambassador to Zambia, Sinikka Antila is next Monday,14th March, 2011, expected to grace the showing of six (6) video documentaries compiled to highlight the plight of the widows and orphaned children, to policy makers and other stakeholders, at the Alliance France in Lusaka.
Mr. Kunda has meanwhile commended the media for reporting positively on the plight of marginalized group in society.
He said media reportage is helping to showcase the problems the disadvantaged groups are to the general public.
“The media can also assist us in highlighting the plight of the widows and orphans, by establishing a desk, just like there are the business or sports desks”, he suggests.
The organisation is now working on the modalities of training journalists to specialize on the subject, so as to equip them with the skills to give the subject more prominence.
[ZANIS]
M’zungus have to show you how to take care of your own, shame!
I thought there was an amendment to this law in 94/95? when my dad passed (RIP) they tried to grab everything but we were told 50% to the widow, 20% to surviving dependants like parents and the rest shared between the children.
How do you quantify ‘justice?’
Ofcourse there is a problem here of injustice, but I just wondered how they arrived at 78%.
And what sort of injustices are we speaking about?
# 3 CNM
1. 78% = NUMBER OF PEOPLE ASKED THAT AGREED THAT THERE IS NO JUSTICE
2. CLEANSING OF WIDOWER BY HAVING SEX
3. NO BENEFITS GIVEN TO THEM BY GVT.
Your final question.
JUSTICE IS FAIR PLAY WHEREAS THE WINDOWERS COULD GET BENEFITS LIKE LATE MWANAWASA’S WIFE. That questure should be extended to ordinary citizens just like # 1 has pointed out… Mzungu pays every widower regardless of background as long as she lost husband.
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I hope this helps u.
Here in Finl even unemployed get benefits.