By Theresa Lungu
I was rather startled by a recent video report by Muvi TV. Their reporter, Mwaka Namfukwe was in Kantolomba Township in Ndola covering a story she titled, Some Civic Leaders in Ndola’s Kantolomba Township have resolved to start arresting women they find patronizing bars.
Here is her opening statement; Kantolomba is one township in Ndola where you find children playing all over the place, doesn’t matter what games or whatever the time, most of them are reportedly malnourished because their mothers spent much time patronizing bars so cannot cook proper food for their children.
After hearing Namfukwe’s statement I was left with the belief that Kantolomba is populated by reckless, beer guzzling, self inseminating women who have single handedly let their children go unfed and uneducated.[pullquote]I bet an ideal Zambian marriage is one in which the wife has a job outside the home, contributes financially to the home and comes home at the end of the day to engineer development in the home, community and the nation in general while the husband hangs out at a bar eating imichopo and entertaining girlfriends[/pullquote]
In concluding her report,there was a shot taken of women of Kantolomba dancing and holding plates of food,(WAIT, I thought she had reported earlier that these women don’t cook!), Namfukwe triumphantly stated that, women are engineers of development in the home, community and the nation in general. If indeed, Namfukwe believes that women are solely in charge of this gargantuan task, why didn’t she stand up in Kantolomba and challenge the actions of the men there? How do you expect women to solely carry the burdens of society without responsible, supportive men to work with?
Four women appeared on camera and testified that they were driven to drinking to drown the sorrows of poverty and abusive, philandering husbands. There were no men interviewed in the report which compounded my belief that Kantolomba is the first Zambian all women township. The only man in the report was the sexist civic leader (his name was not disclosed in the report) who has instructed bar owners in the area to refuse admittance to women. Essentially, he has declared that it is a constitutional right for men to drink and neglect their children but God forbid if women emulate them. Most disturbing in this report was the inability of the Kantolomba women to give any responsibility to their husbands. None of them stated that their husbands should be
banned from the bars as well.
Coming back to the reporter, I was left with the opinion that either Namfukwe doesn’t have a handle on women’s advancement or she is not a good investigative reporter. Reporters should not just chant catchy phrases, they ought to understand what they are reporting and give viewers or listeners clear and balanced news.
In hindsight, I don’t blame Namfukwe, after all she works for a station whose most popular show is Ready For Marriage, a spectacle that endeavors to mold ‘wayward’ women into wives. This show is developed and produced by a man who obviously doesn’t have very high expectations of women. Among other domestic chores that supposedly make a good wife, contestants of the show are tested on bed-making and dish-washing. The last time I checked, marriage constituted two people. So why is Muvi TV only schooling one half of the union? The sad part of this show is that the contestants are very happy to be on it and don’t seem to have any foresight on whether whomever they are getting ready to marry will be equally ready[pullquote]I was left with the belief that Kantolomba is populated by reckless, beer guzzling, self inseminating women who have single handedly let their children go unfed and uneducated.[/pullquote]
It seems Muvi TV has blinded itself to the fact that more and more husbands are becoming dependent on a second income, the wife’s! I bet an ideal Zambian marriage is one in which the wife has a job outside the home, contributes financially to the home and comes home at the end of the day to engineer development in the home, community and the nation in general while the husband hangs out at a bar eating imichopo and entertaining girlfriends
Heck, we are a nation that flaunts the notion that ubuchende bwamwaume tabutoba inganda (a man’s infidelity does not break a home). How steadfast will a home be when infidelity brings in AIDS, emotional and financial distress not to mention malnourished children?
Since the first Women’s Suffrage Movement in the 19th century, women around the world have continued to progress and get their men to respect them, except in Zambia where women still accept to be second class citizens. As the saying goes, you will be treated the way you allow to be treated. Clearly, some of our mothers and sisters do not know any better and they are teaching their daughters what they know;to be ill-treated and disrespected by their men and consider it perfectly normal. The one responsibility I would give to Zambian women is to strive to empower themselves and allow to be treated with respect and love and ultimately will we move forward as a people.
If our minds are stuck in the 12th Century, the country’s development will remain superficial. It is the third world mentality in Zambian minds that relegate the country to that status and not the country’s geographical location. We ought to be aware of what that means.
Muvi TV is in a powerful position of reaching Zambians all across the country and as such must help Zambia grow by truly empowering women not beheading them. Their show, Ready for Marriage, must include men who should be readied for marriage as well. Otherwise they should rename their show, Ready for Disaster.
N o comment
CHIGUBU ATI TINE KEKEKEKE NI PA ZED
KA TIN THOSE DAYS
IS THAT THERESA LUNGU HAVING NKWAZI?
time for development bane ubututu muleke
Iwe Theresa Lungu,in as much i as conquer on number of points you have outlined in your article. I feel you have a bone to chew with Muvi TV,you really have an issue with Muvi TV.
@MWANAMFUMU – I concur with you mwandi. This Theresa lady has a born to chew with Muvi TV. How does the issue of R4M come in? Here, the story is about the drunkenness in women of Kanto-what-ever. But she brings in the issue of R4M. Umanena catsitsa dzaye, poti njobvu ithyoke munyanga! I hope someone out there gets this. chao!
please dont quote the young lady out of context. look at what point she has raised. you dont disagree with her when she is dealing with the issue athand. she sees children all over the place and when she takes that angle it does not mean that these children were born from women who had a self insemination. please women have a roll that is very critical to national building. they have a responsibility and ability to raise children and this does not mean a woman is inferior. your article is out of context and sounds vulgar.it is also misleading.
Am thinking the author had something to say but needed an opening. Some points raised to make some sense but she shouldnt have had to attack somebodys’ report to be heard. Have a better build to your story Theresa Lungu otherwise it makes you sound bitter and rather misguided
Oh my God, thoughtful and analysed topic. Am sad to read that our mothers,sisters are treated like that in 2012, MUVI muchinje bane
I couldn’t agree with you more. Personally I don’t watch that mockery of women’s dignity of a show and feel like kicking the bloody TV in whenever I find people watching. I have a daughter and would never want her to grow up deeming herself inferior to a man and only good for certain chores that gratify her master, the man. As for the reporter, unfortunately she is not alone. It has become a trend for “so-called” journalists to simply spray around one or two catchy phrases whose only appeal is in their generality. For me that is a sign of laziness.
Very good article.
He he he! “Reporters should not just chant catchy phrases, they ought to understand what they are reporting and give viewers or listeners clear and balanced news.”
Reporters need to be critical and analytical. For them to be critical and analytical they need a good education.
Is that a tin? Looks more like a chiseled container.
The sentence under the picture reads: “A lady walking with a tin of opaque beer”.
I do not think she fits the definition of a lady
BLA BLA BLA
I have a new favorite columist..Theresa Lungu. I hope you will have a weekly or even more frequent article on LT. Your articles make refreshing reading. You remind me of another female columnist who used to write for the weekend post (not sure if it was on in the Saturday or Sunday edition) about 10 years ago. Her writing was in very good english, informative and articulate while humorous at the same time….just like your. Keep it up!!
The caption under the picture needs to be changed. With a container of opaque beer on the streets!!…Not a lady if you ask me!!
Finally a real photo of mushota the senseless blogger.
DEAR Ms THERESA ZULU, That girl Mwaka Namfukwe is NOT a journalist. She is just a copywriter who in a serious media organisation is not supposed to produce an analytical piece. Secondly, she is not backed by a professional skilled production team. Where is the producer of the programme for which she made that report? Where is the news editor? They are there within Muvi-TV, the problem is they know nothing about production. We have a lot of quacks in Zambia’s media industry, unfortunately many of them holding very high positions. These quacks go on to employ fellow quacks and low-level reporters. That is why the only thing ALL media organisations do is cover political press conferences instead of investigating issues. We are still very far. I salute you madame.
You know the situation in Kantolomba, (Curt Robertson), that place is near the cemetery, so those women you see patronising bars are not from that area, those are the ones who go to the cemetery earlier waiting for the body to brought for burial. Others get drunk that they even forget that they had a program. Generally the problem is not only in Kantolomba, but all the surrounding areas
Theresa, Feminism is very outdated.
Try something else. We were brought up by mothers who stayed at home. A mother’s instinct for the preservation of her offspring is genetically wired differently from that of a father. Men produce 30 million sperms in one ejaculation, while a woman produces only ONE egg for the whole month, and 12 per year! Why is that so? It is because men were made to sow, women to tend! How can a man look after 30 million babies? A woman has to take care of that ONE egg, is that too much to ask?
Koma Wasosa
Terribly sad post! Explains why women are demeaned in our society!
Theresa – love your writing style and points raised!
Backward.
Ati nika Mushota. Kekekeke
Lol…nice article and video clip
@The Saint, there is a big difference between a human being and an animal.
Thank God my husband is not a michopo eater and I dont do dishes. I am a trophy wife.
Maybe he hides the habit from you.Careful ba princess some men are good at concealing things.Maybe he is busy doing it at zam-muone right now.lol
i disappointed with the way you have carried the the whole thing you are now calling gender. i will never believe that a man and a woman are equal. Biblically, God made man and when he saw that man was lonly he made woman from man. the word father means provider and mother means caretaker. gender is a political gimic, politicians realised women voted more than men and finally came up with this evil theory you are calling gender just to supress men. how many organisation do we have today meant for women and girls compared to those ment for men. just this years budget , how much is ment for women projects? try and make a survey and see how many women are working compared to women? God is there for all the Men thanks
Madam Theresa Lungu no matter how good the muvi report could have been it seems you were determined to smear it with dirt,please if you have issues with Muvi take it up with them instead of trying to pull down a reporter doing a good job.
The reporter should have spoken to the children, the husbands and the bar owners to give us a clear picture of what is happening in Kantolomba.
You all cant stand hearing about women’s issues lwenu!
muvi tv has become like pfznbc..useless..
THE LADY WITH A CONTAINER OF OPAQUE BEER LOOKS VERY PRETTY IN HER NATURAL HAIR AND DARK COMPLEXION. KEEP IT UP YOUNG GIRL.
To me Ms. Lungu seems to be the one with a problem. Whatever it is. Why not call the young girl reporter and have a tete-a-tete with her on such issues? Why write a whole article trying to ridicule the poor girl who may be trying hard to improve her craft? Why do we always practice PHD among ourselves kansi?
Great work. Far too often we accept mediocrity as an acceptable standard in Zambia. This goes beyond journalism…just look at half of the posts related to this column.
Yaba ! Abena Theresa lelo bamishoba sana.Don`t worry my gelo most of the bloggers are just bitter like HH coz their unsettled bills reminders have started tricking in so osalila mami iyayi.
@Fast
A human being IS an animal for your own Biological information. Both were created from the soil. Check it out. The chimpazee has 99% the same genes as a human being. The difference is the soul, animated by the spirit. That’s all.
:D please illiterate fellows it’s concur not conquer.
iwe ka teresa lungu,the report was on women drinking their heads off and not men.how many times have we seen drunk men being carried in wheelborrows on tv?several times,and have we complained as men?hell no.i have been to kantolomba and the reporter was spot on.you will find more women than men in kantolomba bars and these same bars are in the cemetary where even before they burry their beloved ones mourners first drink beers.so please dont comment on things that you dont know just because you are a woman
well then the devil saw that people where knowing God, he then decided to keep the woman of the house busy with work outside home so that her children will be without good upbringing hence the nation having untaught children. DAD AND MUM all busy with Gender competition shem ask Dr Manda if it works.The article spoke about a problem which should be addressed in kantolomba, the Nation starts from a home..
I delight in the information on your internet site. Thanks a lot!
This blog is saturated with third world minds. not suprised.
Thank you, Theresa, for your well-done and long overdue article. I only visited Zambia for 3 weeks and saw this pervasive double class system on display. The women of Zambia need to follow your example and sentiments in order to overcome this patriarchal attitude.
Well, it’s the truth isn’t it? Most women in Zambia are just as hopeless as the majority of the men folk. They’ve also resorted to drinking and staying out late at awkward hours. Not only that, women in Zambia have now also started having ‘affairs’ outside of marriage.
This issue is real and unless peoples’ mentality shifts, this is bound to get worse.
You should see the way these so called “house wives’ behave at kitchen parties for example. It’s a shame. Woman now drink more than men in Zambia. Go to any bar and do a head count; you’ll see that there’s just as many women at bars as men and in some cases, there’s more women looking for a ‘good time out’.
Arresting these women will NOT solve a damn thing. You arrest them and then what? The children end up suffering.
Umupondo…you read the article the same way i did. The writer is right. There has been a complete shift in behavior in the women folk. I think part of the problem is that no one has stood up to challenge the men on the despicable behaviors. This phrase is a very misguided one “ubuchende bwamwaume tabutoba inganda”. I have seen families ruined because of this. Children growing up not knowing how to relate to their fathers because their fathers are always out having affairs and now women have jumped on the bandwagon and we have a whole generation of kids raising themselves. Unless the hearts of the fathers turn to their children God will smite the land with a curse and ofcourse we are unfortunately seeing that play out. Most of our politicians are a complete mess of examples.
#40 Paradigm, right on! It’s a sad case in Zed right now. Women, blacking out at night clubs…and then we wonder why the number of rape cases has increased in recent years? Certainly not the only reason but drinking is definitely a contributing factor in some of these immoral stories in Zambia today. It’s like the woman have also just said…well, ‘f.u.c.k. it’. The men are already on the otherside of redemption…needing serious prayers that is. There was a story a couple months back about a kafue couple who accidentally killed their baby as they lay on it while having s.e.x in their bedroom. Well, the real truth is that, they both had been drinking all day long and had no knowledge of the baby being in their own bed. Imagine that! It’s crazy man, just crazy!!!!!!
Ms Lungu, the voice of the voiceless. Keep reminding these dinarsours what time it is.
”The one responsibility I would give to Zambian women is to strive to empower themselves and allow to be treated with respect and love and ultimately will we move forward as a people”.
If women achieved this one thing, then indeed they would be respected. however, as long as there continues to be this dependency syndrome, then society shall always be unbalanced, where one half of the population depends on another. (of course there is an exception where more and more women are making themselves useful). The slave-master relationship and its offshoot of abuse and disregard of women by men can only come to an end if women themselves start being useful in the various fields. as for now, men can help by sending their girl children to school.
Feminism is much more diverse field of philosophy than many people understand it to be. One school of thought holds that women and men were equal during hunter-gatherer times, but as society has progressed, they’ve been increasingly restricted to the home and experienced a devaluation of both their perspective and their roles. Industrialization culminated with exploitation of women, and only productive work was able assigned monetary value, allowing men to accumulate money and power, where women essentially worked for free in reproductive, social and sexual labor in the home. Anything associated with the past, traditional, and family was seen as backward (the private sphere), and the public sphere was valued over the private.
The Enlightenment and reason, rationality and logic were seen as better than Nature, emotions and passion. By separating themselves from both Nature and women, men wanted to master the world and others in it. Women were not the only objects of mastery; other classes, ethnic groups and cultures were also dominated. Feminism seeks to restore the balance between Nature and reason, and end exploitation of other people. Rationality and science are not always the answer, and have often caused harm. Feminism doesn’t deny biological differences between the sexes, but rather end the rigidity with which people are forced into roles and categories. I’d argue that certain traits tend to be unevenly distributed between men & women but that doesn’t mean they are only associated with one sex.
I think more men than women are better suited to being construction workers, and more women are better at being caretakers, but some women are good construction workers, and some men are good caretakers. It’s impossible to live without categories or defining things, but we have to remember that those categories are for convenience and are not absolutes. Feminism (at least in certain branches) does not consider development to be just about hiring more women; it calls for valuing other kinds of work and ways of living that have been ignored by neoliberalism and modernism. Feminism is about allowing all people, not just one class of white men, to be heard and not oppressed.