An outcry on social media has forced a newly formed Lusaka firm to withdraw an advert in which it had advertised to recruit a white lady for the position of Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer.
The advert placed by Ikulile, a firm based in Northmead in Lusaka sought to recruit a female Personal Assistant to the CEO who possess a Degree and not older than 40 years of age and preferably white.
The advert drew widespread condemnation on Facebook and other social media platforms with some people describing the advert as sexist and racist.
Edwin Vunza Simbeya, a Facebook user posted that “This is utter nonsense. These chaps need to know that Section 108 of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act prohibit such types of discrimination. I will whisper to someone for some serious affirmative action.”
Birbal Bonficae Musoba wrote, “Damn! That’s outrageous! In Zambia of all places!”
Bunda Mukupo said “Very disheartening indeed, why would you prefer a particular color, hopefully this has caught the attention of relevant bodies and it gets corrected.”
Ikulile is a housing development scheme that deals in construction advisory services and offer loans to civil servants to buy and build houses.
Ikulile Corporate Affairs Manager Mathews Nguni said the firm realized the mistake it made and has since engaged a professional Human Resources recruitment firm to re-advertise the position.
“We made a mistake and we have decided to issue a fresh advert which will come out in the papers on Wednesday so people should just look out for that new advert,” Mr. Nguni said in an interview in Lusaka.
On the criteria for selecting females only, Mr. Nguni said the company wanted to employ women as a way of women empowerment since there are fewer jobs for women in Zambia.
I understand. Would you like to have heard a Non Thieving Zambian, who wont attempt to screw me for a buck???? Its the Imprinted culture that has taken over Zambians that new investors are scared of. Its so shocking to see what Zambians call normal but its utterly corrupt and criminal in the outside world. Just look at how we praise corrupt and ex stealing lawyers and ministers etc. there are our heroes and leaders.
lusaka times why you telling us how people are reacting????!!!!,,,, teling us what ka lungu is saying,,, these are the same 500000 jobs he promised the nation he would create in a flash
Zambians should not complain too much. Proflight has a lot of white air hostesses and nobody has asked where they get them from. In any case, black female Zambians blatantly want to date white foreigners on dating sites. So where is your non-racist black loving citizenry? This just confirms the self-hatred Zambians suffer. Most think that white is better and will work harder for a white boss and not steal they way they do when working for a fellow Zambian.
Where are the labor laws that protect against Gender, Age and Race discrimination?
And you think this is the crap we can come back to after living in civilization nations where you can get a job at any age.
Women’s orgs. in Zambia look at these ads everyday and don’t do anything about it. Age must never be mentioned in a job add and the applicant should never have to disclose their age.
In hindsight, life expectacy is 40 and retirement is 55, I guest at 35 you are a senior citizen in Zambia!
Fusekeni, you think we dont know. you just want women you can mess with and the CEO has seen a lot of guys with white women so he is just arranging for himself a ka muzungu girl.
This is how sick our people are in the heads. white supremacy at its best. it is now rearing its ugly head through the conscious brain of our people.
What a mess in this PF. Which PF minister is incharge of these industry of advert? Is it minister of Information or Minister of commerce? Please arrest those “Ikulileni” CEO and its 2 workers, what a scam of sexual predatory is that? What is ACC for kanshi, is it to arrest only politicians?
Ati… ”we have decided to issue a fresh advert which will come out in the papers on Wednesday so people should just look out for that new advert,”
MA RUBBISH BATI
I am lost for words, still a lot of work to do with our people…how does such nonsense even make it to print in a Newspaper…skin cringing indeed!!
Skin colour as a job requirement… Are elements of the colonial/slave days back in fashion or is this self inflicted damage just our newest level of self hate finally superseding the constant head thumping with the palm caused by the trend of placing someone else’s hair on the head coz we scared of our natural curls… It’s like an itch pandemic in Zed. Banks, shops, markets… distracting thump, thump, thump in mid conversation…
This is what happens when people dont have dating sites pa zed because “its immoral and unchristian”, now you have driven the CEO crazy to take such steps. you have to loosen up with relationships or these things will continue to happen. Your CEO wants a white chick to go out with thats all.
Pretty unprofessional. I bet they didn’t think any one would notice so i’m glad that some fellow Zambians have spoken up!
Racial discrimination, age discrimination and gender discrimination all in one ad. What does the Labour and Employment law state about this kind pf discrimination? Somebody check on them to see who they’ll hire and report them. Sha!
This Corporate Affairs Manager Mathews Nguni is an idi.ot! How do these people allow such nonsense when they are there? Don’t be a bootlicker man, you have stopped this.
I know we talk about racial discrimination, as blacks we cry the loudest and we have all the rights to do that, fully agreed.
The problem though is that, we black people, Zambians in particular have deeper discriminatory tendencies when it comes to our individual tribes, there’s massive segregation or tribal stupidity among us.
That’s what happens when a people’s self esteem has been eroded and discrimination becomes institutionalized. Just like a germ, discrimination proliferates with time. It starts with discrimination against a particular ethnic group or class of people and its grows to consume the discriminators themselves. This is the fruituition of the tribalism cancer we have been talking about. When one wants to make selection for an appointment the first criteria is tribe or colour. Its sickening.
A Nguni Kupusa bati! Mufuna girlfriend wosweta? I guess you wanted a can of worms on this. Apartheid was enough. And it is enough already Zambians cannot enter some places because they can’t afford it, but thank KK, they are educated and have a sense of patriotism. There are Zambian Directors in America and the United Kingdom let alone PAs.
Zambians are always strange and unpatriotic to the country and fellow Zambians. A Zambian at home and abroad would rather please a white person and forsake his own people. Muzungu anikonde is a mentality that has gone too far in Zambia. It is not even the issue of perceiving whites to be honest, its just stoopidity amongst our folks. Why do Zambians want so much to please foreigners anyway? Zambians are so stoopid to the extent that they would rather destroy their economy just to support foreign economies. Local products they reject and want everything foreign, what kinda people are we really?
We have no standards as a nation because our institutions have been run down with serious incompetency up to the top. Who listens when people like Kambwili is talking (or rather barking!). It is free for all. There is so much that goes on. This is just a tip of the iceberg.
The best thing decent Zambians can do is to boycott this organisation and its discriminatory tendencies. Let them be on their own and build on their own as their name suggests. Stupid organisation if you ask me.
The observer, I am not in that group, wherever I have worked in the UK, I have always within the law tried to give black people a chance and now even in training I encourage them and try to mentor them. When you have managed and supervised a lot of white people you know, they also have a muzungu anikonde attitude towards the bosses and you will equally find some lazy and thieving ones.
Reuben I know it is not everyone who is in that group,I quite generalized it. We have principled, honest and hardworking people amongst our people. we find all sorts of people in every society but speaking at Zambia our country, it is just pathetic to what is happening especially in this era!
Lusaka Times this article is incomplete. A little more digging about this company please. Is it white owned? White Zambian? Why do they want a white PA? And some comments from a lawyer perhaps. Is this kind of thing still legal in Zambia? Not to justify their actions but to give your readers a little fodder.
Is this not the IKULILENI of the failed MTN listing failure? What manner of Zambians/Africans are these guys? Eeish!
Is this not the IKULILENI of the failed MTN listing? What manner of Zambians/Africans are these guys? Eish!
IF THE ISSUER IS A NIGER THEN NO ONE SHOULD COMPLAIN.
UNDERSTAND THE MARKET AT THE CURRENT RATE OF THE DOLLAR.
IF THE ISSUER IS A NIGER THEN NO ONE SHOULD COMPLAIN.
UNDERSTAND THE MARKET AT THE CURRENT RATE OF THE DOLLAR.
THE EFFECT IS THE SAME:
ADVERTISE THE JOB OPENLY.THEN GET THE WHITE LADY AS THE TARGET.
CASE CLOSED.
The qualification for Civil Engineer are being female and a driver’s licence. Says a lot about the capacity of management.
The best solution to such stupidity is never approach them for any of they services and loans
Heard Mindolo Dam boating club had a whites only sign pulled down very recently and no its normal to have plenty Zambia jobs advertised in SA for SA expats only . Looks like 50 was the year for a colonial reboot.
These things are happening all around us, especially with the so-called mining investors. Jobs for Zambians are advertised among themselves (whites) and pay themselves mind-blowing wages that to a black man would seem like lottery. Ministry of Labour need to investigate and tighten the work permit process. All corrupt immigration officials have to be rooted out. The only tangible benefit ordinary citizens can get from this “investment” is through employment since they have already refused to pay taxes that could up-lift people from poverty, but even on this score they still manage to hoodwink us. God save mother Zambia!
Pretty unprofessional & sexually discriminatory. i bet with the zambian women advocacy orgs,it favors them,but when when work sexual offences comes into play,they always open teeth.these job offers are a recipe for sex for a job.i cant see any gender in this.& isnt this the same failed listing ikulile?
The most shocking bit is that there are actually Zambians who support this ati because Zambians are too lazy! Really! Arent there lazy people in Europe too?! No wonder my Western African friends usually say “you Zambians were really messed up by the colonialists because they convinced you that you are inferior”.Colonialisation of the mind is really the most dangerous thing. How can a Zambian proudly support this blatant racism? You want to wait until it is on your door step? Disgusting mentality! These people are just testing the waters, you accept this, the next racism will target you. WAKE UP
Shocking indeed! However, I am not shocked by the advert, but by the reaction. This is common practise in Zambia, more so in some private companies run by certain races. Blacks are hewers of wood, and their kinsmen bosses regardless of qualifications. Reporting to Labour dept is a sheer waste of time.
All considered this shows how backward the country is. I wonder how many Zambians can really interpret what discrimination and sexism is. Forgive them they know not what they are doing. Its a country where ignorance reigns supreme.
I can understand that most people think thIs is just one of the many forms of discrimination and racism that goes on in Zambia. However this provides an opportunity for relevant authorities to take appropriate action. Obviously the firm would claim it’s a typo or mistake. That can not be true. That’s an insult to our intelligence and I can’t figure out which is more insulting, the advert itself or the lame attempt at dispelling their mistake without so much as an apology. They (the firm) needs to take responsibility and acknowledge they were wrong and need to apologize for it. The relevant authorities should not just pass this as one of those things, because such is actually conduct that is likely to breach peace. We have been independent too long (51 years )to be experiencing this…
THEY COULD HAVE BEEN SMARTER THAN DIRECTLY REQUIRING A WHITE LADY FOR THE POSITION. THEY COULD HAVE SIMPLY QUALIFIED A WHITE LADY SILENTLY AND NO ONE WAS GOING TO KNOW THEIR INTENTIONS. YOU SEE ZAMBIANS NAMUCILAMO KWIBA, YOU CAN’T BE TRUSTED. MY ADVICE TO THE EMPLOYER IS READVERTISE INDISCRIMINATELY BUT THE CHOICE IS YOURS. YOU CAN’T BE BLAMED IF YOU THINK THE OTHER RACES ARE UNTRUST WORTHY.
What shameless stoopid CEO is this? All of us who were born in Zambia know that racism is a crime. Where has this uncle tom come from? His apology is terribly lame. ZCTU should March outside this ideot s office and police should arrest him. We should not be joking about such mental retardation This CEO is a danger to Zambian society.
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