ZAMBIA’s High Commissioner to South Africa Designate Emmanuel Mwamba has called on Zambians living in that country to form one body that will collectively represent their interests.
Mr Mwamba said that it was important that legitimacy for whatever body that claimed to represent Zambians in South Africa was derived from across the country.
He said the existing regional associations should unite so that they could have a “strengthened voice.
“You can have your branches or regional bodies but there is need for all these to be affiliated to a central body which will comprise individuals who will be recognised as the national leadership across South Africa” Mr Mwamba said.
Mr Mwamba said the mission wanted an association that encompasses all because it would make the mission’s work easier.
He said that Government was concerned about the hardships Zambians go through whenever issues of funerals, destitution and other social welfare related matters arose.
This is according to a statement issued by press secretary at the South African High Commission, Nicky Shabolyo .
Mr Mwamba was speaking over the weekend when he met Zambia Association in South Africa (ZASA) president, Ferdinand Simaanya in Pretoria.
He told Mr Simaanya that his association could act as a pool to collect resources and open a fund from which they can draw whenever one of them was in need.
“As Government, we will play our role to help wherever we can. The Mission is open to you and we want you to work with us as we have a lot of projects lined up,” Mr. Mwamba said.
Mr Simaanya said ZASA would on September, 1 2015, open a funeral fund with contributions from the membership.
He said Zambians living in Gauteng province have faced difficulties whenever they had bereavements as a number of them failed to raise money for transporting of bodies back to Zambia and making other funeral arrangements.
ZASA with a membership of about 1, 900, has 10 branches in Gauteng and has been in existence since 1996.
A clear case of someone not warranting their position and more so not knowing what they are talking about.
Mwamba is out of his depth
Thanks
BB2014
So the designee Mwamba want to be chairman of that ZASA?
I heard a rumor that there is already a ‘collective representation body’ in South Africa that can represent all regions and it is called the Zambia High Commission… However rumor has it they tend to be ‘selective’ in their representation…
You already have an embassy there and still want to have tuntemba organizations, just for what purpose? Such organisations may be good for those place where there are no embassies. Just what would be the purpose of that organization that Mwamba is advocating for when the embassy is there?
No wonder they sent him abroad….they should have sent him in Far east so his journalists could not promote him everyday. ..oh I forgot he refused! !
The photo of the two men tells its own story!
There’s nothing wrong with forming associations but they should go beyond just funerals.
They should be advocacy groups for such things as voting in embassies, participation in constitution making process, business & educational inter-linkages, etc.
Example greeks living in Zambia bring greek business people to explore opportunities here.
That is the purpose of having embassies in the foreign countries, but people are just petty and want to always have small organization for no concrete reason. People in diaspora are busy working and having themselves educated and you want them to start an organization to champion whose agenda if I may ask? It is just a pity that embassies have been turned into political or party institutions.
Utu twine tuma Associations are they for Third Worlders only? Ndaba I ve never heard of a British Association and a French Association or an Italian association.
@obsever, the Embassy is representing the Zambia government in South Africa. It may also offer Some services to Zambians living in South Africa but that’s not their primary mission. That is why Embassy staff are called diplomats.
Why should we be forming associations when you are here and are paid to sort out our issues? You want to come here and continue with the culture of loafing that your predecessors have left. Just close this High Commission so we dont waste our tax on loafing staff
Mr. Bwamba is desperate. He wants his support base there. It is for his interests he wishes to form akabungwe.
The man is an anti-Lungu. Watch the space. ECL’s poor health condition is what is driving this desperate crook. Come 2016 M******mwe will come out daringly confessing his presidential aspirations with a view to blackmail the incumbent.
His journalists will continue sugar coating him and repackaging his wild ideas.
Iam only happy that fellow Zambians nowadays are wide awake and can no longer be deceived.
The man is forming a political support base for his wild political aspirations yet to be exposed.
Ask yourself, why did he not go to the Far East?
All pf members must open their eyes and watch the man in this interesting drama.
This so called association is actually just by name. I was there so I am talking from experience. The only time I saw Zambians come together was during independence when they go and feast at the embassy, and as usual fighting over free beers. 99% were Pretoria bases and a few from Kempton Park. Typically the Zambian there corn each other and if you go there intending to settle, the first to dupe you is a fellow Zambian. Personally I fitted in well with Ghanaian, Nigerians and Zimbabweans than fellow Zambian. Ma Zambians ama jelousy no bu kachepa. They would rather see you suffer than doing well.
The PHD syndrome is a cancer among Zambians. I hear Zimbabweans do not care about each other too but PHD is not there.
An association for what? No. I do not subscribe to that. The next thing you will see is partisan politics rearing their ugly heads in those associations, and if you are identified with opposition views, there goes the political freedom enjoyed in the diaspora. No. No to associations. The embassy/high commission remains the focal point and the high commissioner/ambassador the focal point person for all Zambians in foreign countries.
My advice to all Zambians in the diaspora is get insured or if you do not have citizenship. Insurance is the way or for those who are residents advise your family to bury you where you are. The whole earth is owned by God and corpses do not care where they are disposed off.