A number of medical schools have emerged in Zambia in the recent past. Of course one of their core courses is anatomy, which involves dissecting of human bodies.

Questions: How do these universities acquire bodies, also known as cadavers, for learning purposes? What is the law on acquiring dead bodies for medical study? What is the official Government programme on acquisition of dead bodies for medical studies?

I ask these questions because there is dead silence on this very important, yet very sensitive topic. It is seldom discussed in public yet things are happening behind the closed doors of medical lecture rooms. Dead bodies are being dissected for study purposes. It is a sensitive topic, yes, but the public is entitled to know the sources of cadavers, and must also in kind contribute to the success of the programme.

During the First Republic, there was an official Government programme of cadaver ‘donation’ which was in public domain. In schools, teachers used to invite persons interested in ‘donating’ their own corpses to register with Government. Government would then pay them in advance for the ‘donation’. When they died, their remains were immediately acquired by Government, as Government property, and donated to the only medical school at the time, UNZA Ridgeway Campus.

Perusal of the Government budget nowadays does not show any expenditure line for cadaver ‘purchase’.

So, how is Government acquiring cadavers for medical students? Is it unclaimed bodies, prisoners, vagabonds or what?

What of private universities, what is their source of cadavers?

How do these medical schools dispose of the bones and other human wastes after use?

This is an issue of great public interest which the public needs to be in the know otherwise posterity will never forgive us if we are doing things wrongly.

Elsewhere in the world, the legacy of secret cadaver operations has had a dark grisly past. Take the U.S for example, construction workers renovating an old building in Augusta, Georgia made a shocking discovery in the summer of 1989 – 10,000 bones buried in a basement under the dirt in the building.

The bones revealed a dark history – grave robbing of African-American bodies from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Markings from the bones showed that they came from dissected bodies, and the building in which they had been hidden was the former home of the Medical College of Georgia.

Known as the Old Medical College Building, it was used as a lecture hall and laboratory space from 1835 until 1913, and for these number of years, students learned about the anatomy from bodies of largely once enslaved black people stolen from graves.

According to accounts, dissection was, for the most part of the 19th century, illegal in many parts of the United States. This made it difficult for medical students to learn human anatomy, hence, colleges had to resort to the secret and illegal practice of grave robbing.

This was usually carried out by people known as body snatchers who were mostly slaves, employees, or even students of the colleges.

Such was the case in the Old Medical College Building in Georgia. Since dissection of bodies was illegal until 1887, school authorities relied on bodies from body snatchers and even kept one full-time in their apartment, according to Atlas Obscura.

Grandison Harris, a 36-year-old Gullah slave who was purchased by the medical college in a slave auction in 1852 in Charleston, South Carolina, was the main person behind grave robbing for the school.

It was against the law to teach slaves how to read or write, but the doctors taught Harris how to read and write because that would be very essential for his role.

Owned by the entire faculty of the school, Harris worked as a porter, janitor, teaching assistant and a body snatcher. With the education given him, Harris would read the obituaries and other death notices in newspapers to find out who had died and when they would be buried.
Augusta’s Cedar Grove Cemetery was then the main cemetery for black people at the time. If someone was to be buried, Harris would, late at night, take his cart, sack and shovel.

“He would quietly go into the cemetery and find the grave. He would look and remember how everything was and then dig down to the body. If the body was in a casket, Grandison would break into the end of the casket. Then with a firm grip, and strong-arms he would pull the body out. He would then put the body into a bag and load it on his cart. Grandison Harris would then put everything back on the grave, in its original position. People could not tell the grave had been tampered with. At that time, he would roll the cart back to the Medical College on Telfair Street. The bodies would be dissected and used to teach the students about the human body,” writes augustagahistory.com.

Even though Massachusetts passed a law in 1831 that allowed the state’s medical schools to acquire bodies that belonged to those who died in prison, the poor, or the insane, graves of black folks were still robbed.

It is not known if the bones found in the chapel that housed the school was reinterred. What is documented is that the bones from the Medical College of Georgia were laid to rest in a mass grave at the Cedar Grove Cemetery in 1998.

The VCU community created the East Marshall Street Well Project to encourage a continuous study of the remains.

South Africa’s youngest business tycoon, Sandile Shezi (27) with an estimated net worth of $2.3 million is expected to visit Lusaka this Saturday.

On his international tour dubbed Think like a Billionare, Shezi says he will teach Zambian entrepreneurs on key principles of growing a business.

The business seminar will be held at the Lusaka Intercontinental Hotel from 10:00 Hours.

Shezi wrote on his Facebook page that he is excited to be visiting Zambia for the very first time.

“I’m so excited to finally be in Lusaka for the first time this Saturday. My Think like a billionaire tour will then take me to Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Dubai. I’m going to be sharing 8 key principles that have used to move from selling muffins to making millions. Tickets are free, so book yours now on our website www.rivoltare.com. This tour is tailored for individuals who are looking for opportunities to multiply their money in 2019. Visit www.rivoltare.com, click on tour bookings at the top to view dates and venues,” said Shezi in his post.”

The self-made business magnate obtained a National Diploma from the Durban University of Technology (DUT) majoring in Public Relations, and applied communications.

His business acumen started at a younger age as he used to sell muffins at his school and he later used the money to trade forex while he was still attending school.

He made some risky decisions. When friends gave him tuition fees for the year, he took the entire amount and started trading online.

Shezi and his long time mentor George Van der Riet, being a trade master with trading experience in excess of 15 years, partnered up to start Global Forex Institute.

But his rise to stardom has not been without controversy.

In 2015, South African Economist Mike Schussler criticized Shezi and his approach to business.

Mr. Schussler said some companies that train people in currency trading, like the one belonging to ‘SA’s youngest self-made millionaire’ are actually selling ‘bullshit’.

“It’s a trick. It’s all bullshit,” he told News24.

“A lot of the people who sell these courses… the majority [of their courses] are schemes to fleece people out of money.”

Schussler told News24 that people who sold these courses were not good traders, but rather good salesmen.

“Proper money traders… don’t try to sell software and training programmes and they don’t flaunt their money,” Schussler said.

He said few people who provided courses in forex trading actually made money from trading.

“If they did make money, we would have heard a lot more stories of new millionaires and billionaires.

“If I was making that much money, I wouldn’t want to advertise it because SARS [The SA Revenue Service] will come.”

He said these trainers often used invented stories to make their companies popular.

“They portray themselves as wealthy. They dress in expensive clothes, they pay for models to come for photo shoots, and they go to Avis and rent expensive cars,” Schussler said.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock says it has not lifted the ban on the movement of livestock from Chisamba district to other areas.

The ban followed an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in area.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Kampamba Chewe says the move has been taken to avoid spread of the disease to other areas.

Mrs Chewe has clarified that farmers in Chisamba will only be allowed to move their animals for slaughtering to avoid contact with other animals.

She has told Journalists at a media briefing in Lusaka that Government is putting up several measures to ensure that the disease is contained within the district.

Meanwhile Mrs Chewe has announced that Zambia has opened a market for honey in China following the high demand for the commodity in that country.

She has also urged women and youths to take advantage of the development and venture into bee keeping to boost export of honey to China.

And Mrs Chewe said government has made progress to start exporting sheep and goat to Saudi Arabia under the Zambia Saudi Arabia Goat and Sheep project.

The Golden Progressive party says the excessive force by the State Police must be condemned outrightly in a functioning democracy.

Party President Jackson Silavwe has also called on the Government to institute Police Reforms to transform this vital state institution into a professional, efficient and accountable police service that exudes the confidence of the general public.

Mr. Silavwe said given the evolution of political violence in the country, the rapid dismissal of the Sesheke Police Officers has set a terrible precedence in the fight against this cancer.

He said the Officers and Government reactions were both excessive.

Mr. Silavwe said the gruesome pictures from Sesheke Parliamentary by-election campaigns depicting the bloody confrontation between the State Police and the ruling patriotic front cadres left many right thinking citizens terror stricken.

“In the quest to give the Police a human face, the people of Zambia have emphasised on a ‘Police Service’ and not a ‘Police Force”, Mr. Silavwe said.

He noted that the dismissals have sent a clear signal to the rank and file of the Zambia Police of “Touch not the ruling party cadre or you will be fired”.

Mr. Silavwe has since demanded that the dismissed Police Officers must be re-instated and alternative punitive measures be meted.

He said the Sesheke fiasco is a clear demonstration of political leadership which is divergent from the deeply held aspirations of peace and oneness in diversity.

Mr. Silavwe said it is leadership failure from both the ruling and the opposition political parties.

Transparency International Zambia has charged that corruption in Zambia is rapidly turning the country into an unmitigated disaster.

TIZ President Reuben Lifuka has also observed that no amount of spin doctoring will save Zambians from this condemnation unless the people firstly admit that there is a problem.

Mr Lifuka stated that service to humanity has been replaced with service to oneself as well as to kith and kin.

“The massive suffering of the people who live on the margins of poverty, has failed to pull at the heart strings of these selfish corrupt individuals. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) should be reminded that “Fighting corruption in a superficial manner and without any real commitment, is not only tragic but a great injustice to the victims of corruption,” he said.

“For many years, we have questioned the authenticity of what is declared given that the office of the Chief Justice has no capacity to verify these declarations. It is time that this Act was reviewed and amended to ensure stricter enforcement of the Code of Conduct,” he suggested.

Below is the full statement released by Mr Lifuka

TIZ SAYS THE RECENT EXPOSE NEWS DIGGERS OF SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS OF IMPROPRIETY AND CORRUPT ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATED WITH HON RONALD CHITOTELA UNFORTUNATELY CONFIRMS THE GROWING PUBLIC CONCERN OF THE PERVASIVENESS OF CORRUPTION IN OUR COUNTRY.

Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) believes that the recent expose by the News Diggers of serious allegations of impropriety and corrupt activities associated with Hon Ronald Chitotela unfortunately confirms the growing public concern of the pervasiveness of corruption in our country.

While recognizing that these allegations need to be investigated and the accused brought before the courts of law, we want to observe that we have reached a stage in our country where corruption has no limits even when this impoverishes the majority of the people.

We are witnessing a serious erosion of public morality and respect for public resources. The people who are granted the privilege to be stewards of public resources, have become suspected plunderers of even the little that people depend upon for basic survival. This is a sad indictment of the political and community leadership in our land, those elected or appointed to positions of authority see this as nothing more than a means of self if not illicit enrichment.

Service to humanity has been replaced with service to oneself as well as to kith and kin. The massive suffering of the people who live on the margins of poverty, has failed to pull at the heart strings of these selfish corrupt individuals. Corruption is rapidly turning this country into an unmitigated disaster and no amount of spin doctoring will save us from this condemnation unless we firstly admit we have a problem and urgently deal with this as an existential threat to our collective well-being.

Quite sadly, it has to be said that this expose by News Diggers has failed to shake society to its core because as a people we have become accustomed if not spectacularly indifferent to such revelations which are treated as normal by authorities – a perennial feature of successive governments.

For President Lungu, in 2016, out of his own volition and without any public prompting, he made a public confession that his Cabinet Ministers were involved in corruption and were acting with gross impunity. President Lungu informed the public that some ministers were receiving huge daily bank deposits and were additionally involved in illegally acquiring land and property.

These are the same ingredients which are highlighted in the expose and it is evident that the sad picture painted by President Lungu in 2016, continues to this day and the situation has even become worse as no meaningful action has been taken in the intervening period.

And surprisingly so, the Republican President who was dismayed by the levels of corruption has largely kept faith in nearly the same coterie of Ministers in office, and this speaks volumes about the seriousness or lack of it attached to the fight against corruption. We have always stated that it is not the eloquence of words that wins the fight against corruption but the consistent and timely bold actions by those clothed by law with the necessary powers.

The patently criminal activities of the corrupt alleged in the expose are similar to the revelations made in the 2017 Financial Intelligence Centre Trends Analysis Report. It has become apparent to many why government and ruling party operatives made vitriolic attacks on the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) for merely releasing this report to the public in its unadulterated form.

In this report, the FIC demonstrated how companies connected to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and their associates, have continued to be involved in suspected corruption and money laundering. The FIC underscored an important point that there were instances were shell companies have been used to conceal the beneficial owners of those companies, who in most instances are Politically Exposed Persons and their associates who may include spouses and children.

The expose by News Diggers curiously resembles the description of the corruption and money laundering activities by FIC in its Trends Analysis report. We dare to say we have now entered into an era where “corruption on steroids” is what defines us.

Given the gravity and far reaching consequences of the expose, it is our honest expectation that the least that the Anti-Corruption Commission can do is to follow up on these leads and all those found wanting, should be brought to justice. There is no better time than in the current circumstances for us to emphasize to the ACC the weight of national responsibility that lies on their shoulders. The ACC has the honourable responsibility to thoroughly investigate all leads and cases, regardless of the political consequences of such decisions. The ACC should be reminded that “Fighting corruption in a superficial manner and without any real commitment, is not only tragic but a great injustice to the victims of corruption.”

The expose equally raises additional and worrisome insights which should attract the immediate attention and action of the ACC and Drugs Enforcement Agency. We urge that all culprits are urgently brought to book. The key points which should be pondered further are inter alia:

It is alleged that Hon Chitotela sold maize to Hon Michael Katambo the Minister of Agriculture for an estimated amount of USD4.5 million. Evidently, Hon, Katambo equally has some explaining to do and show how he acquired such amounts in the light of his known earnings;

The ownership of Veil Construction which seems to be a shell company, should be established, particularly in light of the newly amended Companies Act which provides for the establishment of beneficial ownership of shares in a company. We further have questions on how a company incorporated in March 2017 became a recipient of numerous payments from AVIC International. What was AVIC International paying for? What services or goods does Veil Construction offer and what if any, are the taxes paid?

This episode points to inherent weaknesses in the enforcement of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct Act, specifically section 6 which requires that Ministers and Members of Parliament declare interest in government contracts to the Chief Justice. Similarly, we question the veracity of the annual declaration of assets, liabilities and income made by Ministers and Members of Parliament as required by the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct. For many years, we have questioned the authenticity of what is declared given that the office of the Chief Justice has no capacity to verify these declarations. It is time that this Act was reviewed and amended to ensure stricter enforcement of the Code of Conduct. We also demand that the Chief Justice makes public the Registers of these declaration of assets and liabilities. We have unfortunately noted a strange reluctance by the Chief Justice to avail details of the declarations and instead a mere list of who has submitted their declarations. We find this attitude retrogressive and self-defeating.

TI-Z wishes to reiterate its position that on the matter of arrest of Hon Chitotela by the ACC on criminal charges of concealment of property, that President Lungu should relieve his Minister of his duties- and this action is not to pre judge Hon Chitotela’s guilt but rather one that seeks to preserve the sanctity of the investigations and the court process. This is not a matter that should attract unnecessary legal arguments because in the first place it will be consistent with President Lungu’s own declaration in October 2016 when he publicly declared that he would not wait for the ACC to take action against corrupt ministers but he would send them packing as soon as he had information of their activities. It would seem that President Lungu has undergone some metanoia and is now converted to the new legal arguments. This insistence to retain Hon Chitotela in office, reminds one of the famous or infamous statement by Oscar Raymundo Benavides- a Field Marshal and former President of Chile, who once quipped -“For my friends everything; for my enemies, the law.” However, we wish to remind him of a couple of points:

In September 2018, President Lungu, according to his own Minister of Information and Chief Government Spokesperson, had swiftly relieved Hon Emerine Kabanshi of her position as Minister of Community Development, following allegations of fraud and misapplication of resources for the social cash transfer. Similarly, senior government officers in the same ministry were suspended together with senior managers at ZAMPOST. None of these people were formally arrested and neither were they given their day in court. If we go by the new argument about presumption of innocence – then Hon Kabanshi and all other persons involved, should have or should continue in office until their cases are heard in court.

While recognising that there are different civil service procedures, we take note that in 2018, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of General Education – Henry Tukombe and three others were suspended for suspected theft of K2.5 million. Similarly, three accountants in the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development, the same Ministry were Hon Chitotela is presiding, were dismissed for allegedly engaging in fraud and theft of public funds. Finally, in December 2018, 12 accountants were dismissed by the Civil Service Commission to pave way for investigations. The principle in all these cases is that erring officers have either been suspended or dismissed in order to facilitate investigations. This is the normal way of proceeding but it seems there is one interpretation of the presumption of innocence for those close to President Lungu and another for all of us common mortals.

Article 262 of the Constitution of Zambia as amended in 2016 is clear on the matter of conflict of interest and it states that -” A person holding public office shall not act in a manner or be in a position where the personal interest of that person conflicts or is likely to conflict, with the performance of the functions of office.” Hon Chitotela will be conflicted if he continues to discharge functions in the same office which maybe the source of the properties under investigations.

We wish to end by quoting a poignant statement made by one Antonio Mwanza in 2016, who at the time served as spokesperson of the Forum for Democracy and Development party, following President Lungu’s revelation of high levels of corruption in his Cabinet. Mr. Mwanza called on President Lungu to immediately fire the corrupt ministers and he said -” it is this inertia to fight corruption by the top leadership of the state that demoralizes our investigative wings because they know that no matter the risk they take and the length they go to investigate corrupt senior government officials, nothing happens to corrupt officials. Corrupt Ministers remain in office and nothing will happen as they will use their influence and authority to tamper with evidence and intimidate potential witnesses.”

Rueben L. Lifuka
Chapter President