By JOWIT SALUSEKI in Sinazongwe –
IT been less than a month since the cold hand of death took the lives of their beloved husbands and memories still linger in the hearts of Precious Munkombwe and Mildred Chikanta.
They are some of the widows of the victims of a recent road traffic accident that happened recently in Pemba District of Southern Province.
On January 27 this year, a bus owned by the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) of Maamba in Sinazongwe District of Southern Province was involved in a road accident resulting in the death of 17 passengers.
Recounting the ordeal recently in a teary voice, Ms Chikanta who is one of the widows of the victims of the Pemba road accident said her late husband Saidy Munsaka left her with five children whom she is struggling to fend for hence any financial resources rendered to her will help her in many ways.
Ms Chikanta, who is aged 45, said two of the couple’s children who are girls were this year selected to Grade 10.
She added that at least the other three children were above the age of 18 years.
Precious Munkombwe, another widow aged 31, narrated that her husband Webster Siamayuwa left behind two children aged three and eight years respectively.
Ms Munkombwe said it was not easy for her to take care of young children as a single mother.
She too was equally struggling to make ends meet in the predominantly rural but coal –rich Maamba area of Sinazongwe.
Lasiwe Siakumba, who was represented in absentia, was also said to be in a similar predicament of asking for well wishers to help her.
But all hope is not lost for the widows.
Recently, the Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB) as part of its mandate in line of compensation benefits to its members gave out funeral grants to the three widows of victims of the recent Pemba road traffic accident involving a bus belonging to the UCZ of Maamba.
Speaking on a hot and humid Wednesday afternoon when she led a team of Board officials and journalists to present funeral grants and a donation of various household goods to the widows in Maamba, WCFCB Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer Priscilla Bwembya said the board would ensure that surviving spouses and children of the accidents victims were well taken care of.
“The board will ensure that the spouses of the Pemba road accident will this month start receiving their monthly allowances while all the children who are still young will continue to be taken care of in terms of their education expenses until they reach the age where old enough to fend for themselves,” Ms Bwembya said.
Ms Bwembya said the board would ensure that the widows open bank accounts to enable the smooth and timely transfer of monthly allowances.
She added that the board would in addition bear all the medical bills of the injured accident victims who are registered members.
“The Workers Compensation Fund Act No 10 of 1999 mandates that whenever there is an occupational accident , the board is supposed to pay compensation benefits such as monthly allowances and funeral grants in the event of deaths to our members,” Ms Bwembya said.
Ms Bwembya said WCFCB was a social security scheme responsible for compensating workers in respect of accidents suffered and diseases contracted during the course of employment.
Currently, 19,000 beneficiaries and 24,000 employers have been registered with the WCFCB.
UCZ Maamba Consistory Reverend in -Charge, Bonnie Nyangu said the church appreciated the gesture shown by the WCFCB stressing that the funeral grants of K5000 each given to the three widows of the victims of the road accident would lift the burden of mourning the loved ones.
“The accident claimed the lives of two of our workers who were working as a driver and conductor as well as one of our helpers. It is good that as a church we followed the law and had decided to register with WCFCB and this has eased the burden in terms of compensation benefits,” Rev Nyangu said.
Apart from receiving a funeral grant of K5,000 each, all the three widows received household goods such as bags of mealie-meal, containers of cooking oil, containers of washing paste, bales of sugar, bathing soap, live chickens, hand washing soap, among others.
The UCZ owned bus, which was carrying more than 30 passengers from Maamba, was on January 27 involved in a head-on collision with a front liner truck in Pemba on a wet road following a heavy downpour.
With most major bus fleets shunning the Batoka-Maamba Road due to poor terrain on the 88 kilometres (km) journey, the UCZ Maamba consistory is among those that had filled the gap by coming up with a bus to operate on the busy route.
The blue and while painted bus, which was carrying passengers on their way to Lusaka, was unfortunately involved in a fatal accident on January 27 this year.
The accident happened when the driver of a Rosa commuter bus belonging to the UCZ, which was coming from Maamba to Lusaka, collided with a frontliner cargo truck coming from the opposite direction.