Ghost Working

Motorists abandon work as fuel shortage worsens
By Times Reporter
THE acute fuel shortage that has hit the Copperbelt and various parts of the country yesterday worsened forcing some Ndola motorists to abandon their work spending long hours on queues in a bid to buy the commodity. Times of Zambia.

This article, just reminded Kashikulu how flexible and accomodating the work culture in Zambia is - I remembered how my former workmates and I would report for work late, only to hang a jacket on our chairs then disappear into towncenter and show up 10 minutes before 17 oo hrs - just in time to knock off. We still collected the jusifiably meagre monthly salary and complained the most when the salary was delayed.
Those days of an easy laid back work culture are for Kashikulu now a far cry, the American work culture is such that how one gets to work whether it rains, snows or very hot is a very small matter the details of which your employer is not remotely interested in.
So it struck me how funny now that headline sounds for Kashikulu, yet for my former workermates it is still a very very good reason for missing 8 maybe 16 hrs of work.


And look what Kashikulu has to deal with now, before making it to work on time and working a full eight hour work day.

Witchcraft in Politics

Witchcraft is widely understood to encompass attempts to harm others, not only by magic but also by covert means of established efficacy such as poisons. Traditionally, witchcraft has been a common explanation for diseases of which the causes were unknown. Although traditional indigenous religions often include or accommodate belief in the efficacy of witchcraft, they generally approve of harmful witchcraft only for defensive or retaliatory purposes and purport to offer protection against it. US State Dept Report by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

There is a general belief that some of Africa’s long serving leaders, only manage to hold on to political power that long, on the sustenance of the magical powers of witchcraft. Examples of such leaders though few and rarely established include Zimbabwe’s Mugabe. The case of Zambia’s Katele Kalumba who hid in a rat size hole at his farm, while on the run from police is well documented in the press and police arrest records.

Katele Kalumba, former foreign minister, vanished for three months after his arrest was ordered on charges of plundering the nation's resources. Despite the best efforts of a large team of police and reported sightings from as far as Belgium, he was living undetected in a tent on his farm in north-western Zambia.
Police say witchcraft lay at the heart of his elusiveness and they displayed an assortment of "magical objects" found in his tent when they finally caught up with him. UK Telegraph.

Katele Kalumba still faces, criminal charges of corruption and evading arrest. Do you believe President Mwanawasa’ patronage of Katele Kalumba and his continued active participation in politics may be rooted in witchcraft?

Weekend treat - Intambi! (Morality)

Mwankole brought these two interesting news items for Kashikulu, as a weekend treat.
How interesting to note that , while desperation threatens morals back home, to the point that a Zambian would accept a job to kill people abroad, in the US this week , evidence that perhaps morals at least in matters of dressing, are beginning to come back to the western world.


In a country where most people have no job, and those who do are rarely paid, you would expect a horde of applicants for an occasional position that requires only basic skills and pays US$3,500 a go, plus a nice house to live in and a Lexus to drive.
But the job's been vacant for 12 years. Finally the government has given up searching for an applicant at home, and has gone abroad to find someone. And its search has been successful.
From this week, Mr Jonas Chilembe, 34, of Zambia, is the official Zimbabwean State Executioner.
Mr. Chilembe will not find himself that busy. There are only seven condemned men on our death row at present, even though no-one has been executed here since 1995. Source The First Post ( http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=8509 )


Kyla Ebbert, 23, was about to board a plane to Tucson from San Diego when a Southwest airlines customer representative approached her. He told her that she would have to change her outfit before boarding.
Ebbert, a Hooters waitress was wearing a mini-skirt and a tank-top covered up by a summer sweater.
She explained to the representative that she had no clothes to change into, that she was heading to Arizona for a doctors appointment. Still, they insisted that her outfit was inappropriate.
What was inappropriate, she asked. All of it, he replied.

Abc15news ( http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f6ab4dd1-bb88-4cd5-9d03-73df425dda73 )