NUMBER 30                                     AUGUST, 2001

Dear editor,

Africa and Zambia in particular have high proportions of people with HIV/AIDS. Many widows and orphans have been left in a very vulnerable situation - what with our laws of succession!

Widows have a very serious concern when it comes to sharing of property. The law provides that children of the deceased inherit the matrimonial home. It does not matter whether the child was born outside wedlock. In other words, a stepchild has the right to inherit the matrimonial home just like any other child.

The widow is faced with a crisis in that she may have to share her house with a total stranger. She may not have known about this child at all. Is it fair for the widow? And if the stepchild is a minor, this means that the widow will have to share the home (or proceeds from the home - if on rent) with another woman who did not even help with buying or building that home. Is this fair?

Women should stand up and change the law. It is certainly clear that laws were meant to serve the interests of men and not women. Together let us advocate for change in our succession laws.

Yours faithfully,

Florence Shakafuswa,

WILSA, Lusaka

Traffic Ofiicers Must Aim At Saving Lives

Dear Editor,

I am a concerned Zambian citizen. The thing that worries me most is the number of road accidents happening in the country resulting into loss of lives.

I feel the police road traffic officers are not doing much in helping reducing the number of accidents.

Take for instance a situation where they make a roadblock with a view to impound all vehicles unfit to be on the road. Having impounded those vehicles, they take them to the police station where they charge the owner of the vehicle and tell that person to maintain the vehicle on his own.

This system does not make any difference. It is as good as just getting money right on the roadblock and let the unfit vehicles continue operating on the road and lose more lives.

I feel police can do more than what they are doing if they are really after saving lives.

I suggest that once a vehicle is impounded for being unfit to be on the road, the police should keep the vehicle at the station until the defaulter repairs that thing which makes the vehicle unfit to operate.

Only after the vehicle has been repaired and inspected by the officers can it be released. Let us work together to ensure that people die of anything else other than a road accident.

Yours faithfully,

Chrisogonus S,

Woodlands.

How Can I Establish A LRF Advice Centre

Dear Editor,

I am hereby kindly requesting for your educative and impressive newsletter magazines. Please send me these magazines so that I know what to do once I am offended.

I came across one of your magazines numbered Issue 28, June 2001. I was very impressed with your Newsletter, it is very educative and enlightening to the less privileged Zambian citizens who do not know their rights.

What should I do so that I can organise and form a centre or establish a centre in our district so that we can be helping and advising the under privileged and down trodden Zambian citizens?

Please advise on how we should establish a LRF legal advice centre in our district.

I will be very grateful if my request will be considered and response sent in time.

Yours,

Milton Mutambo,

Mufumbwe.

Dear Mutambo,

Thank you for the appreciating our Newsletter and your further request for establishment of a Centre in your area. However, you may note that the services of the Foundation in so far as establshing centres is more on a professional level than that of a service organisation like clubs.

The Foundation would have been in a position to establish numerous centres but due to limited resources only provincial towns are being targeted. Since Mufumbwe is in North Western province you can channel your legal problems to the centre in Solwezi.

Once more thank you for joining the many people that have been requesting services of the Foundation in their respective areas.

Yours,

Legal Resources Foundation

TOP