Request For Your Assistance Against Imposed
Case And Charge
Dear editor,
Kindly help me get a refund of K381, 000 from the magistrate court in
Siavonga.
It happened that some time back I reported a confidential case of abuse of
office to the District Director of Health concerning a clinical officer for
his attention. However, the District Director did not handle the case
properly. What he did was to call for a meeting and in the presence of the
officer I reported on, he appointed a nurse who read the confidential
minutes. He did this before carrying out any investigations according to my
advise in the letter.
In the view of the above, the officer involved felt offended and the
District Director advised him to take any action he wished against me. On
June 17, 1998 I received a letter, which allowed the clinical officer to
settle the case without the involvement of management. The officer sued me
and when I appeared in court, I explained the issues surrounding the case
and I was asked to take a witness. The witness I took to court refused to
disclose the confidential information, which he said, was just good for his
employers.
When judgment was passed on August 19,1998 I was charged with K381, 000 and
I was told to be paying a monthly fee of K50, 000 failure to which they said
they would confiscate my household property.
My appeal to you is based on the fact that there was miscarriage of justice
in that my supervisors erred in divulging confidential information to the
officer in question and to the public.
The supervisors shouldn't have encouraged the officer to sue me because when
I disclosed the confidential information, I was just discharging my
government duties.
I would therefore ask your office to act on this matter.
Yours truly,
Joseph Silulyango
Dear Joseph Silulyango
We are in receipt of your letter and we thank you for it. We wish to advise
you that it is a generally known legal principle that he who alleges must
prove what he alleges. You may also wish to be informed that in your
situation, the District Director did not owe you any duty not to disclose
and in any event, if the person in issue is displeased or feels injured, he
is free to sue you for defamation of character, which he actually did.
In this situation, the only defence to defamation of character is
justification, which implies that if you prove that your allegations are
true then it is not defamation. In your case, you failed to prove these
allegations at your work place and also in the courtroom.
Therefore, the K381, 000 fine imposed on you cannot be refunded as the same
was imposed through due process of the law. Had you written to us earlier,
we would have advised that you appeal against the judgment.
However, the Subordinate Court Act, in Order 44 Rule 2 (1) of the court
rules provides that one can appeal only within a period of 30 days after the
judgment. You can also appeal out of time within a reasonable time. Six
years however is too long.
In the interim, we advise that you accept the judgment and take care not to
make allegations that you cannot prove.
What Can I Do When I'm Working As A Casual
Worker For Many Months
Dear Advisor
With reference to the above heading, I am hereby asking for legal advise
from your organization.
I am an employee with one of the private companies in the country. I have
been working with this company for ten months as a casual worker. Now, is it
correct for a person to work as a casual worker for many months without
giving him/her a contract form? What do the laws of Zambia state?
Please help me with more information to enable me know what to do next if I
will be asked to stop work. I will be waiting for your assistance.
Yours Worried Casual worker.
Chingola
Dear worried casual worker,
We received your letter and the contents were noted. We wish to advise that
according to the Statutory Instrument No. 15 of 1997, (An amendment to the
Employment Act), a "Casual Employee" means any employee the terms
of whose employment provide for his/her payment at the end of each day and
who is engaged for a period of not more than six months. In the premise,
since you have been working for a continuous period of 10 months, you are
not a casual employee as defined by the Employment Act. Therefore by law you
are deemed to be a permanent employee therefore, they cannot simply dismiss
you with a notice of 24 hours as applies to casual workers but a one-month
notice as applies to permanent employees. Further, a casual employee
contract must be renewed every six months or else they fail out this
category of employees.
Yours truly,
Your advisor.
Application For My Terminal Leave Benefits
Dear Legal Advisor,
I Muyunda Mukelabai worked for Zambia National Services (ZNS) from June 1,
1996 to 2001. From 2001 to 2002 I went for military training at Kabwe ZNS
Training School, where I did nine months training.
I was discharged from the training two days before my pass out for the
reasons known to themselves. What I know is that I finished Military
training. What surprised me was that when I was dismissed I requested for a
reference letter and my leave benefits, which I worked for, but they said
they would not give me anything. They said government would instead benefit.
They did not even give me the dismissal letter indicating that I was
dismissed. For your convenience, before I went for military training my
number was 097012 while my military service number was 015107. Please
advisor help me with this case.
Yours faithfully,
Muyunda Mukelabai
Dear Mukelebai,
It is sad that you were discharged from the Zambia National Services (ZNS)
before completing of your training. I am of the view that your discharge
stands even though it was done two days before pass out because you were
only a recruit. It is as good as though you never enlisted.
As a result, ZNS is under no duty to give you any testimonial as to
training. However, you are entitled to claim only unpaid allowances that
were due to you as a recruit.
It is however, difficult to advise your status for the period between 1996
and 2001 because your letter did not indicate the capacity and terms under
which you served. However, you may be entitled to leave payment in lieu of
untaken leave days.
Yours faithfully
Advisor.
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