September 2007
Mansa Residents Want Intestate Succession Act Amended
By Monica Kunda
RESIDENTS of Mansa have lobbied Government and law makers to change the Intestate Succession Act describing it as favouring widows and the deceased children to the disadvantage of parents of the deceased.
Speaking to LRF News during the provincial visit to Mansa, the residents complained that the law on intestate succession was unfair because it did not take care of the interests of the parents.
The people of Luapula Province charged that the law that stipulates how property of a person who dies without a Will, was against their cultural heritage.
Patrick Chansa of Chief Chimese area said the law had created tensions and instability in the application of traditional law.
He said in the past the deceased's property was to be shared among the family members such as nephews, uncles, parents, and other family members and the widow was given something out of mercy.
Using a Bemba proverb: “Mayo mpampa naine Nkakupapa” he said that demonstrated that traditionally, what ever a parent spent on his child should come back when the child grows up.
He said the act was unfair to give 50 percent to the children, 20 percent to the widow, another 20 percent to the deceased's parents and 10 percent to dependants.
He said in many cases the relatives especially the legal guardians were not catered for in the Act. These people could have spent a lot of money on education, health and life of the deceased.
He appealed to lawmakers to amend the Act to allow the wife and the children get half of the benefits and relatives get the remaining 50 percent.
And Brandinar Mumba of Chief Chisunka's area said the only problem she had with the Intestate Succession Act was that despite the parents of the deceased being given very little of their child's benefits, the widows fail to look after these people the way their child use to look after them. “There is an old woman who was a sickly and was being taken care of by her only child. Three weeks after the death of her son, she also died because the daughter-in-law failed to take care of her,” she said.
And Mr. Peter Musonda of Mansa Central Police Victim Support Unit (VSU) said the police had embarked on the sensitization campaign to educate people on the laws that govern the administration of the Will, Intestate and Succession Act, defilement and other forms of sexual harassment.