Africa-Press – Zambia. COPPER: The dilemma of an underpaid, overworked Zambian trucker …following the disappearance of copper valued at K1,4 million One of the most captivating contemporary stories in recent days in my view has been that of a truck driver that did a Houdini with a copper laden truck valued at US$80,000 or K1,4 million (of copper minus the truck) in our national currency according to verified media reports.
Initially I almost dismissed it as ́just another theft story ́ but then I said, wait a minute, there is always a flip side to a coin, if you go around looking for it, that’s what I did, bearing in mind that crime must never be justified.
The first question I asked was, ́how much do truck drivers earn in Zambia per month as a wage ́? ́What kind of conditions do they work under driving invaluable goods from the heart of the Congo via Zambia, all the way to Durban or Dar es Salaam, or even from Ndola or Kitwe to Walvis Bay in Namibia?
My research findings as you can probably guess where alarmingly miserable; I found out that a truck driver carrying a tonne of coper valued at US$6,600/tonne today only earns K980 for the lowest and about K2800 for the highest. Criminal!
What came to my mind then was the adage, “if you pay pea nuts, you get monkeys ́” or garbage in garbage out. Can you imagine trucking a 30-tonne truck full of copper or cobalt worth millions of kwacha, risking your life for US$160 per month.
I am not a businessman I am an academician, author, and diplomat so I can’t for the life of me tell what goes on, in the mind of a businessman, that entrusts a hungry and broke driver to transport goods worth millions of dollars or billions of kwachas.
Back in the day as an editor, this is a story I would assign a hard-nosed reporter to do a “day in a life of trucker,” but also, I would get the labour department to find out why they cannot come up with a minimum wage for essential workers that risk their lives across the board. What’s good for the goose must be good for the gander.
They could be nurses, soldiers’ cops etc because you cannot entrust your safety in the hands of an angry cop, security guard or chef. It’s a recipe for disaster, as in the story of the Zambian currently on the run with pay-dirt.
How many other essential workers in Zambia are underpaid? Just food for thought folks as we enter the new year. God bless you!
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