VICTORIA KASANGA writes
A woman stunned a packed Ndola local court when she revealed that she stopped work because her employer tried to coerce her to have sex with her husband.
She said the woman informed her that her husband was attracted to her and that he wanted to have sex with her.
This is a case in which Agnes Kangwa, 36, of Twapia Township in Ndola, had sued her former employer, Evelyn Nachilima, 32, of Hillcrest Township, for refusing to return her National Registration Card (NRC) after she stopped work.
The case was being heard before Kabushi Local Court senior presiding magistrate Agnes Mulenga sitting with Mildred Namwizye.
Ms Kangwa told the court that she started working for Ms Nachilima as a maid in February last year, and that Ms Nachilima, whose husband is a pastor at Kingdom Redeemed Celebration Pentecostal Church, requested her to surrender her NRC to her prior to starting work.
Ms Kangwa said she worked well with Ms Nachilima until she started telling her that her husband could start admiring and making advances at her someday.
She said that few days into the job, her employer requested her to undergo an HIV test to find out if she was positive or negative.
“She also told me that her husband would pray for me because of witchcraft in my family and that he was going to put anointing oil on my body so that problems may disappear from my life,” she said.
She said Ms Nachilima requested her not to wear a pant but only a Chitenge material during prayers so that the pastor could anoint her whole body but she refused.
Ms Kangwa said that she decided to quit her job in March because she became uncomfortable working for a church leader who was pushing her to have sex with her husband.
She said Ms Nachilima refused to give her back her NRC and accused her of stealing her phone when she went to collect it.
“She told me my NRC was at the police station but she refused to go with me there so I could collect it,” Ms Kangwa said.
In her statement, Ms Nachilima said Ms Kangwa went at her house with her husband to look for a job and that the reason she requested her to give her the original copy of the NRC was because she did not have a photocopy.
“I asked her whether she had any illness but she refused. I asked her to take an HIV test because when I asked her about her HIV status she said she was negative,” stated Ms Nachilima.
She explained that the reason she asked her husband to pray for the maid was because she was having problems with her family because of witchcraft.
Ms Nachilima denied ever asking Ms Kangwa to have sex with her husband and that she requested her to wear a Chitenge during prayers just in case she fell.
She said the reason she suspected Ms Kangwa of stealing the phone was because it went missing just a few days after she requested to use it to call her father whom she said was unwell.
She accused Ms Kangwa of stealing ‘items’ from her house and of absconding herself from work every time she got paid.
Ms Nachilima said the time she stopped work, she sent her husband to collect the NRC but was advised that she should get it herself.
She said that she could not give Ms Kangwa her NRC when she went to collect it because she was shouting and was rude to her.
In passing judgment, the court ordered Evelyn Nachilima to return the NRC to Agnes Kangwa as she had no proof that she had stolen her phone.