IS RACIAL discrimination slowly creeping into Zambia? We hope not.
It is possible but this vice should never be allowed to take root in the country which has managed to flourish peacefully under the One Zambia One Nation motto since independence without colour being a factor.
We say so because reports of Zambians being racially discriminated against at work and in some public places by foreign investors are fast becoming rampant.
The scourge must be nipped in the bud and those involved quickly dealt with before it is too late.
In recent times, reports of Zambians being locked up in some factories or warehouses against their will to work under pathetic conditions have become widespread.
Reports of Zambian workers being subjected to working without protective clothing and paid meagre wages, far below the minimum wage, are a common outcry.
This grim scenario has further been exposed by the outbreak of the coronavirus which has lately seen some foreign employers confining their workers against their will under inhumane conditions in poorly ventilated warehouses, among others.
Last week, the Ministry of Labour inspectors were forced to close a Chinese company where they found workers confined in a warehouse against their will under poor conditions to prevent them from contracting COVID-19, as the owners claimed.
Of course not all investors had confined their workers against their will in humiliating conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. There are those who have done so with the consent of the workers and are keeping them in a conducive environment.
In fact, some have even gone to the extent of paying them for days they are spending away from their families, working amid the pandemic.
We salute those who are doing so because this is as it should be in line with the labour laws that regulate employment in the wake of COVID-19.
But our bone of contention is also with foreign investors who have taken it upon themselves to deliberately mistreat Zambians and even to bar them from entering certain public places.
Foreign investors in whatever economic sphere, should never racially discriminate Zambians but treat them with the same dignity and respect as they done to them.
There is no doubt that investors are in the country to make profits but this does not give them the right to abuse the owners of the land.
Those investors who setup ventures in the country but discriminate against Zambians from patronizing their businesses are not fit to be called investors and should be sent back to their countries of origin.
What happened in Lusaka last week where a Zambian national was barred from entering a certain business premise on account of being black should be flushed out of the country if found wanting.
Hats off to Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa for quickly taking action. Justice must prevail in the matter.
Our message to investors is that there is no room for racial discrimination in Zambia.
