THE RESCUE OF PAMELA AFTER HALF A YEAR
I AM an avid follower of crime stories, as long as they do not have too much blood drips typically showcased in the likes of Quentin Tarantino flicks.
So, in April, less than six months after I returned “home sweet home” after years of serving my country abroad out of Stockholm and Berlin, I came face to face with a disturbing ugly real story of a young woman known as Pamela Chisumpa.
She had stolen the airwaves, on and offline, after an unintentional disappearing act.
At 22, Pamela was still basically someone’s “baby daughter,” loved by a father, mother, an aunt or a brother and sister including friends.
What did Pamela´s disappearance do?
Pamela´s sudden disappearance clocked in at about April 13, 2022 and attracted a lot of apprehension within and beyond family, Zambia Police (ZP) were alerted naturally. Zambia was outraged.
As days dragged into weeks, with Pamela, out of sight and out of mind, even the Zambian parliament was sucked into the fray forcing the government to issue a Ministerial Statement but could not slow down national interest.
A Ministerial Statement is when any given Legislator asks the Speaker of the House to compel a serving cabinet minister under any portfolio to state the government’s official, unequivocal position on a matter of national interest such as gay rights or the shortage of drugs in hospital etc.
Government´s response in parliament (Ministerial Statement) was that it was “concerned” about “isolated cases of attacks by criminals” in Zambia such as Pamela´s.
Sceptics described the statement as “dismissive” given the fact that a life was involved, maybe more.
A young life of a “mobile money” sector business lad, a huge self-help sector job in Zambia now given a severe dearth of formal jobs was at risk.
At that time, “only six people were reported abducted” said the government, with many of them turning out to be “false alarms,” after investigations, apart from 22-yearold Pamela according to the statement.
Was Hollywood in our living rooms in Zambia?
The whole thing felt like I was watching “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” NCIS Miami, New Orleans or some such.
But it was real - a young lady was missing after disappearing in ether which was not possible because I never saw any “Houdini” in her prefix.
Return of the Pam in Chalala
Tuesdday, however, was a great day on the Zambian page of “crime and mystery,” quintessential of any crime thriller in a country that’s often bereft of crime, renowned for peace.
Pamela appeared like Elton John would say “somewhere out of the blues” along with 12 other girls, her days of captivity from April if you crunch the numbers is about six months or half a year. They are over.
Its unfathomable to even understand how her loved ones, her mother and father felt while she was taken, especially with reports that her alleged captor named officially thus as Vael Muzwenga is a vile pervert who has been spotted buying condoms in the neighbourhood stores the last six months straight.
Could there be more girls captured out there?
Unlike the initial government assessment of “isolated incident,” it turns out there were 13 victim girls, no one knows what they went through at the hands of the vile captors, but the police have sent the girls for medical checks to eliminate issues such as disease or forced pregnancy.
If you read up to the last page, what´s your say?