BEFORE AND AFTER: Lebogang Lewatle
Accident victim demands compensation from former Chinese employers
A 27- year- old wheelchair bound woman, is demanding a house from her former employers Zhongghan Engineering and Construction which also trades as China Jiangxi.
Zhonggan Construction pledged six houses while China Jiangsu pledged four for President Khama’s Housing Appeal and Lebogang Lewatle is demanding one of the houses after she was injured while on duty.
She was employed by the Chinese company in 2010 on the Nata-Sepako Road Project in Maxothai Bridge as a healthy able bodied young woman who went out to find work in order to take care of her daughter and siblings.
Her dream of earning a salary every month were however brought to an abrupt end in 2011 October by a freak accident involving a front loader.
“I was hit by a front loader carrying very heavy metal rods on the site. The entire load fell on me crushing my `right thigh,” said the mother of one who now uses crutches to walk.
Lewatle does not remember much about the accident that robbed her of a leg.
She told the Voice that she fainted seconds after the heavy load fell on her only to wake up later to find her right leg lying next to her. She spent four months at Nyangabwe referral Hospital nursing her injuries. Her employers paid her P56928.00 which she has been using to take care of her eight year old daughter and is currently constructing herself a modest house.
“The problem is that the money is not enough and I can’t go out to get a job so I could complete building my house,” she said.
She said though she has accepted her fate with the knowledge that she will never be employed again, she can’t stomach the fact that a company that she worked hard for and even lost a limb is splashing money somewhere to help other poor people while neglecting their own. Lebogang feels that her former employers should show compassion to her by offering her one of the houses instead of flattering with the President.
“I’m permanently disabled and I wonder if this money will sustain me for the rest of my life. Currently I have less than P20 000 left but I use a lot of money travelling to see physiotherapists and paying medical bills,” she said.
Efforts to get a comment from the construction company were unsuccessful. A lady who introduced herself as Fan said Management was not in town. Fan is said to be employed as a secretary.
Lebogang
True that, tota bane ba sa tshwanelwa ke gore aba gakolole, bane ba tshwanetse go dira jalo!Madi aba go a neetseng mma le melemo ga a lekane gore a ka go oka gotlhelele a mannye go menagane!Ga kene kena le dithata, ke kabo kere ba go agele ntlo ya keletso ya gago, koloi ya keletso ya gago babo ba go neela allowence ya P2000.00 ya dijo le tsa go apara for 5yrs!
A Modimo ago thuse!
tlogela go itsia ka go nna o re o batla ntlo e o sa e huhulelang madi one a o neng o a hilwe ke eng one o simolole kgwebo ka one wa itshetsa ka profit dilo tseo ko mahatsheng a mangwe wena ware o ka di bona BATSWANA BONE!!!!!!!MELEKO
P56,928.00! Tlhe mma ba lekile, ke kopa o tseye P20,000 yo o setseng yoo o bule kgwebo nngwe, e tlaa go thusa gore o feleletse ntlo e o e agang, o bo o tswelele o tshela.
Lebogela Modimo gore o golafetse mmele, e seng tlhaloganyo, e bile leoto ga le tshwane o ka bo o ne o se na mabogo gotlhelele.