ICILIMBA BREAKING MARRIAGES
…it’s fuelling divorce because of secrecy – Fr Phiri
By Adrian Mwanza
THE popular schemes in which women pool resources in one basket to provide financial and material support to one another on a rotation arrangement called ‘icilimba’ is fuelling the increase in the cases of divorce in Zambia, a clergyman has said.
Although not legally captured by Zambian laws, ifilimba [some kind of village banking] is, under certain circumstances, an indirect recipe for increased divorce cases in the country, Catholic Church priest Father Gladson Phiri said.
He was explaining how ifilimba are contributing to the destruction of the homes.
“One-sided sacrifice, misuse of matrimonial resources, neglect of family responsibility and unfaithfulness. Jesus reminds us daily that whoever is faithful in little is faithful in much; otherwise, the opposite is true [with ifilimba],” he said.
Fr Phiri said if icilimba was not well managed, it would be a source of conflict in marriages, especially where partners were not honest in the conduct of the scheme to their spouses.
He said village banking was not a bad scheme for investment if it was done in an open manner.
Zambians should appreciate that a well-organised village banking scheme could be a proper investment of resources, while expecting a fair share in return.
Fr Phiri explained that in marriages, when one spouse committed oneself to such schemes in a secret manner and without returns benefiting the whole household, it would be perceived as financial infidelity.
“Such a human act of doing icilimba or ifilimba was deemed immoral and the perpetrator is culpable, why? Because it creates real stress and can qualify as cruel or, legally speaking, as unreasonable behaviour as it shelters zero transparency, concealment of information and creates a financial burden,” he said.
But one woman who wanted to remain annonymous said the problem was that most women were not transparent in their dealings.
She said it was important to tell spouses about the ‘ifilimba’ because they help out during trying times.
“For me I will give a practical example. There was a time my husband was transferred to go and work in Livingstone and through the same schemes I managed to complete the building of our house and my husband was not bothered because I was very transparent and told him everything,” the woman said.
She said, however, the women had put a safeguard as they only allowed people who had their own houses for fear of people running away with all the money or without contributing, leaving other members stranded.
However another woman said her sister almost lost her marriage because she did not tell her husband about the scheme.
After she managed to buy a deep freezer all hell broke loose in the marriage with the husband becoming suspicious.
“My younger sister was in a predicament when she was involved in the ‘filimba’ schemes but never told her husband. After she bought a deep freezer he could not accept it because he thought she was having an affair with another man,” she said.
Icilimba has become very popular among Zambians who are using the schemes to raise money, mobilise groceries for their homes, buy building materials and boost their businesses.
