KITWE LAND THEFT EXPOSED

AN ATTEMPT to cheat residents out of their land in Kitwe, given to them by their former employer, ZCCM, has been exposed.

The residents have accused the Kitwe City Council of trying to grab land from them to give an investor, even though the Ministry of Lands has clearly asked the council to alienate and assign to sitting tenants.

Kitwe City council has been accused of trying to kick out former Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) workers from land they have occupied for more than 30 years after being given as terminal benefits.

The residents claim that the council wants to sell their land to an investor to put up a shopping mall.

The affected people who have now been left in the cold after the city council demolished their structures last month to pave way for an investor who intends to put up a shopping mall and a hotel, have written to President Edgar Lungu to intervene.

They say they have nowhere else to go because the Kitwe District Commissioner whom they thought would help had turned his back against them and had joined their adversary as he had told them openly that he would ensure that the entire community was evicted from the piece of land.

In a letter dated August 6, 2018, the affected families contend that after making efforts to the council to replan the piece of land that was given to them without much success, they engaged the lands commissioner for the northern region, Harry Shamende, who at once dispatched a team of surveyors and later directed that the land must be re-planned, but that he was ignored by KCC.

“Upon the closure of ZCCM, we never got any benefits and therefore, the land was the only benefit given to us. After the survey, the Ministry of Lands wrote to the Kitwe town clerk directing that the land in question be re-planned and that we, the former Nkana Polo Club workers, be helped in acquiring residential plots (because) were not encroaching on anyone’s land. After submitting all the documents from the Ministry of Lands, there was silence.

“What followed were threats from the DC who said he would evict the entire community so as to make way for the private investor who wants to construct a hotel and shopping mall. On the night of July 31, 2018, KCC moved in and demolished all the structures that we had constructed, wiping out all the limited resources we had invested. KCC has been harassing us frequently (by) sending us police officers to beat us up,” read the letter in part.

They say their only hope for now is the intervention of President Lungu because they had tried all channels of communication but that no progress had been made as their predicament had just been compounded.

“They (KCC) misled the nation by claiming that the reason for the demolition was that we had not submitted building plans yet we had already submitted the official documents from the Ministry of Lands. We now make an earnest appeal to your office to urgently intervene in our plight as we have been subjected to unending oppressive forces by people with money and power who have connived with KCC,” reads the letter.

All correspondences from the Ndola regional survey office and the Ministry of Lands to KCC obtained by the Daily

Nation indicate that the affected people were not encroaching on anyone’s land and directives were given that the land be replanned and that the affected people be helped to get plots.

In response, Kitwe district commissioner, Binwell Mpundu said that the land in question belonged to ZCCM.

And KCC public relations manager Roy Kuseka said that the local authority would issue a comprehensive statement on the matter.