Kafue man’s suicide mission halted
HUNDREDS of marketeers at Lusaka’s Buseko market are spending nights in the cold with their families by the side of Mzilikazi road where they have erected makeshift shelters after they were removed from the premises in unexplained circumstances.
But market chairperson Lucky Siame yesterday told the Daily Nation that those who were claiming that they were chased from the market were being untruthful because the land on which they were trading was not part of the market but belonged to private individuals who had decided to develop it.
Some marketeers spoken to said they were shocked to receive an hour’s ultimatum to demolish their stands and move out of the premises by people they alleged were PF cadres on Monday and that since they had nowhere to go, they opted to erect dwelling structures by the roadside as they were still waiting for a permanent solution. PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has urged Patriotic Front members at various levels to elect leaders who will take the ruling party to greater heights in the intraparty elections.
“They just told us to leave. We don’t know the reason why but we had no option. All these people you are seeing here with their children spent their nights here in the cold. They never told us anything, they just told us to leave,” said one of the traders who refused to be named for fear of being victimised.
But when contacted for a comment, Mr. Siame said he was shocked that people could cook up stories to discredit the market leadership even when they knew that they were the ones who were wrong.
He said the people who traded from the western part of the market were doing so illegally as it was a private property and that after the new owners had decided to put up structures, they had nowhere to go.
Matero ward 28 councillor Annie Chinyanta also said the land they claimed was part of the market was in private hands and was on title and that the Lusaka City Council was working on modalities to try and relocate the affected people.