Chongwe council shocked over new TAZARA memorial cemetery

SOME Chongwe District Council officials have expressed shock that Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Malanji was issuing threats over its decision to halt the construction of a cemetery to house remains of Chinese who died in the 1970s during the construction of the TAZARA project, when the local authority was not aware of the project. Some sources who refused to be named have challenged Mr. Malanji to produce documentary evidence that such a project existed and further expressed shock that the minister was in the area with the Chinese without notifying the council. The sources wondered why Mr. Malanji was treating the socalled TAZARA memorial project as a high profile case which was exclusively approved by his office without the involvement of the local authority. “We were shocked to see that the minister was in the area without our knowledge. We are further surprised that the cemetery has now changed its name to TAZARA memorial project because even on those billboards they were showing on ZNBC Tazara was not mentioned. “If what he is talking about is true, why should he issue threats on site where there were no council officials? Why didn’t he engage us? Ask him to show you the documents from the council which show that this project exists,” a source said. While in Chongwe yesterday, Mr. Malanji warned that government will not take kindly to anyone misrepresenting facts over the construction of the TAZARA memorial park in Chongwe which is expected to house the remains of the 36 Chinese nationals who died while offering aid to the TAZARA railway project.