WHO WILL STOP CADRES?

Incidents of political cadres engaging in illegal land acts are becoming all too common throughout the country although Lusaka appears to take centre stage and this should be worrying authorities. Just what has given rise to this bravado of cadres invading land and sharing plots when they do not have legal authority to do so. More importantly, why is government silent on this issue. Are authorities only paying lip service to this issue. Who will stop the cadres and halt the illegalities being perpetrated under the guise of party in power. Last week Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo issued a warning over the encroachment of the SOS Children’s Village in Lusaka that all illegal structures will be razed. Early this year, suspected PF cadres were at it again in Chilanga where they “seized” land belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture and wanted to demarcate it for themselves and sell part of it to the general public. And it defies logic that almost a year after suspected Patriotic Front (PF) cadres were first reported to be harassing a Barlastone farmer in Lusaka West, Webster Mhango, and tried to demarcate his land, the issue has resurfaced. What boggles the mind is how a case that was reported to the Zambia Police Service, had the Minister of Lands, Ms Jean Kapata, visit the “scene of the crime” and has a restraining court order in place should resurface. If anything, where do the so-called cadres derive their authority that allows them to go around deciding which farm they must “repossess” – even when it is on title – and share or resale? In the Barlastone saga, Mr Mhango’s story makes sad reading and no one should blame him if he decided to take drastic action against the cadres. His weakness being that he has put his faith in the country’s legal system and that he would be protected. But it is this protection that is not there. As Mr Mhango explained about the latest “invasion,” the running saga resumed last Sunday as the intruders started construction on plots that had been illegally demarcated. The cadres went to the farm in large numbers, ferrying sand as others were digging a foundation for a building. According to Mr Mhango, it appears the plot had been sold to an unsuspecting customer to who they were providing security. When Mr. Mhango approached them, they roughed him up and were about to take him to an unknown place before one of them received a call and after a long conversation, decided to let him go. They have warned Mr Mhango that they would kill his entire family if they tried to stop them. On January 3 this year, the Minister visited the farm on a fact-finding mission after cadres claimed to have been given permission by her office to start farming on the farm without permission from the owner. But after hearing from both parties, Ms. Kapata asked for time so that her office could verify its records. Madam Minister, was your visit a public relations exercise and not a genuine desire to stop illegal land grabbing and help a hapless citizen hold on to land that legally is his? It is about time that criminal elements masquerading as PF cadres were stopped in their tracks and told that the party believes in the rule of law. Mr Mhango and others like him elsewhere must be saved from crooked cadres, period. The cadres must be stopped. But who will stop them?