Land disputes erupt in Kafue
LAND wrangles have erupted between the Lusaka City Council (LCC) and over 3, 000 villagers in Muchuto area in Kafue district with the former threatening to evict villagers who claim the land is theirs.
LAND wrangles have erupted between the Lusaka City Council (LCC) and over 3, 000 villagers in Muchuto area in Kafue district with the former threatening to evict villagers who claim the land is theirs.
The villagers, who are reported to have lived in the area for over 20 years, have been given 28 days to vacate the land or face demolition by the local authority without compensation as they settled there illegally.
Among those structures threatened with demolition include Muchuto Primary School and five churches.
The LCC said it had title of the land before Kafue became a standalone council, while the villagers claimed to have been occupants with licences given to them by the councillor. According to an Enforcement Notice obtained by the Daily Nation dated, November 15, 2018 which was given to all the villagers and signed by acting director of city planning Muchimba Maambo, the authority has given the villagers 28 days for them to remove their structures and restore the land to its original status.
The council has warned that failure to do so, it would move in and erase all the buildings and recover as civil debt in any court of competent jurisdiction from them.
“It appears that the development of land as described hereunder has been carried out without the grant of permission required under the Urban and Regional Planning Act No. 3 of the laws of Zambia. You have constructed illegal structures on farm No 945a, Kafue,
“You are hereby required to remove the said structures and restore the land to its original status within 28 days from 15th November 2018 or such extended period as the City of Lusaka Planning Authority may deem fit" reads part of the notice
And the villagers who sought anonymity told the Daily Nation that they were worried about the Enforcement Notice and 28 days ultimatum given to them by LCC.
The villagers, mostly farmers said they had lived in the area for so many years and had invested a lot.
They claimed that the land was equally theirs as they had occupant licences.
“We are worried because we don’t know what to do next, we have invested a lot in this land. We have occupant licences, so how can we vacate the area because it is equally ours?
“Majority of us here are farmers and because of this confusion, we now don’t know whether to start our farming season or wait to avoid losing more,” the villagers said.