Kitwe DC counsels squatters

PEOPLE must always follow procedure when acquiring land as opposed to being antagonistic and seeking sympathy whenever they are evicted, Kitwe District Commissioner Binwell Mpundu has advised.

Mr Mpundu said it was sad that most people were thinking that despite being squatters on a piece of land for a long time, they should not be removed.

He was speaking in an interview after scores of squatters from Wangocha community in Kitwe on Tuesday complained at his office after the Kitwe City Council evicted them from the land they were cultivating.

The squatters who had been on the land near the Kafue river in Chantete ward where the council intends to establish a new park, wondered why the local authority on Saturday moved in without notifying them and destroyed their crops. But Mr Mpundu urged the farmers to always follow procedure when acquiring land and not to cling to the land illegally.

"I think this issue of squatters must be dealt with properly because squatters think despite not having documents for the piece of land, they own the land because they have been on the land for a long time.

"The 150 affected squatters had occupied the land illegally and must not use force in seeking sympathy. They should not be antagonistic, but must pursue this matter with a plea. I think I will not allow recklessness in the way people were acquiring land,'' he said

But Mr Mpundu said the Mayor Christopher Kang'ombe had directed the planning department to find idle land where the squatters could be relocated. A squatter Ms Phoebe Mwansa 65, complained that most of the farmers had already started clearing their fields in readiness for this year's farming season. Ms Mwansa appealed to the council to expedite the process of giving the farmers alternative land for farming because they had procured all the farming inputs.