GOV’T ORDERED TO PRODUCE DECREE FOR DEMOLITION OF HOUSES ON FOREST 28

THE Lusaka High Court has ordered government to avail to Court the copy of the Presidential Decree of Zambia’s third President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa on the Ng’ombe displaced residents of 2002 on Forest Reserve 28.

Judge Gaudentia Salasini said the availing of the said document to the 52 aggrieved residents and the Court is in the interest of justice.

The plaintiffs through their lawyers, TK Ndhlovu & Company have since written to the Office of the President, Secretary to the Cabinet demanding for the copy of the Presidential Decree.

In this matter, 52 Ng’ombe residents are demanding K92 million compensation for demolition of their structures on Forest Reserve 28 and repossession of the land in question.

The residents sued a Tanzanian company, Super Star Forwarders Limited and its director, David Nkonde, Commissioner of Lands and the Attorney General.

The process has been amended with CARITAS Zambia (Zambia Episcopal Conference) appearing as an interested party and not a defendant.

Mr Laston Kunda and 51 others want a declaration that they are the rightful owners of the disputed land.

They want an order directing the Commissioner of Lands for cancellation of certificate of title no.203069 allegedly given fraudulently to Super Star Forwarders Limited.

They also want consequential expenses, interest on any monies the court will order as compensation.

They stated that Mr Nkonde is a businessman and a director at Super Star Forwarders Limited who is claiming to have been offered a Presidential Decree land by the Commissioner of Lands, while the company claims to have bought the presidential decree land from him (Mr Nkonde).