Kalikiliki residents want compensation
Kalikiliki residents want compensationBy Noel Sichalwe
Monday March 12, 2007 [02:00]
KALIKILIKI residents are demanding compensation from government for razing their houses. A combined team of state police and Lusaka City Council police on Saturday morning between 01:00 hours and 03:30 hours used sledgehammers to demolish about 100 houses in Lusaka's Kalikiliki compound. The demolished houses were built in an ungazetted area where land was obtained illegally. The monetary loss from the demolished houses is estimated at about K350 million. One of the victims, Bile Ng’wale, who is a widow said she had built a house and only remained with two courses to start roofing when it was demolished.
Ng'wale said she was a maid and had three school going children. She said she had obtained a loan from her employer and hoped to finish repayment after the completion of the house. "I just heard that they are demolishing houses and when I came here, my house was gone," she said. "I am a widow and I just work in the yards to sponsor my children to school. So I decided to get a loan from my boss to build a house and for me to stop renting. Now that this has happened, I don't know how I am going to repay this loan." Ng'wale urged the government to compensate them for the demolished houses. She said she bought the house from an MMD official prior to last year's general elections at K1.5 million and has since spent about K3 million up to the level where it was demolished.
Another resident Shemu Daka lamented that his house, which was almost complete was destroyed and he wasted about K3.5 million. Daka who trades in opaque beer said he realised the need to have his own house and bought a plot from the MMD cadres in August last year. He said he used his savings from the opaque beer business to buy a plot and construct a house. He said it would have been better for the government to take the action before people spent more money on the housing projects. "The demolition of houses is really bad," he said. "I really wanted to build a house and now I have lost everything. I don't even know how and where I can start complaining from." Benson Simakondo was short of words and only sat at the debris of his house helplessly.
Simakondo who runs a makeshift business in Kalingalinga said he hurriedly wanted to build the house so that he could start keeping six orphaned children for his late brother. Simakondo said he had spent about K11 million for the house that was only left with roofing. "You know, my brother left six children who are scattered and I wanted to bring them after finishing the house so that we can start staying together," he said. "If possible, government should help us with some money so that we can recover what we have spent."
However, some residents that preferred anonymity said the demolition of houses was a decision government had used to hit back at Lusaka residents that overwhelmingly rejected President Mwanawasa in the just ended elections. Prior to last year's elections, Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata promised to demolish ungazetted houses and build better ones. However, the MMD used Sata's message urging people not to vote for a leader that promised to demolish their houses.
At a press briefing on Wednesday last week, chief government spokesperson Vernon Mwaanga announced that the government would demolish all illegal structures in the country.
Labels: DEMOLITION, MMD, MWANAWASA, PAYBACK
posted by MrK @ 4:06 AM
4 Comments:
If this was happening in Zimbabwe, it would be all over the western press.
hope they can find a good will lawyer.
UNHCR,has reported this in the guardian, so soon it will be on BBC probably the day the rain rains the most,I hope the government is providing something for them in the meantime...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6438339.stm
Last Updated: Saturday, 10 March 2007, 18:29 GMT
Zambia demolition campaign begins
Lusaka is experiencing an economic boost at present
Zambia police have used sledgehammers to knock down some 250 houses in the capital that the authorities say were built without official approval.
Police say it is the start of a major programme in Lusaka to demolish houses built on land obtained illegally.
The government says it wants to crack down on corruption in the way land plots are distributed.
But many residents are angry, saying they have legally paid for the land on which they built their homes.
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