Maravi

(MS ZAMBIA) Land titles are hard to come by

MS Zambia Newsletter February 2009
Land titles are hard to come by

It generally takes 2-4 years to acquire a titled land plot in Petauke. But this is not even the worst problem, as MS Partner Petauke District Land Alliance can attest. Misinformation and mismanagement of legal procedures are common.
By Lena Vind-Andersen, Information Officer, MS Zambia
19. February 2009

”Even though I informed him of the fact that I had title to the land, he just kept building his house. At he time he was just laying the foundations. Now, there's a mansion on my land,” tells Grace Mwale Zulu. She inherited a titled land plot from her father, but at the time, did not have enough money to develop the land or start building. Working as a nurse, she was then transferred to Chadiza, some 200 km away, and upon her return some years later, found that somebody else had started building on her plot.

Grace Mwale Zulu

This somebody is Mr. Mwanza, the former Director of Prison Services in Petauke. Mr Mwanza claims he bought the land fair and square from a person allegedly connected to the City Council, and is not really willing to give up his mansion. He does not, however, posses any document awarding him the title to the land. Mrs. Zulu has now been pursuing the case since 2004, and has not made much headway. She has managed to get the council to rule that Mr. Mwanza should pay a fine for putting up an illegal structure, and has even agreed to be given another plot paid for by Mr Mwanza – but the council are not willing to award another plot and are not offering any explanations as to how they could have allowed Mr. Mwanza to build in the first place.

”I just want to be given back my plot or get another one in compensation, but the council is refusing to help me”, says Mrs. Zulu.

Mr. Mwansa (left) is engaged in discussion by Mr. Kamanga, Chairman of PDLA, in front of the house he has built illegally on Mrs.Zulus land plot.

”This is the sort of thing which shouldn't even be possible”, comments the vice secretary of Petauke District Land Alliance (PDLA), Mr. Zulu. ”The council should be quite able to see in their files that the title belongs to her, and normally you can't even start building unless you show your title deed and obtain a permission from the council.

”It smells of corrupt practices”, adds Mr. Kamanga, chairperson of PDLA, who is now going investigate how the person selling the plot to Mr. Mwanza could do so without the council knowing about it and how Mr. Mwanza could be allowed to build without a title deed.

Unfortunately, these cases are not uncommon in Petauke. In another case, a woman applying for land was misinformed by the Council on the correct procedures to follow. In 2005 Jane Daka put in a plot application with the Council. After being interviewed and approved, she was allowed to apply for a low cost residence permit as well. What should have happened then, was for the council to notify the Ministry of Lands in Lusaka of her application, so that she in return could receive an offer letter for the plot. Instead, Ms. Daka was told by the Council to get her land surveyed. Ms. Daka is not a rich person. She sells tomatoes at the local market for a living, and it took her 2 years to save enough money to pay the surveyor. After this, she thought she would be able to build her house, and invested in bricks to do so. But now the council have refused her the right to build – she doesn't have the correct papers yet.

Jane Daka shows the bricks lying idle on her land plot.

”To be allowed to build, she first needs the offer letter. With this, she can get the land surveyed and only then can you apply for a proper title deed. And only when having the title deed, can you apply for a permission to actually build. And every single step costs money, ” explains Mr. Zulu.

After spending 4 years of savings so far, Ms. Daka is still waiting for her offer letter. ”Every time I go to the council, I'm told to see a new person, so I never get very far,” she explains.

At the council, the slow pace is blamed on the slow procedures in Lusaka, and when asked about their information practises, Mr.Mushili, internal auditor sitting in for the Council Secretary at the time of the interview, claims that ”people trying to skip steps in the procedure are doing it quite consciously to cheat, because they do receive information from us.”

However, all information is given verbally in English, as no posters or flyers presently exist to inform people of the correct steps. Which is perhaps not sufficient, when lots of people, like Ms. Daka, only speak local languages.

Labels: LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, PETAUKE, TITLE DEEDS

posted by MrK @ 6:07 PM