COMMENT - Not only should the land be returned to her, but the officials who sold her land without her knowledge should go to jail for fraud.
Ndola woman implores governmetnt to probe council over land
By Kabanda Chulu
Tue 10 Apr. 2012, 13:26 CAT
A NDOLA woman has urged the government to urgently investigate corrupt practices by some officers at
Ndola City Council that have grabbed a piece of land from her and illegally allocated it to a Somali national.In her submissions to the Land Audit Committee, which has been gathering information on illegal sale of land, Harriet Simukoko Zimba, stated that
a Somali national, Mohamed Almi Hoor of Atosh Transport, allegedly connived with council officials to grab a piece of land (plot F7/GR2 Mupundu Street) that belongs to her.
"I worked for Zambia Railways for 10 years and when the housing empowerment initiative came into being, I did not benefit from it since I was not a sitting tenant at that time, so the Railways' union pursued the initiative to sell all undeveloped plots to its employees who never benefited from the sale of houses and I was one of those that applied for a plot in Ndola," stated Zimba.
"In July 2002, I was informed that approval to sell plots was made and I received my offer letter dated 2nd August 2002 to buy the plot in question. On 6th August 2002, I paid K4.7 million as full payment and receipt was only issued on 12th December 2003."
She stated that a temporary permit was obtained from the council to allow construction and building plans were submitted and approved.
"I commenced works for the foundation but in April 2002, I received a summons from Shamakamba and Associates, stating that the plot in question was sold to Atoshi Transport in 1997 and was later re-entered in 1998 in Mohamed Almi Hoor, a Somali national," Zimba stated.
"In 2005, as I was waiting for feedback from the Lands Ministry, Mohamed erected a wall fence to show that he has made developments and the information I have got is that some corrupt council officials sold the plot and facilitated issuance of title deeds, yet I am in possession of original title deeds."
She said the matter had dragged on for nine years.
"I have lost time, money and pride to be a Zambian. If what is rightly mine is lost to a foreigner due to a few greedy and corrupt officials, I cannot go to Somalia and be given land, so I request government to look into this matter with urgency," stated Zimba.
Recently, lands minister Wilbur Simuusa warned that corrupt officers involved in illegal land allocation would be handed over to law enforcement agencies once a comprehensive land audit was concluded.
"Once the final report is submitted, punitive action will be taken against perpetrators in accordance with the law. As government, we are concerned about illegal land allocation, and officers found wanting will be prosecuted; so I am appealing to people with information on land corruptly or illegally acquired to assist so that the audit exercise can be accelerated," said Simuusa.
Labels: CORRUPTION, COUNCILS, LAND RIGHTS, NDOLA, NDOLA CITY COUNCIL
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Irene Kunda in court over property grabbing
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Wed 27 July 2011, 14:00 CAT
VICE-President George Kunda’s wife, Irene, has been sued by her late brother’s widow for trying to grab the deceased’s house. Before Ndola local court principal presiding magistrate Jona Mwaba sitting with senior local court magistrate Mary Muke was Maria Malama, the widow of Mukuwa Mwize (Irene’s brother), of house number 1427 Ndeke Township.
Maria told court that Irene wanted to chase her from her “matrimonial” house and turn it into a museum.
“My husband died in 2003. So early this year, I started receiving my husband’s relatives trying to chase me from the house. First, my late husband’s niece came to the house and told me that she was instructed by her aunt, Mrs Kunda to chase me from the house because it did not belong to me,” she said.
“Even the two boys that I was keeping came and tried to remove me from house saying that Mrs Kunda asked them to remove me from the house. They claimed that the house belonged to their grandmother, my husband’s mother. But the truth is that my husband got a loan and paid for the house,” she said.
Maria also explained that Irene had instructed some people from the Ndola City Council to remove the house file.
She said that when she went to the council to check for the file, she was told that Irene wanted the same file.
“I went to the council and they couldn’t find the file, I was then asked if I was related to Mrs Kunda and I said that I was her sister-in-law. The officer at the council told me that she (Irene) was interested in the file and that the file was in the director’s office. When I went into the director’s office, he told me that Mrs Kunda wanted him to change the names on the title deed,” she said.
She explained that the director told her that he had not yet signed the document.
“I have put a caveat on the house. I was later told that Mrs Kunda wanted to put a caveat on the house as well,” she said.
And Irene explained that her mother, Rosaria Mwize, used to work for the council and that she was the sitting tenant.
She said she put the house in his late brother’s names after her mother’s death and that the offer letter came in his name.
“I am the one who paid for that house. It was my mother’s house and because we only had two brothers, I decided to buy each of them a house and I bought Mukuwa the Ndeke house,” she explained.
When examining Maria, Irene was immotional and she broke down.
“I used to help this women a lot, I gave her everything that she wanted. I used to feed her, but why should I want to get title deeds for that house, musebanya walikwata, Lesa akamikanda,” she cried but the court told her to control herself.
The court warned Irene to control herself failure to which she could be cited for contempt.
“No, this is hurting,” she responded and cried as she explained. “We have left everything to this woman, even the chairs that belonged to my parents, why should she be accusing me of getting the title deeds of the house I paid for?” she said.
Irene later told the court to give the house to Maria but the court told her that she had no right to direct the court on what to do.
The matter was later adjourned to August 29th for judgment.
Labels: COURTS, GEORGE KUNDA, NDOLA CITY COUNCIL
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MMD cadres harass Ndola council official
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Sun 14 Feb. 2010, 04:35 CAT
OVER 50 MMD cadres in Ndola on Friday roughed up Ndola City Council public relations officer Roy Kuseka accusing him of stealing money from them by hiking rentals. He suspected the cadres were tenants at Ndola's Itawa Flats and Chinese Housing Complex.
Kuseka explained in an interview that the moment the tenants saw him at the airport where he had gone to welcome President Rupiah Banda, they started making bad comments directed at him.
“I did not mind at first but I later realised that it was getting out of hand and I moved away. I went to sit in one of my friend’s car but they still followed me and started banging on the car. Before I realised, they were trying to overturn the car, if they had succeeded, I would have been badly hurt,” he said.
“They (tenants) called me all sorts of names and when I tried to move out of the car, they said that they were going to beat me up and blocked my way. Idon’t know why they did that to me but I am happy that I was saved by the police.”
Kuseka said the tenants were both women and men and were dressed in MMD Chitenge material.
He said after the police saved him, he went to where Ndola City Council mayor Charles Chiwala was standing.
“The tenants said a lot of things to me and I was really afraid. I don’t know why they did that, but such violence should not be condoned. I can’t even recognise any of them, but even if I know them I would not take legal action, but it is unfortunate that such would happen, “he said.
President Banda on Friday accused PF-run councils of stealing billions of kwacha in rates and rentals without providing services.
Labels: CADRES, MMD, NDOLA CITY COUNCIL, POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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Ndola council decided to sell houses before Chiluba went to cheat – Mushili
By George Chellah
Fri 12 Feb. 2010, 03:52 CAT
NDOLA Central PF member of parliament Mark Mushili has disclosed that the Ndola City Council had decided to sell the houses to sitting tenants long before Frederick Chiluba went to cheat them.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mushili dismissed Chiluba's attempts to hoodwink tenants of Itawa flats and Chinese complex in Masala that he would talk to President Banda to sell the houses to them.
“As usual he wanted to dribble politically as a political engineer as he calls himself,” Mushili said.
“But I want to inform the public that when Chiluba came he visited the sitting tenants of Itawa flats and sitting tenants of a Chinese complex in Masala during which period he told them that during the time he was a president, he promised them that he was going to offer the houses to them for sell and that he was going to talk to President Rupiah Banda to consider giving the same to the sitting tenants.”
Mushili emphasised that it was not the decision of Chiluba to offer the houses to the sitting tenants.
“This is the matter that has been vigorously discussed in the council that these houses should be given to the sitting tenants because the council hasn't got the capacity to maintain the houses and the flats,” Mushili said.
“And this is why the sitting tenants had resisted to accept increases in rentals because the houses, some of them, are in a dilapidated condition. We accepted that as a council since we cannot maintain the houses we decided that we must ask the Minister of Local Government and Housing to revoke the instrument that was there that stopped us as a council to offer houses for sale.
“So we have been discussing this. Now Chiluba came across this information and went and pre-empted that by coming out in the public that I am going to fulfill the promise, this is not so. It's a decision of a council. Besides, who is Chiluba now?”
He stressed that credit should go to the councillors.
“In this particular case, it is the councillors who have decided that the local government minister revokes the standing instruments so that those houses are offered to sitting tenants,” said Mushili.
“It's a council decision to offer the houses to sitting tenants and not Chiluba. If this materialises, people should not be cheated that it is because of the promises that Chiluba made before he left presidential office."
Labels: CHILUBA, HOUSES, MARK MUSHILI, NDOLA CITY COUNCIL
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National disaster
By Malcolm Chiyoba
Monday January 28, 2008 [03:00]
Floods in our nation may need to be declared a national disaster, not because they are, but because
the government has no wisdom to offer an appropriate response-based logical preparedness. Having watched the extent of damage being inflicted by these floods in some houses in Kabwata, it is important for the government to put up good drainage systems. I have also seen floods in our villages, especially in Southern Province.
Last Friday, Magande presented the national budget and said the government allocated K90 billion to the office of the Vice President for managing disasters.
Let me propose that among other things like building houses, erecting tents and sending relief food to the affected places, we must utilise the flood waters by building dams so that the water can be used in the dry season, unless the meteorological department is predicting perenial rains(they often get it wrong maybe due to poor equipment and this is another area the government must improve).
The construction of dams must be accompanied by deliberate efforts to ensure that the facilities for irrigation are available to the affected people.
This flooding in almost every part of the country is surely enough for irrigation and can still be a better source of water for agricultural activities. I believe rains are a blessing.
The worst embarassment this nation will ever go through is a draught, withering crops and thirsty livestock next farming season.
Let the MMD government offer leadership on floods. Abash rhetoric, viva practicality!
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=36824
Fundanga
By Shipota
Monday January 28, 2008 [03:00]
I read with keen interest Dr Fundanga's published interview with your esteemed reporter and I was impressed with the way he articulated the fundamental economic issues affecting our country, and the world at large.
As a student abroad doing business studies, I had no option but to e-mail several of my colleagues the article which I felt addressed issues in a simple, but yet complex way.
This was a classic example of the old school putting things into practice.
Furthermore, the government should be congratulated for giving the management team at the Central Bank the autonomy of making the key decisions which have changed the way business is run in our country.
We need a strong kwacha considering the way strong currencies are currently struggling.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=36830
Interesting ministerial statements
By Ladislas Hibusu
Monday January 28, 2008 [03:00]
It’s interesting to listen to some ministers who claim to have priorities when they produce statements like: ‘Members of the public should subscribe to insurance because the fault was not caused by Zesco.
Zesco cannot compensate for a cause that it does not cause’ (The Post 24 January 2008).
These are words from minister of energy, Kenneth Konga when questioned on what Zesco will do to the people whose properties where damaged after the power cuts. Then whose fault is this?
Don’t people pay to Zesco so that they can receive a service? This is simple logic. If one boarded a bus going to Chipata and the bus gets involved in an accident, aren’t the passengers compensated?
Who is supposed to subscribe for insurance between the provider of the service and the seeker?
On the other hand, information minister, Mike Mulongoti, advised the Zambian people to watch the African Cup from bars or neighbours who subscribe to pay television channels.
Mike Mulongoti said sport was not government’s priority because it was not a matter of life and death, adding that the government could not be spending huge amounts of money to enable ZNBC air live soccer matches at the expense of flood victims.
When I first heard these words from the minister, they sounded true to my ears.
But alas, did you watch the demise of an old woman of Kanyama who died from the ‘Kanyama floods’ after a house she was living in collapsed?
Additionally, Magande, during the presentation of the 2008 budget to parliament, in his opening stanzas said:
“The MMD New Deal government has always been presenting good national budgets that have pushed the economy forward”.
He said a few years ago, it was foreseen that there would be a power deficit because of the government’s good economic policies that increase the demand for power.
I found these statements offensive and misplaced. I wonder if the government even has priorities as these reputable people assert.
Yes, Magande’s presentation of the budget has always been very good and the pronouncements have ever been good, but I find it difficult why they fail to implement them.
It remains to the Zambian people to continue being hoodwinked by these liars.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=36785
Ndola City Council
By Silent Kent
Sunday January 27, 2008 [03:00]
Am a resident of Ndola and hope to continue being one for some time to come.
I have noted with great concern the allocation of plots at the inter-town bus stop in the city opposite former Zamox. Apprently, the population in Ndola is increasing besides economic activities. Even parts of town that were not active are now coming up.
To my surprise, some part of the original plot for the bus stop has been occupied and fenced, further reducing space for buses.
May the Ndola City Council planning authorities be remainded that the population of both buses and poeple is increasing therefore, they should revisit the sale or lease of space intended for a public bus stop. To some extent these are some of the issues that arise when local authorities are doing everything from the issuing of plots to planning and scrutinising.
I propose the bus stop be worked on like Lusaka did to Intercity Bus Terminus. That way the local authority and the community shall benefit other than allocating plots to individauls who may have two or three buses. May the town clerk's office respond.
Labels: CALEB FUNDANGA, FLOODS, NDOLA CITY COUNCIL
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Govt gives Ndola council ultimatum
By Staff Reporter
Thursday June 14, 2007 [04:00]
Government has given the Ndola City Council up to Friday to solve the industrial arrest that has persisted for over a month. Local government minister Sylvia Masebo yesterday expressed disappointment at the lack of leadership being exhibited by the mayor Anthony Katongo to solve the problems at the council. She said it was worrying that delivery of services for the residents in Ndola had ground to a halt.
Masebo also warned council workers that if they did not go back to work by Friday, they would have themselves to blame for any action that government took. She also urged town clerk Charity Mpande to drop her injuction against the council if she was to continue working. Mpande obtained an injuction to stop council officials from interfering with her work. “If she wants to continue with the injunction she must go on leave,” said Masebo.
Labels: NDOLA CITY COUNCIL, SYLVIA MASEBO
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