Musenge censures squatters on Phoenix Materials land
By Mwila Chansa-Ntambi in Kitwe
Sun 22 Apr. 2012, 13:27 CAT
CHIMWEMWE member of parliament Mwenya Musenge has reprimanded squatters that have encroached on the land where Phoenix Materials is supposed to build the biggest shopping mall in Kitwe.
And the squatters have vowed to die defending ‘their land', accusing Kitwe City Council of giving preference to the rich when offering land. Meanwhile, Kitwe Mayor Chileshe Bweupe says KCC will not allow a situation where people want to create a ramshackle.
During the continued tour of his constituency on his way to Hybrid Poultry Farm on Friday, Musenge noticed a huge number of people gathered at the site where the Phoenix Materials Mall is supposed to be built.
This prompted him and his entourage to stop and find out what was going on.
Some people in the group told Musenge that they were there to share plots because the land in question was theirs.
Musenge then phoned Kitwe Town Clerk Bornwell Luanga who categorically stated that council had nothing to do with the land in question as it was on title and belonged to Phoenix Materials.
Musenge then told the people that the government would not allow them to take the law into their own hands.
Mickson Sakachima, Stephen Sandala, Kellys Kabwe and Martin were amongst the people that identified themselves as leaders of the group.
Musenge advised their followers to take the four men to the police if they had gotten any money from them because there was procedure involved in land acquisition.
He told the people that even if they used force or tried to be stubborn, it would not take them anywhere because they were the ones to lose out in the end.
Musenge shouted at a man who tried to interrupt his speech.
"Tondolo! Quiet! Just keep quiet! There is nothing you can tell me. This is not the first time this issue is coming up. Nibunkosa mitwe bwashani How hard hearted can one be? Maakanshi mukwete what powers do you have to start allocating land?" Musenge fumed.
"I have warned you that you are dealing with thieves and if they got any money from you, report them to the police. You are doing this at your own peril and do not cry foul if it backfires."
But the ‘squatters' claimed that they were not scared of anything and that they had followed the right procedure in acquiring the land in question.
"Ifwe natuipelesha ukufwilapo pali iyi land. Eco twabavotele pakuti batusunge. Twalile ku council kulya elo ba Dorothy Sampa batwebele ukucita apply nokulemba amashina yesu bonse nenkalata eko ili ku council but ifwe twaishile papa fye ati balakulapo shopping mall pano [We are prepared to die for this land. We voted for these people so that they look after us. We went to the council and Dorothy Sampa KCC acting public relations manager told us to apply and write down our names and that letter is there at the council but to our surprise, we just heard that there would be a shopping mall here]," claimed Enoch Machayi.
He claimed that the issue of the shopping mall was a non-starter and that the council just wanted to use it to give land to the elite and sideline the poor.
Another squatter complained that land application procedure took too long.
But Kitwe Mayor Chileshe Bweupe in an interview later warned that those who wanted to take the law into their own hands would face its wrath.
"Council's position on that matter remains the same. It is land on title and those people have got no reason to be defiant. We will not allow people to create a ramshackle coming from Chingola because we already have a mwa mulenga ramshackle coming from Ndola," Bweupe said.
He accused the former ruling MMD of having created the problem at hand by promising people that they would be given that land if they voted for the party.
"And as usual, our people bought into that idea but we are saying that is private land and it is on title. We will not entertain anyone who will say empower us because we voted for PF because we know that those people occupied that land as a result of the MMD campaign promise that if they voted for them, the land would be theirs," said Bweupe.
He urged Phoenix Materials Limited to immediately secure their land before the situation gets out of hand.
Hundreds of people every day gather on the land where Phoenix Materials is supposed to build a shopping mall, under the pretext of sharing plots.
Labels: MWENYA MUSENGE, SQUATTERS
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Kauzu Farms squatters call for govt’s intervention
Written by Christopher Miti in Chipata
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 5:22:39 PM
SQUATTERS that are being evicted from Kauzu Farms have called for government’s intervention into the alleged illegal eviction. One of the squatters, Kelvin Lungu, said the government should survey the area to have a sure record of the owner.
“We want the government to explain about this land, let government survey the land and if the outcome would be that it belongs to the Chirwa family then government should give us an alternative place but will also demand for compensation because of what we have done here,
we came here during the UNIP government with late Mr Emmanuel Chirwa’s consent and we are not squatters because we came with the knowledge of the so-called owner,” he said.
Lungu said it was unfortunate that many families were left homeless when bailiffs swung into action, destroying houses in Kauzu Farms. And Phoebe Mulilo said it was surprising that the bailiffs started destroying houses when the people were still waiting for the surveyors.
“What we know about this issue is that it is in court. We were waiting for judgment so in May we went to see chief Chinyaku, he told us that surveyors would come in the same month so we are waiting for the surveyors up now, if this place belongs to Mr Chirwa we are not refusing to move out but we want to have a proper proof. If it will be discovered that it is not our place they should compensate us and tell us where to go,” Mulilo said. “Surely do these people care about others they came in the night and started destroying houses even houses belonging to very old people.”
And Kauzu Basic School head teacher Baron Nkhosa said the school would be affected by the eviction.
“The children at my school are affected because of the eviction that had been effected by Mr Chirwa who had earlier on promised the District Education Board Secretary that he would compromise with the people and then accommodate and now he is evicting them, they have moulded more than 80,000 bricks that are ready to be burnt but now they are being evicted that clearly shows that development will be retarded. Children must go away so the government must pass a comment because these children should either be shifted to another school so that head teachers of other schools should accommodate them,” he said.
Nkhosa said 154 out of 214 children came from Kauzu Farms.
But Kauzu farm owner Petronella Chirwa said the land could not be surveyed because it belonged to the Chirwa family and that they had title deeds.
“This is our land, it’s on title. It starts from Msekera to Madzimoyo hill up to Lutembwe, the so-called subdivision A. This land was 1,800 hectares, the subdivision they are talking about is what we sold. This side (where squatters are) there is no subdivision,” Chirwa said.
“These people were supposed to move out in 2003, they didnít do that they said there was nothing that they can do, they planted the time we went back to court they said they have already planted. 2004 came, we went back to look at the judgment, they said no.
“In 2006 before the Mayana Farms eviction they were supposed to come here but because Mayana had more problems than us, the government said can you hold on, we listened to the government, when we went back to government they told us elections are coming up, can you wait until people are settled? We waited until people got settled but now they gave themselves borders that we should not go there but we have got title deeds.”
About six houses were destroyed by the bailiffs last week when the eviction commenced.
Labels: KAUZU FARMS, KELVIN LUNGU, LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, SQUATTERS
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Compel Albidon Nickel Mine to compensate settlers- HH
Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 14:26
The UPND says government should compel Albidon Nickel Mine in Mazabuka to compensate people who were displaced from their areas by mine.
UPND president, Hakainde Hichilema, says the mine which has now suspended operations has failed to fulfil its contractual obligations to the community.
Mr. Hichilema says Albidon Mine has not fully implemented several community projects including building new houses for the local people after demolishing their old ones.
He was speaking in Mazabuka when he visited communities in Magoto area who were relocated from their settlement by Albidon Nickel Mine.
And Mazabuka Member of Parliament, Garry Nkombo, said the mine has abandoned the community, a situation which he described as unfortunate.
Albidon Nickel mine in Mazabuka has suspended operations indefinitely citing various difficulties.
/ZNBC/NEWS
Labels: ALBIDON NICKLE MINE, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, LAND RIGHTS, SQUATTERS
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Munkombwes behaviour is shameful, says Chizhyuka
Written by Post Reporter
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 4:14:55 AM
NAMWALA UPND member of parliament Major Robbie Chizhyuka yesterday said Southern Province minister Daniel Munkombwe’s behaviour over the
recent forced evacuation of 8,500 settlers from Sichifulo game management area (GMA) in Kazungula is shameful. But chief Nyawa has warned UPND MPs in Southern Province to “mind their own business” instead of interfering with the Sichifulo GMA.
Commenting on tourism and environment minister Catherine Namugala’s justification of the forced evacuation of the villagers in a ministerial statement delivered before Parliament recently, Maj Chizhyuka said
the displacement of the Sichifulo settlers was a rape on their human existence.
Several UPND parliamentarians last week walked out from the chamber at Parliament following Namugala’s sentiments that Sichifulo GMA settlers had been evacuated to pave way for game safari hunting and photographic tourism.
Major Chizhyuka, who was sent out of the House for about 10 minutes for exhibiting unruly conduct before the walkout, said the issue would be taken to the highest level of government leadership.
He said Sichifulo settlers’ humanity, self-esteem and egos had been eroded beyond redemption.
“We are demanding that those people should be reinstated and there should be compensation for the inconvenience,” he said.
“The legal position with regard to the GMA Act number 12 of 1998 allows for co-management of wildlife resources in the GMA with local communities. Therefore, chiefs Siachitema and Nyawa who allocated that land to those settlers in that GMA were legally correct to allocate that land, because it is in accordance with the law.”
But Munkombwe said there would be no change of heart from the government on the matter.
“There is nobody in Sichifulo; it is peaceful now and I do not know what they (UPND parliamentarians) are talking about,” said Munkombwe.
However, Maj Chizhyuka said Munkombwe was a shameful man.
Maj Chizhyuka said when Munkombwe submitted as witness 102 before the Sakala Southern Province Land Inquiry Commission of 1982, in his capacity as member of parliament for Choma Central, he had asked the government to give more land to the southerners.
“Now that he is a minister, he is in the forefront to displace the same people he defended. If Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula, Mungoni Liso, Munukayumbwa Sipalo woke up, I do not think Munkombwe would look them in the face,” said Maj Chizhyuka. “Munkombwe can’t be an advocate in the displacement of his own people. He is such a shame.”
And speaking when three Southern Province chiefs met with Munkombwe yesterday, chief Nyawa said it was surprising that MPs who were lawmakers were advocating that the law to be broken instead of calling for the repealing of a law that protects GMAs.
“The Sichifulo Game Management Area was created in 1941 and it shocks me that lawmakers can parade themselves on national television calling for the breaking of law instead of repealing it first. The people who encroached on Sichifulo came without consulting the government of the day and us as chiefs, they were ex-convicts, cattle wrestlers and prison escapees; they are not farmers. The MPs should mind their own business and concentrate on their constituencies,” said chief Nyawa.
Meanwhile, Kalomo member of parliament Request Muntanga accused Munkombwe of coercing the chiefs to issue a statement against their people who had been evicted from Sichifulo GMA.
Muntanga said Chief Siachitema of his constituency had phoned him to inform him that Mukombwe had sent a vehicle from Livingstone so that he could be picked together with other chiefs so that they could go and issue the statement in support of the government.
“Chief Siachitema, Mukuni and Nyawa are not part of what has happened to the people and their support was not voluntary because when Mukombwe sent a vehicle to pick Chief Siachitema in my constituency. He phoned me saying I am being told to go and make a statement,” he said.
Muntanga said Munkombwe was politicizing the matter by punishing innocent people just because they supported UNPD.
And Moomba Royal Establishment (MRE) spokesperson Elvis Malumo has described Kazungula member of parliament Regina Musokotwane as a nuisance for supporting the settlers.
Malumo charged that Musokotwane who was part of the team of parliamentarians who walked out of parliament last week, was insighting settlers in Sichifulo to continue living there illegally because she wanted votes.
He said chief Moomba would in March allocate land to all the displaced settlers if they were ready to follow the right procedure. But when contacted for a comment, Musokotwane said she did not want to argue with chiefs through the press.
Labels: DANIEL MUNKOMBWE, GAME PARKS, LAND RIGHTS, ROBBIE CHIZHYUKA, SQUATTERS
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Death threats force Munali Coffee managers to flee
January 11, 2009
Two senior managers at Zambia’s largest Coffee producing company, Munali Coffee limited in Mazabuka have fled the company premises following death threats from former Mubuyu farms employees, who were evicted from the farmland by Court Bailiffs.
Company Finance Manager, Britten Gavin, confirmed the development to Mazabuka District Commissioner, Tyson Hamaamba, when he visited the company to investigate the eviction of former employees by the Bailiffs.
Mr Gavin said a human resource manager and Coffee Control marketing manager fled the premises on Thursday Night and their whereabouts are not yet known.
He said the two fled after some former employees turned violent against them.
But armed Police officers from Mazabuka and Nega Nega Police stations, who are still keeping vigil at the company premises, told ZANIS, there was no need for the managers to run away because maximum security measures had been put in place.
The Police, further, explained that the stoppage of the evictions greatly contributed to the peaceful atmosphere at the company.
On Thursday, Court Bailiffs from Lusaka swung into action and evicted former Mubuyu farms workers and dumped them across the Mazabuka- Kafue high way opposite the main entrance to Mubuyu farms.
ZANIS/ENDS/HC/SJK
Labels: LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, MUBUYU FARMS, SQUATTERS, TYSON HAMAAMBA
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Bailiffs burn houses in Mazabuka
By Henry Chibulu in Mazabuka
Monday June 16, 2008 [04:00]
SEVERAL families in chieftainess Mwenda's area of Mazabuka have been left homeless after their houses were burnt by Court Bailiffs following a High Court order to evict them from a disputed farmland. Household property and foodstuffs were burnt to ashes by the uncompromising bailiffs who were accompanied by armed police officers.
Chieftainess Mwenda, who confirmed the development to ZANIS in Mazabuka yesterday, said a total of 12 families were affected in Upper Kaleya area following an order by the Lusaka High Court to evict the families from the disputed farmland covering 103 hectares.
She said the affected families who had been spending nights in the cold have since been offered temporary accommodation by the local Seventh Day Adventist church.
Chieftainess Mwenda said she was particularly disappointed with the Court Bailiffs and Police for their failure to brief her before executing the order on traditional land.
She said she would repossess the disputed land from the plaintiff who is a Lusaka resident to prove that she was in charge of customary land.
"As far as am concerned, I did not allocate land to the person who took the matter to court and as such I will repossess it and re-allocate it to local people who need land for agriculture purpose," she said.
Chieftainess Mwenda called on the Office of the Vice-President to help the affected families with tents to enable them erect shelters.
However, Mazabuka District commissioner, Tyson Hamaamba said his office would work closely with chieftainess Mwenda in finding alternative land for the affected families to be resettled.
Labels: CHIEFS, CHIEFTAINESS MWENDA, SQUATTERS
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Zambia: Land law is a set-back to the dark ages
The Land Act is causing millions of Zambians to be deprived of land and livelihood without any form of compensation. Its another apartheid, says an outspoken Zambian land activist, in her personal comment to the situation.
By Lucy Sichone
01. October 1998
Colonialism and imperialism were imposed on Africa and Zambia by the introduction and enforcement of a land law that robbed indigenous peoples of their birthright. The land was vested in a Monarch across the seas who in turn gave it away to her (white) subjects by way of title deeds. This system of land tenure was completely alien to the African way of life. The exclusive properties of private ownership were at variance with and destructive of communal and family life as it existed in the colonies.
In fact, the only way in which this land grabbing could be enforced was through the introduction of "pass" laws in various forms. They prohibited the access to traditional lands by the birthright owners and condemned the indigenous people to live in overcrowded "squatter reserves" to which the private land tenure system did not extend.
The colonialists used private titles to benefit only themselves; it was never intended to benefit the owners of the land for development or any other purpose.
Nationalism and the war to reclaim the land were a natural consequence of this forcible deprivation of land.
Pressure from the World Bank
In Zambia, the war to liberate the land from colonialism was not as protracted and violent as say the Mau Mau liberation war in Kenya. This was because Zambia, unlike Kenya or Zimbabwe, was not a settler colony. The then Northern Rhodesia was almost wholly (90 %) reserved for the "natives who continued with the communal system of land tenure based on the place of birth.
The traditional land tenure was protected by law from settlers, investors and speculators by the provision that excluded private title in what were designated native reserves and trust lands or merely reserves and fast lands after independence.
These colonial laws, which reserved land for Zambians, continued in existence after independence up until September 1995. At that time - and against massive resistance from churches, NGO´s, chiefs and ordinary Zambians - a land law was introduced at the behest of the World Bank that set back the Zambian people to the dark ages experienced at the height of the scramble for Africa.
No compensation to displaced Zambians
John Todd, until 1997 the World Bank representative to Zambia, had the arrogance to attempt a defense of the land law on the basis that it was written for Zambia by a Boer, Peter Moll - now a World Bank consultant whose main brief appears to be one of writing the laws that made Apartheid "successful" for three hundred years in banana republics like Zambia.
Hence the main provision of the Act deprives 80 % of the Zambian poor of their inalienable right to land - a birthright guarantee - and vests it in a banana president for purposes of accommodating the second great trek of those who have lost their immoral benefits under apartheid.
Just like under apartheid, Zambians now stand to lose land without compensation.
Zambia’s Investment Center - a creation and stooge of the World Bank - has been negotiating with the so-called South African Farmers Association (all white) t bring into the country hundreds of Boers to build lagers on huge tracts of Zambian land.
Like the original laagers - fortresses built by te first Boer trekkers to protect themselves from hostile natives - the new laagers is displacing millions of Zambians. Especially the 80 % poor are rendered landless peasants, homeless without any form of shelter and without livelihoods to the same extent as existed in Brazil or indeed South Africa. The displaced Zambians are given no compensation.
Titles liquidate entire life style
The Land Act of ´95 has achieved this theft by taking away the traditional title to land by abolishing the protecting laws and vesting the sole ownership of land into the President. In other words titles have not been issued to the chiefs or people living in the villages, so their land is predicated as squatters settlements or merely "vacant".
Thus, although the Land Act has put a monetary value on land, the money paid by the so called investors does not go to compensate, resettle or rehabilitate the villagers. The purchase price is paid to the owner of the entire Zambian land mass - the President.
The requirement of title has deprived access to ownership of land that every Zambian used to enjoy under customary tenure by virtue of birth and regardless of economic or social status.
Furthermore, customary tenure had the objective of communal sharing of land. Land for subsistence farming normally did not exceed 25 hectares per person, and pastoral land was owned by the community for all the members to use. Titles to communal, pastoral lands by an individual is be cost effective, it means the liquidation of an entire way of life, a death sentence for both the people and their livestock.
It is for this reason that Zambians are resisting and indeed fighting the Land Act in the same way that the liberation wars were born, pursued and brought to successful conclusion.
Resistance paid off
300 kilometers south of Lusaka, In Choma, Chief Singanis area of 40.000 hectares (the size of some Western European countries) was privatized. The new Boer owner took possession of the land (with a court order) by the simple act of burning the shelters and harvest of over 400 families who held traditional titles to the land.
The villagers have since "liberated" the land, they have rebuilt their homes and replanted their fields. The investor, in the interest of preserving his life and limb, has gone back to where he came from and put back his land on the market. So far, no one else has shown interest.
Zambians will not wait for 200 years to reclaim their land. It will be done now. The World Bank should take note.
Labels: LAND REFORM, LUCY SICHONE, NEOLIBERALISM, SQUATTERS
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Nyirongo grabbed land meant for squatters, says senior land official
By Inonge Noyoo
Friday January 11, 2008 [03:00]
A SENIOR Lands officer yesterday told the court that the land which former lands minister, Rev Gladys Nyirongo, fraudulently acquired for herself was intended to accommodate squatters. In his evidence led by Anti-Corruption Commission’s Martin Maembe, Harry Mwewa said the land in question was supposed to be replanned and given to squatters.
He said the two farms were handed over to the state by the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) and one of the farms was already being replanned while the other one was awaiting fund approval.
He said that the replanning could not be completed due to a lack of funds.
Mwewa said Rev Nyirongo called a meeting in her office to which he was part and said that she wanted a plot.
“We told her that we did not have land apart from farm 390A former ZCCM which had not been replanned yet. We then referred her to the Ministry of Agriculture and gave her a specific person to see. I made an effort to call Chewe (Junior Technical officer) and told him about the minister’s request,” he said. “I told him to show the minister part of farm 390A and I don’t know what happened thereafter,” he said.
Mwewa said he was later questioned by ACC officers over the plot Rev Nyirongo acquired.
In cross-examination by defence lawyer, Frank Tembo, Mwewa said Rev Nyirongo had indicated that she wanted a farm where she could settle upon retirement.
Rev Nyirongo is charged with two counts of abuse of authority contrary to section 99(1) of the Penal Code chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia by directing Daisy Mulenga M'soka, a lands officer at the Ministry of Lands, to generate offer letters of the land in Foxdale area.
The letters of offer were given to Walinase Nyirongo, Janet Isaac Nyirongo, Peter Kapolya, Peter Ngulube, Precious Ndlovu, Doris Mulenga, Mubanga Muyunji, Mickey Mukubu, Mwelwa Kamfwa, Bruce Chipasha and Dingwall Hayden in contravention of land alienation procedures, an act which was prejudicial to the interests of the government of Zamb
Labels: GLADYS NYIRONGO, SQUATTERS
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Mumba Kapumpa seeks protection from squatters
By Nomusa Michelo
Tuesday November 27, 2007 [03:00]
LUSAKA Lawyer Mumba Kapumpa has asked the Ministry of Lands to protect him from squatters on his land. Reacting to a statement made by lands minister Bradford Machila that the removal of squatters on titled land was the responsibility of title owners, Mumba said the government should protect landowners from people who illegally occupy land.
“I am a law abiding citizen and would not like to take the law in my hands and begin fighting with the squatters,” he said.
“I expect the government to protect me from those who illegally make it impossible for me to complete my construction.”
Mumba also said because of the squatters who have invaded his property, he was unable to complete development on his land, which the commissioner of lands had since issued a notice of intention to re-enter on reasons that he had failed to develop it.
Kapumpa through his lawyers Mumba S. Kapumpa Advocates has asked the Ministry of Lands to withdraw the notice of intention to re-enter issued on his piece of land.
In the letter, Kapumpa contends that the clause used to issue notice of intention to re-enter did not stand because the land in question had an incomplete seven bedroomed house.
Labels: SQUATTERS
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Squatter settlements
By Editor
Friday November 09, 2007 [03:00]
It is encouraging that the government has started to make some movements towards upgrading of squatter settlements around the country. The amounts of money released so far may not be adequate to comprehensively deal with this problem, but what is important is that the process has begun. A lot has been said about squatter settlements and those concerned have raised valid concerns.
Some people are of the view that squatter settlements should just be demolished so that the squatters can be moved to alternative places. Others have argued that since the numbers of people living in squatter settlements is quite considerable, it is not possible to demolish houses in these places and that upgrading them would be most ideal.
Well, the problem of squatter settlements is not as easy as it appears on the surface. It goes beyond what meets the eye. To fully appreciate this problem, it is important to interrogate several factors. But what we can clearly state is that - looking at the realities in our economy - the problem of squatter settlements in urban areas is an unavoidable phenomenon. For as long as urban areas remain the main centres of economic activity, we expect the numbers of people migrating from rural areas to continue going up. And since very little is happening in terms of infrastructure development to accommodate the large numbers of people migrating to urban areas, more and more rural-urban migrants will become squatters. And we should never deceive ourselves to think that the problem of squatter settlements is so easy to solve.
There is no magic-bullet solution to this problem. In the past, we have seen some confrontational approach from those in government in the manner they have dealt with squatters. But this problem does not require a bellicose attitude from those in government. As we have already stated, there are several factors which have led to some of our people living in squatter settlements, most of which border on economic considerations while others have to do with our systems of urban planning.
To deal with the problem of squatter settlements will require not just short or medium term measures such as simply upgrading these settlements because this in itself encourages the practice. The problem requires long-term measures such as improving the living standards of people in rural areas because we know that people are migrating to urban centres in search of a better quality of life. They are deserting rural areas because poverty is biting hard and the conditions of living are deteriorating. And the problem is that when they arrive in the cities, there is inadequate housing.
The result is that these people start constructing illegal structures, which unfortunately are allowed to get to levels where it becomes difficult to stop them. And this is the result we are seeing today of the government being forced to recognise these settlements by upgrading them.
Given the fact that these settlements are unplanned, it means that they lack basic services such as water and electricity supply, roads, drainage systems and other vital infrastructure. Where these are available, the standards are below appropriate or minimum levels because the squatters have to improvise on most of these services. They have to dig shallow wells for water; they illegally connect themselves to power supply lines and their settlements are always flooded during the rainy season because there is no proper drainage.
These are the consequences of having unplanned settlements. And this is why we are saying that squatter settlements must be avoided from the outset. In our view, it is possible to avoid these squatter settlements if we have long-term plans in whatever we do as a country. But as long as certain things - such as the economy - are not in order, it will be difficult to deal with this problem because people will continue trekking to the cities even if there is no accommodation for them as long as they feel a better life can only be found in urban areas. But it is possible to minimise the movement of people to our already congested cities if their lives are improved wherever they may be.
If basic services and infrastructure are put in place in rural areas, the movement of people will to a great extent be minimised. We are not saying that people should stop moving from one place to another because this is not possible. People will always move between stations or locations for many reasons. Our main concern is to do with the large scale movement of people from rural to urban centres in search of what they feel is a better life.
While it is encouraging that the government is now moving towards upgrading squatter settlements in different parts of the country, we think that we should start looking at long-term plans of avoiding these clearly undesirable settlements.
As the English say, a stitch in time saves nine. Yes, there is nothing wrong with the government's decision to upgrade squatter settlements because there may be no other alternative to this. All we are saying is that we should change our way of doing things so that, if possible, these settlements are avoided altogether. There is need to get back to serious planning so that the eyesore that these settlements have become can be avoided.
Labels: SQUATTERS
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Govt releases K3bn for squatter compounds
By Nomusa Michelo
Friday November 09, 2007 [03:00]
LOCAL government and housing deputy minister Eustarkio Kazonga has said the government has released K3 billion for the upgrading of squatter compounds around the country. And Town Planners Association of Zambia president Simeo Siame has said there is need for strong political will from the government to upgrade squatter compounds.
Responding to a supplementary question from Lukulu East member of parliament Batuke Imenda who wanted to know when the government would release funds meant to upgrade squatter compounds in Lukulu boma following an overall survey of the township, Kazonga said the upgrading exercise is not only restricted Lukulu East but is for the whole country.
He said various local authorities have been included in the plan to upgrade squatter compounds.
The local authorities include Lusaka, Livingstone, Kitwe and Ndola city councils and Solwezi, Mongu, Kabwe, Mansa, Kasama , Chipata and Choma municipal councils.
Kazonga said the government has budgeted K5 billion for the upgrading of squatter compounds and had so far released K3 billion.
And commenting on government release of K3 billion for the upgrade of squatter compounds around the country, Siame said government should have a clear plan on how to implement the upgrading of squatter compounds.
He said it should not just be a question of releasing money, but there is need for a clear phased plan of implementation.
“Squatter compounds can be rectified, but it depends on the decision by government. It needs strong political will,” he said.
Siame also said there is need to do a socialisation study of squatter compounds as well as find alternative living areas for the people who may need to be relocated from the squatter compounds.
“We need to make sure we reduce the stress of the people who are moving,” he said.
Simeo also said the government needs to compensate the people who will be relocated from squatter areas because they have built structures.
Labels: SQUATTERS
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Squatters in Kalulushi refuse to move
By Zumani Katasefa
Friday May 11, 2007 [04:00]
KALULUSHI town clerk Maxwell Kabanda has said squatters at Sabina located at the Kalulushi-Mufulira junction have refused to move from the area where the Chinese investors are constructing a multi-million dollar smelter. In an interview on Wednesday, Kabanda said the squatters' resistance to move was unreasonable because the local authority had already found alternative land for them.
"There are about 200 squatters on that land, we have looked for land where they should settle but they are being uncooperative," he said.
He said it was unfortunate that the squatters were resisting to move even when the Chinese had promised to construct a clinic for them at the new site.
Kabanda said the land the squatters were occupying belonged to NFC plc and title deeds had been given to the same company.
He said when the squatters where asked to move out of the land to pave way for the construction of the smelter, they started asking what would happen to their mango and banana trees.
"Those are squatters and they do not deserve to be there, the land in question legally belongs to NFC plc," he said.
Kabanda said the Chinese had pumped in about US$800 million for the construction of the smelter.
Labels: SQUATTERS
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