Private ownership of land is a foreign ideology – Chief Mwamba
By Moses Kuwema and Henry Sinyangwe
Sat 31 July 2010, 03:50
SENIOR chief Mwamba of the Bemba speaking people in Kasama has said private ownership of land is a foreign ideology.
In his submissions to the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) yesterday, chief Mwamba said
the current administration of land by traditional authorities was more transparent and democratic since the village heads and communities were the real custodians of land.
“Our system is that the land is yours for as long as you work on it, and the fruits of your labour belong to you. But you don’t own it. It is the people’s property,” he said.
“The current system of land allocations requires persons seeking land to go first to the community through village committees, headed by village heads, before the final approval by the concerned chief. Therefore, we are demanding the removal of Clause 4 as contained in the NCC draft constitution.”
Clause 4, subsection 3 in article 290 of the draft report reads as follows:
“Customary land shall not be alienated or otherwise used until the approval of the chief and local authority in whose area the land is situated has first been obtained and as may be provided by or under an Act of Parliament.”
Subsection 4 reads: “An approval under the clause (3) shall not be unreasonably withheld.”
Chief Mwamba observed that in its proposed form, Clause 4 had a bearing on Clause 3, because the provisions in Clause 4 delude the powers of Clause 3.
“Furthermore, the wording ‘unreasonably’ is not only very ambiguous but also relative. There are no parameters attached in Clause 4 which may clearly define what may constitute ‘unreasonable’,” observed chief Mwamba.
He said Clause 4 did not specify the authority that shall declare the decisions of traditional authority under Clause 3 to be unreasonable.
“The contents in Clause 4 do not appear anywhere in the interim report of the Constitution Review Commission and therefore a group of very unreasonable persons have smuggled very unreasonable, unrealistic and unacceptable provisions which are totally against the interests of the peasants in the rural areas into the draft constitution of the republic of Zambia,” said chief Mwamba.
He has since collected about 2,500 signatures demanding the removal of the clause.
And Evelyn Hone College students yesterday submitted that the Law Association of Zambia must be given the authority to come up with a committee that sits to appoint senior judicial officers.
The students noted that presidential appointments to the judiciary was seen to be compromising institution hence the need for LAZ to do it.
Labels: CHIEF MWAMBA, LAND RIGHTS, NCC, TITLE DEEDS
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‘Chinsali residents have no title deeds for land’
By Thomas Nkanga in Chinsali
Wed 26 May 2010, 03:40 CAT
RESIDENTS of Chinsali district in Northern Province have revealed that they have had no title deeds for their land, some of which was obtained 15 years ago.
During a public discussion organised by district commissioner Maximo Chitambi, one resident Aggrey Musamba complained that many people who built their property as far back as 15 years had no chance to obtain title of the land despite the process of issuance of such legal documents having been decentralised.
Musamba observed that it was an obligation of the local authority to facilitate the issuance of title deeds.
He said the title deeds could even be used to obtain loans from financial institutions to enable people expand their businesses.
He said there was urgent need to start the process because many people had built modern property, both commercial and residential, using colossal amounts of money but such buildings stood on illegal land.
Musamba, the former second vice-president of Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), said the council should also ensure that service provision in the district matched with the levies collected from the public.
Musamba also called for the need to provide adequate sanitary facilities at the bus station and market.
And Chitambi said many people in the district who applied to the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) for funds for their entrepreneurship programmes had been denied access because they lacked collateral.
He said many residents in the district could have accessed the funds being offered by the government through CEEC to reduce poverty levels among communities but were hampered by the slow process of issuance of title deeds.
Chitambi explained that the councils were agents of the Ministry of Lands and needed to ensure that administration of land matters in their jurisdiction were dealt with properly.
He implored the council management to hasten the process so that the district could move in tandem with the rest of the nation in terms of development.
And council district planning officer, Oswald Chibwe explained that he would present the issue of title deeds before council management.
Chibwe said the process of title deed issuance would only start once all legal impediments were overcome.
Chibwe said the council needed to valuate all the property and ensure that they conformed to the standards of country and town planning procedures before title deeds could be issued.
Labels: TITLE DEEDS
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Govt revokes decision to increase land rates
By Lovely Kayombo in Chisamba
Mon 12 Apr. 2010, 04:00 CAT
LANDS minister Gladys Lundwe has said that the government has revoked its earlier decision to increase land rates on commercial farms by 1000 per cent.
Addressing District Farmers Association (DFA) chairpersons at Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust in Chisamba on Thursday, Lundwe said the government had heard farmers’ cries and appeals. She said the ministry was open to give title deeds to all emerging farmers.
This was after a farmer from Mwinilunga complained that lack of title deeds was the main reason farmers in the area did not progress.
“The reason why we don’t progress is lack of title to our land. In Mwinilunga there are only two commercial farmers with titles,” he said.
And Peter Daka disclosed that the government has partnered with the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) to come up with a good floor price for agricultural produce.
Daka, who is also Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said the government was the major stakeholder in the marketing of agricultural produce and cautioned farmers against falling prey to briefcase businessmen.
“If we don’t pay our farmers well … next time they will decide to grow something else (tobacco) and we will not have anything to eat,” he said.
Daka said the government would not run away from its responsibility of helping farmers and urged them to diversify.
“The whole essence of business is to grow, therefore the same should apply to agriculture…use of wrong seeds and wrong methods is also contributing to low yields,” said Daka.
Labels: GLADYS LUNDWE, LAND RATES, PETER DAKA, TITLE DEEDS
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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
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Western Water to acquire title deeds
By Nyambe Muyumbana in Mongu
Tuesday September 23, 2008 [04:00]
WESTERN Water and Sewerage Company managing director Mulemwa Akamana has announced that the company is in the process of engaging a lawyer who would acquire title deeds for all its land and property.
In an interview, Akamana said that currently squatters were being allocated land by the traditional authority on the company's well field making it difficult to expand its boreholes.
Akamana complained that it was difficult for the company to chase the squatters from the well field because Mongu council, which was supposed to clear the issue of land boundary, since the company had inherited its entire water infrastructure from it, had failed to intervene.
He said that the Barotse Royal Establishment was not willing to listen to the company but instead it was busy allocating land near the boreholes to the people.
He feared that the water risked being contaminated by the people since some of them were building pity latrines close to the boreholes.
He cited an incident last year where faecal matter was found in the water.
Akamana hoped the lawyer to be contracted would manage to engage the traditional authority and find a lasting solution to the current encroachment by the people on the water company's land.
The company has no title for all its entire property.
He further said that the current problem of squatters encroaching on the company's land had negatively stalled the company's expansion projects on the boreholes.
Akamana further disclosed that the company had however identified other new alternatives, which could be possible well field areas.
He named the new alternative areas as Kasima and Katongo.
Akamana said a hydrology consultant had already been engaged to do the testing of water in the said areas to ascertain whether the water would be consumable and also to determine quantity and quality compared to the current demand.
Labels: TITLE DEEDS, UTILITIES, WESTERN WATER AND SEWERAGE COMPANY
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