Tue, 03 Oct 2017 08:59:37 +0000
By VIOLET TEMBO
MINISTER of Lands and Natural Resources Jean Kapata has directed that the 5,000 settlers at the Old Regiment settlement in Ndola should not be evicted until a social survey is conducted and compensation agreed on.
The pending eviction comes in the wake of a letter from Inter Africa Petroleum and a Lusaka-based law firm, urging the settlers to vacate the area.
But Ms Kapata said in Ndola that nobody had the right to displace anyone from anyplace.
“Where people are putting up development, a social survey must be done. At no time should people be displaced in this country unless you (the developer) conduct a social survey.
“If something has to do with development, compensation comes. PF is a pro-poor party and 5,000 is a huge number to be displaced and we will not allow such,” she said.
And Ndola Town clerk Wisdom Bwalya said the council had no hand in the imminent displacement of people in the area.
Inter Africa Petroleum and a Lusaka-based law firm have written to the over 5,000 residents of Old Regiment settlement in Twashuka ward in Bwana Mkubwa Constituency in Ndola, ordering them to vacate their settlement on 30th September, 2017.
And Mr. Bwalya could not state whether it was the local authority that had sold the controversial land in question to the oil company.
He said he could not comment much on the matter as it was before the courts of law.
“It is an old issue and it has the received the attention it deserves. The matter is in court and the company is threatening to evict people. Allow us to gather more information on the matter and we will address the media at an appointed time,” he said.
And Bwana Mkubwa Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Jonas Chanda reassured the residents he would ensure they were evicted from the settlement.
Dr. Chanda said that Old Regiment settlement had been in existence since 1964 and people had built houses and the number of families had grown.
Meanwhile residents talked to told Daily Nation said they were relying on the local leadership to help them over this matter.
One of them, Ms. Musonda Hangaala claimed she had lived in the area for 10 years now.
Ms.Hangaala said in the last 10 years the area had elected two MPs who during their tenure promised to have the area formalised.
She said it was sad that just when the local leadership had fought for ZESCO power, boreholes and facilitated the construction of a community school in the area, the land was being sold.
She appealed to the leadership and local authority to find the developer alternative land
Another resident memory Nanyangwe accused people who had sold the area of being heartless.
Ms. Nanyangwe claimed the residents had not been informed prior to the sale of the area and only learnt about it through an eviction notice
