Sun, 28 Jan 2018 10:24:12 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
ABOUT 60 villagers in Chieftainess Mwenda’s area in Chikankata face eviction from their customary land because the land has been bought by Livingstone UPND deputy Mayor Grandwel Chimbala who has obtained title to it.
The villagers have now been given a 14-day ultimatum to vacate the land.
But villagers are admant that the title could not have been obtained officially as it failed to recognise their occupation of the land which they were working.
The villagers have obtained an injunction from the High Court to restrain Mr. Chibamba from chasing them.
They have refused to recognise the title and have maintained that it was fraudulently obtained.
“Upon hearing the counsel for the plaintiff and upon reading the affidavits filed by Zacchaeus Chiyoba on his own behalf and on behalf of others, it is hereby ordered that an order of interim injunction be, and is hereby granted against the defendant in this action whether by himself, his servants or agents to refrain from evicting and harassing the plaintiff until final determination of this matter.
“The plaintiff undertakes to abide by any order this court may make as to damages in case this court shall hereafter be of opinion that the defendants will have sustained any damage by his reason of this order which the plaintiff ought to pay,” reads the injunction in part.
And speaking to the Sunday Nation yesterday, Frazer Chibamba, who is the elder brother to the Livingstone deputy mayor, said the families had lived in harmony since the village was “ordained” by Chieftainess Mwenda.
Frazer said bickering started in 2013 when his young brother started pushing for one person to get title to the same piece of land.
“When we objected to their demands, they went to the council to push for the same but the council refused to allocate this land to one person saying that was customary land.
“They turned the anger on me and burnt my houses in December 2013 and removed me from being the village headman and put Grandwell who is now deputy mayor in Livingstone. As we speak, the village headman of this area stays in Livingstone.
“Using his influence in his new position, he dubiously connived with officials from the Ministry of Lands and got title to the land and in November, he served us with 14-day eviction notices with attachments of the title saying we had to vacate because he had bought the land.”
“Where have you found a headman who evicts his own people? Where will these people go to? These people have stayed here for over 50 years and this is why we got an injunction because this is pure injustice on the poor villagers,” Mr. Chibamba said.
He said most of the fields in the village had been abandoned for the past three years due to the unrest that had characterised the area, making it difficult for villagers to produce enough food for themselves as some of them are now living in fear.
