By OLIVER SAMBOKO
TONGAs have petitioned President Hakainde Hichilema and the National Assembly over the 1950 Zambezi River displacement which left more than 57, 000 landless.
Last year, a group of Tonga wrote to the prosecutor general at the International Criminal Court (ICC), requesting the court to cite the British government and the World Bank for the atrocities they committed against them during the construction of the Kariba Dam.
But the court refused to hear the matter and instead advised the group to pursue the matter at the African Union through the African Commission on Human and People’s rights.
Group leader Moses Haaketa said in an interview that the President and the National Assembly should take measures aimed at ensuring that the affected families receive justice.
Mr Haaketa also said the new government should immediately engage the British and the World Bank to ensure that the issue of compensation and repatriation is resolved.
“Government should immediately start engaging the British government and the World Bank over the matter so that the affected families can finally get justice,” he said.
Mr Haaketa explained that Tongas were forced out of the land by the British South African Company imperialists who sponsored the lake Kariba Dam Hydroelectric during the 1953- 1959 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland which fell apart in 1959.
He said a number of families that were taken to Zimbabwe against their will, want to return to Zambia to reunite with their families.
He explained that the World Bank has recommended that affected families should approach the Zambian and Zimbabwean governments in an effort to dialogue and resolve the issue.
Mr Haaketa said forceful removal of Tongas from the Zambezi River valley to pave way for the construction of the Kariba dam, resulted in untold poverty among many families that depended on the river for their livelihood.
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