Govt told to stay clear of Lozi/Nkoya land wrangles

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:00:49 +0000

 The Lozis have maintained that the land dispute between them and the Nkoyas has got nothing to do with the government because it is an internal issue that can be resolved between the two parties.

The Lozi Induna Yutanga, a representative from Naliele Kuta in Kaoma district said land disputes should be handled Kuta and wondered why government should intervene now.

He said that it was sad the issues of land disputes had remained unresolved for many years.

The Induna challenged his Nkoya counterpart to follow the right channel to avoid misinterpretation of the issue between the two tribes.

But the Nkoyas have called  on the government to resolve land disputes of Western Province in various chiefdoms.

Induna Yutanga explained that dialogue was the only key to maintaining peace and stability, adding that the Lozis had no intentions to bring confusions in the area.

Other Lozi officials said it was saddening that people from the same area were failing to solve their own problems.

The Nkoya speaking people of Kaoma was one of the groups distancing itself from the secession bid by Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE).

And in related matter, a traditional leader in Kazungula district of Southern Province has called on the PF government to quickly resolve the land dispute between him and Senior Chief Inyambo of the Lozi people.

Chief Moomba of the Nkoya said he was hopeful that the creation of the Ministry of Chiefs Affairs and Traditional ceremonies would resolve the issue that he said had been dragging since 1958.

“The problem of land dispute between me and chief Inyambo is an old one. The MMD government failed to resolve it.” He said

Chief Moomba further said that his chiefdom was faced with a number of challenges that required urgent attention from government,

He claimed  his chiefdom lacked strategic planning which could support meaningful development and had continued to lag behind.