Sat, 10 Jun 2017 09:48:22 +0000
By LINDA SOKO-TEMBO
A KABWE councillor has been suspended and owners of 38 houses earmarked for demolition for encroaching on land reserved for the multi-facility economic zone have been reprieved, Kabwe Municipal Council mayor Prince Chileshe has disclosed.
Mr Chileshe said the councillor, who has not been named, has been suspended for illegal activities regarding land allocation in connection with the 38 houses of Maganda Nyama compound which were supposed to have been demolished until the council changed its mind to save the occupiers.
It was discovered that the residents had bought the plots from a councillor.
Mr Chileshe said the affected residents had petitioned the Central Province administration which engaged the local authority which was advised to present a workable option with guidance from the provincial minister.
He said after much discussion, the local authority then directed council management not to demolish the houses that have encroached onto the land reserved for the multi-facility zone.
“It was then concluded that the 38 families be advised to formalise documentation to the said piece of land,” he said.
Mr Chileshe said the amnesty was in line with the Patriotic Front (PF) manifesto and President Edgar Lungu’s concern for the plight of the poor. Now the affected families have been given conditions to legalize the land.
“All has been done to minimise the burden of the innocent victims that thought they were buying land in a proper channel when in actual sense it was illegal land,” he said.
He said the councillor of Maganda Nyama has been suspended for six months for illegal sale of land to the 38 residents.
Mr. Chileshe warned Kabwe councillors not to involve themselves in illegal sale of land because if found the law would not spare them.
