Tue, 27 Jun 2017 13:09:48 +0000
By OLIVER SAMBOKO
A BORDER dispute has erupted between two Tonga chiefs claiming the same piece of land on the Siavonga road, an issue that is already in the courts of law.
A meeting organised to resolve the issue at the weekend ended in disarray with one chief accusing the Chirundu district commissioner Alfred Hamujo of allegedly worsening the situation by siding with one of the claimants.
Government has since been advised to intervene in the dispute before it escalates into conflict.
Chief Chipepo and his subjects on Sunday shocked Siavonga district commissioner Lovemore Kanyama when they demanded that he take over the running of Chirundu district because Mr Hamujo had failed to resolve the issue. This followed a meeting at Ing’ombe Illede where the Chirundu group accused their DC Mr Hamunjo of worsening the situation by allegedly siding with Chief Sikoongo in the matter because he hailed from the same chiefdom.
However, Mr Kanyama, who also attended the Ing’ombe Illede meeting, said he could not take over the running of Chirundu district because his jurisdiction ended with Siavonga district.
He explained that he accepted an invitation by Chief Chipepo to attend the meeting because some of his subjects were domiciled in Siavonga district, adding that his being at the meeting did not warrant him ‘‘to do a coup’’ on Mr Hamunjo.
And Chief Chipepo’s representative Patrick Makukisi said the traditional leader was not happy with the behaviour of police officers at Siavonga police station who were allegedly meddling in the land dispute with Chief Sikoongo.
Mr Makukisi warned that all Chief Sikoongo’s subjects led by a man called Kakwenya, occupying land belonging to Chief Chipepo, would be ejected from the area by force. He said some of the ‘‘squatters’’ were selling land in the chiefdom without the chief’s knowledge.
In March, chiefs Sinadambwe and Simaamba of Siavonga almost engaged in a fist fight over land during a full council meeting at Lakeview Lodge in Siavonga district. The two traditional leaders are locked in a serious land dispute in the Manchanvya area along Lake Kariba.
Apart from a land dispute between chiefs Sinadambwe and Simanba, Chief Simamba has also a land issue with Chief Sikoongo of Chirundu district involving a piece of land at Hanunka village in the Lower Zambezi area.
