By SIMON MUNTEMBA
SEVERAL people including children of Njolwe area in Chongwe have been left homeless after their houses including a church were allegedly demolished by the Zambia Army.
This is land near Mikango Barracks which the army has been using as a training area.
Mr Stephen Mvula, one of the victims narrated that Zambia Army officers ambushed the village as early as 05:00 hours and beat him up before knocking down his house.
Mr Mvula said he was fished out of his house and beaten like a common thief.
“I have been living here for many years and it is disappointing that the soldiers could come and not only demolish my house but whip me like a small boy,” he lamented.
Another victim, Mr Essau Ziyeku, 65, said the officers assaulted him as he could not manage to run away.
Mr Ziyeku said he met the officers as he was going to the garden.
Mr Enock Nkausu said he was beaten by the officers for protesting the demolition of the church. PF Chongwe Parliamentary candidate Japhen Mwakalombe who visited the victims together with PF Lusaka Province chairperson Kennedy Kamba appealed to the party to help the displaced families.
And a visibly unhappy Mr Kamba said much as the ruling party did not support illegality, it would side with the vulnerable displaced families.
Mr Kamba said the party was against the timing of the demolition.
He wondered why the demolition of the illegal settlement that had been there for over 27 years could be implemented less than a month before the general elections.
And when contacted by Mr Kamba, Army Commander Lieutenant General William Sikazwe said the structures could have been razed because they were illegally erected. He said the structures had been built illegally on the army land.
