By ROGERS KALERO
THE Chililabombwe Magistrate Court has granted an injunction to 16 mealie meal traders to restrain the ruling UPND cadres from stopping them or interfering with their business in Konkola Township of Chililabombwe district.
This is a case where the UPND cadres decided to ban the 16 mealie meal traders from trucking mealie meal to Konkola Township saying they should give them chance to also sell the commodity.
The exparte injunction was obtained by John Mukonko on behalf of the other 15 as Plaintiff and Timothy Musonda as Defendant in his own capacity as UPND District Chairman for Chililabombwe
According to an interim injunction obtained by the Daily Nation, the court ordered and directed that the Defendants either by themselves, agents, servants or whosoever be and are hereby restrained from interfering with the Plaintiff’s quiet enjoyment in carrying out their business at Konkola Township in Chililabombwe pending inter-parte-hearing of this matter to be heard on October 29, 2021.
“Upon hearing the application filed by the Plaintiffs. And Upon reading the Affidavit sworn by one John Mukonko and 15 others filed herein and the Plaintiff undertake to abide by any order, the court may make as to damages and should the court be of the opinion that the defendants may have suffered as the result of this order.
“It is hereby ordered and directed that the Defendants either by themselves, agents, servants or whosoever be and are hereby restrained from interfering with the Plaintiff quiet enjoyment in carrying out their business at Konkola Township in Chililabombwe pending inter-parte-hearing of this matter ,” read the injunction.
And speaking later, Mr Mukonko said following the injunction, the 16 traders would now resort to the old arrangement of conducting business and those who wanted to join the business were free without being intimidated or harassed.
Mr Mukonko said no one should be stopped from conducting the mealie meal business or any other business at Konkola township because they were all Zambians entitled to utilise every opportunity given to them.
Mr Mukonko also clarified the 16 traders were not selling mealie meal at Kasumbalesa border , but they were doing their business in Konkola Township.
He said, the 16 traders were loyal to the area Member of Paul Kabuswe, District Chairman Timothy Musonda and Mayor Luck Sichone and would cooperate with them to ensure peace, harmony and understanding in the border town.
“We may have misunderstandings with our colleagues in the way we do business, but we still remain loyal and cooperative to the leadership of our MP, District Chairman and our Mayor.
He said some traders, who were mostly from the Konkola township, said following the decision by the UPND cadres to ban them from selling mealie meal to the DRC, they were now stuck with the commodity and their homes were hit by hunger.
He said following threats and intimidation from the UPND cadres over media reports, they had decided to seek legal action against the ruling party cadres for banning them from selling the mealie meal at the border.
“Selling mealie meal to the neighbouring DRC has been our business, it has been our livelihood. It is from this business that we feed our families and take our children to school. The move by the UPND cadres to stop us from selling the commodity to the DRC has adversely affected us.
“Our interest is to see that every trader is conducting business fairly because we are all Zambians and need to feed our families and take our children to school. There is no need for acrimony or unnecessary friction,” Mr Mukonko said
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