By GIDEON NYENDWA
TWO rival groups of UPND cadres yesterday clashed over who should take over the cooperative which controls and collects money at the bustling Buseko Market in Lusaka.
According to a video that went viral on social media the two groups got physical and assaulted each one another with punches in fights to be in charge of collecting money at the land belonging to the cooperative.
And according to the information obtained by the Daily Nation, some of the traders who could not reveal their names for fear of being victimised said matters got out of hand yesterday when two rival groups from the UPND fought over eligibility to run the cooperative that collects money from trucks that offload timber.
An official of the cooperative said the confusion was caused by UPND cadres who want to take over the running of the cooperative away from the marketeers who were the eligible owners of the cooperative.
The Buseko Timber and Grass Cooperative Society is at the centre of the misunderstanding as each group wants to take over control.
According to Buseko traders, the cooperative charges about K1, 000 for each truck that offloads timber on their land and that was the reason why the cadres wanted to take charge so that they could be pocketing the money that was realised from the collections.
The traders said that the wrangles over the cooperative had been going on for a long time and from the time the UPND won the August 12 tripartite elections.
They said that the UPND cadres were looking forward to taking over the cooperative because in the past it was under PF cadres and that was the reason why they wanted to take it over so that they could benefit.
Meanwhile the cooperative has accused the cadres of beating the cooperative members in a bid to intimidate them into giving up.
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