Tribal tension rises over Chirundu land

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 11:14:29 +0000

By ANNIE ZULU and OLIVER  SAMBOKO

CHIEF Chipepo of Chirundu has threatened to deal severely with his fellow Tonga chief Sikoongo if he does not let go of the land at Mabbampu along the Siavonga main road.

And Siavonga district commissioner Lovemore Kanyama has directed police in Siavonga and Chirundu to arrest anyone found demarcating land between the two districts, saying tension between the two chiefs was very high.

Chief Chipepo has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Government to resolve the boundary dispute between him and Chief Sikoongo, failure to which the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe should remove the Kariba dam wall to allow his people return to their land from which they were driven by the colonial authorities building the dam.

He told the Daily Nation in an interview that in the 1950s his people were displaced to pave way for the construction of the Kariba dam hydro-electric and that the colonial government compensated the people with pieces of land in the Lower Zambezi River and the upper lands.

He said both Zambia and Zimbabwe were benefiting from the generation of power from the dam while his subjects who made it possible for the dam to be constructed were suffering and being threatened with eviction by Chief Sikoongo.

According to him, Chief Sikoongo was ‘‘just a lunatic who was trying to complicate things’’ by claiming ownership of the land.

Chief Chipepo threatened that the people from his chiefdom would not sit back and watch land being taken away from them, but would fight anyone from Sikoongo’s chiefdom who would enter their land.

He said as matters stand, his people were ready to fight, adding that there would be no peace talks once the war starts.

“The land belongs to the people of my chiefdom. Chief Sikoongo and his people cannot just come into my chiefdom without my consent and start claiming the land, that’s unacceptable.

“He is just a lunatic who is very ignorant and can’t even read, but we will deal with him and he is a new chief, there are about four chiefs who have died before him,” Chief Chipepo said.

Chief Chipepo added that it would be Government to blame if war erupted between the two chiefdoms because of the way the Ministry of Traditional Affairs had been handling the issue.

He said the ministry has been misleading Chief Sikoongo by telling him that he (Chief Chipepo) does not own any land in the Lower Zambezi.

“We have engaged Government through the Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs, but it’s like nothing is being done about this issue; so Government will be blamed if anything happens,” he said.

Meanwhile, Siavonga district commissioner Mr Kanyama has directed the police to arrest anyone found demarcating or erecting beacons on the disputed traditional land in Sikoongo and Chipepo chiefdoms.

He said Government will not tolerate indiscipline from people who would be found demarcating land that does not belong to them.

“I have directed the Zambia Police both in Siavonga and Chirundu districts to coordinate and arrest those found wanting. Tension is very high between the people of Sikoongo and Chipepo over the pieces of land in Siavonga district,’’ he said.

Mr Kanyama called on the two traditional leaders to exercise restraint in order to avoid physical confrontation that might lead to a humanitarian crisis.

He said the chiefs should also call for peace and harmony among their subjects and instruct their subjects to stop selling customary land until the land dispute was resolved by Government.