Minister warns cadres

Sun, 15 Oct 2017 09:52:32 +0000

…only Land Ministry  has authority  to deal with land issues

By BENNIE MUNDANDO  AND LINDA SOKO-TEMBO

I WILL not condone lawlessness by anybody terrorising people over their land and I am calling on the family in Barlastone which has been victimised over its farm by cadres to come to my office so that we can solve this mess within a day, Minister of Lands Jean Kapata has said.

And Lusaka Province PF youth chairperson Kennedy Kamba has called for the identification of PF cadres who were threatening

 to grab plot No. F/693/A/28 from the owner, Webster M’hango, saying such individuals did not even qualify to be identified as cadres but criminals who should be caged even if they may belong to the PF.

Commenting on a development where Lusaka Distrcit Commissioner Davison Mulenga summoned Mr. Mhango to clarify his acquisition of the said land after he thwarted an attempt by cadres to demarcate his farm and offer plots to would-be developers, Ms. Kapata warned that she would not take it kindly to anybody involved in illegal land allocation.

“Government does not condone lawlessness. To that effect, I am asking this family to come to our office and we shall sort it out this problem in a day’s time. I do not condone cadres grabbing land from owners. I have been very strong and stern on perpetrators and this is why the scourge has drastically reduced but if there are still others engaging in this criminal activity, I will deal with them.

“We are not going to condone lawlessness and therefore asking this family which is being victimised to directly to our offices. We are there to assist everybody regardless of whether they are coming from any political party or not. Let them come forward and we will serve them because we exist to solve such problems,” Ms. Kapata said.

And Mr. Kamba said the party will discipline all those linked to the criminal activities in Barlastone and that if it will be discovered that such people are within the party structures, the top leadership will not hesitate to drop them from their positions.

“I don’t even think they even qualify to be called PF cadres. These are criminals who should be caged because as a party, we have made it very clear that land admiration is the preserve of the Ministry of Lands in conjunction with councils.

“If cadres are selling land, they should be treated as criminals and be arrested. If we discover that those people involved in this criminal activity are party officials, they will be dropped from their positions because they are tarnishing the image of the party and the president,” Mr. Kamba said.

He urged the police not to be intimidated by people engaging in illegal activities using the name of the party.

“Crime is crime regardless of who has committed it and I don’t expect the police to be intimidated by anyone using the name of the party to engage in criminal activities. It is sad that people are crying every day over their land because of such thuggery behaviour by some people and time to stump out this scourge is now,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mhango thanked Ms. Kapata for showing a keen interest in the matter and said he will ensure that he presents all the documents relating to the purchase and titling of his land to the minister.

He also said details of the bank loan used to purchase the land could also be verified by interested parties with his former employers, Barclays Bank.