ZAMBIA: Forest Squatters Refuse to Be Relocated
Copyright 2001 The Post (Lusaka)
September 24, 2001
Squatters on the Kafue forest land have refused to be relocated to another area after the district council demarcated the land and allocated it mostly to MMD cadres and other government officials.
The squatters on Saturday braved the heat and marched to Kafue district where they demanded to be addressed by council officials.
According to correspondence between district administrator Michael Bwalya and the council, the squatters were to be given first priority after degazetting the land before allocating it to outsiders.
"I am pleased to inform you that the Forest No. 69 legally belongs to us. It is in this vein that I am asking your good office to expedite the process relating to demarcation and other procedures so that our people should be given first priority," Bwalya's letter to the council reads in part.
"This office does not want to hear situations where some council officials and councillors are grabbing land at the expense of the community." But the squatters claim the council, including Bwalya himself, have violated their own directives by allocating the land mostly to themselves and their preferred applicants.
A list of "civil servants", which Bwalya, submitted to the council for consideration included MMD cadres like Scorpion Kadobi, Golden Tembo and Norman Sakala alias 'Bobo', among others. MMD Kafue district chairman Goodson Sansakuwa who addressed the squatters said the council should instead allocate the land where they wanted to move the squatters.
He said the squatters had put in a lot of effort in preparing the land for cultivation and admitted that the MMD had made a lot of mistakes in Kafue. "This is not a partisan issue. If the council wants to bring people on your land where do they think you will go?" Sansakuwa asked the cheering crowd. "Let those who want land be given the alternative land."
Sansakuwa said he would defend the cause of the squatters and vowed that he was prepared to be expelled from the party over the issue. "We are going to fight to the fullest. If it means bringing paramilitary police to move us, we will also pick sticks and fight them," he warned.
Sansakuwa pledged to resolve the matter amicably with the district administrator.