A Non-Governmental Organization dealing in land issues on the Copperbelt has accused Kitwe City Council of advertising already sold plots.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe today, Copperbelt Indigenous Land Rights Network Executive Director Archie Mulunda said the Kitwe City Council recently advertised to sale residential plots which had already been sold to some corporate institutions and a few elites at the expense of poor people who also needed to acquire plots.
Mr Mulunda further said the council has also continued to secretly sale plots in Ndeke despite the temporal suspension of the sale following its failure to properly administer the sale to residents who turned up in large numbers to buy the plots.
He claimed that according to confirmed information held by the NGO, all high cost plots were sold before the advertisement was run in the press.
Mr Mulunda challenged the Council to clear the allegations if really the local authority is clean and tell the nation if the number of plots earmarked for sale in Ndeke and Chamboli are still 900 as initially advertised.
He said the Kitwe City Council has exhibited the highest levels of corruption in the sale of plots which have resulted in only a few elites owning land in the district.
He charged that even the poor people have equal rights as the rich to land ownership.
But Kitwe City Council Public Relations Manager Dorothy Sampa has refuted the allegations by Mr Mulunda saying the local authority has not sold any plot to any institution or individual in the newly opened up Ndeke and Chamboli areas.
Ms Sampa said the sale of plots in the two areas have been suspended following Minister of Lands Wylber Simuusa’s directive for the council to service the areas before allocating plots as well as to enable the council come up with a best method of selling.
She challenged any one who claims to have been sold plots in the named areas to bring up the documents that show that they have been sold plots.
ZANIS
Some NGO`s awe mwandi.Only God knows what they do.Sounds like a Katemba to me.
It happens one peace of land two owners both with papers
True a big problem in Zambia and the one with cash easily on the hand wins always
probably the most corrupt municipality in the country. look into activities of past town clerk Simwinga and current directors of planning and engineering departments. Serious can or worms!!
The best way is to Digitalize the land allocation system
All council employees and employers are now giving plots….
Am not surprised with the current corruption in the council.
Am a Zambia and hoping to have a plot but i dont even know how the people who buy plots from the Kitwe city Council do to do so. Foreigners have plots and i had witnessed one Nigerian national telling as Zambian how foolish we are not to have plots in our own countries. Foreigners are building houses whilst us, owners of the country can not even have the smillest piece of land. Government of the zambia please help as to have something we can call home and our own.
LT, do you know the difference between sale and sell?
REALLY? INTERESTING.
Kitwe City Council should not start denying their criminal deeds. There is no doubt that these plots have already been sold. The tragedy is that in the denial they will not produce irrefutable evidence to prove that they have not sold the plots. They will just continue saying we have not done so. Sadly the supervising Ministry is just as dishonest as the Council. If the Minister of Local Government is intersted to solve this issue in an honest way let them demonstrate to the people of Zambia and Kitwe in particular that they are not as useless as MMD. One of the reasons among many why MMD lost election was the levels of dishonest they exhibited, failure to responded to the concerns of people and mediocrity. Iam not sure whether there is nay change in some of the PF Ministers. But take h