Thursday, March 28, 2024

Zambia risks being ‘recolonised’ for giving huge chunks of land to foreigners-Kapeya

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Chief Government Spokesperson Mwansa Kapeya
Mwansa Kapeya

LANDS, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Minister Mwansa Kapeya has warned that Zambia risks being ‘recolonised’ if it continues giving huge chunks of land to foreigners.

Speaking during a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Kapeya said when the country attained its Independence in 1964, some colonialists were unhappy to leave Zambia as it was endowed with fertile land and the natural resource which was a source of conflict in other countries.

Mr Kapeya said it was in view of the foregoing that some foreign nationals were trying to recolonise Zambia by acquiring huge tracts of land under the pretext of being investors.

“We will be 50 years of Independence after next month. Mind you, some of you (journalists) were just born a few years ago, you were born after Independence. The people who were governing, colonisers who colonized this country, were not happy to be chased away from a wonderful country like Zambia with fertile soil.

“They are there watching which ways should they come in and recolonise the country and if we are not careful they can come in another form and recolonise the country through acquiring of chunks of land,” he said.

He said President Michael Sata, who by virtue of his position owned all land in the country, was cautious on land matters and would not allow foreigners to possess more land than Zambians.

“Our current President is so careful that if we don’t control the land in this country it may fall into wrong hands. That’s why the President is saying okay which ever investor wants to come, 75 percent (of land) Zambians must be there,” he said.

Mr Kapeya said his Ministry had received reports that some traditional leaders were going beyond 250 hectares by selling more than 10,000 hectares of land to investors.

He warned that investors who had bought land straight from traditional rulers without the approval of his Ministry had lost out as their investment would not be recognised by Government.

19 COMMENTS

  1. That’s a very timely advice,repossess the land if the so called investors don’t use it for the projects they claim.in my opinion govt should first get project proposals from the claim investors and access its capital before proceeding to give land.i think even 250 hectares is too much.chiefs should be allowed to allocate 5 hectares of land to investors but should give more to the locals

    • The locals don’t have the funds to do anything viable with it. How come it hasn’t already been developed by locals?

    • Why do you that? The minister is very right. I for one I am not a PF supporter but I agree with what Mr Kapeya has said. My friend land is wealth and power.

    • BabaZ the minister is right in what he is saying,Zambia is wealthy and africa in general is wealthy the western world depends on it..you the colonalizers would love to come back in a different form ‘investors’.

  2. This minister is so out of date, I think the whole PF lives in the 1960’s,
    Whites are not interested in taking over Zambia, But the Chinese are, no room in their country and they need food security, grow it in Zambia to feed China. Look at how many china men are brought in to run so called projects. Soon Zambia will be called Zamese

  3. Of course these ‘investors’ merely want to get advantage of the poor. DON’T SELL LAND. STOP. That Resource is for future indigenous Black Zambians. It does not matter if it is underused, it is environmentally astute. So called Tribal leaders are acting in a very primitive and greedy way.
    The current gov’t has a lot if issues with their relations with White Westerns. It is not clear what all this Investor nonsense is anyway. Why do they need all those hectares? All current gov’t officials seem to make investments in foreign countries whilst inviting foreigners to come to Zambia for Investment! This means they are giving money they make in Zambia to foreign gov’ts whilst also giving away our natural resources to the foreign gov’ts. What is going on? Traitors the lot of you!

  4. If the discussion is about resources: stunting of children need to stop – with foreigners colonianizing the land or Zambians handling the issue

    If ownership rights discussed: Every human should have equal chances taking into consideration development goals

    Taking into consideration non-renewable resources: their value will not vanish and they will be available for further generations

    Taking into consideration renewable resources: proper farming practices can increase the health of soils, wich will be one of the most crucial (valuable) resources of the future.

    Figure out the best combination for yourselves.

  5. Give big land to foreigner, who can grow crops to boost the economy like wheat, rice, and able to employ locals , job creation. Just keep quiet ba kapeya. Kabwe rural land is just laying idle. Bring invested genuine ones. Period.

  6. Firstly can the Minister apologize to the public about the shody services being given to the public at Ministry offices, they introduced the new land management system without informing the public, no advert on Tv, radio or in the press was put up to imform the public about this excercise, people turned up only to be informed that there was a switch over from the old system to the new one, so they needed about week to do so. It has become a night mare for us to access some services as the new system has glitches, you are told there is nothing to be done as they can’t access some info, Many officers spoken to are not happy about this scenario, as why switch off the old system, and move on to a new un workable system, in the end its us the public who are suffering coz of this, let the the…

  7. continued…. in the end its us the public who are suffering coz of this, let the the old system run parrallel to the new system, otherwise we are getting back to the old era where it would take a decade to obtain a Title deed, its painful traveling long distance only to be told that they can not access the info on the PCs, when are we going to have better service delivery kanshi?

  8. Hon. KApeya is right anena babaz concerning land. You may not be in a position to see sense in what he is saying right now, but in future your own childreb face it Just visit north western province and see how these so called investors are doing. They live a lone and zambians. Muleenda bane.

  9. We are already recolonised with the privatisation programme that had NO stake for locals/Zambians everything was given to foreiegners at cut price : the mines/Zanaco chain stores and cntractors etc with asive tax breaks. Nothing wrong with FDI but it must be compelled to have local ownership/partcipation not just as labourers/workers but as owners! Where does Mr Kapeya or any govt official expect locals to get money to invest on the land other than wait for FISP handouts from politicians in exchange for votes? As [email protected] aptly puts it:The locals don’t have the funds to do anything viable with it. How come it hasn’t already been developed by locals? We Zambians are foolish & stupid esp politicians. Too much PHD (pull him down) of fellow zambians

  10. Mr Kapeya
    ‘Don’t judge these days by the comfort and harvest you reap, bu by the seeds that you will plant’. It sounds wise for you to say Zambia risks recolonised by giving huge chunks of land to foreigners. This has not been noted by a village head man, opposition in government, civil society or school teacher, but by you the parliamentarian for years. Is it not shaming to Mwansa Kapeya to only come with a statement of hopelessness and worry to future generations. You do something about it in parliament, craft a law or move a motion to halt recolonizing our country by land grabbers. This is part of your role in parley.

  11. Where will locals get the capital to develop the land whe privatisation of mines, banks breweries etc was given to foreigners at cut price bargains coupled with massive tax breaks. We need to promote local ownership big business. Profits therefrom will trickle to rural areas unlike now when profits all end up offshore. We cannot all be politicians to lead comfortable lives. infact politics is not productive! Zambians/politicians should STOP PhD (Pull him/her Down) syndrome

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