A land wrangle involving over 1,000 hectors of land affecting five villages and Riverside Training Institute in Chief Naluama in Chikankata district in Southern Province has erupted.
Group Spokesperson, Village Headman, Ancient Mweemba, said their 1,232 hectors of their land has been invaded by Riverside Training Institute and that efforts to resolve the matter with Chikankata district Council authority has yielded negative results.
Mr. Mweemba told ZANIS in Chikankata district today, that the land dispute involves five villages namely Nanduba, Shingoma, Chinyoma,Simucende and Shapole, respectively.
He complained that their ancestral land reserved as grazing land was sold to Riverside Training Institute in a suspicious manner which require investigations including the purported fake title deed owned by the Training Institute.
Mr. Mweemba disclosed that they have been using the land in question for more than 100 years now.
And Chikankata District Council Chairperson, Conrad Ngoma said the local authority is aware about the land wrangle.
He stated that, they advised both parties to take the case to court for further arbitration.
“As far as the council is concerned, RiverSide Training Institute has got a title deed which they claim was offered to the them many years ago in 1964,” Mr. Ngoma said.
Meanwhile, some villagers have insisted that the said title deed is not genuine.
And Mr. Mweemba said villages are aggrieved and have since threatened to take the law into their own hands to protect their ancestral land from being evaded by foreigners while, they sit and watch.
He said the Ministry of lands should quickly move in and investigate this issue as a matter of urgency.
The problem is with the council as it keeps no records at all. I know if a named council which sold me land and little did I know that the land belonged to someone else. He bought it in 1989 and has an offer letter. These guys looked for a file which they could not find and what followed next is unexplainable
Do not allow to be treated like second-class citizens in your own country.
This issue is a nonstarter. I doubt if this institute ever existed in 1964. Pf & corruption are inseparable