Government has condemned the indiscriminate selling of customary land by some traditional leaders.
Central Province Permanent Secretary, Anne Sinyangwe says it is unfortunate that most traditional leaders in the country have not realized the value of land by giving it away without following the laid down procedures.
ZANIS reports that the Provincial Permanent Secretary said this in Kabwe yesterday.
This was when she officiated at the Consultative Workshop, organized by the Zambia Law Development Commission, which attracted participants from Central, Muchinga, Northern and Lusaka Provinces.
She stated that government is aware that all development is anchored on prudent and efficient utilisation of land and thus, the demand for land in Zambia has greatly increased.
The Permanent Secretary, however, observed that the issues surrounding the administration of Customary land has over the years raised many concerns from different stakeholders.
She said, for instance, the women’s access to land has been one of those highly debated issues, especially among the civil society organizations.
She added that controversies have also been recorded in some areas between the local communities and traditional authorities, with regard to loss of rights to some common pool areas, including unwarranted land displacements brought by new landlords.
‘’I think there is urgent need to find a lasting solution to issues surrounding customary land administration in the country, because as you may be aware, land wrangles are everywhere, especially among traditional leaders and this problem is obtaining, not only in Central Province but across the country,’’ she said.
Mrs Sinyangwe, therefore, urged the workshop participants to participate fully and make recommendations that will meaningfully contribute to the development of the country.
And Zambia Law Development Commission Senior Research Officer, Abraham Miti, says every nation derives pride from the availability of land.
Mr Miti, however, regretted that currently, the Customary Land is under traditional tenure or open areas administered by traditional rulers, who have no clearly defined property rights, because the community usually have access to natural resources.
He added that this arrangement is sometimes a source of friction among the rural dwellers since no individual settlers can claim a unique proprietary interest in the land.
ZANIS
The headmen in chieftainess Mungule of Chibombo District are the biggest culprits. Some of these headmen have even become untouchables by the chieftainess. Government should carefully check the activities of headmen around 10 miles, 15 miles up to 22 miles. Headmen like Malaila, Selengwe, Shikunku, Kalabo, Mulobela, Mutakwa, Mpila, Malekano, Nyeleti, Shifwankula, Muntemba etc should be investigated and cited for abuse of their little traditional authority and wanton land corruption.
How many years late are we to start discussing this issue?!
But it’s not just the customary land where the problems are,…
Nkomesha must be used as a case study at this workshop for selling land to bazungus and chinease
We have a drug MMD Chief in Southern Province, in the Chiefdom of Singani who has displaced most of his subjects for money, this Chief is corrupt, please send office of president to investgate him, more espcially in Batoka area, even a 6 year old knows about this Chief…..