FARMERS in Kitwe’s Mfubu ranch yesterday protested over reports that their land had been sold to politicians and businessmen.
The farmer’s alleged that the Kitwe City Council (KCC) had sold over 1,750 hectares of their land which they had been occupying for many years to others.
Group representative, Kelvin Silwela said the farmers had been occupying the land in question for a long time and had nowhere to go.
Mr Silwela said the farmers walked from Mfubu ranch in Wusakile Township to the roundabout along the Kitwe-Ndola dual carriage way where they were intercepted by police in riot gear.
But KCC director of human resource and administration Wisdom Bwalya who addressed the farmers said Mfubu ranch was state land.
Mr Bwalya said the council would engage the Ministry of Agriculture and the farmers to find an amicable solution.
Attention all farmers. Please start formalizing your occupation of the farms on which you live. the law does not recognize the argument that “I have lived all my life on this piece of land and therefore it is mine”.
These are not farmers but squatters who have been indiscriminately cutting down trees for charcoal burning in the Former Mfubu Ranch, which by the way is State Land. You need to visit the land to appreciate the levels of land degradation.