GOVERNMENT has revoked the allocation of more than 1000 farm plots by the resettlement department in Luanshya’s Maposa area.
Roan Member of Parliament Chishimba Kabwili declared the allocation of all the farm plots in the area as null and void at a public meeting help at Maposa Catholic Church on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Kambwili said the revocation was a directive from President Michael Sata and that the allocations of the farm plots was not done in consultation with the local people.
Mr Kambwili, who is Youth and Sports Minister, said Government would not refund all the people that bought land in the area because the plots were illegally allocated.
“We want the land to be given to the local people who have been squatting for years now. All the plots that were sold to people from the city have been cancelled with immediate effect,” he said.
[pullquote]Government would not refund all the people that bought land in the area because the plots were illegally allocated.[/pullquote]
Mr Kambwili said Government had allowed the more than 6000 hectors of forest area to be de-gazetted into zones A, B,C, and D, and be demarcated into farm plots for the local people.
He said the council and the resettlement department would demarcate and allocate plots to the locals by December this year.
Mr Kambwili said each family and all their children above the age of 18 would be sold 20 hectors each at a cost of K50 to be paid in two installments.
“The rest of the money would be paid by the Government, we will sell 30 to 20-hector plots to members of the public to raise K600,000 needed to demarcate the land, the plots would be sold at K20,000 per 20 hectors, ” he said.
And District Resettlement scheme manager, Bumbila Seko said more than 1,000 plots allocated were demarcated and that the department would carry out a survey on the number of plots that were cancelled.
what are you saying?
There is nothing wrong with revocation of these plots
It just shows that me Sata is doing the right thing at the right time for the people of zambia.
His is a kind progressive president
Thanks
I suspect this grab is taking place in an area where the MP is MMD. This all politics of pettiness and vengeance. If not,then when where these plots allocated? Was it done under MMD or not? If it was under MMd then I suspect foul play and people will fight tooth and nail to resist this land grab.
Thanks to Sata and his stupid PF, they are busy helping UPND to get popular each second they embark on stupid ventures.
If this move backfires, then Kambili will be the next to go for pointing a finger at Sata like Masebo did. This Kambili is dull . Can’t he see that it is a ploy by Sata and the cartel to weed him out of the presidential race son his sails through unopposed.
What ever the reasons,I urge people of MAPOSA to resist this Land grab. They should fight until the last man standi
Folks
Is Mvula ward situated in Maposa area? If it is then the land is being revoked because they voted for UPND last week.
Iwe Wanzelu naiwe. Why don’t you do that digging yourself instead of raising speculation? Shish! In the age of Google shuwa rumor-mongering as rife as in the Victorian age!
@Wanzelu – are you a programmer? You are putting IF conditions to cover your guess work, are you???
NOT REFUNDING THOSE WHO PAID FOR THE PLOTS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF RESETTLEMENT, A GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT? A BIT HARSH! DID THE OFFICERS IN THIS DEPARTMENT DO THIS WITHOUT GOVERNMENT APPROVAL AND IF SO WHAT WILL BE THEIR FATE? IF THIS MONEY WAS NOT TAKEN TO GOVERNMENT COFFERS THEN I COULD FORESEE SOME EXPLANATIONS BEING DONE WITH SOME ACTIONS TAKEN.
THE OBVIOUS QUESTIONS ARE: WAS THIS LAND DEGAZETTED BY GOVERNMENT AND WHAT WERE THE REASONS FOR DEGAZETTING THE SAME LAND? I ASK THESE QUESTIONS BECAUSE A GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT (RESETTLEMENT) CANNOT JUST DEMARCATE A GOVERNMENT FOREST LAND WITHOUT APPROVAL FROM GOVERNMENT AND REASONS MUST HAVE BEEN ADVANCED FOR THIS. CAN A RESETTLEMENT OFFICER FOR COPPERBELT PLEASE EXPLAIN AND EVEN WHERE HE TOOK THE MONEY THAT PEOPLE PAID FOR PLOTS? WE ARE…
20 hector plots will also turn out to be to much in most cases. Reduce the 20 hector to 5 or 10 hectors, then more people will get plots. Let more local people own land of their own. Appetite for land grabbing will not stop. Foreigner are grabbing a lot of it. Lets wait and see chinese and indian towns mashrooming there. These two countries are overpopulated and you only need a tiny fraction of them heading that way and the whole land would be occupied.
@FLOYD CHITALU: I AGREE WITH YOU ON THE 20 HECTARE PLOT PER SQUATTER.5 HECTARE PLOTS WOULD HAVE BEEN IDEAL CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT NOT ALL SQUATTERS ARE FARMERS AND TO AVOID THE SAME PLOTS BEING SOLD OUT LATER. A SUGGESTION TO GOVT.: DEMARCATE OR CUT “OFF” THE ENCROACHED LAND AND DEMARCATE THE REST. THIS WILL ALLOW THE SQUATTERS TO CONTINUE LIVING AND FARMING ON THE SAME AREAS AS OF NOW (TURN THIS AREA A VILLAGE LIKE MULENGA). THIS WILL ALSO AVOID THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH RE-LOCATION AS SOME WILL FEEL THEY ARE TAKEN AWAY FROM PLOTS THEY HAD ALREADY CLEARED AND AWAY FROM SOCIAL AMENITIES AND SOURCES OF THINGS LIKE WATER. I SUSPECT 2 x 20 HECTARE PLOTS THAT WOULD BE GIVEN TO JUST 2 SQUATTERS MAY INCLUDE ALMOST ALL PLOTS CURRENTLY BEING UTILISED BY ALMOST ALL CURRENT SQUATTERS -…
Its a confused gov’t of pf,u got 1000 farms ,are these 1000 farms covering the whole 6000 hectares or just part of it,why can’t the remaining hectares be given to the local people:the people who paid for the land can sue the luanshya council if they did everything within the law.no refund that’s a big joke if the council had advertised these farm land’
IF THERE WERE 1,000 FARMS ON 6,000 HECTARE LAND THEN EACH PLOT WAS ONLY 6 HECTARES. IF HOWEVER, THE WHOLE 6,000 HECTARE LAND WOULD BE DIVIDED INTO 20 HECTARE PLOTS THEN THERE WILL BE 300 PLOTS. HOW MANY SQUATTERS ARE THERE?
How can some one trust buying this land? It seems the reasons for revocation have not been explained clearly. There is need for proper clarification, otherwise, Luanshya council has stolen from the people and it should refund the people with interest at the current average bank compound interest. There is money to be made here by a smart lawyer on the belt.
Something fishy here!
Why is Central Government interfering with Local government operations?
This is what happens when you have an animal-driven constitution!
Going rby experience, Council officials usually allocate themselves a lot of land they don’t need. The reason they do this is to sell it to members of the public who have a desire and vision to develop it.
This practice by Councils disadvantages very Zambian financially and in terms of access to pieces of land, of which land we have enough for Zambian families to access, were it not for corrupt Councils.
Land which is somewhat free from the state is very expensive to access and own because of the many fees one pays different Council officers and departments.
Therefore, the government should first of all have investigated the Luanshya District Council, and if found wanting in the way they handled land allocations, deal with them severely.
Nevertheless, government must be innocent in the matter of remuneration of Council officers. Hunger that is created by lack of payments to Council employees causes these corrupt practices to become a norm at Councils in Zambia.
But, do the successive Zambia governments take advice? No, they don’t.
But here’s an opportunity for this particular Zambian government.
This is madness. Pay back the people first and don’t have a discriminatory policy when selling the land. Why give others at K50 and the rest at K20,000. It should be equal for all and not this nonesense
This is a confused government. Every day one minister says one thing while the other says something totally different but over the same thing. What a mess this country has been put in by these mumbwes!
Good Move cancel all the plots in Njolwe area as well in Chongwe.
read facts , this land was not available for anyone as it was not degazetted as a forest area meaning all who bought did it illegally
And they had to wait for a directive! !
Land issue is not president’s job role, we need guidelines to some many issues in Zambia on how to administer our country, directives. Without boards is a shock.
What about kampasa land in lusaka
Sometimes you are left to wonder as to what is the problem with our systems? Why has it got to take plot one to direct in such matters? How was the land sold and who sold leaving out the natives there? Where was the minister and his Directors to supervise this process if it can turn out that land is sold in this way withou them knowing? Its high time these leaders do things in the right way coz we are sick and tired of land issues. Refund of course if the tender process was followed but if not the ones who bought land without following the right proceedure standout to loose. The council officials involved in this saga must account for their action.
@SHEPERD. WELL, DO YOU NEED TO HAVE ERB WHEN THE ENTIRE ENERGY MINISTRY IS THERE (NOTHING PERSONAL AGAINST ERB EMPLOYEES)? SO, DO NOT ASK WHY THE PRESIDENT CAME IN WHEN THE MINISTRIES AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES ARE THERE! WHAT DO THEY DO IN THESE INSTITUTIONS? MANY AND QUESTIONABLE THINGS! JUST LOOK AT THE LIST OF BENEFICIARIES OF THOSE PLOTS THAT WERE SOLD OUT AND SEE THE NAMES THAT ARE THERE!
Pf is the father of all U-turns. I have never seen a government with so many u-turns as the pf. Do they really know what they are doing these “useless” MPs and Ministers and by implication the President????
What unit is this “hector” Ba LT? Surely it only takes a second to use the spellchecker!
Ni cimene nidabwa naine, bwana. In fact one has no idea whether this report is actually accurate. There is the matter of the K50 and the K20,000 that suddenly starts reading like there is information missing…
That is good development,we are also waiting for the de-gazzetting of Kasaka forest to pave way for the expansion of township boundaries.Many developments are eluding the residents of Kasama,because the council has no land.When MMD was in power,the PF councilors lied to the citizens that government then was reluctant to de-gazette the forest because PF which had the majority of Councillors was in opposition.It has been close to 3 years since PF formed government,the process has reached the dead end.Am just wondering what explanation we will give to people come 2016?
Who is supposed to be MP for that area, why is he not covered in this news????? just curious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good move but as with elsewhere the vultures from big cities will move in and buy off land from poor maposa residents ,imagine K50 instantly costing 20000 overnight
a clause could be inserted anyone reselling forfeits land to the local authority. (difficult to monitor though )
….. definitely there is something weird here……if it was illegal someone has to be behind bars…I’m sure the so called ‘illegal’ sale was receipted, that’s 1000 accounts to be charged on.
Trying to hoodwink the public that the plots will be sold at a give away price to the locals when the same land has already been paid for and gaining an excess profit of K50 which the locals shall pay. Land administration must be handled with maximum care…its a source of most civil wars…
Oh there goes confusion in the head of that man again. How i wish i could immediately revoke the vote i cast in 2011!
Give each villager a K50, and then make him sale you his land at another K50. Dont worry city people! Problem solved!!
What a banana republic it is!!!
Good work GRZ. The majority who got it might not be the locals. Hope there where no inlaws of Hungry Hyna from India.
Good move
Good move, the area was not de-gazzetted as a forest.