THE Kitwe City Council (KCC) operation for demolishing houses built on illegally acquired plots in Mindolo North yesterday entered third day in a running with a further more than 60 structures being razed.

Yesterday’s operation raised the demolition toll to about 300 houses that included already occupied structures and some built up to roof level.

Meanwhile alert police thwarted plans by affected residents from staging a demonstration over the continued demolition of their houses by a joint team of KCC security personnel and State Police.

Council public relations officer Dona Mbalwe said in an interview that the local authority demolished a further more than 60 houses for a third day running.

“More houses were demolished today (yesterday) although the number this time was less compared to the figures for the first two days and this is because we were using one bull-dozer as opposed to two when we started,” she said.

Ms Mbalwe said the other bull-dozer broke down on day two of the operation leaving the officers with one machine for the demolition exercise.

She said a security personnel yesterday apprehended a further 19 residents for being unruly during the demolition of the houses.

Ms Mbalwe said a group of unruly residents also mobilized around 10:00 hours and attempted to demonstrate by marching to the civic centre.

A check by the Times around the area for demolition found scores of victims of the demolition trooping in numbers towards the Kitwe-Chingola Road where they allegedly planned to gather to stage a demolition.

A heavy presence of State Police armed with anti-riot gear was found stationed at Mindolo Police Station in readiness for deployment.

The irate residents turned back after being approached by the police who requested them to choose five of their representative for an audience with KCC authorities.

The Zambia Center for Social Development ZSCD has called on government to introduce bursaries at Mulungishi University in light of the escalating tuition fees.

Speaking in an interview ZCSD Executive Director Lewis Mwape said government should consider extending the bursary system to the learning institution as parents are increasingly finding it hard to pay for their children due to the high cost of living obtaining in the country.

Mr. Mwape who was commenting on recent increments in tuition fees by Mulungishi University management which sparked some riots by students said, it is the duty of government to ensure that it provides quality education to its citizenry and one way of doing that is by providing students with school loans and a bursary is one such loan.

Mr. Mwape also observed that all parents would like their children to have quality tertiary education and that the continued escalating in the cost of quality education is a worrying the public therefor justifies actions of the students at the learning institutions as they know what their parents are going through in ensuring that they acquire a decent education.

And Mr. Mwape says riots and class boycotts by student is an indication that things are not ok in the country.

Mr. Mwape noted that when students start demanding for things such as increments in meal allowances which the copperbelt University students recently demanded for then government should listen carefully as ignoring them has led to the downfall of many governments with a perfect example being the downfall of the country’s first black government of UNIP where students played a significant role in bring them down.

He has since urged government to listen to the cries of the students before the situation becomes uncontrollable.

Veteran politician Vernon Mwaanga has called for more dialogue among political parties in the country as it an essential culture in a democratic society which should be embraced by all politicians including those in government.

Speaking in an interview Mr. Mwaanga observed that lack of dialogue among political players can lead to unnecessary tension in the country as it creates mistrust and misunderstandings in among political party leaders.

Mr. Mwaanga who is popularly known as VJ and saved in the two previous governments said he would like to see more dialogue especially between the opposition and the ruling party as the country is going through many challenges which needs input from all stakeholders especially the opposition.

He said dialogue and engagement between the opposition and the ruling party which he observed is at its minimal with the PF as compared to previous regimes, will help share ideas on how to develop the country and move it forward as everyone will be pulling in the same direction as regards the developmental agenda of the nation.

“What I would like to see is more dialogue among political parties especially with the party that is in government because the culture of dialogue is an important culture in any democratic society coz by doing that, they interact and exchange ideas on many things which concern the country,” Mr. Mwaanga noted.

He added, “when doesn’t happen it could lead to unnecessary tension and misunderstanding which can be avoided through dialogue.”

Government has released K300, 000 towards feasibility studies to create a water and sanitation firm to service Muchinga Province.

National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) Public Relations and Communications Manager Rose Tembo confirmed the development in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today.

Ms Tembo said the money, which is part of the K1 million budgeted for the project, has since been released to the provincial administration to start the process of creating a new water utility company for Muchinga province.

She said a road map for the establishment of a commercial utility will be rolled out in the next one month once comprehensive technical and financial consultations with stakeholders are completed.

Water and sanitation services in Muchinga province are provided by Chambeshi Water and Sewerage Company (CHWSC) which also operates in Northern Province.

However, the operating license for CHWSC was revoked in 2012 for noncompliance with license conditions and is under statutory management of North Western Water and Sanitation Company.

Ms Tembo maintained that the operating license for Chambeshi Water and Sewerage Company will remain suspended until new management is put in place to administer the water utility company.

In a related development, NWASCO has dispelled assertions that it intends to hike water and sewerage tariffs for the second time this year.

Ms Tembo said that the water regulating body already adjusted the tariffs upward by 13 % in January for all the 11 water companies for 2014.

She however explained that five water utility companies will apply for upward tariff adjustment for the period 2015 to 2017.

She named the five companies as Southern, Chambeshi, Eastern, Luapula and Western Water and Sewerage companies.

Ms Tembo said the approval for tariff hikes for the subsequent years will depend on the water firms meeting the set tariff conditions.

At its 53rd Board meeting held in December last year, NWASCO considered and approved tariff adjustments for Lusaka, Kafubu, Nkana, Luapula, North-western and Mulonga water and sewerage companies.

The remaining five water companies namely Southern, Western, Eastern, Chambeshi and Lukanga Water and sewerage companies were authorised to implement the already approved 2014 tariffs

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has set Tuesday, August 19, 2014, as the date on which parliamentary by- elections for Mangango constituency in Western province will be held.

The by- election comes after the nullification of the election of MMD’s Robert Taundi Chiseke by the Supreme Court on May 19, 2014 on grounds that his election was fraught with electoral malpractices.

Patriotic Front losing candidate Richard Simbula petitioned the election of Chiseke alleging illegal and corrupt practices.

Until the nullification of his seat, Chiseke served as Deputy Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry.

ECZ Public Relations Manager Crispin Akufuna announced the dates in Lusaka today in a media statement released to ZANIS.

Mr Akufuna said aspiring candidates wishing to contest the by-elections should fill in nominations on Thursday July 10, 2014.

He also said 20 local government wards by-elections from five provinces will also be held on the same date.

The ward elections will be held in Central, Copperbelt, Luapula, Southern and Western provinces following deaths, resignations and convictions of some councillors.

The ECZ has advised media and non-governmental organisations wishing to monitor the elections to apply for accreditation from ECZ Offices from Saturday July 6 to August 15 2014, while accreditations for political parties has been restricted to only 10 officials per political party.

The campaign period is set to commence from Thursday July 10 after the nominations and end on Monday August 18, 2014 at 18:00 hours.

The Coalition on Access to Information (ATI) comprising OF JCTR, MISA Zambia and the Press Freedom Committee of the Post has demanded that Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Joseph Katema presents the Access to information Bill to Parliament during the next sitting which resumes on 17th June, 2014.

Speaking during a media briefing this morning, Coalition Chairperson Father Leonard Chiti requested that Dr. Katema makes public the copy of the harmonized Access to information bill to allow the general public to participate in authenticating and making the Bill their own.

Fr. Chiti said the Coalition is worried that the Country is only practicing democracy during elections, and not putting in place Laws to actualise the system of governance that cannot successfully exist if accessing information from the public institutions is limited or denied.

He has challenged the Patriotic Front government to quickly guarantee the people of Zambia their right to participate in the running of the affairs of the nation through the enactment of the ATI Bill.

Fr. Chiti stated that it is clearly evident that not having the Access to Information Law is enough to qualify that Zambia’s democracy is not participatory enough.
[QFM]

The PF government demolition of people’s houses currently going on in Kitwe and some parts of the country must immediately be halted and find a more civilised and humane way of doing it.

While we do not condone illegal occupation of people’s properties, we feel there must be a more humane way of resettling people that have built on such plots.

Going around midnight and waking up families with children and start razing their houses leaving them in cold is really cruel no matter the circumstances.

As UPND, we are also wondering why government allowed the so-called illegal settlers to build houses up to completion level, only to realise at midnight that the structures were illegal and must be razed.

[pullquote]Going around midnight and waking up families with children and start razing their houses leaving them in cold is really cruel no matter the circumstances.[/pullquote]

Where was the so called working and caring PF government when people were allowed to spend a lot of their hard earned income to build those houses, only to demolish them at completion at night?

It shows a clear lack of plan and care for the people on the part of the PF government to fail to amicably settle its people in a more civilised manner.

Our appeal to the PF government is to immediately halt the painful exercise, engage the affected families in a more civilised manner, and resettle them properly than leaving them in the cold, especially during this winter season.

We also appeal to the PF government to address the corruption in Local Authorities regarding allocation of plots.

Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President