By ANDREW PHIRI-
A LAND dispute has erupted in Chief Sekute’s area of Kazungula District where villagers are accusing the council of encroaching on customary land.
The villagers, who gathered at a meeting at the weekend and represented by six of their headmen, complained that the local authority was displacing them by giving out their land to people from other towns.
Village headman Kabanga Kabanga from Kazala Village said the people were greatly concerned in the manner the local authority was displacing indigenous people in the area in preference for those that were coming from other towns and across borders.
Headman Kabanga said the situation was unfortunate because the council was getting land that was meant for cultivation for the livelihood of the local people.
“We are concerned about what the council is doing here because they are getting our land which is meant for cultivation and giving it to people who are coming from Lusaka and other neighbouring countries at a fee.
“The chief gave them land but what we are seeing now is that they are encroaching into our land and displacing our people,’’ Mr Kabanga said.
Mr Sitali appealed to government to quickly intervene in the matter before the situation got out of hand because the people of Chief Sekute were prepared to die for their land.
But when contacted for a comment, Kazungula Council Secretary Whinstone Kasonkomona refuted the allegation.
He said there was documentation to the effect that that the land in question was given to the local authority by the chief.
Mr Kasonkomona said there was no encroachment because the land was given to the council and had been declared a township area.
“ There is no encroachment because the council even has minutes and the land in question has been declared a township area and government has since given us the land development fund,’’ Mr Kasonkomona said.
Meanwhile, the Ngambela, David Sitali, representing Chief Sekute, has advised his subjects to avoid attending meetings organised by the local authority without the chief’s consent.
Mr Sitali said it was clear that what the council had done was wrong because it never consulted him as the Ngambela and did not go back to the chief to seek his opinion on the other potions of land they were getting.
The Ngambela assured the people of Kazungula that Chief Sekute would sort out the issue and that land belonging to indigenous people would not be encroached on.
Mr Sitali wondered why Kazungula council which was invited to attend the same meeting was not present for them to give their side of the story.