.Kaunda

By REBECCA MUSHOTA –

THE Taskforce against illegal land allocation has said it will soon be slapping charges, for buying stolen property, against people found illegally acquiring land, in order to reduce incidences of land disputes.
Meanwhile, the Taskforce has received 163 complaints over land allocation from the time it was formed one year ago.
The Taskforce against illegal land allocation was formed a year ago to deal with the rising cases of land disputes in Zambia.
It was formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with ministries of Lands and Local Government, as well as the Zambia Police.
Taskforce chairperson Panji Kaunda said illegally acquiring land or grabbing land from a designated owner or even building on land that was not properly acquired, would soon be treated as buying stolen property.
Colonel Kaunda was speaking on Sunday on the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) programme, National Watch, which was discussing the one year existence of the taskforce.
Colonel Kaunda, who is Home Affairs Deputy Minister, said apart from just demolishing property that was illegally built, people found wanting would be prosecuted.
He said illegally acquiring land or building on land that one did not have appropriate papers for, was as good as buying stolen property.
“Land is property that belongs to someone or to the State and building on such land is as good as buying stolen property,” he said.
Col Kaunda said buying land from the council and land acquired from other sources should be verified first with the local authorities or the Ministry of Lands.
He said that in the one year that the taskforce has been in existence, it was unfortunate that some civic leaders have been cited to have been the ones enticing people to illegally get land.
The people that are mainly behind this vice are those that had a habit of hiding behind parties because they initially identified themselves with MMD and now they were claiming to be Patriotic Front (PF).
Colonel Kaunda said he was hopeful that the taskforce will work effectively and curb the problem.
Meanwhile, a representative of the taskforce Chanje Makayi said the taskforce has received 163 complaints.
Ms Makayi said the taskforce has inspected some of the cases which have resulted in more than 30 arrests.
She said of the four cases that were currently being prosecuted, involved a ward councilor who was allegedly illegally allocating land to some people and inciting another group to rise against those he was offering land.