186 SQUATTERS EVICTED FROM PANJI’S FARM
At least 186 squatters have lost their houses during an eviction exercise at Panji Kaunda’s farm in Vubwi District of Eastern province.
The squatters were removed from 31 houses during a crackdown by police in Mchocho village of Chief Pembamoyo following a court order.
ZANIS reports that the squatters are now appealing to the Government to intervene since they have nowhere to go.
Headman Mchocho, Allan Phiri, noted with sadness that the affected families are now spending nights in the cold following the eviction.
He said the families have been occupants of the said area for more than 98 years hence considering the land as their own.
“Panji Kaunda only bought the farm, which only extended to Sindabwankho and not our village in 1986, we were here before him,” said Headman Mchocho.
Mr Phiri who acknowledged being served with notice of eviction on a number of occasions accused negotiators of not doing justice to the land dispute adding that they had been discriminated against considering their poverty status.
He has since called on well-wishers to come to the aid of the evicted families through legal representation as they decide to take the matter to the courts of law.
“We are poor people asking for help from well-wishers, people are afraid of Panji because he is a high commissioner,” he said.
The headman said the villagers were not given due representation throughout the court process leading to the torching and demolition of their houses.
“We were only given the court order and not summoned to court to give our side of the story on the matter,” he said.
However, according to Colonel Panji Kaunda, efforts to amicably resolve the land wrangles between him and the people who had encroached on his farm have failed despite engaging them on several occasions.
“There are about ten families that have been squatting on my farm for a long time. I followed all the processes, at first, I reached out to these people so that we could address this issue but they were adamant. These are people who have villages but they strayed to my farm. At last, I engaged the office of the permanent secretary Eastern Province so that these people can be engaged. But again, they were adamant to move. Even in this same court order to remove the people it was delayed because we thought the people could move on their own but they couldn’t,” he said.
Colonel Kaunda, who is Zambia’s High Commissioner to Malawi recounted that only one family occupied the land at the time he purchased it but the number of occupants has since been growing.
“There was only one couple when I was buying the farm but the people came later. All efforts to resolve this issue failed and the court is the last option,” he said.
Colonel (Rtd) further encouraged complainants to seek legal redress if they felt aggrieved by the eviction.
This is however not an isolated case for Vubwi District as the area has in the recent past witnessed an eviction of families from Lossaco Farms and, in a separate incident, alleged threats of another eviction of more than 3,000 people from D98 farms.
ZANIS