36 MUNYAULE TRADERS SUE LCC OVER PLANNED EVICTION
By Nelson Zulu
About 36 marketeers from the dismantled Munyaule Market in Lusaka have sued the Lusaka City Council in the High Court, seeking an injunction to restrain the local authority from evicting them from their temporary stands and shops without providing alternative trading space.
In a statement of claim filed on behalf of 35 others by chairperson Peter Ngulube, the plaintiffs state that they were lawfully allocated stands and shops at Munyaule Market in November 2013 by the Council through its authorised agent and contractor, Kaddoura Construction Limited.
The marketeers claim they were issued tentative offer letters and assured that they would not be moved from their temporary trading spaces until construction of the new market was completed.
However, they allege that the Council later announced that all traders should vacate their temporary stands and shops by January 1, 2026, without alternative trading space, contrary to an agreement allegedly reached among stakeholders, including the then Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
The marketeers are now asking the High Court to declare them lawful allottees and beneficial owners of the stands and shops, to restrain the Council, its agents, officers and contractors from proceeding with the evictions, and to award them damages for trespass and costs incidental to the action.
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