ALICE NACHILEMBE
Squatters in Chingola’s Gymkhana area are calling on the relevant authorities to come to their rescue after the local authority had advertised the same area for plot allocation.
Salome Mutale one of the squatters said that Government should also look at the plight of the poor.
Ms Mutale said that the land was given to them in 2015 and it was announced in the council chambers but last week the Council advertised the land.
She said that the people who are living there are suffering and the council is adding more suffering to them by taking away their homes and land.
Harreit Mwansa another squatter said that most of the people their are taking land away from are disabled and the vulnerable widows.
Ms Mwansa said that the poor were overlooked as they are giving the land to the rich.
“We are appealing to the President to help us because this is our land we are staying here and we have nowhere to go if we are chassed from here. The people we put in officers are the ones tormenting us and making our lives miserable,” she said.
But Chingola Mayor Titus Tembo refused that the squatters were not given land.
Mr Tembo said that at no point did the Council give land to the disabled as claiming.
Mr Tembo said the people who have built without the permission from Council risk their land to be take away because the Council is the only authority mandated to give land.
He said that anyone found wanting will be prosecuted by the court of law.
