By DELPHINE ZULU-
THE Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) has applied for an injunction to restrain the Lukulu District Council from collecting levy at a traditional market built several decades ago.
The BRE is asking the court to issue a declaration order to restrain Lukulu District Council from interfering because it had no legal authority or claim to continue collecting such levies from traders.
In a statement filed in the Lusaka High Court yesterday, Induna Mwiya Seenge Iwake claimed that the defendant had illegally taken over the market which was built in 1920.
The BRE is also seeking damages for trespass by the defendants, its employees and agents arising from the collection of levies and any monies collected without lawful excuse or authority in the running of the market.
Induna Iwake said the market was set up before the establishment of Lukulu Council, making the BRE the rightful custodians of the property and wondered on what basis the council was claiming to have authority to run the market.
“Seeking a declaration Order that the defendant must pay us (BRE) monies it has been collecting since early this year as it has been doing so illegally, the Lukulu District Council must also surrender the market back to us since it totally belongs to us and was built on a traditional land,” Induna Iwake said.
He stated that early this year, the Lukulu Council went to their offices and demanded that the market be handed to the local authority on grounds that all markets were supposed to be run by councils countrywide.
Induna Iwake indicated that the Lukulu council went ahead and substituted their adhoc committee and replaced it with theirs without following the right procedure as the said market was recognised and gazetted in 1920.
“This market was created for the sole benefit of the local people in Western Province in order to promote the social economic welfare and the marketeers were paying reasonable levies to the BRE compared to what they are asked to pay now under the Lukulu Council,” he said.
He said the market was situated outside Lukulu Township boundaries, the defendants had no claim or ownership to the said market.
Induna Iwake said the Lukulu Council had no proprietary rights or ownership to run the market and that the council’s actions were unattainable and devoid of any substance, as the defendants had no authority to run it.