By DELPHINE ZULU –
MORE than 1,700 families in Chief Mulendema’s area in Mumbwa District whose houses and property were burnt recently have sought for an injunction to restrain the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and the Attorney General from further evictions.
Peter Mainza and others claim that they have lived in the Mumbwa Game Management Area 14 for several years and were not part of the influx of the illegal settlers that have flocked to the area.
“That the aforesaid forcible evictions were perpetrated without prior notice nor valid court order on August 26 this year which left them homeless and inflicted injuries,” they said.
In this matter, the plaintiffs have dragged ZAWA and the Attorney General to court for wrongful eviction, damage to property amounting to over K1,000,000, anguish and loss of farm produce which were all destroyed in the inferno.
They are now demanding a declaration that the eviction of the plaintiffs was unlawful and have asked the court to order their return.
The plaintiffs further asked the court to grant them an order of mandatory injunction that the ZAWA should refund them K1,010,835 for loss of shops, a school, homes, chickens, goats, pigeons, doves, maize and groundnuts, among other destroyed items.
“The aforesaid unlawful eviction has caused the displacement of the plaintiffs leading to their spending nights in the open air on the side of Mumbwa Road,” the plaintiffs complained in their statement of claim.
They said the action by ZAWA to evict them without a court order or prior notice was laced with malice and had exerted untold misery on them following the death of two children in the same area during the period in question.
The plaintiffs said this was a proper case for the court to issue an injunction as it would halt all the confusion surrounding the matter.