By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –
MORE than 2,000 Lusaka residents have dragged Galaun Holding Limited and the Attorney General to court over land between Mutumbi cemetery and Ngwerere areas.
Gift N’gandwe and 2,001 others have asked the Lusaka high court to grant them an injunction to restrain Galaun Holdings from erecting the fence without the verification of the boundary between its land and that of former Natural Resources Development College (NRDC).
They want the court to determine the extent and boundary of Galaun’s farm and that which formerly belonged to NRDC.
The 2,001 residents further want the court to order Galaun to give them the first option to buy the land.
They also want the court to order that the commissioner of land offers them plots which will be found to belong to NRDC.
Mr N’gandwe has stated on behalf of others that the 2,001 were Zambian citizens who are landless.
He said that they have been pursuing the piece of land between Mutumbi cemetery and Ngwerere farm areas through the ministry of Lands.
Mr N’gandwe said they were referred to the Survey department under the ministry of Lands where they were told that the land formally belonged to NRDC and partly to Galaun.
He said they engaged the Survey department of the ministry to establish the boundary between the land formerly for NRDC and Galaun holdings limited but they were frustrated by officials from the ministry who were allegedly interested in the land.
Mr N’gandwe said that various meetings were held relating to the land and one of the meetings was attended by Munali Member of Parliament (MP) Nkandu Luo, Patriotic Front (PF) ward councilors and other stakeholders.
He said that the meeting resolved that two community representatives representing the 2,001 residents would inform the community members to vacate the disputed land so that Galaun’s extent of land was determined by the surveyors.
Mr N’gandwe said the members were surprised that without their involvement, Galaun brought the bulldozer to clear the land with the view to put the game fence without resolving the issue surrounding the boundary of his land and that of NRDC.
He said they were further surprised that the police arrested people from the nearby community and are pursuing the 2,001 who are just interested in buying land from Galaun and to be offered by the ministry land which formerly belonged to NRDC.
Mr N’gandwe said they have been informed that Galaun would sell part of the land but some senior members from the government are allegedly using the Zambia police to disadvantage them to participate in the purchase of the land.