17 September 2009
THE Kitwe City Council (KCC) yesterday demolished more than 400 houses built on illegally allocated plots, sparking a protest during which Kawama township residents damaged property belonging to the ward councillor.
The irate residents vented their anger on Vincent Chibeka and a local Resident Development Committee (RDC) official who they accused of having sold them plots.
Council public relations officer, Dorothy Sampa confirmed the demolition operation that took place between 01:00 hours and 04:00 hours and said 450 illegal structures were demolished during the operation.
Ms Sampa said the council carried out the operation with the help of Zambia police.
Ms Sampa said the council carried out its operations without any resistance and only heard about owners of the demolished structures attacking the MMD official, RDC vice-chairperson and ward councilor later.
"We have demolished 450 illegal structures in Kawama Township out of which 70 were occupied. The demolition exercise was carried out by the combined force of council and State police.
"The operations were well executed and there was no resistance but when we reached Mindolo Police Station, we heard that the irate residents had vented their anger on the MMD official, RDC vice-chairperson and ward councillor," she said.
Copperbelt Provincial Local Government Officer (PLGO) Solomon Sakala supported the decision by the council to demolish the illegal structures.
Mr Sakala said allocation of land was the duty of the council and that it was unacceptable for political party officials, RDCs and individual councilors to take over the duty of the council.
He said political party cadres or officials, RDCs and councilors were illegally selling plots to members of the public which was tantamount to stealing from the people.
He said those RDCs, political party cadres whose property had been damaged had paid a price for their dubious and illegal activities.
"I can't even blame the council because that is a good job that they have done. People must learn to respect the law. We can't have people doing things as they wish. Those people were giving plots in the road. I fully support the council," Sakala said.
A visit to Kawama found some victims of the demolition re-building their demolished structures, while others complained that they had been swindled.
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