SIX families at Kitwe College of Education have been evicted from institution houses.

Those affected included retirees, other former workers and families whose relatives died while in service at the institution.

An on the spot check by the Times of Zambia yesterday found the families with their household goods outside their previous homes.

Mr Dismas Sempela, one of those affected said the families which included three widows, two retirees and one dismissed employee, were evicted at the weekend by school authorities in the company of police officers.

Mr Sempela 63, a retiree with six children, explained that two months ago, the families were called by Mr Modest Chisela who is principal of the college, and told them to vacate the houses.

He said from the time they had a verbal discussion, there had been no formal correspondence from the college authorities until they were ordered to vacate the houses at the weekend.

"We were surprised to see school authorities in the company of police officers arrive at 05:00 hours on Saturday morning and ordering us to vacate the houses.

"It is not fair that management has decided to treat us like this after serving for a long time and how do they expect us to vacate the houses when we have not been paid all our dues," Mr Sempela said.

He said he worked for the college from 1981 to 2008 but had not been given his benefits and wondered where he would go to without getting his dues.

Maggie Mutiyani, a widow who had also been evicted said it was inhuman for school authorities to treat her in a cruel manner as though her husband had not worked at the institution.

College authorities were not available for a comment.