Councillors pounce on ZRL land

By ROGERS KALEROABOUT 14 illegal developers have encroached on the Zambia Railways land in Kitwe near the former Manica Freight Services in the industrial area.Some councillors at the Kitwe City Council were alleged to have been involved in the illegal allocation of the land.The 14 illegal developers include a church which was also illegally allocated a piece of land by a cartel of councillors, who were reported to have gone out of the way to raise money for campaign in the next year’s election using illegal means.Members of management at Polytra and Zambia Railways Regional Manager Inter-mine Obed Galatiya confirmed the encroachment on the piece of land by 14 illegal developers who included a church.Mr Galatiya said Zambia Railways was still investigating the matter to establish who was involved in the illegal allocation of land on the company land. He said the company had written a letter to the 14 illegal developers to stop constructing structures on Zambia Railways land.“Yes, I confirm that 14 illegal developers including a church have encroached on Zambia Railways land near the former Manica Freight Services which has now been bought by Polytra. I cannot tell you who allocated these people land, but I can tell you that we are investigating.“We are investigating together with the local authority.We have since written to these illegal developers to stop the construction works so that we can investigate,” Mr Galatiya said.But some councillors told the Daily Nation that five of their fellow civic leaders were involved in the illegal allocation of land.The councillors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some of their colleagues intending to contest as Members of Parliament were involved in the illegal allocation of land to raise money for campaigns.“Ehe, the truth of the matter is that councillors have gone on rampage selling land to make money for campaigns in the next year’s election,” a councillor said.