Refrain from illegal land deals – Mwakalombe

Copperbelt Province Minister, Japhen Mwakalombe has reiterated that the provincial administration will not condone illegalities where matters of land are concerned. ZANIS reports that Mr Mwakalombe said allocation of land is and shall remain a preserve of the Ministry of Lands and local authorities as agents and those getting land apart from the two named institutions risked their money. He said government will not sit idle and watch illegalities taking centre stage but ensure those swindling innocent people are dealt with. “Obviously as government are not going to sit idle because people have lost properties. We are going to take to task those that allocated land to our people,” Mr Mwakalombe. Speaking when Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection, Jonas Chanda called on him at his office on Tuesday, Mr Mwakalombe said  government is in the process of helping out the  affected families. “We want to give support to families affected through the Disaster Management Mitigation Unit (DMMU),” he said. Mr Mwakalombe said about 100 families have been affected further stating that not less than 900 individuals have also been directly affected. He said government will not comfortably sit and condone lawlessness as people continue to build anywhere without taking into consideration the laws of the land and who could be the right owners of pieces of land. Mr Mwakalombe further said some people used the illegal allocation to benefit themselves and as a result allocated land on property that belonged to Mopani Mine. The Minister said the affected families would be placed in tents and later reintegrated to other suitable places but at the moment would be given some relief food. Last week Mopani Mine swung into action to demolish over 100 structures that were built on farm 840 and 1469 in Mindolo south area after a court judgement in favour of the mine. – ZANIS The Sun