ELEVEN families in Mumbwa are spending nights outside after being evicted from their homes by a company claiming ownership of a gold mine which owns the houses.
The victims who hail from Mumbwa district in Lwili village of Chief Shakumbila have stayed in the houses since 2000.
One of the affected, 63-year-old widow, Lona Nyirenda who lives with three orphans finds the eviction unfair and inhuman.
Nyirenda said her and other affected families were human beings who should have been given a notice on time to vacate the houses unsteady of embarrassing them and destroying their properties.
She complained that bailiffs who were sent to evict her and others destroyed food she had stocked for her family and they went away with her K1000.
She appealed to government to come to their help because they were spending nights in the cold without food.
A Grade 12 pupil, Mary Chola complained of losing her school materials during the eviction.
Chola said she could find her books because bailiffs who where sent to evict them where just throwing things everywhere.
And Raphael Moonga, a former worker of Dunrobin Gold Mine who had lived in the area for more than 20 years expressed displeasure on why a company that had no legal mandate to evict people from the mining houses were allowed to do so.
He said the mine houses, including offices and other properties were owned by Bukomo Mining Ltd not the group of people that was removing them from the houses.
However, Moonga wondered why Chief Shakumbila was allowing illegality take place in his chiefdom.
Moonga said if Chief Shakumbila had issues with Bukomo Mine, he should seat them down than to use people against them.
“The same people who were direct beneficiaries from what was sold, they were left in the houses. All these staying in the houses they got money. These evicted what wrong have they done? Is there any problems to the houses? That is my concern. And this question as directly shown that there is a fight here and they will be no development if such situation continues, there will be no development,” said Moonga.
“…If this selective move continues, then there will be a fight and we are ready for that. We will fight so that the chief himself will come and intervene.”
And Bukomo Mining Ltd chief executive officer Brian Chisala sympathized with the victims who are now spending nights in the cold.
Chisala said Bukomo was the rightful owner of the houses and that it had been processing the title so that President Edgar Lungu would come and handover the houses to the sitting tenants.
Chisala said his company was looking for solution on how best families could be kept as they look for permanent place.
“We just got surprised that on Wednesday there was a court order and the Sheriff of Zambia who were executing to take possession of our mine in Mumbwa of Bukomo Mine. We have a valid mineral processing licence and we have been processing title for these house with the ministry of lands,” he said.
“Where some of the properties that we bought through a court order, through the Sheriff some years back from the former employees of Dunrobin have been possessed by Luiri Gold Mine who have no valid mining licences here, there licence was canceled and they are using the employees of Luiri to take over these houses. They have evicted innocent people from these house.”
@Kalemba
