Luanshya Mayor Entangled in Land Dispute

A Luanshya resident has sued Mayor Nathan Chanda for allegedly encroaching on his land left to him by his father.

Misheck Mbewe who is an administrator of the estate of his late father Jasiel Mbewe is claiming ownership of Stand L/4186/M in Luanshya.

Misheck said that his father bought the said land from the Ministry of Lands in 1995 and built two rooms with the rest of the land used for livestock.

In a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court on Wednesday, Mbewe stated that his late father purchased Stand L/4186/M in Luanshya in 1995 from the Ministry of Lands after the said the land was offered to him and he built two rooms and used the other portion for farming.

When his father in 1997 at Luanshya Mine Hospital he left the house in the care of an elderly relative as the children were too young.

“Sometime later, Peter (caretaker) who was told to continue as a watchman and take care of the farm, brought Chilufya Malupenga who took up the job as a watchman, while he was allowed to rear livestock and farm on the said land,” read the statement of claim.

Mbewe stated that in January, 2018, he received a phone call from the owners of the farm which was adjacent to his father’s farm, informing him and his aunt that there was a person who was about to start building on the farm, claiming that it was his.

Upon visiting the site they found that Chanda has assigned people to erect structures on the said land.

Efforts to reason with Chanda and his agents proved futile with the Luanshya Mayor threatening them with arrest.

Mbewe undertook a trip to the Ministry of Lands where he discovered that the said land had been registered in Chanda’s name.

The Ministry of Lands officials did not offer any satisfactory explanation prompting him to take legal action.

Mbewe is now seeking for an order for Chanda to vacacte the property and an order to rectify the records at the Ministry of Lands to reflect the names of the deceased as owner of the said land.

He is further claiming for damages, interest on the said sum, costs any other relief the court may deem fit.