Residents of Chipeni village in Mambwe district yesterday staged a protest at Mambwe Town Council after they found an unknown person erecting beacons to demarcate their land.
The village headman said that the stranger, only identified as Mr. Kamuna, went to Chipeni with his surveyors and begun to place beacons on a large piece of land that traditionally belongs to some residents of Chipeni village.
When the villagers asked what was happening, they were presented with title deeds to the land and were referred to take their complaints to Chief Jumbe and the town council.
The headman said it was not the first time that such a thing has happened.
He ordered that the issue comes to an end before the villagers get impatient and begin to act unruly.
He said that Mr. Kamuna was not kind when the villagers tried to address the problem since he drove off in anger and destroyed some of their crops in the process.
And Mambwe Town Planner Kennedy Phiri said the council is aware of the situation and is working on the best possible way to ensure that both parties are satisfied and happy with the outcomes.
He said that the council is undergoing a process that involves the relocation of the people who were given the land and the registration of its current occupants as the legal owners.
He urged the villagers to be calm and trust the council to handle the situation in the best way possible.