About 138 villagers from Traditional Authority (TA) Machinjiri in Blantyre whose houses were demolished on Friday night by South Lunzu CCAP of Blantyre Synod for ‘alleged’ land encroachment have asked the government to provide decent accommodation to them.
The ‘angry but peaceful’ villagers who are currently living in a classroom near a toilet at Namilango Primary School made the demand on Wednesday after marching from Machinjiri to Blantyre District Social Welfare Offices and then Blantyre City Assembly (BCC) Civic Offices to present a petition.
Speaking after presenting the petition, one of the victims, Annie Lizalo said they are being treated as ‘refugees’ in their own county.
She further called upon authorities to help them in re-claiming their claimed ‘customary’ land.
“We have lost our dignity; we are suffering in our own country; we are living in a single classroom near a toilet; we are being treated like refugees and we are at risk of suffering from waterborne diseases such as Cholera,” said Lizalo
She added: “We are appealing for a descent accommodation; we are not able to sustain ourselves economically as we have lost our source of livelihood,”
On his part, Asabuni Phiri, a social activist who led the march, challenged the authorities to provide decent accommodation to the victims quickly or else they will hold vigils at Capitol Hill in Lilongwe.
The demolition of the houses came after a lengthy land dispute that dates back to early 2000s between the villagers and by South Lunzu CCAP; in which the church accuses the villagers of encroaching on their land.
In a separate interview with one of the victims who happens to be a blood-relation to Traditional Authority Machinjiri said the land which the church claimed the villages have encroached is customary land belonging to the villagers.
“The land legally belongs to the villagers whom the church have evicted; they inherited it from their fore-father Reverend Andrew Kapichi who happens to be the first pastor at the church and first TA Machinjiri,” said the source who opted for anonymity adding: “ the church failed to provide title deed in court surprisingly the court ruled in their favour.”
The anonymous source further said: “South Lunzu CCAP and the whole Blantyre synod have provoked a war which they will not finish; we will fight until we reclaim our customary land back.”
However, in an interview with Nation Online Blantyre Synod’s General Secretary Rev Billy Gama said the synod at several attempts tried to engage the villages peacefully, but peace failed hence resorting to demolishing their houses after being given a go ahead by the court.
