Garden residents spend nights under mango trees

SEVERAL Garden House residents in Lusaka spent nights in the cold while others were accommodated by neighbours after their houses were demolished by bailiffs for allegedly building them on private property.
The residents have allegedly built houses on Anderson Chamunorwa’s property and he sought the services of bailiffs to force them off by demolishing the houses in the company of police officers.
A check by Sunday Mail found some residents sleeping under a mango tree watching their razed houses in dismay.
Sara Zulu said in an interview that she could not believe that she had been turned into a beggar  and a homeless widow after the house she built at a cost of  more than  K50 million got demolished.
“I’m so powerless and speechless because the only pride, my house, which I built through the sweat of selling drinking water, has been taken away from me,” Ms Zulu said close to breaking down.
She said her household goods were buried during the demolishing operation.
“We cannot even cook because we have been left with nothing but misery,” Ms Zulu said.
Another victim, Mervis Banda, said it is unfortunate that the over K40 million she spent to build her house has gone to waste.
Ms Banda, a mother of two, called on Government to look into the matter.
“We want to hear how Government will help us on this matter because there is no way we can be left homeless when we bought these plots in the MMD government,” she said.
Ms Banda wondered why the owner of the property they built their houses on did not intervene when people started building and only to take action now.
“We want justice to prevail over this matter and we want to be compensated,” she said.
The Sunday Mail also found most of the houses built on private property abandoned and most of the victims are allegedly squatting at their relatives’ homes in various townships.

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