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Relatives of the deceased following last Fridays’ ZNS shootings in Chongwe’s Kampasa residential area eviction exercise say the incident could have been avoided if appropriate land vacation notification measures were employed.
The relatives echoed the sentiments at the burial of Clement Muloongo, one of the victims of the Kamapasa shootings which took place in Silwindi area of chief Sipatunyana’s area of Kalomo on Wednesday afternoon.
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has also opposed the use of live ammunition against unarmed persons because of the potential risks to life or permanent disability that could result from such actions.
A government delegation, led by Kalomo District Administrative Officer, Justus Phiri, was received peacefully but tempers flared and heightened when the body of the deceased was lowered in the grave at the nearby farm field in headman Silwindi’s village.
The relatives have called on concerned authorities to expedite what they called ‘barbaric’ conduct by men in uniform, saying the security wings were in place to protect citizens but lamented that a few individuals have instead resorted to unwarranted behaviour when
dealing with public disorder.
And there was drama at the burial of Muloongo when relatives of the deceased, most of them from the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) abandoned the procedure and started praying for officers who are alleged to have trampled down a religious building in the area when the ZNS squad conducted the eviction exercise.
“I stand here firmly, we have the law that governs us in this country, even those who are worse than my Nephew, if they have committed a seriously crime, they can be sentenced to life imprisonment, but for my nephew, he was shot without notice. Imagine even wild animals are protected by the law. I urge all authorities to see to it that justice prevails,” uncle of the deceased, Godfrey Fwenkesha lamented.
Brother of the deceased, Boyd Chisamu Muloongo and Catherine Nalucha, both of Kampasa residential area, who were inflicted with bruises and now displaced by the ZNS brutality, said they regretted what the officers did and have also called on political parties to desist from taking funerals as platforms of championing their political mileages.
They have since prayed that their controversial land chairperson, Lovewell Goma, would follow up the matter which they purported to have been verbally given to them by the time of their eviction through their committee secretary, Oliver Kubanji who could not be reached for a comment by press time.
The duo also condemned the fracas that occurred between the UPND and PF during the funeral of the victims in Meanwood locations in Lusaka where the two parties’ cadres clashed.
Muloongo is alleged to have been shot dead together with his colleague, Pumulo Lungwangwa, in Kampasa area last Friday, leaving one seriously injured while fighting for a cause to own a little piece of land which is reported to be belonging to the Zambia National Service (ZNS).
Civil society organisations and human rights activists have condemned the incident for security personnel to use live ammunition in eviction exercise, saying rightful procedures were available in the law to redress such situations.
Muloongo, 35, leaves behind a wife and four children, among them a girl and three boys all below the ages of 12 years.
And Police in Kalomo have nabbed a man in connection with the brutal murder of a 49 year man of chief Simwatachela’s area who is a young brother of the deceased who openly admitted killing his elder brother over suspected witchcraft practices.
The suspect is remanded in police custody and an axe believed to have been used in the incident has also been retrieved.
Fanwel Mukobocha was brutally murdered last week and left in the bush with a deep cut in his fore head a week ago.
In another development, a 35-year-old named male general worker of Magrimond compound of Kalomo, working at the Kalomo Southern Water and Sewerage Company (SWSACO) plant has committed suicide by tying both his legs and hands with his shoe laces and later throwing himself in Kalomo river.
His body was retrieved yesterday after it was found floating and is lying in the district hospital mortuary.
