Chirunga Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) students in Zomba staged demonstrations over land encroachment by a person who is constructing a structure on land believed to belong to the secondary school.
Speaking to Malawi 24, the students said they are not happy with the construction adding that this was a total encroachment into their land and wondered how the developer got the land.
The angry students mobilised themselves on Wednesday to stage the demonstration right at the place where the developer is constructing a structure and set on fire some of the construction materials.
Zomba City Fire Brigade rushed to the scene to put off the fire before it destroyed many materials.
The students want the owner of the structure to stop construction and demolish the structure saying the owner of the structure encroached the school land.
The students have since asked the South East Education Division to come in and resolve the issue before things go out of hand.
Chirunga CDSS Management Committee Chair person, Ephron Mphande, said the land encroachment issue was taken to court for justice and wondered why construction was still taking place.
He therefore asked the students to be calm and avoid destroying property saying the issue is with the court and that justice on the issue will come.
“We appeal to court to speed up the case so that justice over the land should come,” Mphande said while fearing that delayed justice might prompt the students to do more damage to the property.
Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) Coordinator for Zomba Chapter, Wilkins Nakanga, said the HRDC is fighting with the school and will do all it can to ensure justice is done in favour of the school.
He said HRDC believes that the land was acquired through corruption and wondered why construction continues when the issue is still in court.
Nakanga therefore called on the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB ) to investigate the issue and establish how the person who is developing the land got it.
“As HRDC we ask the ACB to investigate the issue and find out why and how the Zomba City Council allocated the land to the person who is constructing on the school land, ” Nakanga added.
He also asked the students to stop demonstrations because the land issue was in the courts, saying court hearing will start soon.
There ae rumours that Zomba City Council officials allocated the land to a person who is claiming ownership of the land which the Chirunga CDSS is also claiming.
HRDC and the Chirunga CDSS also held demonstrations in January this year protesting against the Zomba City Council’s decision to allocate the school land to an individual.
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