A traditional leader of Chongwe district has been dragged to the Lusaka High Court over land.
Chief Bunda Bunda has been sued by a Chongwe resident who is seeking a declaration that the traditional leader has no power over her property as it is no longer customary land.
According to a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court Registry, Biana Paliyani has submitted that she was a beneficial owner of a property known as F/9566 in Chongwe.
Paliyani has further submitted that in 1995, her father, Stand Paliyani, was given a piece of land of 252 hectares situated in Chinyunyu in Chongwe by Chief Bunda Bunda’s predecessor.
She adds that her father applied for conversion of the land from customary to statutory lease with the approval of chief Bunda Bunda’s predecessor and the Chongwe District Council in which he was issued with a certificate of title for a 14-year lease for only 135 hectares of land which became known as stand No. F/9566.
Paliyani states that her father died sometime in 1999, and that upon expiry of the 14-year lease, she renewed the statutory lease of stand No. F/9566 and a certificate of title was issued in her names for a period of 99 years from December 1, 2018.
The applicant has further stated that she had built a six-roomed house where she currently resides, as well as four village houses, a bore hole and an incomplete fish pond and embarked on agricultural activities on the said portion of land.
She said sometime in May 2019, it came to her attention that chief Bunda Bunda had placed a caveat on the land on March 1, 2019, claiming interest in the land in his capacity as the 10th traditional ruler of the area.
Paliyani explained that the chief claimed interest on the basis that acquisition procedures of the said land were not followed and that there were anomalies on the hectares acquired by her.
She stated that from 1998 to 2018 when the lease was renewed, there had been no dispute on the number of hectares given to her father or the process of conversion from customary to statutory tenure.
Paliyani stated that she did not change the initial 135 hectares obtained by her father in 1998 when renewing the lease in 2018 but did in fact obtain title to 134.3470 hectares.
She claimed that chief Bunda Bunda had been threatening to subdivide her land and allocate it to other people.
Paliyani stated that she was also stopped from carrying out any development or agricultural activities on the land, claiming that it does not belong to her, which had resulted in her suffering mental anguish and pain.
She is now claiming an order that she is the beneficial owner of the said property and a declaration that chief Bunda Bunda has no powers over it as it is no longer customary land.
She also wants an injunction restraining chief Bunda Bunda or his agents from subdividing and relocating portions of the land, among other claims .
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