Blantyre City Council remains tight lipped on land reallocation of Soche encroachers
Blantyre City Council (BCC) is yet to start reallocating people from Soche to Machinjiri Township barely two weeks after the council removed injunction that had lasted for five years.
BCC Public Relations Manager Anthony Kasunda said on Monday in Blantyre that currently his office had no new information regarding the allocating process.
The PRO who was asked to give the progress of the relocation failed to divulge more information but said, “ I have no fresh comment as of now”.
Speaking when he toured disaster-prone areas in Blantyre recently, Vice President Dr Saulosi Chilima expressed disappointment that people were still constructing houses along river banks in Chimwankhunda and Ndirande townships that were affected by flashfloods in January 2015.
He took to task utility providers such as Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) and Blantyre Water Board (BWB) for fueling the influx of illegal settlers by providing them with services.
BCC earlier said only those who were registered before the injunction will be given land in Machinjiri in South Lunzu area, but those who come in later would not be considered.”
But one of the Soche residents who spoke on condition of anonymity feels the move by the council to relocate them to Machinjiri is non-starter saying it would never materialize.
“Of course we got the story that the injunction was vacated but I do not see the council implementing it. There are people who have built decent houses up there. I do not see such houses being demolished.
“In fact we are not shaken anymore. Some people have spent a lot,” he said adding if it was bad place, utility bodies like ESCOM and BWB could deny providing them with their services.
