Machinjiri residents demolish project houses
Angry residents from Machinjiri Area 10 on Monday morning demolished houses meant for the homeless built under Blantyre -Machinjiri Federation Housing Project.
The residents argued that the Blantyre city council cheated them for failing to honour compensation agreement between the two parties.
About 15 houses were demolished and leader of the residents Edward Mdeza said the people felt cheated after the city council removed them from the land and failed to pay compensation.
“We have been cultivating on this land from our ancestors and the city council approached us and asked us to leave the land. They said there is a project to build houses for the homeless called Code. We refused to surrender the land but they used force to relocate us.
“They promised to compensate us but till now nothing has been done. Today, the people woke up and decided to demolish the houses which are standing on their land because they want the land for cultivation,” said Mdeza.
Blantyre city chief executive officer Ted Nandolo was not immediately available for fresh interviews but earlier said the land belonged to the city council.
The land dispute in Machinjiri erupted last year when the residents were asked to leave but resisted.
Member of Parliament for the area John Bande intervened but results of his efforts were short lived.
In an earlier interview Bande said the housing project was necessary as it targeted homeless people and the elderly