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| National |
| Mtafu sued over land |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda, 04 June 2003
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17:28:27
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Minister of Education George Nga Mtafu has been dragged to court by a man from Msusa Village, Kapeni in Blantyre on allegations that the minister has grabbed his land which his family has owned for 53 years.
Court records indicate that Felix Masinga is asking the court to extend an injunction he was granted on February 12 stopping Mtafu from removing him and his family from the land.
In their written affidavits submitted to the court, Masinga and his lawyer Linda Ziyendammanja told the court that Masinga was born on the said piece of land in 1951, that he has children and grandchildren who were also born on the same land and that at the moment 21 members of his family live there.
Ziyendammanja said in her affidavit that Mtafu is threatening to remove Masinga and his family from the land.
“[Mtafu] has put guards all around the land and is threatening to deal with [Masinga] and his family unless restrained by the court,” stated Ziyendammanja.
And in his affidavit, Masinga said his family has no other land to cultivate and that despite this, Mtafu has stopped him and his family from planting the gardens or eating the fruits the family planted.
“He has proceeded to plant macadamia trees on the land,” stated Masinga.
But Masinga’s step brother, Adams, has submitted an affidavit in opposition to the injunction where he said that it is him who sold the land to Mtafu and that the minister has never threatened to remove the Masingas from their land.
Adams also contradicted his brother, saying he has another separate land.
Another affidavit in opposition from Mtafu’s lawyer, Viva Nyimba, stated that Mtafu bought the land at K200,000 and that he has taken possession of the land.
“The plaintiff has no claim to the land. The injunction should be discharged,” stated Nyimba.
But the injunction hearing, scheduled to start before Judge Dunstain Mwaungulu on Tuesday, failed to take place because the judge had a lot of cases to handle. The hearing is yet to be assigned a new date.
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