Squatters may be 'forced out'

2005-08-04 23:35

Lilongwe - The government said on Thursday that shack-dwellers in the capital of this impoverished African nation had two weeks to move - or they would be forced out.

The order affected an estimated 200 families. Many more live in squatter camps in other parts of the country.

In nearby Zimbabwe, hundreds of thousands had been made homeless by a government drive to demolish shacks, but there had been no suggestion that the campaign in Malawi would reach comparable proportions or had such a devastating impact.

A senior housing ministry official, Felix Tukula, said authorities merely wanted to enforce the law and evict people living on land that was earmarked for industrial development.

Tukula escorted by armed police

Tukula said: "As government we will use what is provided in the law and if we have to move them by force then the government will use that channel."

Tukula was speaking while he was escorted by armed police through the squatter camps, which had names such as Baghdad and Dubai.

Residents said they had nowhere else to go and were prepared to put up with the lack of roads, running water and other basic services.

An anonymous woman said: "Our problem here is lack of land. Imagine you have a family and dependents, but you have nowhere to stay. If idle land has been found, then we have to share it."

'Nonsense'

She said after the visit of government officials: "What these people are saying is nonsense."

Wananga Mbeleka, the regional manager for the state-owned housing authority, said the illegal settlements were hampering the planning for expansion of cities.

He said: "This problem of land encroachment has basically affected our future development plans for housing and non-housing real estate properties like community services, churches, police units and health centres."

Property set for demolition included houses and shops and did not just belong to the poor.

According to Tukula, some prominent business dealers - including President Bakili Muluzi - built structures on illegal plots that now risked demolition.

- AP