Chief Chipepo of the Tonga people of Gwembe Valley said poverty in Zambia is self-inflicted.
He demands that resources in the national budget allocated for rural development must reach the people and not end on paper.
In an interview, Chipepo said politicians and investors must learn to respect people and stop stealing.
“We demand that resources in the national budget allocated for rural development should reach the people and not just end on paper,” he said. “They shouldn’t be giving us programmes but what we want is to see that money allocated in the budget so that we use it on things we want like drilling of boreholes as well as grading roads.”
Chipepo said poverty in Zambia was a self-inflicted economic sabotage.
“When you look at rural areas, it’s where there are minerals, mukula tree (rosewood), wildlife, but what is happening is that the government has taken over everything,” he complains. “It is controlling through departments while the owners of such natural resources, the indigenous people don’t benefit – they are very poor. Look at North Western [Province] where mining is happening now, indigenous people are living in abject poverty.
They don’t even wear shoes yet politicians and investors are getting rich. And the more chiefs give land to these so-called investors the more they become poorer than before. Unless, as chiefdoms, we start creating companies limited by guarantee in each chiefdom registered by PACRA so that they if an investor wants to invest in our area, they have to lease land from the chiefdom and pay 20 per cent, we will continue suffering while politicians and those investors get rich with our natural resources.”
Chipepo said president Michael Sata had wanted each chiefdom have at least five industries.
“Unfortunately, when he died politics came in. Poverty in rural areas is imposed by politicians because everything revolves around these people,” he said.
Chipepo said on the Copperbelt, chiefs were poor yet their land had copper.
“The community and their chiefs are extremely very poor. Let chiefdoms be ones giving licences to those who want to invest in their chiefdoms and if someone comes and says ‘I have a licence from Lusaka’ cancel it until the chiefdom is fully involved,” he said. “The law says everything under belongs to the government but on the surface it’s the chief….”
Chipepo said as a result of poverty among chiefs, politicians have continued taking advantage of traditional leaders.
“Politicians and investors must learn to respect people. They cannot be rich alone and that’s why we cannot develop in Zambia because God cannot allow outsiders to get rich while owners of the resources remain poor,” he argued. “It’s like stealing people’s wealth and make them mere spectators in their own land and that’s what is happening in Zambia. Look at wildlife, whites are the ones getting concessions. They go out to collect millions and when they come here they just give us change. God will never be happy.”
Chipepo asked politicians and those in public offices to stop stealing public funds.
He also said those looking for campaign money should not sale the country.
“You will hear this one went to this country and what they sign we don’t know it ourselves. ‘When I become president I will do this’ and they sign there, so this poverty we have in rural areas is caused by foreigners who sign documents with people from Lusaka,” said Chipepo. “For example they are given licences to harvest mukula, minerals, hunting licences, yet the owners who are villagers don’t get anything.”
By: Ben Mbangu (The Mast, Zambia).
Image: The Borgen Project.
Review: FlagMarkets.