Angry villagers from Group Village Headman (GVH) Kapesi, in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Kachere in Dedza District Friday stormed the office of the District Commissioner accusing their GVH Kapesi of selling their land to Dedza District Council.

The Villagers stormed the office after Police rescued the GVH from the villagers who wanted to beat him.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana), one of the villagers, Vincent Macheya said the villagers were surprised to see their land being advertised by the District Council.

“Our Chief has sold all our land without our knowledge. He has already sold a land that accommodated 3,000 people. We could see posters in the trees and notice boards that our land is being advertised,” He added.

“When we asked him about the matter he failed to give us the truth about the matter,” Macheya said.

“We do not want this land to be sold because it is the only portion of land remaining remaining. The land assists us in so many ways, we use the land for cultivating various crops that we sell so as to get money for us and our children,” he pointed out.

Macheya urged the Council not to sell the land.

GVH Kapesi said that the selling of the land started way back in 2017 and his villagers are aware of it.

He said that he called all the Village headmen in his area, to brief them about his intentions to sell the land, but all the village headmen did not show up for the meeting.

When addressing the angry villagers, District Commissioner for Dedza, Emmanuel Bulukutu said that the matter would be discussed on Wednesday next week and people should be calm.

The area of GVH Kapesi comprises of 16 villages.

Source:Mana