Ilolo land dispute overwhelms district, regional leaders

ILOLO villagers in Mbeya region’s Kiwira Ward have asked the government to intervene and solve the longstanding land dispute pitting the village against Moravian Church.
 
The villagers have specifically asked the Minister for Land, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Mr William Lukuvi to resolve the 27-year wrangle, claiming that they no longer trust the district and regional authorities in solving the stalemate.

Speaking to journalists at the climax of the village meeting over the weekend, the villagers unanimously agreed to seek intervention from Minister Lukuvi to address the dispute.

At the heart of the conflict are claim by Ilolo residents over the 1,500 acres, which the Moravian Church in the parish has leased out to an investor, Kuuza Africa Company Limited, for avocados farming.

Just recently, Rungwe District Executive Director (DED) Loema Peter issued a stop order, halting any activity on the disputed land pending the lasting solution.

However, one member of the committee formed to follow up on the matter, Mr Edom Nacy, claimed that even with the DED stop order, the church and investor have continued with their activities, including planting new avocado seedlings.

“The villagers are annoyed by the investor’s continuing activities despite the stop order by the DED pending amicable solution... something must be done, otherwise the situation might get out of hand,” the seemingly irritated villager remarked.

According to Mr Nacy, there have been several skirmishes and destruction of crops and trees in the past but leaders at the district and regional levels have since failed to provide the lasting solution.

According to elders in the village, German missionaries had far back in 1891 requested the village to provide them with the land to build the church and put up some other developments, pledging to return the undeveloped land to the village in 100 years.

“The missionaries lived to their word and returned the property in 1991 as they marked 100th centenary at the village...the problem is that the new leaders of the church are going against the earlier agreement between the church and the village,” Mr Nacy explained.

Before issuing the stop order last month, the Rungwe DED had proposed that aggrieved villagers should list their names for consideration of 200 acre allocation out of the disputed 1,500 acres but the proposal was vehemently opposed by the residents.

One of the residents, Ms Emilisa Sakavege, argued that the land dispute was not between individual villagers and the church but rather the village as a whole and the church and hence the land should be returned to the village leadership.

“We have been fighting for our rights for the past 27 years, the whole land should be returned to the village leadership which will decide on the next course of action,” the resident proposed. It was at this juncture that the DED decided to stop any activity on the farms to pave the way for talks to find out lasting solutions for the conflict.

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