A businessman has sued FAZ president Andrew Kamanga in the Lusaka High Court for allegedly digging a foundation on a plot on Lumumba road that allegedly belongs to him.

Eustace S Mwewa, who has also sued the Lusaka City Council (LCC) as first defendant, is seeking an order by the court to the council to give him title of Plot 037-LM.

He is further seeking a declaration that the said plot belongs to him, as well as, damages for loss of his car wash business which is no longer operational, among other claims.

In a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court, Monday, Mwewa stated that he was at all material times a Zambian businessman, resident in Lusaka.

He added that Kamanga was at all material times a Zambian businessman and football administrator, resident in Lusaka.

Mwewa explained that he approached the council in April 2011, with a view of being allocated a plot on which he could construct a shopping complex.

He stated that the council informed him that there was no such land but if he could identify a vacant lot, it could carry out confirmatory investigations and if found to be vacant, then such land could be given to him.

Mwewa stated that after a few weeks, he identified Plot 037-LM on Lumumba Road in Lusaka at the Mandevu Round About, as being vacant.

He explained that he then made an application to the council who then answered that the land he wanted was on a road reserve and he could not build a permanent structure, but if he wanted, could use it as a car wash.

Mwewa stated that he agreed and was given an offer on June 11, 2011, but before a lease agreement could be issued to him, some officers at the council were transferred and that included the director Legal Services.

He added that the subsequent director could not process his lease documents.

“The subsequent director could not process plaintiff’s lease documents. Plaintiff filled in lease forms several times but was told every time that the forms went missing and had to do it all over again,” read the statement of claim.

Mwewa claimed that in January 2017, a gentleman of Asian origin took up the plot on the right side of his plot and in March 2017, Kamanga took the plot nearer the roundabout on the left side.

He further claimed that when the demarcations were being done, Kamanga’s agents or servants deeply encroached on his plot and also uprooted poles which he had put on the land as a boundary.

Mwewa stated that the agents informed him that Kamanga was being compensated for some land the government had taken.

“As of now, the second defendant (Kamanga) has caused a deep foundation to be dug across the entire front part of plaintiff’s plot. This means that the Asian gentleman and the second defendant are now having adjoining plots to the exclusion of the plaintiff. The Asian gentleman, whose name the plaintiff does not know, has now almost completed the construction of a filling station and also a shopping mall,” read the statement of claim.

Mwewa disclosed that on December 21, 2018, a group of people from Kamanga went to the plot and started taking measurements of Plot 037-LM without consulting him.

He added that when he approached them, they told him that Kamanga had applied for an extension and that his land had been given to Kamanga.

Mwewa stated that the officials at the council also told him that Kamanga was being compensated for some land the government had taken and that this was done the Ministry of Lands without resource to LCC.

“The second defendant (Kamanga) has now started doing digging works and is moving sand and stones to the site which is purportedly either a road or railway reserve. The plaintiff feels unfairly treated by the defendants,” read the statement of claim further.

He is now seeking a declaration by the court that plot 037-LM belongs to him, an interim injunction stopping the defendant from evicting him from Plot 037-LM or building on it and damages for loss of business of his car wash business which is no longer operational.

Mwewa is further seeking an order by the court to LCC to give him title, damages for anguish caused by the insecurity over his tenure on Plot 037-LM, costs and any other relief the court may deem just and fair.