Encroachers, school fight over land in Dedza
Tension has arisen at Linthipe Secondary School in Dedza where the school development committee and some encroachers had a dispute that saw two people sustaining injuries and three others arrested.
Dedza Police Station deputy spokesperson Cassim Manda said the villagers encroached part of the land belonging to the school where they erected structures.
He said that on Monday, the committee asked the villagers to evacuate the land, saying the school wants to start building a girls’ hostel.
Manda said: “The villagers agreed that they would move and some of them even started dismantling their houses.
“However, yesterday, when the contractors came to the site, the villagers mobilised themselves and started stoning school staff, injuring the development committee chairperson and group village head Mwakwinja.”
He said when the head teacher Ramsey Stifano informed police about the incident, the mob dispersed, but police arrested three ring-leaders identified as Judith Mathias, 48, Dorica Sitobila, 29, and Chikumbutso Kachere, 37.
The three will answer charges of causing grievous bodily harm and inciting violence contrary to Section 238 and 87, respectively, of the Penal Code.
All three suspects come from Kasambe Village, Traditional Authority Kaphuka in Dedza.
