Residents of the Majak Amal residential area in Kuajok town of South Sudan's Warrap State have accused state authorities of planning to grab their land after they declined to allocate the land to them.
According to the chief in the area, Mou Ngor, Majak Amal has been inhabited by over 17 households since 2006 before Kuajok was named the state capital.
Chief Ngor accused the state ministry of not allocating them the land since 2007 when Kuajok town was surveyed, saying they have sold parts of the land to traders and threaten to sell the rest.
"They had attempted twice to sell it to a certain trader but when that trader heard that the land was inhabited, he changed his mind. Again the same ministry said this land is to be made as a garden. Can somebody's land he a garden? What about the vast land there, why don't they make it a garden?” Chief Ngor questioned.
He claims the land belongs to his ancestors and his people have now settled on it.
The local leader said the minister has identified Block 41 and asked them to relocate there. However, he says, the land is about three hours out of town and lacks basic services including water, health care, and security.
Tereza Akon Deng, a resident of Majak Amal urged the government to allocate that land to its inhabitants saying they have nowhere else to go.
"We have overstayed on this land. Two years back they had tried to take us to Salva Kiir Block, a residential area in Kuajok but the residents rejected us saying this space is for building a school. It's this government who delayed us until returnees came from Khartoum and occupied the land. I want to tell the government to allocate this land for us. We have no other place to go," she lamented.
For his part, the director-general for the state lands ministry, Stephen Adhil denied the allegations and said the community wants to be allocated those lands so that they can benefit from its sale.
"We don't want to sell the land. It's that person who has papers who sells his or her land. We told them to move to another place or be compensated somewhere so that this land which in the heart of the town is reserved for the government, but the problem with these people is that they want this land to be given to them so that they sell it. It is the question of sale," he said.
Bona Malual Akech, the Warrap civil society organization Alliance (WSCOA) deputy chairperson said the state government should have relocated the residents of the Majak Amal area to nearby lands.
"Some building materials were there for the council of ministers but those citizens had rights to be compensated nearby since that time. You see now they are not constructing anything because the land is not surveyed to them even though there was land recently surveyed near the Directorate of Wildlife and the Ministry of Animals Resource but the government is supposed to compensate them there so that they get their rights. In our view as members of civil society organizations, every citizen has the right to be allocated land and that place or Block 41 you have mentioned is very far," he said.
According to the South Sudan transitional constitution 2011, the land in South Sudan is owned by the people of South Sudan and its usage shall be regulated by the government per the provisions of the constitution.
It further states that community land shall include all lands traditionally and historically held or used by local communities or their members and shall be protected by law.