Luano men demand K50,000 Mailoni bounty

This comes a year after Zambia Army Corporal Joy Shapela shot dead the murderous Mailoni brothers, who were wanted for a spate of murders in the valley.
Feston Kalipenta, his younger brother Oliver and Kalumba Chola said in Kabwe that they have a genuine claim to the K50,000 reward.
Central Province commissioner of police Standwell Lungu and Central Province permanent secretary Edwidge Mutale confirmed that the three were in Kabwe to claim the K50,000 reward.
The three claim to have identified the siblings on June 24 last year in Tokuma where Cpl Shapela killed them and ended their reign of terror, which started in 2007.
“Our complaint is about the reward, which the police promised. This is what has brought us here to Kabwe,” Mr Kalipenta said as his colleagues agreed with him.
Mr Kalipenta said the police had pasted posters at Chimika Clinic to notify residents that they were offering a K50,000 reward to people who had information about the whereabouts of the Mailoni brothers.
“We delayed to come to claim the reward because there was hunger in our area. We concentrated on working on our fields to have money and food,” he said.
Mr Kalipenta, who explained in detail how Cpl Shapela killed Mika, Stephen, and Fabian, collectively known as Mailoni brothers, is happy that the murderous siblings were killed.
He also commended Government for deploying soldiers to Chembe, who eventually killed the three.
And Mr Chola said: “We don’t know whether the police will give us the reward but this is the promise they made.”
And Oliver Kalipenta said: “If the police refuse to give us the reward, it will be unfortunate because we also risked our lives to help soldiers because they did not know the Mailoni brothers.”
But Mr Lungu said the only information that police have so far is that soldiers killed the Mailoni brothers.
Mr Lungu said when the three men, accompanied by Mwalala ward councillor Benford Katiti, went to his office, he told them to put their claim in writing.
“We have asked them to write what they want to tell us so that we can respond. I want to see what they are claiming because we don’t know what they did,” Mr Lungu said
And Ms Mutale said she had a discussion with the three men, who briefed her about the role they played to help Cpl Shapela kill the Mailoni brothers.
“I received them at my office and I phoned the IG [Inspector- General of Police Stella Libongani], who gave us guidance on the process they need to follow for them to claim the reward,” Ms Mutale said.
She said the police will also interview the three to ascertain whether their claim is genuine.
She said Cpl Shapela can also help to confirm whether the three played a role in the killing of the Mailoni brothers.
In an interview this year, Cpl Shapela confirmed that he was with the three men when he killed the Mailoni brothers,
In 2012, the then Inspector-General of Police Martin Malama said police were offering a K50,000 reward for people with information leading to the arrest of the Mailoni brothers.

Zambia Daily Mail