Generations of families living in Nanuku settlement say they have accepted they must relocate because they are living on privately owned land.
This is despite the fact that many have deep emotional ties with the place and have lived together as a community for decades.
Nanuku Settlement Relocation Committee chairman Savenaca Sokini said about 480 families lived in the settlement and understood the legal position surrounding the land.
“We have to accept that we are living on somebody else’s land. That’s where the law goes,” he said.
Mr Sokini said some of the earliest residents settled there in the 1970s and made arrangements with landowners at the time.
They didn’t know when the ownership of the land changed hands.
“These letters (to relocate) came in the 1990s but some of these guys were here in the 1970s.”
He said many current residents were second-generation families, with some born and raised in the settlement.
“We have grown attached to this place, but we have to go.”
Mr Sokini said residents were grateful to the Government for the opportunity to own their own plots of land through the relocation process.
He called for clarity on the relocation timeline, saying families needed enough notice to prepare.
“If they are willing to move us, can Minister (for Housing and Local Government) Maciu Nalumisa expedite it so that we know exactly how much time we have to get ourselves organised?
“Because it’s not easy to bring your house down and move it.”
Mr Sokini said he expected more details would become available once the planned socio-economic survey was completed.
